Sofa-sitting The Supernatural Way
I have a friend I’ve turned into a Supernatural fan, of sorts. He likes the show, but the problem is that he’s a wimp about the horror bits, and will only watch as long as someone is sitting on the sofa beside him.
At the moment this is me, although I have hopes that my friend’s nephew will be willing to pay back babysitting duties when he’s old enough. There’s a “15” sign on those DVDs, though, so it’ll take a while.
I can sympathise with my friend a little, because I remember feeling exactly the same when Dr Who fought the cybermen. I haven’t mentioned this to him, because I’m pretty sure I was only about 8 years old at the time.
My friend (let’s call him Bruce: full name withheld in order to protect the mildly embarrassed) has the excuse that he lives on his own in an old house way out in the country. In Supernatural an old house way out in the country is invariably Not Good News.
I’ve tried arguing that he doesn’t need to be concerned, because Supernatural is fiction and he’s in no possible danger from ghosts (Playthings, Roadkill, Ghostfacers, The Real Ghostbusters), tulpas (Hell House), demons (Devil’s Trap, In The Beginning, I Believe the Children Are Our Future), archangels trapped in rings of burning holy oil (Free To Be You and Me) or zombie alligators (Suze). Sadly, though, Bruce has worked out that this argument doesn’t hold true for The Benders or Family Remains.
Bruce’s house doesn’t have a basement, so I’ve tried arguing that bad things only happen to Sam and Dean in houses that have basements. By the way, what is it with Supernatural and basements? Is it really the case that almost every house in the US has a basement in which a body can be buried (Houses of the Holy, Swap Meat) or a Rawhead, zombie or changeling hidden (Faith, Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, The Kids Are Alright)? Or are the Winchesters just unlucky that way? Anyway, in return, Bruce mentions Bugs. Bugs, of course, is the one where the bad things happened in the attic. This may explain where Bugs went wrong. If Supernatural had kept to its usual formula and Sam and Dean had been trapped with killer insects in the basement, Bugs really would have been creepy.
I begin to think I might not win this discussion when Bruce weighs in with the woods behind his house. Have you noticed that in Supernatural nothing good ever happens in a wood? They are the places where you might end up in a Wendigo’s winter larder. They are the places where pagan gods live, the kind of pagan gods that like human sacrifice (Scarecrow, Fallen Idols). They are the places people run through in their nightmares (Dream a Little Dream of Me, No Rest For the Wicked). And they provide a rogue angel in heaven with the sarcasm opportunity of a lifetime (Dark Side of the Moon).
Now, putting this on-going to-and-fro with my friend Bruce to one side for a moment, you may be asking yourself, provided you’ve read this far, what this has to do with a series of articles on the Supernatural fandom. The point I wanted to make is this: Supernatural, for the time being, is still a niche show. That watercooler moment the next day is unlikely to take place in general population, given that most attention is still focused on hospital dramas or procedural cop shows. Only those of us segregated for our own safety can understand what it is we want to talk about on Friday mornings. And while some of us have managed to create our own small, real-life fandom support groups, others of us rely on the online fandom to provide us with a virtual sofa-sitting service, where we can exclaim over what has happened, exchange conspiracy theories, and commiserate with each other. We can pass each other virtual tissues and virtual consoling chocolates over the trials of the past, and hold each other’s virtual hands when we contemplate the trials to come.
We also create a virtuous circle: a show with a lot to say but a small audience to say it to has given rise to a online fandom which is active, thoughtful and engaged, and which then feeds back into the growing success of the show itself. As is constantly said by everyone on the show, from Eric Kripke, Jared Padalecki and Jenson Ackles onwards, if it weren’t for the fans, the show wouldn’t still be going strong at its 100th episode and with a sixth season to come. Sofa-sitting services, whether my actual sofa-sitting services with my friend, or the virtual sofa-sitting services which take place on line, are an important part of that, and another good reason why we should celebrate getting this far together.
Supernatural does have a thing with basements and woods. I can see why your friend needs sofa-sitting services especially living out in the country!
No question the fans have made the show, and that the internet has been a very big part of the shows success! Hopefully it will continue for many years to come.
Wow, Faellie, excellent points about how the internet has allowed us to create that virtual watercooler. I never thought of it that way, but you’re so right! I personally don’t have anyone to watch the show with as my husband isn’t a fan. I got my brother hooked, but he’s still on season 1! So coming here to talk about what happened with people who are as enthusiastic about the show as I am is really my only option.
To answer your question about basements in the US, it depends on what part of the country you live in, but many places do have basements. In Ohio where I grew up and Pennsylvania where I live now, almost all houses have basements. But I lived in North Carolina for a few years growing up, and the soil there is too sandy to support a basement, so they don’t have them generally. I also lived in Minnesota for a while, and there were basements there. I could go on with more examples, but really, my point is yes, a lot of houses in the US have basements.
I can sympathize with your friend about being scared of the horror stuff because I used to hate scary movies and shows until I started watching SPN. But if anything, I’ve gotten less scared of that kind of stuff. You just need to have some salt nearby at all times! 😉
Hi Faellie
Loved the article. I don’t blame your friend either.
Night time in the country can be pretty scary, especially surrounded by the woods.
I always go camping every summer for a week. And those nights when I have to visit the restrooms at 2:30-3:00 in the morning and it is pitch black out and only have a flashlight. Talk about having your imagination going wild on you. Especially when there have been bear sightings. 😯
Watching SPN in the secluded woods with no light save a flickering candle is the way to go, I don’t know what you all are getting at. Of course, then one has to drag a water cooler and some fellow viewers out with you the next morning.
Faellie, I have a friend like that, a sweet lady who was drawn into Supernatural via my enthusiasm. So, I found a real life sofa sitting service with her (and another with a few other friends scattered over Germany via telephone, though they are not THAT into the show), lucky me.
I’ve grown so accustomed to this virtual sofa, too, and so fast I can hardly believe it. I’ve come to this site last fall, not a very long period, and now I feel compelled to have a look at least once a day, if possible, and sometimes get to the cbox before going to sleep. Being single does have its advantages. With my guy still around it would be a bit more difficult or I might not be so interested, it serves as some kind of social network at times, too.
What I’m basically trying to say is this: I love these little virtual sessions with people from all over the world. People who couldn’t be more different in terms of language, culture, religion or social background come here and we find a common language (apart from the English, of course), and its undercurrent is love in all kinds of facets – support, banter, respect, encouragement. I’m in awe how this is possible.
Thanks, Faellie, enjoyed your thoughts! Jas