THE DEATH OF DEATH

One contemporary preoccupation resurrection in Supernatural betrays is the interplay of the death of the self and the death of the other in a realm where lives are regenerated and indefinitely prolonged. Certainly, the concern for the death of the self that was most prevalent in colonial America is still at play in the Supernatural universe, most notably in 3.10, Dream a Little Dream of Me when, after dealing his soul to a demon for Sam's life and one more year with him on earth, Dean confronts himself in a nightmare and expresses his concealed belief that he does not deserve to die, let alone spend eternity in Hell (see video to the right.) Though it makes for a compelling confrontation, the death of the self is not often explored throughout the show.

In keeping with the turn towards concern over the death of the other which arose most notably during and after the Civil War, Supernatural deals heavily with contemporary iterations of the trend. Many of the deaths and resurrections throughout the show result from sacrifices made by the two brothers in order to stay together. Indeed, their monster-hunting occupation itself originates with their father, John Winchester's, lifelong inability to cope with their mother's early, supernatural death.

The first sacrifice, in 2.01, In My Time of Dying, finds John Winchester selling his soul to a demon, Azazel, in exchange for Dean's (which he had lost in a car accident at the end of season one.) In 2.22, All Hell Breaks Loose: Part 2, Sam is stabbed to death and Dean, as mentioned before, sells his soul for Sam's in almost exact replication of the deal his father made. Finally, in 3.11, Mystery Spot (previously discussed here,) it is revealed that a trickster god is killing Dean over and over again in order to teach Sam that he needs to cope with his brother's immanent death in a way that neither his father nor brother before him accomplished. It is both the inability to cope with the other's loss of life and to reconcile life without them that motivates these men, however, being unconstrained by the limits of real life, Supernatural is able to anticipate the possible repercussions of people being allowed to act on their grief over the death of the other. There are inklings of such concern over the "death of death" in modern society, seated most notably in debates over assisted suicide and who has the right to dictate what should happen to patients in vegetative states. In Supernatural, these repercussions manifest in further loss of life and unending chains of guilt over past sacrifices. Dean perhaps sums up the anxiety over the death of death best in 2.04, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, when he states: "What's dead should stay dead."