So I’m in the process of researching and working on a new Destiel fic (I can’t tell you much, but this meta will definitely give you plenty of an idea ;), and as a result, I’ve been putting together a playlist for myself that I could refer to and listen to when I was working to help set the mood.
One of the songs I picked was from another one of my favorite movies about dancing (turns out? I have so many more favorite movies about dancing than I realized? lol), Footloose, which came out when I was a kid.
During work, I found myself listening to this one song from the end of the movie, over and over, and honestly wondering if Bobo watched this movie and listened to the soundtrack as part of his work on 15x10 - since Footloose is a film about dance (and the scene in 15x10 was obviously very strongly influenced by early musical/dance-centric cinema), but also dance as it relates to many facets of the life of a young man who really loves to dance.
Ren (played by Kevin Bacon) moves to a rural town with his mom and finds out that the pastor of the town (John Lithgow) has essentially petitioned the town to outlaw dancing because his son was killed in an accident on the way home after a dance. The town’s super conservative and this no-dancing ordinance leaves all the teenagers in town frustrated and wound up, so Ren gets it in his head that he’ll push the town to drop the ordinance so that the teenagers can actually have their own prom and dance at it, just like all the other teenagers everywhere else do.
Ren makes friends with Willard Hewitt (who can’t dance, but who has a crush on a girl named Rusty who loves to dance - and Ren meets and falls for Rusty’s best friend, Ariel - the pastor’s daughter who, coincidentally, also loves to dance) and Ren and Willard take the girls to a bar 100+ miles away where they can drink and dance to their heart’s content. Only problem is, Willard can’t dance and he winds up getting an eyeful of Rusty flirting with a guy who can dance and after a dust up, Ren agrees to teach Willard to dance (adorable little montage here!) so he can win Rusty’s heart. Ariel has a boyfriend named Chuck when she first meets Ren, btw - he’s an abusive piece of garbage who Ariel’s dad just loves because he’s an abusive jerkface.
After a lot of back and forth, ultimately, Ariel’s pastor dad decides that he can’t control his daughter’s life and sap all of the joy out of it forever just because his son died tragically. The no-dance ordinance is lifted, allowing Ren and Ariel, Rusty and Willard all to attend the prom and dance to celebrate their victory together.
Right before the prom scene at the end, though, comes another montage sequence of all the different storylines resolving and this amazing song by Kenny Loggins plays, “I’m Free (Heaven Helps the Man).”
I was struck by just how much the plot of the movie reminds me of season 15, so far - especially once I paid closer attention to the lyrics and started thinking about it in terms of free will (from Dean’s POV):
Looking into your eyes, I know I'm right
If there's anything worth my love, it's worth a fight
We only get one chance,
And nothing ties our hands,
You're what I want,
Listen to me, nothing I want’s out of my reach
Heaven helps the man who fights his fear
Love's the only thing that keeps me here
You're the reason that I'm hanging on
My heart's staying where my heart belongs
I'm free!
Running away will never make you free
And nothing we sign is any kind of guarantee
I wanna hold you now,
And I won't hold you down
I'm shaking the past, making my breaks
Taking control,
If that's what it takes
Heaven helps the man who fights his fear
Love's the only thing that keeps me here
You're the reason that I'm hanging on
My heart's staying where my heart belongs
I'm free!
I want to hold you now
And I won't hold you down
You're what I want,
Listen to me, nothing I want’s out of my reach
(Chorus x3)
I almost want to tweet Bobo and ask him if he did watch any films to prep for 15x10 and, if so, which ones he watched (to see if Footloose was one of them, obvs).
Between the parallels to the movie’s plot and the themes that feature so strongly in the film and the episode (not the least of which being free will vs. religious authority/tyranny, but also DANCING as a metaphor for romance and rebellion that’s at the core of the movie, a subtext so strong it’s basically treated like a second, ‘forbidden’ language), I can’t help but think he did watch this one and a lot of other ones, too.
But this is one film that stood out strongest to me, and it definitely seems like one that Dabb and Berens could have looked at, since we’re all roughly the same age/generation, so these are narrative methods that are very familiar to us, already.
But, essentially, the song is encompassing a lot of Dean’s journey this season, so far - he’s learned he can’t run away from Chuck’s control (”running away will never make you free”), but now they do have a possible solution with Jack (MAYbe) and Dean realizes, now, that he has to fight - not just for ‘the world’ and all of the innocents in it at large, but for his own family, as well. He also has to fight his fears and embrace his true self (via metaphorical and/or not-so metaphorical dancing) if he wants to win this one and get that victory dance at the end.
Because Dean has earned it - they all have! - he’s jumped through a lifetime of Chuck’s hoops and is not only still standing, he’s even more determined to kick Chuck’s ass now than he was before... and why is that? Because Dean made himself vulnerable and opened his heart to Cas and Cas heard him (”love’s the only thing that keeps me here” / ”you’re the reason that I’m hanging on”) but also because, quite literally, without Cas, Dean would give up. That’s canon, now.
We’ve seen it in multiple seasons (6, 8, 11, 13, 15), now, and multiple times within the same season, even! But this season, they showed us another possible loss that was averted (15x09) that Dean still has no idea about yet, presumably - it’s the exact same arc Dean’s gone through over and over, now, with Cas. It’s basically just a quicker, tighter version of the tortuous slow burn of the widower storyline from the first few episodes of season 13.
Without Cas, Dean doesn’t see a point in fighting anymore, and I can’t say as I blame him - what’s the point of saving the whole world if you wind up alone without the one person that would have made all the pain worth it?
Once Dean finally realizes that he wants Cas, though - like, properly - just like the song says, I don’t think anything or anyone will be able to stop him, including both Chuck and the Empty.
Even though Dean hasn’t said it out loud, it feels almost like he’s made a promise to himself that he’s going to do whatever he can to keep himself and Cas together, this time.
And I pity the short, egotistical deity (notice how Dean referred to Chuck as squirrelly to Fortuna? interesting adjective choice, that - since Dean’s the Squirrel of Moose-and-Squirrel) whomstvesoever tries to come between him and his angel.
