Destiel: A Study in Queerbaiting | Supernatural Video Essay

In this Supernatural video essay, I explore the popular fanfiction pairing of Destiel. Destiel is a term used to describe the pairing of Dean Winchester and Castiel. I explore the history of the pairing, the various tropes associated with it, and the reactions it elicits from the Supernatural fans. Is their relationship gay, or are they just homoerotic platonic buddies?

If you're curious about the phenomenon that is Destiel, this video is for you. I explore the origins of the pairing, the various fanfictions and fanart based on it, and the reactions it receives from both Supernatural fans and the show's cast and crew.

Music by the wonderful and talented Lukrembo:

[HasnaaAlaa]

I agree with all the things that u said except for the misha part, i never felt baited by him, he wasn't the one writing the show & i never took him not pretending the baiting doesn't happen as a sign that destiel will become canon just like i didn't take his complaint about the misogyny in the show as a sign that the show would do better, he's the only one who didn't gaslight fans & call them delusional for seeing what the writers were intentionally putting, so it breaks my heart how some people would blame him for the years of queerbaiting this show did, it also shifts the responsibility from the producers, show runners & writers to the actors who have zero power to make anything happen, i never met a destiel shipper who was baited by something misha said instead of scenes from the show, like when I ask people why u see dean & cas as a romance the answer is never coz misha said blah blah, it's always storylines & quotes & scenes from the show. And now yet again the writers made a decision & misha is taking the fall for it, disgusting.

[UnoNumberOne]

Excellent analysis. I never felt baited by Misha. I always felt that he was making fun of the show for all the subtext.

[redvsbloo]

Misha didn't bait, I think he did what he could to validate hurt fans in a system hellbent on gaslighting and suppressing criticism. Also, I think it's worth noting Jensen pretty much came around to it in the Dabb era, when it became more serious and less homoerotic fantasy banks. Jackles gushing about the detail of Castiel leaving a handprint on Dean in 15x18 is like wild amounts of growth from his earlier reactions to destiel. But overall, this is super well made!

[jennilocke]

Sera Gamble had it out for Misha bc he spoke about how spn frequently kills off female characters.

[jdcnation]

I genuinely like the show and the fell in love with the characters, even if the writer's killed off literal everyone. But I will never get over how the show made us think that Dean and Cas had a deeper relationship just to constantly deny it. And they finally was a big disappointment to me for many reasons besides Dean and Cas unresolved feelings towards each other.

[gayorwhatever]

In the end of things, Misha was the only one that let fans feel like they weren’t imagining the queer baiting for a long time. Misha never promised anything in terms of destiel, he just wanted everyone to know that yes he can see the queer baiting and yes he would’ve been okay with Destiel eventually becoming canon. He only ever had good intentions and most queer watchers are aware of this hence why most don’t blame him for the baiting of the show.

[Vampiislay]

I don't think Misha baited at all. If anything he was the biggest advocate for Destiel.

[PaintSplashProductions]

I haven’t watched a single episode of supernatural but for some reason I keep watching these Destiel video essays. I don’t regret my choices

[nakaye]

It felt so disrespectful how they treated castiel’s character in those last two episodes bc it seemed like he didn’t matter at all to the other characters which made the last two episodes seem like a person who’s never ever seen the show but read a synopsis of it had written it.

[lalae]

honestly im still very salty that i wasted years of my teenage life thinking that show was gonna make destiel canon

[mismismism]

My thing is, if writers, actors, and production are unwilling to make a relationship progress to the natural, logical conclusion, especially when the characters have chemistry, just because it's a gay relationship, then the show is fundamentally homophobic. If Castiel had been female it wouldn't have been a question and quite frankly, I do not buy that it was unintended or started because fans didn't like female supports, they were joking and hinting at Dean not being staright before Castiel was ever a thing and honestly, I think it didn't work with females because Dean had this player, I'm trying too hard thing with them and none of the females broke the mold in the way Castiel did being this fish out of water. I think they were purposefully using Dean to queer bait and be this "is he or isn't he" type of character to get the gays to watch and be thirsty for representation they were never gonna get. And the way they ended the show and what they did with Castiel and Dean... It's actually kind of disgusting in context.

