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There are few things in SPN fic that exasperate me more than the constant parroting of the "It's Sam, not Sammy" line. Because I don't think the majority of people who use that in fics actually get it. In fact, most people don't even do anything with it. More often that not it feels as if it's been thrown in in order for the author to make an attempt to connect to canon/characterisation through repeating something canonical. Whereas real strength in characterisation and skill in writing is manifest when a character says something you believe they would say, not when the say something they've said before, over and over again. It's not very believable as 'real' when a character is just parroting themselves in inappropriate circumstances.
But anyway, huh, tangent.
What I meant to say was, I love the way the 'Sam' vs. 'Sammy' is used in the show.
From flashbacks amongst other things we know that 'Sammy' is what Sam was largely known as, at least by his family, throughout his childhood. In the Pilot we have Dean slipping back into the habit, ostensibly at a point where he does it consciously to irk Sam ("sorry, music's too loud, can't hear you!"), as siblings have a tendency to do, just for the glee of being irritating. Sam's response "Sammy was a chubby twelve year-old, it's Sam, now" underlines the inherent association between 'Sammy' and, well yeah - the chubby twelve-year-old. The person Sam was when he was a child, the person Sam has been for most of his life to date, the person Dean and John quite possibly know him best as, especially as his recent emotional/physical independence is something Dean and John were not actually witness to.
That said, the roles they inhabit in their relationship dynamic is often manifest in the Sam vs. Sammy instances. Largely, I think, Dean recognises that Sam is an adult now and doesn't need to be treated like a child, whereas for John (at least up until Dead Man's Blood) both boys are still children in his eyes. Someone has commented somewhere about the different ways Sam and Dean work on hunts in comparison to how John and the boys work on hunts - Sam and Dean work together, share information, hash things out together with a good deal of respect for the other's experience and intelligence (in other words, as equals); whereas John places an automatic heirarchy of Daddy-knows-best, and the boys should just take orders without input or question.
In other words, to a degree I think Sam and Dean were more equal with eachother when growing up by default - two children, brothers; of course they'll be sitting at the kid's table together when John's with the grownups.
All that said, obviously there are dynamics within that micro-cosm of the family's structure, the big brother-little brother thing. Dean obviously feels a strong sense of responsibility toward Sam on a gut, ingrained level, feels responsible for Sam's safety. This doesn't mean that his concept of 'Sam' is stuck at Sam being a baby who cries when he's hungry. But it does mean that that 'Sammy' signifier comes out to play at occassions when this instinct of Dean's comes to the fore, when that dynamic comes into play most strongly.
Sam knows it as well, knows the connotations of the Sammy-name, and at times resents the dynamics behind it but also understands it to a degree.
In the Pilot it's Dean deliberately provoking him, and Sam is easily provoked because at that point, that's exactly what's going on - Sam is struggling to dig his heels in, assert his own life and his own choices, even as he's entirely on Dean's turf.
By the time it gets to Bloody Mary, though, things have changed. The conditions for the Pilot exchange of "Sammy"/"It's Sam" are entirely different here. I mean, cmon, it's pretty damn obvious that when Dean says "Sammy, Sammy!" as he hauls a half-dead Sam off the floor and cradles his bloodied face that he's not saying it to irritate Sam. He's saying it because he's returning to that primacy of "Little brother needs caring for, must care for him" (same as the way he calls for "Sammy!" when he walks out of the bar in The Benders and finds that Sam is gone). And Sam knows that. When the first thing he says is "It's Sam", he's not been unfeeling in reaction to this instinct in Dean, and he's not correcting Dean because he's irritated. He's telling Dean that he's OK. He's soothing Dean. Sam is saying - It's not Sammy, because I don't need you to care for me here, not because I'm independent/grownup/etc, but because I'm not hurt. que?
And Sam doesn't always correct Dean when Dean calls him Sammy, doesn't always want to correct Dean. Like in Devil's Trap, there are moments of panic, emotional distress for both of them when Dean does it unthinkingly (like the opening scene, when they've just spoken to Meg on the phone) - Dean slips back into that instinctual positioning and Sam doesn't bat an eyelid because he does too, to a degree. Not that he runs around begging for icecream or some crap like that, and hell, he still holds his own in being adamant that his opinion is just as worth consideration - but when it comes down to it, isn't Devil's Trap all about Sam trusting Dean? And trusting that Dean knows what's best for Sam, above John, above all else - because above all else, it's Dean's job to make sure nothing bad happens to Sam, and therefore if Sam trusts Dean - nothing bad will happen to Sam. Sam's finally trusting the truth of that. So Dean letting a 'Sammy' slip there is more reassuring for Sam than it is irritating, and on some level Dean knows that, and that's why he does it (also, it's no doubt comforting for him).
John, on the other hand - John uses 'Sammy' more frequently than he uses 'Sam', and it means a different thing to when Dean says it. John calling Sam 'Sammy' is the same as John saying to Dean "I'm not sure I like this new tone of yours" - for John, they still are children, and to a degree Sam accepts that. Sure, there's all the shouty-jaw and chest-beating when it comes to 'treat me like a grownup, dammit!' but when it comes to the unseverable father-child relationship, Sam's just as comfortable and comforted to have that still in place. See: the spending college fund on ammo scene in DMB. That scene is about John showing respect to Sam and vice versa, but the respect is more about love between a father and a son than between two adult men, if that makes sense. Why would Sam correct John's use of 'Sammy' there?
And considering all of the above, I don't think I need to explain why Sam says "It's Sam" when his co-captive calls him 'Sammy' in The Benders.
