COMMANDS AND MASCULINITY: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF DIRECTIVE LANGUAGE IN SUPERNATURAL

Abstract

Language not only conveys meaning, but also carries power and identity. This study focuses on the language of the two brothers, Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester, in the TV series Supernatural (SPN), and explores how commands and directives construct their sexual identity. The objectives of this study are to examine how Dean and Sam use command and directive language, and to analyze what command and directive language reveals about their masculinity. The study is based on Coates’s male language theory and Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis. It combines qualitative, descriptive, and quantitative methods to analyze four representative episodes of Supernatural (SPN): Season 1 (2005), Episode 1 Pilot and Episode 22 Devil’s Trap, Season 15 (2020), Episode 1 Back and to the Future, and Episode 20 Carry On. The results show that Dean tends to use commands frequently and directly, reflecting an authoritative masculinity, but gradually reveals emotionality in the later period; Sam uses commands less frequently in the early period, but gradually increases his use as the plot develops, reflecting a more cooperative and caring masculinity. The study found that both languages changed later on, revealing the diversity and fluidity of male identities in popular culture, which are constantly being constructed and reconstructed by society.