[ilovemichaeljackson]

This is a great video and I mostly agree with it. The only part that I don't agree with is that misha was baiting the fans. It never felt like that when the fandom would interact with him. This is just my personal opinion but he made me (and a lot of others) feel safe and validated. He'd crack jokes sometimes (which were hilarious btw 😂) but it never felt like he had any malicious intent or that he was making fun of us. It was him just trying to understand our viewpoint and support/encourage us to not let any negativity stop us from something that we love.

What I'm about to say next may make some people mad but before anyone comes at me, please note that I love Jensen too and I am not saying that he's homophobic. But as someone who was a closeted bi preteen/teen fan during the height of destiel, it hurt when Jensen would talk about it. I loved watching the cons and seeing the interactions between the cast and the fandom but it was also why I had a falling out with the show a few years back. I'm sure people know what I'm talking about and it's when one fan asked about how they could see that Dean was slowly becoming more comfortable in his sexuality and wanted Jensen's take on Dean's character development. It basically went down like Jensen saying he doesn't understand the question, the crowd booing, Jensen jokingly encouraging the crowd's response, and his swift dismissal of the question. He could've just said that he didn't personally see it that way so he didn't have any particular opinion on the development that she saw but understands that they have different viewpoints of the show. It's that easy to state your opinion without invalidating someone else's.

The pain that I felt after seeing that video was why I stopped watching the show. I couldn't watch any of Dean's scenes without feeling hurt by Jensen's words (not blaming him, i'm the one who took his words a certain way). But at the same time, I have Jensen to thank for being the catalyst for my coming out. As I've mentioned before, I was a repressed closeted bisexual (with internalized homophobia) and all my emotions had reached a boiling point after that. Leaving the fandom because of that video made me realize that I couldn't bottle it all up inside which resulted in me coming out to my family. My life has been 10 times better since coming out and I'm being completely genuine when saying thank you to Jensen.

The reason I'm even watching this video is because I came back into the fandom after the confession scene (more like dragged back in because it was trending everywhere and I couldn't escape it 💀).

Honestly though, I really did see myself in the character of Dean Winchester and the way they would write him had some pretty clear bi coding (even taking Cas out of the equation). And now I don't know how to end my comment because I was only trying to defend misha because he is so kind and understanding and it somehow turned into me ranting about my experience with the show so... idk, but if anyone's interested, you're all invited to Sam and Eileen's wedding taking place on a website near you (mainly twitter and tumblr) on March 21.

[fazzajemz]

They didn't even have to make it canon in a big way. To me it would've just been enough if after 15x18 we got to see just a HINT that their feelings were mutual. Like the brothers having a heart to heart and Dean being a little upset and saying something like "I should have said it back..." or something and then instantly pretend like it's nothing and like he's fine, like he always does, if Sam asked any questions about it. That's literally all it would've taken for me to be at peace with the outcome of their relationship.

[FinnHudsonGleek]

To be honest, their relationship is a good example of the good representation. Destiel never was forced, it was built under a good storytelling where we can see an angel who was in charge to punish angels who fall in love with humans in the past and then he fell in love with a human anyways. Castiel has a good story and the relationship between them was so pure, every season we can see how much they care for each other, and try to survive together. Even though, the tension was always strong. I hated when the producres tried to forced Castiel in situations with women because he never was interested. The thing that i hated is they killed Castiel after the confession and then Dean didn't mention anything about it. He was affected and he was suffering but we never saw something about the impact that Castiel words on him. It is bad when they have a good example of representation and they wasted it just like that.

Personally never felt bait by Misha otherwise he always was the most insterested in that this relationship is what we thought it was, a romantic love between them. The problem was Jensen at the beginning but i think he changed his thoughts about it. Was a good chimistry totally wasted.

[christianc.christian]

I got into this show when Season 6 was airing and until probably Season 12, had no clue about this theory, but once it's explained, it's pretty difficult to ignore. And it's also pretty difficult to pretend that it wasn't deliberate.

