Misha Collins on gender exploration in ‘Supernatural’

Los Angeles (IANS) – Actor Misha Collins is glad that the popular show “Supernatural” looks at the whole gender dynamics with a different lens, and says he is proud that it explores themes of fraternity and brotherhood.

“‘Supernatural’ is an interesting show, especially at this moment in time. By the way, I don’t think this show would’ve gotten on the air today, because this is a show with only men as series regulars and that’s anathema to our thinking about how representation should be conducted in television right now,” said Collins when asked about the lead characters showing their masculinity, which is emotional as well as raw.

“But it is an interesting opportunity for us to explore masculinity from a different perspective than it is looked at in television. I think it’s a really fascinating laboratory to be able to play around with. And it might not happen again. I mean, I really don’t know when there’s going to be a major television
show that has all these men as the main series regulars,” added the actor, who is seen as Castiel in the show.

The actor continued: “In season three, we added two female series regulars to the show. And those characters, while they were portrayed by excellent actresses who have gone on to great careers, didn’t feel like they fit in. It was like, ‘This isn’t actually what the show is really about’.”

Why?

“‘Supernatural’ is about brotherhood, in both the literal and the broader sense of the term. And that’s why my character worked and that’s why Mark Sheppard’s character (Crowley) worked. There are these characters that come in that are also part of this fraternity and we get to explore brotherhood,” he said.

Credited as the longest-running sci-fi genre show, “Supernatural” is all about the supernatural and paranormal. It follows brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester as they join their family business of hunting down supernatural monsters. Created by Eric Kripke, it premiered in 2005, and has garnered a massive fan following since then. It will end after Season 15. The show is aired in India on AXN.

The actor says “Supernatural” also defies lot of gender norms.

He said: “Typically, in a show like this, I think you would expect to have a lot of romantic, foil female characters. You’d expect to see those relationships between men and women. In the beginning, I think the show was trying to find its footing; it was trying to figure out, ‘How do we integrate that aspect into our show, because that’s a part of a television show that we need to have’.

“But in the end, I think we ended up just doing a show that’s really about fraternity and brotherhood — and it was really interesting. I love the fact that they allowed the show to break the mold and just do that instead of trying to conform to how television normally deals with gender exploration.”

That adds to the popularity of the show.

“There are a million factors that go into the longevity of ‘Supernatural’, but the fact that we were exploring themes that aren’t explored elsewhere probably helped,” he said.

–IANS
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