But anyway, huh, tangent.
What I meant to say was, I love the way the 'Sam' vs. 'Sammy' is used in the show.
From flashbacks amongst other things we know that 'Sammy' is what Sam was largely known as, at least by his family, throughout his childhood. In the Pilot we have Dean slipping back into the habit, ostensibly at a point where he does it consciously to irk Sam ("sorry, music's too loud, can't hear you!"), as siblings have a tendency to do, just for the glee of being irritating. Sam's response "Sammy was a chubby twelve year-old, it's Sam, now" underlines the inherent association between 'Sammy' and, well yeah - the chubby twelve-year-old. The person Sam was when he was a child, the person Sam has been for most of his life to date, the person Dean and John quite possibly know him best as, especially as his recent emotional/physical independence is something Dean and John were not actually witness to.
That said, the roles they inhabit in their relationship dynamic is often manifest in the Sam vs. Sammy instances. Largely, I think, Dean recognises that Sam is an adult now and doesn't need to be treated like a child, whereas for John (at least up until Dead Man's Blood) both boys are still children in his eyes. Someone has commented somewhere about the different ways Sam and Dean work on hunts in comparison to how John and the boys work on hunts - Sam and Dean work together, share information, hash things out together with a good deal of respect for the other's experience and intelligence (in other words, as equals); whereas John places an automatic heirarchy of Daddy-knows-best, and the boys should just take orders without input or question.
In other words, to a degree I think Sam and Dean were more equal with eachother when growing up by default - two children, brothers; of course they'll be sitting at the kid's table together when John's with the grownups.
All that said, obviously there are dynamics within that micro-cosm of the family's structure, the big brother-little brother thing. Dean obviously feels a strong sense of responsibility toward Sam on a gut, ingrained level, feels responsible for Sam's safety. This doesn't mean that his concept of 'Sam' is stuck at Sam being a baby who cries when he's hungry. But it does mean that that 'Sammy' signifier comes out to play at occassions when this instinct of Dean's comes to the fore, when that dynamic comes into play most strongly.
Sam knows it as well, knows the connotations of the Sammy-name, and at times resents the dynamics behind it but also understands it to a degree.
In the Pilot it's Dean deliberately provoking him, and Sam is easily provoked because at that point, that's exactly what's going on - Sam is struggling to dig his heels in, assert his own life and his own choices, even as he's entirely on Dean's turf.
By the time it gets to Bloody Mary, though, things have changed. The conditions for the Pilot exchange of "Sammy"/"It's Sam" are entirely different here. I mean, cmon, it's pretty damn obvious that when Dean says "Sammy, Sammy!" as he hauls a half-dead Sam off the floor and cradles his bloodied face that he's not saying it to irritate Sam. He's saying it because he's returning to that primacy of "Little brother needs caring for, must care for him" (same as the way he calls for "Sammy!" when he walks out of the bar in The Benders and finds that Sam is gone). And Sam knows that. When the first thing he says is "It's Sam", he's not been unfeeling in reaction to this instinct in Dean, and he's not correcting Dean because he's irritated. He's telling Dean that he's OK. He's soothing Dean. Sam is saying - It's not Sammy, because I don't need you to care for me here, not because I'm independent/grownup/etc, but because I'm not hurt. que?
And Sam doesn't always correct Dean when Dean calls him Sammy, doesn't always want to correct Dean. Like in Devil's Trap, there are moments of panic, emotional distress for both of them when Dean does it unthinkingly (like the opening scene, when they've just spoken to Meg on the phone) - Dean slips back into that instinctual positioning and Sam doesn't bat an eyelid because he does too, to a degree. Not that he runs around begging for icecream or some crap like that, and hell, he still holds his own in being adamant that his opinion is just as worth consideration - but when it comes down to it, isn't Devil's Trap all about Sam trusting Dean? And trusting that Dean knows what's best for Sam, above John, above all else - because above all else, it's Dean's job to make sure nothing bad happens to Sam, and therefore if Sam trusts Dean - nothing bad will happen to Sam. Sam's finally trusting the truth of that. So Dean letting a 'Sammy' slip there is more reassuring for Sam than it is irritating, and on some level Dean knows that, and that's why he does it (also, it's no doubt comforting for him).
John, on the other hand - John uses 'Sammy' more frequently than he uses 'Sam', and it means a different thing to when Dean says it. John calling Sam 'Sammy' is the same as John saying to Dean "I'm not sure I like this new tone of yours" - for John, they still are children, and to a degree Sam accepts that. Sure, there's all the shouty-jaw and chest-beating when it comes to 'treat me like a grownup, dammit!' but when it comes to the unseverable father-child relationship, Sam's just as comfortable and comforted to have that still in place. See: the spending college fund on ammo scene in DMB. That scene is about John showing respect to Sam and vice versa, but the respect is more about love between a father and a son than between two adult men, if that makes sense. Why would Sam correct John's use of 'Sammy' there?
And considering all of the above, I don't think I need to explain why Sam says "It's Sam" when his co-captive calls him 'Sammy' in The Benders.
no subject
Parents and older siblings get to call you things that no one else gets to use, especially belligerent strangers in a cage. The use of the Sam/Sammy dialectic in the pilot was done for a purpose, as you eloquently explained, and once it was resolved it was resolved. Writers need to get past it and realize that character shorthand of that nature is sloppy and leads to shallow emotional representations.
no subject
Ah well.
no subject
how many times does Sam say "It's your Sam!" after those singular, poignant canonical moments?
*snort* So true. Canon, it's the new cliche. ;-)