Entry tags:

fandom: supernatural, misha collins trolls fandom (again), person: misha collins

Misha Collins seems to like slash; slash fans are unhappy about this
Misha Collins (actor who plays Castiel from Supernatural) is known for being supportive of slash and also for being a giant troll. Misha shook up the Supernatural fandom in late October when he told a small group of fans at the Supernatural convention in Chicago that he thought that Dean and Castiel were in love, an opinion he apparently formed without discussing it with anyone on set (!). "It may be unspoken but that doesn’t mean it’s not there," he explained, and when a fan asked why it couldn't just be a bromance, "Misha just shrugged."

Of course Dean/Cas fans were delighted that Misha had apparently joined their ranks, and some went so far as to say that Misha's statement made Dean/Cas canon. Other fans were sure Misha was just fucking with them. It's hard to say with Misha.

Now, a magazine called Gay Calgary recently put up a video interview of Misha Collins taken at the Edmonton Expo, which confusingly took place before the Chicago convention though the interview wasn't released until after. The rag describes the interview as "one of the most bizarre dialogues we’ve ever conducted, but a must see nevertheless," which is pretty standard for Misha's interviews actually. In the relevant part of the interview, the interviewer talks about getting attention from Dean/Cas fans. Misha seems to defend his fans and launches into a succinct explanation of slash fanfic:

Misha: It's a strange phenomenon. Let me educate you: it's called 'Destiel,' and it's fanfiction that's written about the romantic, um, interludes that happen between Dean and Cas. You don't even watch the show, do you? No, you don't! It's fine, I can see the blank look on your face, that's fine. It's a totally unexpected and strange phenomenon.
[...]
Interviewer Guy: And so - you joke about this a great deal -
Misha: I don't joke. But go on!
Interviewer: You joked about this yesterday at the panel including saying that this season would be the season where Dean figures out that he's a bottom. [note: he's referring to this comment]
Misha: Yeah, sort of.
Interviewer: "Sort of"?
Misha: Well, what I said technically was, "We learn definitively that Dean is a bottom in Purgatory." But yeah.
Interviewer: Thanks for being specific there for me.
Misha: I mean, not to correct you, but you were wrong.
[...]
Interviewer: It seems like any - especially in scifi - any show that has strong male characters in that relationship - going back to Kirk and Spock -
Misha: Starting with Kirk and Spock.
Interviewer: - right - there always seem to be some undertones even if it's not intentional to some degree.
Misha: No but weirdly I think we all - we dial into that fanbase, and sort of tip our hats all the time. Like, we know it's there and we subtly allude to the fanbase and their affinity to that, you know, homoerotic tension. For sure.
Interviewer: Funny thing is, is a lot of fanfiction is written by women.
Misha: Most of it!
Interviewer: Most of it?
Misha: Most homoerotic slash fiction about two male characters is written by heterosexual women. Not to, you know, school you.
Interviewer: No, I was aware of this.
Misha: And I don't pretend to be able to explain it.
Interviewer: Well, I guess the final thing, since this is a gay magazine, is there anything you'd like to say specifically yourself to the gays who are going to see this interview?
Misha: Uh ... I love penises.

And for some reason, there's a woman sitting in his lap for the duration of the interview.

Now, someone is MAD about this! The tumblr user crowleyshouseparty, to be specific. They write quite a rant about it in their journal, complete with a short transcript of the interview. It's kind of tl;dr but I can't really summarize it:

So basically, Supernatural Powers that Be are fully aware that they are queerbaiting, they don’t care, and they basically talk shit about stuff they don’t understand, essentially erasing large portions of fandom in so doing.

because it’s okay, I guess, to acknowledge the portions of fandom that fetishize gay men specifically (which, imo, should be condemned and not winked at), while completely ignoring everyone else, such as the fans who are, you know, queer, and actually maybe would like to see some actual representation instead of just this trivializing lol spock lol straight women write it hoho—

thus minimizing fanfiction to just that role when it can actually be so much more, a fuck you to a marginalizing, erasing canon that people like you create and perpetuate for laughs.

i love how they described a reinterpretation of a heterosexist canon as “strange” and “unexpected” and then two minutes later are talking about its history dating all the way to Kirk and Spock. I love how they describe it as a “phenomenon” — which is a fact or occurrence that is observed or observable, like fandom is something to be studied instead of people interacting with and subverting a harmful canon.

