Supernatural

I was excited about exploring the cross imagery right from the first airing of the ep but got sidetracked posting about angels, shoulders, and Anna. By now other people have done some good thinking and writing about it – especially the opening flashback. A lot of us noticed how the camera and shadows of Sam at the crossroads in 4.09 “I Know What You Did Last Summer” echoed Dean after crawling from his grave in 4.01 “Lazarus Rising.”  Weesta took it a step further and gathered images from each of the crossroads visits the boys have made throughout the series.  In the comments there, I dropped off this shot of Sam. His arms are spread wide and behind him the signpost has taken on a cross form. Of course, Sam is drunk and desperate and broken.  *hooded jacket alert!* The off-kilter-ness of the cross reminds us of how unworkable such a deal would be. Every time I look again at this shot, I love it a little more than before.

Naturally with a church setting we expect to get crosses. Anna draws them while hospitalized. I picked the wide shot of the church exterior looking for the purple window, but we can’t see the top of either tower where it would belong. I guess we’ll say it’s on the side of the building where the ground is soft and spongy. (Not cross related, and not to get all metaphorical, but how perfect is it that this church has two separate, matched towers joined at the foundation? The rose window between works, too! (hearseeno‘s journal entry)

When the boys enter the attic, the cross in the window can be seen. The angel window – with the cross in its banner – is dark. Just before the boys do their leaping thing, the angel window acquires some backlighting I can’t explain. Symbolically, it’s as though the angel is encouraging and protecting our boys, though, don’t you think?

Both Dean and Anna spend time framed against this purple window, but Sam is the only one shot (as he faces Alastair) from an angle to show us the crossbar and design above it – what I think of as its crown/halo. I know Sam is tall, but surely if they’d wanted to frame anyone else that way, it would have happened.

I can’t resist making another Anna note since she has clearly fascinated me. The doctor talks about the medical explanation that Anna’s schizophrenic delusions have taken a religious twist due to her father’s position and influence. Sounds a lot like the official take on the Winchesters, doesn’t it?  Then, after her escape from the hospital, Anna doesn’t choose to contact her parents. If I’m running with the idea of Anna = Dean, I think she doesn’t go to them because Dean can’t go to his. Anna’s parents had to die, and she had to grieve though not allowed the circumstances to do that properly. edit: OH! MY! – I just realized “Anna” is the other half of “Deanna” – the grandmother Dean met in 4.03 In The Beginning. I’m taking the ‘wild’ off of any further speculations about Anna (and all of S4?) being an alter ego of Dean  – and some real part of Dean’s healing and I don’t mean in some oh, the monsters always parallel the Winchesters way.

Off topic, but have we seen either of the boys thrown down stairs before? How big of a stretch is is to notice that the boys often use ‘downstairs’ as a euphemism for hell?

I’m going ahead and posting this now so I can make myself focus on real life work but plan to come back this evening when I have the ability to edit in a couple more images and links.  ~ done!

Tags: 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer, Anna, crosses