Description
Book Synopsis Supernatural is one of the most successful horror TV shows ever, providing fifteen seasons of the adventures of Dean and Sam Winchester as they hunt monsters and save the world. It has nurtured a passionate fan base, which has been far more directly integrated into the show than is typical. Wry and self-aware, Supernatural repeatedly breaks out of the televisual box to acknowledge its fans and its own fictionality.
Though there have already been several studies of Supernatural, this volume is the first to focus extensively and intensively on the show''s metafictional elements. This essay collection argues that Supernatural is not merely a horror show, but is a show about how horror works as a genre, and how fans interact with their favorite material. From exploring how the show has equated authorship with divinity, to considering its incorporation of fandom and closely reading several key episodes, the essays in this volume seek to examine the
Table of Contents
- Introduction—Unpacking Supernatural: What's in the Box?
- Part One: "As meta as meta gets"
- The Reality of Text Is Manifold: Performances of Writerliness in Supernatural's "The Real Ghostbusters"
- "I so miss being an atheist": God, the Darkness and the Show That Wouldn't Die
- "There is no singing in 'Supernatural'!" The Meta as Narrative Device
- Part Two: "A cruel, cruel, capricious god"
- God Is Dead and the Death of the Author: Theorizing Divine Absence in Supernatural Season Five
- The Author, the Audience and the Almighty: Supernatural's Chuck Shurley as Metatextual Mirror
- "You don't have to be a monster. You have a choice": Supernatural, Free Will and the Deterministic Concept of Monstrosity
- Part Three: "Our lives are not for public consumption"
- "Where's the pie?" Nostalgic and Apocalyptic Foodways in Supernatural
- A Cicatricial Romance: Metanarrative, the Textual Wound and a Grotesque View in Supernatural
- "I have my version and you have yours": Folklore, Narrative and the (Re)Telling of Supernatural
- Part Four: Breaking Out of the Box
- "Why are you the boy who hates Christmas?" "A Very
- Supernatural Christmas" as Nostalgic Holiday Special
- Strap In for the Scariest Hour in the History of Television: "Ghostfacers" as Parody of Paranormal Investigative Show
- Not All Monsters Are Universal: Gothic Parody in "Monster Movie"
- Pamela Barnes as Pastiche: Supernatural's Rock Muse and Blind Seer
- Appendix One: Episodes Cited
- Appendix Two: Main and Major Characters
- About the Contributors
- Index