I love how they just seem to be completely unaware that maybe people are tired of seeing the same stories about het people when there are OTHER people AROUND with stories to tell who are not het! which is really weird to me—that his interview came from a magazine whose audience are for gay people?

i love how this just literally became a wank fest about people who don’t know shit, who casually erase people with their descriptions of genre and fandom from a place of high elitism (and maybe i’m imagining it but it was so casually -ist, like oh my fucking god, shut up, some of the most famous male authors today wrote fanfiction you jerks, stop categorizing it as just a thing straight women do BECAUSE IT IS NOT OH MY GOD STOP ERASING PEOPLE).

like if you don’t get it—great. but don’t shit on it or people who participate in it. don’t joke about “tipping your hat” when that “tipping of your hat” basically marginalizes and hurts people because of how it perpetuates heterosexism.

so now that we’re clear that you think this whole gay business is a huge joke and as trivial as you assume fandom to be, can we please stop contextualizing dean and cas as gay now? can we please.

but then i guess you wouldn’t have a butt for your jokes.

Well, this fan is happy!

What I love, and what struck me even more after actually watching at least some of the interview, is that he says that destiel is ‘the romantic interludes’. Not simply ‘fanfiction about sex between Dean and Cas’, which is what people worry that destiel gets categorised as (by the actors etc) by default, no: ‘romantic interludes’. Romantic.

I just. Misha.

Focusing on the important issue!

No but seriously why ALWAYS this picture ? WHY ?
And even in this article by a magazine that is meant FOR the GLBT community ? What the hell, do your job properly please, and try to understand why we see an actual romantic love between those characters. And freaking choose one of the hundreds better shots about them, rather than this one.

But if the characters belong to the actors and one of the actors decides the character is gay ... ?

People are mad at Misha because:

A.) “He basically said Destiel is never going to happen!!!”

One, the fact that this actually shocks people is sad. Destiel will never be canon because the characters (PRE-ESTABLISHED HETEROSEXUALS) belong to the writers and actors and not the fans and subsequent fantasies. Ship whatever you want, obviously, but to actually - TRULY - believe that it ever had a hope to become canon at all is ridiculous. Two, Misha was, in alluding to this, stating a FACT. Not an opinion. You’re seriously going to be peeved at him for stating a fact?

The most reasonable response:

Also, he conducted the interview with a woman sitting on his lap and ended it with “I like penises” as a message to his gay fans. (So let’s stop confusing everything Misha Collins says and does with actual srs bsns, okay?)

I don't even know and most of this is wrong:

I do not know details but I know Misha is not homophobic. The show Supernatural is not homophobic - just look at Felicia Day in it, she was the arguably the best female character on the freaking show and the fact that she was a lesbian just was and nobody minded.

Now to Misha. He has mentioned before that he has gay friends. His wife wrote a book about wanting to bone her female best friend and hey - Misha was totally cool with that. But apparently not wanting to dedicate himself entirely to an interpretation of a character that he plays (this being Destiel obviously) makes him entirely against homosexuality on TV.

Just… QUOI!? They acknowledge the flirty thing between Dean and Castiel more than most shows would for two male characters like this, and just because the writers or whoever do not think the characters are in the right frame of mind to do so they are all queer-baiting? This has NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM BEING TWO MEN. Obviously the fact that Cas is a dude means the character is different and maybe if Misha was a lady Dean and Cas would be totally on each other by now because the CHARACTER Dean would never think twice about it if it was a hot girl he really likes - the guy thing for the CHARACTER would be a huge deal, so to think that its offensive for the writers not to have Dean just accept his big gay love in an episode is stupid.

Being a fan of a TV show is just like being gay!

Do NOT tell the LGBTQ community discussing the GayCalgary interview to 'get a life'.
That’s dismissive and cruel.

You know who else says ‘get a life’? You know where else I hear that?

People who don’t understand that I love the kinds of shows I love, that I go to Supernatural conventions, or that I get involved with people from this fandom.

It’s usually followed by ‘It’s only a tv show’ or ‘it’s only a fandom’.

Do not presume to tell people that the way they understand issues directly affecting them. Do not tell people to ‘get a life’.

Good point:

People should stop being mad that Misha called destiel “unexpected and strange”. I mean he once said that all of his fans are either small children, convicts, or severely emotionally handicapped and I don’t recall anyone flipping their shit.

Ah, the myopia of shippers:

Alright, so in the transcript I just read, and someone please let me know if this quote is wrong, but according to the thing I read it went like this:
Misha: It’s a strange phenonmen—it’s called Destiel and it’s fanfiction that’s written about the romantic interludes that happen between Dean and Cas. […] It’s a totally unexpected and strange phenomenon.
Well, in this Misha does say the word ABOUT…not the imagined interludes, not even the subtext of interludes, not the created by shippers interludes…just about. ABOUT. As in, indicating what already exists.
So there’s my take on it.
Thank you.

So, to summarize: Destiel may or may not be canon, Misha may or may not be the most offensive person alive, Misha has gay friends and SPN has gay characters so we know they're alright, Destiel will never become canon, Destiel will definitely become canon, and Misha loves penises. Wait, did Misha Collins just come out? During a video interview with Gay Calgary? Is this all part of an elaborate attempt to prove that sexuality is fluid? And is Dean really a bottom or is he more of a top?