I haven't talked about Supernatural much lately, mostly because I'm basically not watching this season. It's sitting on my dvr, but I'm so frustrated by season three that I just can't watch it yet. I've not rewatched seasons one or two, either, and in fact I loaned season one to nikitangel months ago and haven't bothered to get it back.

But I still have thoughts and issues with it, and my buttons are being pushed by the fact that GLAAD nominated "Ghostfacers" for Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character). GLAAD, you know, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, nominated "GHOSTFACERS" for its portrayal of a gay character. (Hat tip to coffeeandink for the link.)

I have some issues with GLAAD anyway (for one thing, while I realize the awkwardness of GLBTQAAD or other variations, G&L doesn't actually include all that many potential members of the alliance. (I'm also not fond of "defamation" aligned with these awards, but that's a different conversation.)

I mean, the award tagline is this: 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Fair. Accurate. Inclusive. And Impossibly Glam.

I'd like to know why they nominated "Ghostfacers" because the episode I saw was really none of those things. And GF is one of my favorite episodes of season three (which is saying something).

If you haven't seen the episode, summary below.



It's an episode with a frame I really like, or at least I like the idea; two geeky guys (introduced previously) are attempting to create a tv show about ghost hunters and ghost hunting (in part inspired by their previous interaction with Dean and Sam). They are pretty incompetent compared to Dean and Sam, and this episode is told through their point of view, so that awkwardness can be uncomfortable. There's a new character, Corbett, who is their intern. He's gay, and he has a crush on one of the geeks. (I can't remember which one - mostly because I can't remember their names. Mostly because their names don't really matter, even from their point of view, they are just The Geeks Who Get in the Way of Dean and Sam.) The geek is mostly oblivious to it.

Corbett's a pretty enjoyable character; he's a little too sweet for me, but he's nice, and smart, and quite heroic. As coffeeandink says, he's smart "except for his inexplicable crush, which just reads like a gay version of all the stories where some schlubby guy gets a gorgeous girl," which is a pretty accurate way to describe it.

Corbett, one of the very few gay characters we've seen on SPN (and, off the top of my head, I can't actually name another), dies. As gay characters do. And then The Geek convinces Corbett's ghost to save them by overcoming his own homophobia, or setting it aside, and kissing him.

I've seen two main interpretations of this. One is that The Geek is realizing that (despite the fact he's not gay, and pretty much ignored all of Corbett's attentions, now that he's dead, and unattainable, and in some ways safe, and also, can save their lives), he actually cares for Corbett. (Okay, so the parenthetical aside is more my interpretation of that one.)

The other, and the one I'm closer to, is that The Geek is lying to the gay guy ghost in order to save his own ass. You know, the gay guy dies so the straight guys can live. (I'm trying to remember if, when he saves them, he's further sacrificing himself as a ghost - so the gay ghost also dies so the straight guys can live. I can't remember how that worked, though.)

Shouldn't that part - where the only gay guy dies so the straight guys can live - disqualify it for a GLAAD award?


I call FAIL.

(I'd like to know why they nominated this episode, but I'd also like to know why Bones was ignored, based on the standard I can infer from this nomination.)