{"id":8741,"date":"2023-08-13T14:16:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T14:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nfornerds.com\/?p=8741"},"modified":"2023-08-13T14:16:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T14:16:39","slug":"we-need-more-heterosexual-male-platonic-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/?p=8741","title":{"rendered":"We Need More Heterosexual Male Platonic Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been meaning to discuss this topic for a while now. Ever since I saw a relationship between two characters in season four of My Hero Academia and the subsequent reaction the internet had to it, but more on that later. Fortunately for me, yet unfortunately for society as a whole, this is an ever green topic, but after watching the latest episode of \u201cSupernatural\u201d and seeing a certain scene (and the subsequent reaction to THAT), I decided I can\u2019t put it off any longer. And seeing as today is \u201cInternational Men\u2019s DAY\u201d it seems like the perfect topic for discussion.\u00a0FYI If you haven\u2019t seen S15E18 of \u201cSupernatural\u201d then consider this your SPOILER<\/strong> <\/em>warning\u2026\u2026okay? Good.\"Dean<\/a><\/p>\n

(“Greeaat!”)<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n

So the scene in question shows \u201cDean\u201d and \u201cCastiel\u201d attempting to escape the Grim Reaper \u201cBillie\u201d after failing to kill her. Just when all hope seems lost, Castiel remembers that the one thing that can hurt Billie also happens to have him<\/em><\/strong> on its shit list, \u201cThe Empty\u201d, a primordial being that vowed to kill him the second he became truly happy. Castiel realises that, the one thing that makes him truly happy is being with \u201cDean\u201d, \u201cSam\u201d and \u201cJack\u201d, his adoptive family and to express that love he tells \u201cDean\u201d that he loves him and that his time with him was the best of his life. He is then swallowed by \u201cThe Empty\u201d along with \u201cBillie\u201d, thus saving \u201cDean\u201d from death.\"Dean<\/a><\/p>\n

(Jesus Supernatural…I was not prepared for this level of feels!)<\/address>\n

 <\/p>\n

So just for a little context before we go any further, \u201cCastiel\u201d has been on the show since season four, he rescued \u201cDean\u201d from Hell and has been fighting alongside him ever since. Their relationship blossomed from comrades, to friends and then finally to family. But a portion of the fandom \u201cShipped\u201d them (meaning made them a couple in their minds), referring to the coupling as \u201cDeanstiel\u201d, harmless enough on the face of it. But a small number of the \u201cDeanstiel\u201d fans were upset that this supposed coming out ended with \u201cCastiel\u201d going to the angel version of hell. Which, to be fair, if it was \u201cCastiel\u201d declaring his romantic interest, wasn\u2019t the best conclusion.\"Cas<\/a><\/p>\n

(Holy Shit!)<\/address>\n

 <\/p>\n

To be clear, I have no problem if \u201cCastiel\u201d and \u201cDean\u201d turned out to be in love with each other, in fact it would be awesome if two of the most badass demon hunters in the world also happened to be gay! It would be an amazing bit of representation for a group that, until recently, were mostly portrayed as the gay best friend\/comic relief, so if that\u2019s the way the story is going then awesome, bring it on!\"Dean<\/a><\/p>\n

My concern is not for the decision to have a character come out (if that\u2019s what it was) but for the thought process that may have led to the concept of \u201cDeanstiel\u201d in the first place. The misguided belief that just because two men have a close relationship and have expressed their love for one another that the only explanation is that they must be gay. It stems from the bullshit notion that \u201cReal Men\u201d don\u2019t show their emotions, \u201cBig boys\u201d don\u2019t cry and to express otherwise means you\u2019re a \u201cfairy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Cap<\/a><\/p>\n

(Trying saying that to Captain America!)<\/address>\n

 <\/p>\n

And \u201cDeanstiel\u201d is just the latest in a long line of examples, take the TV show \u201cMerlin\u201d, the relationship between \u201cArthur\u201d and the titular \u201cMerlin\u201d is framed in much the same way. Two men who have a close bond and the internet\u2019s first thought was that they were lovers, citing Arthur\u2019s death bed request for Merlin to hold him as proof. Then we have the relationship between Mirio and Tamaki in My Hero Academia, the genesis of this article if you will. Tamaki is a sensitive and shy boy who doesn\u2019t think much of himself until Mirio comes along and shows him love and support. In every scene they share you can feel their deep bond and the mutual love and respect they share. But again many peoples first instinct was that they were secretly a couple, and I admit I thought the same thing. I started referring to them as \u201cmy favourite couple\u201d; it was unintentionally the first place my mind went.\"Tamaki<\/a><\/p>\n

Obviously I\u2019m not blind to the counter argument, some people \u201cship\u201d their favourite characters into gay relationships simply because they would like a more diverse LGBTQ representation. Hell, I\u2019m sure at this point they\u2019d settle for simply \u201cmore\u201d representation, which is itself an issue that needs to be addressed.\u00a0But I believe that removing the stigma of heterosexual male platonic love would certainly help in that regard. If more people were comfortable with the thought of straight men telling their male friends and family members that they loved them, maybe they\u2019d be more open to the idea that a world-saving, apocalypse-stopping, beer-drinking, ass-kicker had a boyfriend.\"Supernatural<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, those are our thoughts on Deanstiel, do you agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments below. Also don’t forget to follow us on Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>and subscribe to our\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>\u00a0and if you\u2019re feeling generous feel free to donate to our\u00a0Patreon<\/a>, thanks for reading.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been meaning to discuss this topic for a while now. Ever since I saw a relationship between two characters in season four of My Hero Academia and the subsequent reaction the internet had to it, but more on that later. Fortunately for me, yet unfortunately for society as a whole, this is an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[731,424,886,885,643],"gp_videos":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8741"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8752,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741\/revisions\/8752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8741"},{"taxonomy":"gp_videos","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fgp_videos&post=8741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}