#haley rants

So I was just talking to some random dude (I refuse to call him a man tbh) online and he was sweet talking me and being so kind and charming. Then it came up that I’m saving myself for marriage. And suddenly now he’s all like “oh yeah right, you’re just another easy girl looking for an easy time.” And I’m kinda sitting here scratching my head right now because I’m not really sure where he got all that out of “I’m saving myself for my future husband,” but to each his own.

I know a lot of my followers are younger, so I just wanted to say something really quick before I go to bed. Young ladies, there are going to be a lot of guys who sweet talk you. There are going to be a lot of guys who tell you the things they know you want to hear. Then these same guys will become hostile when you say you’re waiting. Or when you let them know that you’re staying pure for your God. The guy that was just kind and sweet to you suddenly becomes your biggest hater. And let me tell you something: he’s not worth your time, and he’s not worth your thoughts. What he says about you has no hold over your life. Your identity comes from God alone. If that boy gets mad because you won’t sacrifice your values just to give him a good time, that’s his problem, not yours. The right kind of man will not even think of asking you to do that for him. The right kind of man will be going to church with you and reading the Bible with you rather than angrily asking you why you won’t sleep with him.

Young sister in Christ, hear me when I tell you that you are what GOD says you are. You are not what that childish boy says you are. You are not what anyone in the world says you are. You are a cherished daughter of the Most High King. You are worth the life of your King. Don’t let that boy pressure you into giving up your values for one night just to please him. Don’t let that boy make you think there’s anything wrong with you because you’re saving yourself. You are worth the life of your King.

This goes for young men in Christ, too!! If that girl wants you to give yourself up for her pleasure, she’s not worth your time or your thoughts. Young brother in Christ, you are allowed to save yourself. The world might look at you as though you’re crazy. The world might tell you you’re insane for not wanting the pleasure. But let me tell you that you’re worth it. Let me tell you that you’re allowed to have boundaries and still be a man. The strongest, most godly men I know are the ones who hold onto their beliefs and their values and the ones who have standards for their lives. You are a son of the Most High God. Young man in Christ, don’t let that girl pressure you into giving up your values for one night just to please her. Don’t let that girl make you think there’s anything wrong with you because you’re saving yourself. You are worth the life of your King. 

This also goes for those of you out there who have already given yourselves up and have decided to dedicate yourself to God once more! There’s nothing wrong with you for wanting to be pure again. There’s forgiveness and purity in the Lord. You are a child of the Most High God just like anyone else. And don’t you dare let anyone tell you otherwise. You are worth the life of your King.

like if you look just at the first three seasons, j2 have such insane chemistry you have to be blind not to notice. (case in point, even my mother, who is otherwise a normal 62-y-o was like 'well that's not a normal brother relationship'). add the lack of significant alternative options, and it's clear why the early days had so many wincest shippers. Like, duh. You see two hot guys who look at each other with adoration (and lip-licking), brain's gonna ship. Fiction isn't reality anyway.

However, then comes s4. Now, I think Misha is awesome and funny and great, and obviously he and Jensen hit it off. Enough that it shows on screen. That said, the script was still written as Kripke intended, which is that Sam and Dean are obsessed with each other.

Because it's a fact, that Kripke read Siken's Crush, and also On the Road, and wrote Sam and Dean very much under that influence. And if you read either of those, you know they're about gay lovers.

So. There's a conflict between the script (which is samdean coded), and the acting (where jenmish actually gets more and more intense with time).

And the thing is, both sides of the fandom have solid 'evidence' on why their ship is (practically) canon. And it sucks to see people actually fight and insult each other.

I am a multishipper: I have an OTP but I see the appeal of other pairings and occasionally read those too. And I wish we could all see that plurality of opinions is good. Fiction is meant to be discussed, there isn't one correct answer.

It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the man's work, that Kripke loves his ✨gore✨. Now that he's no longer restrained by CW's PG rating, he gets to go full-throttle with it in The Boys. That isn't to say that Supernatural didn't get it's fair share though - I mean, just remember the "Skin" episode in season one - that scene where the skinwalker changes his skin is pure body horror. Masterful.

Okay, Haley, so what? Some of us aren't squeamish. What's the brilliant part?

Good point, my med/bio orientated reader. That gets me to the second type of horror (and my personal kryptonite): psychological horror.

Here we get to lovecraftian themes. And I don't exactly mean Cthulhu. See, lovecraftian monsters are incomprehensible to the human mind, which generates horror through the unease of being unable to understand. Similarly, certain characters that the majority of the audience cannot identify with, can be used to the same end. Lemme illustrate this with two examples: Homelander and The Deep.

I reckon it's safe to assume most people aren't sadistic psychopaths, nor zoophiles with a penchant for sea creatures. Therefore the extreme Otherness of these two makes people uneasy, disturbing on a fundamental level. Hitchcock refined that particular horror trope by sprinkling his movies with taboo-topics of his own time, such as implied homosexuality. (*gasp* 🏳️‍🌈😆)

And here we get to the now well-known horror rule: the unseen monster is the scariest monster. More broadly, what is only implied can be more impactful than having the exact scenario shown on screen. The unsaid leaves more to the imagination (which is the most powerful tool for horror), and creates and additional dread with the element of unknown. People are unsettled by what else there might be, when elipses replace a clear answer.

Now back to Kripke, and how CW's censorship actually worked in his favor in Supernatural.

Maybe you saw this coming, but the monsters aren't the lovecraftian element. (Really, with the exception of tulpas and wendigos, none of them were even remotely scary). As I said above, Homelander and The Deep are lovecraftian because they're freaks. Unsympathetic freaks, but imagine if we took that first part away...

I shan't say it.

Just. Something something, american gothic, shit's implied and that's the point.

Haley, is this an elaborate ploy to talk about shipping? Really?

No. This is about environmental storytelling, gritty noir filter, camera angles, and just how much is left unsaid. This is about trauma, and repression, and the emotional reaction of the audience when they're left to ruminate a bit on the kind of lives the Winchesters had. It's about the missing scenes, the psychology, the implications - just -

*deep breath*

Another brilliant thing is how Kripke plays around with bathos - causing contrasting feelings in quick succession to give the audience emotional whiplash. The quips sprinkled in between the violence. The unexpected gag right before a gut-punch. It accentuates the experience for the audience. Like the way Dean's relationship with food is often played for laughs, but when you mull it over it's not hard to figure out the underlying food scarcity while growing up.

And furthermore, where did the money come from when times were tough? A myriad of angst-fics went ahead to answer that, which just proves an implication is far superior to exposition.

Then there's Hell. We don't get more than a few seconds of flashes, but think about it. Wouldn't Hell use every torture method imaginable? And what's the most psychologically damaging thing you can do to a person, especially a man?

I think you know the answer.

And that realization is the dawning psychological horror.

Finally, I'll leave you with this:

Just... Kripke!!!