i've kinda been away from the show for a couple of months now so i'm not really up to date with anything. what did Jensen say? was it that bad? ;; why do all shows go to shit so badly, it seems to be a trend these days. Thank you
Anonymous said: hi can you give your honest opinion on jensen’s “destiel doesn’t exist”? bc im really sad and lost i need an expert on this
jensen said “destiel doesn’t exist” at jaxcon
(warning: opinions and guesswork ahead)
i typed out several in-depth answers to this today, but short answer is, he’s wrong. (or lying. or he genuinely believes a different truth than reality.)
as much as i understand why he answered like that, given his company at the time (jared, non-shippers, wincest-shippers) and his personal situation regarding misha, whatever it may be, and possible contractual issues about what he can and can’t say in public, screw him for saying it so aggressively.
the show, the script, the directing, jensen’s acting, misha’s acting, the fandom - all of it collectively creates a reality in which destiel is real, and is canon. the issue exists solely when jensen (specifically jensen) goes up in front of an audience that does not include misha. it’s not the fandom messing up or seeing things that aren’t there, it’s jensen having a personal issue with admitting he plays dean as bi.
questions about dean’s sexuality make jensen defensive because for him, i imagine, they either feel like people are questioning his acting skills, or his sexual orientation. sometimes both at once. either he acted well and successfully portrayed dean as bisexual and having feelings for cas, or he acted badly and let slip his own attraction for misha. it’s a difficult catch-22-type position for him to be in, hence his consistent self-defensive (subsequently biphobic) answers over the years.
it’s important to mention, jensen mirrors the opinions and body language of those around him. when he says anti-destiel things, he’s either with jared (therefore surrounded by j2 shippers; jaxcon 2017) or alone (anxious and pissed off; jibcon 2015(?)). at jaxcon he’s in a room of people with a majority neutral/non-shipper fans, or wincest shippers there to see him and jared. those j2 panels cannot be about shipping, particularly destiel shipping. whatever jensen said in that moment would make someone mad, and he chose the majority over the person who asked the question. which makes him an ass, but doesn’t make his decision wrong. rest assured, he would not have answered the same way if misha had been beside him.
in case it reassures you, i’ll say it again: destiel is a thing, period. as is dean’s bisexuality. jensen knows it. we know it. the people who make the show know it. it’s in a weird bubble of semi-existence (aka schrodinger’s queerbait) where it Is Definitely There but is not canonical despite the fact that it’s very very canonical and wouldn’t exist non-canonically unless its seed was first canonical.
(and let’s be real, the seed of destiel was jensen and misha’s incredible involuntary chemistry. hence some of jensen’s motivation for saying it’s not a thing. there are things preserved forever in canon which i believe jensen never intended to put out there.)
jensen’s allowed to have personal issues, and he’s within his rights to upset thousands of people if it feels unsafe for him to give a different answer, or if he’s contractually obliged not to say certain things.
look, if destiel is real for you, let it be real for you. if destiel makes you happy, and it gets you through the day, don’t let anyone make you resent it. jensen has dean’s face, but he’s not dean.
even dean would say his feelings for cas aren’t romantic, but that doesn’t make the statement true, does it?
please don’t send me any follow-up questions, i don’t wanna think about this right now. i’m just posting this because until i do i’m gonna keep thinking about it.