I'm glad you wrote this meta, since I hadn't thought about it much from this angle. Or at least hadn't thought about all the little things they'd done right with Bobby. I will say, you're right in that it's the first time I think SPN has dealt well with any minority issue (shades of Route 666, shades of Route 666! NOOO!), though I almost wonder whether that's because Bobby didn't start out as any kind of discernible Other by the show's standards so it's easier for the writers not to see him that way (since I think every other female/minority has been treated as an Other by the show) even in a wheelchair. Either way, gift horse and all.
I'm shocked that fandom's reaction to it has been so negative. I hadn't thought about the parallels between Dean and Bobby, but you're right, and I think Sam's kind of standing there on the outside of everything (in the abilities sense and in the sense that he's also the only person in the room who's never really suffered from sacrificing himself for someone like that and I doubt ever will) is interesting as well. I remember being struck by how impatient he was with Dean and that safe, especially since folks have been complaining about how Dean's bossing Sam around has been brought up and dealt with but the way Sam seems to look down his nose at Dean in some respects when it's unwarranted hasn't. Makes me think they won't overlook that.
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Date: 2009-11-02 01:44 am (UTC)I'm shocked that fandom's reaction to it has been so negative. I hadn't thought about the parallels between Dean and Bobby, but you're right, and I think Sam's kind of standing there on the outside of everything (in the abilities sense and in the sense that he's also the only person in the room who's never really suffered from sacrificing himself for someone like that and I doubt ever will) is interesting as well. I remember being struck by how impatient he was with Dean and that safe, especially since folks have been complaining about how Dean's bossing Sam around has been brought up and dealt with but the way Sam seems to look down his nose at Dean in some respects when it's unwarranted hasn't. Makes me think they won't overlook that.