Table of Contents

Introduction—Unpacking Supernatural: What’s in the Box? (Lisa Macklem and Dominick Grace)
Part One: “As meta as meta gets”
The Reality of Text Is Manifold: Performances of Writerliness
in Supernatural’s “The Real Ghostbusters” (Stella Castelli)
“I so miss being an atheist”: God, the Darkness and the Show
That Wouldn’t Die (Erin M. Giannini)
“There is no singing in ‘Supernatural’!” The Meta as Narrative
Device (Stephanie A. Graves)
Part Two: “A cruel, cruel, capricious god”
God Is Dead and the Death of the Author: Theorizing Divine
Absence in Supernatural Season Five (Kwasu David Tembo)
The Author, the Audience and the Almighty: Supernatural’s
Chuck Shurley as Metatextual Mirror (Eden Lee Lackner)
“You don’t have to be a monster. You have a choice”:
Supernatural, Free Will and the Deterministic Concept of Monstrosity
(Annika Gonnermann)
Part Three: “Our lives are not for public consumption”
“Where’s the pie?” Nostalgic and Apocalyptic Foodways
in Supernatural (Kelli Wilhelm)
A Cicatricial Romance: Metanarrative, the Textual Wound
and a Grotesque View in Supernatural (Linda Howell)
“I have my version and you have yours”: Folklore, Narrative
and the (Re)Telling of Supernatural (Kari Sawden)
Part Four: Breaking Out of the
“Why are you the boy who hates Christmas?” “A Very
Supernatural Christmas” as Nostalgic Holiday Special (Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.)
Strap In for the Scariest Hour in the History of Television:
“Ghostfacers” as Parody of Paranormal Investigative Show (Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.)
Not All Monsters Are Universal: Gothic Parody in “Monster
Movie” (Khara Lukancic)
Pamela Barnes as Pastiche: Supernatural’s Rock Muse
and Blind Seer (Kathleen Potts)
Appendix One: Episodes Cited
Appendix Two: Main and Major Characters
About the Contributors
Index

About the Author

Lisa Macklem has been writing about Supernatural since the first season. Her main research area is in copyright law and its intersection with the entertainment and media industry and how that industry influences access to culture and users’ rights, including fans. She was recently cited in the Canadian government’s review of its Copyright Statute. She lives in London, Ontario, Canada. Dominick Grace, a professor of English at Brescia University College, has published numerous articles on subjects ranging from medieval and early modern literature to contemporary popular culture. He lives in London, Ontario, Canada.