[bethmcmillan]

While I totally agree that queerbaiting in general is terrible and I obviously didn't appreciate it in Supernatural, one thing I will say for the whole Destiel storyline which you sort of touched on briefly in your analysis, is that regardless of the bad intentions behind it by the writers, it kind of worked 😅 while I agree we needed to see it finally pay off, and it's terrible that they kept it going for so long, only to gaslight fans, I personally actually thought the whole 'backwards and forwards, will they won't they' dynamic that the queerbaiting accidentally created between Dean and Castiel really fits the characters. The way I think of it, Dean is supposed to have been born in 1979 right, he grew up in 1980's/ 90's America, with a father who's only goal was to toughen him up and turn him in to a soldier who probably isn't going to take too kindly to his son questioning his sexuality. If Dean is Bi like a lot of people imagine him to be, to me, it makes perfect sense that he wouldn't admit it or maybe not even realise it himself for many years and then overcompensate with his whole matcho demeanor. Much as i would have loved Destiel to actually get together on the show, it actually seems a lot more realistic to me that Dean might be suffering from some serious internalized homophobia, and that therefore, even if he did reciprocate Castiel's feelings, he might not ever get to a point where he is able to come to terms with that or get comfortable enough to actually pursue an explicitly romantic and or sexual relationship with Cas. There's also obviously the possibility that even if he is in love with Cas romantically/ personality wise, he might just not be physically attracted to Cas's male form. Add to that, that Demons, heaven, hell, hunting, their entire chaotic lives, gets in the way of either of them having much time to dedicate to exploring their sexuality and relationship, and that they might be scared of overcomplicating things between them, it actually is kind of realistic that there might be YEARS of romantic or sexual tension between these two people without either of them having the guts to do anything about it until its too late. I think the problem is not necessarily the lack of confirmation/ closure on their relationship, but more the intentions behind their dynamic when it was written. If the writers explained something along those lines and it wasn't just because of queerbaiting, if there was deliberately that kind of reasoning behind the way the characters are played from the outset and that sort of clear reasoning behind the way their story turns out, it would probably be fine, but because the writers more than likely aren't putting this kind of thought behind it and they are pretty much definitely portraying the relationship like this without much deeper inspection, to hook in fans then claiming it's not happening at all, that's what makes it bad.

[sam.v]

the greatest love story it is. I dropped the show years ago cause I was so done with the queerbating, but here I am again, and it never stops trending on tumbler anymore.

[silingyilanjin]

Now. I can understand not liking Destiel and all, okay? But the people who keep saying that "they're like brothers" "they're best friends" just DON'T want to see. The thirteenth season is enough to understand it, and not even all of it. Only the first few episodes, the ones where Dean is in mourning like a widower. And no, it's not my imagination, Sam pretty much admitted it. Sam complained about Dean's behavior with Jack, saying more or less these words (more or less because I watched the series dubbed in my language and it is not always translated perfectly) "You act like dad acted with us" John Winchester, as much as I hate him (and I do, a lot) has been mourning Mary for TWENTY-TWO YEARS. And Sam comes out that Dean treats Jack like their father, who had lost his wife? And how has Dean's behavior with Jack changed after Castiel's return? Do we ignore it? We ignore that in the twelfth season, when Mary returns, to make her understand that it was actually Dean, he tells her that John had given her a Ledd Zeppelin Mixtape to win her over, and we find out that Dean gave Cas a Ledd Zeppelin Mixtape? Do we really want to ignore all this? Why? Why can't Dean be bisexual? Why does he have to be the alpha male who sleeps with every woman he meets? Why can't he love an ANGEL WHO DOESN'T REALLY HAVE A GENDER? Because let's face it, if Cas had been in a female body, no one would have said anything and they would have ended up together before the end of the apocalypse. Let's not fool ourselves, please.

Sorry for my english, i used translate.

[julesg]

Still pissed about ACTUALLY being called crazy and delusional for believing in Destiel by people apart of the show. So I’ve been needing this. So thank you😁👏🏽👏🏽

[zhulimoon]

If Cass was not introduced I would not have watched the show for so long and also I did have the false hope of Destiel going canon, I stopped watching after I heard that 15 would be the last season and said to myself "I will binge watch it when it is done." and OH BOY OH BOY. I WAS NOT SPOILED SO WHEN I SAW CASTIEL'S CONFESSION I WAS SHOCKED AND DESTROYED WHEN HE WASN'T IN ANY SCENES IN THE LAST TWO EPISODES LIKE WOW.