assignment one observations second revised

Observation Assignment Khan 1Site Location: “Supernatural”

Observation One Monday, January 27th, 2014

Time: 9:00pm-9:44pm

Description of Location: The location is mostly set in Jericho, California. Since it is the first episode of the show,

it shows the backstory of the season. It starts off 22 years ago in Lawrence Kansas and then goes into present day, Stanford. After that, when the brothers reunite the story starts to pick up in Jericho, California.

Figured World: A figured world is a community within a world where people follow certain be-haviors and have a common way of communicating with one another.

The figured world that I intend on observing for my assignment is the television series Supernatural, more specifically, the first season. Supernatural is a television show that follows two brothers that hunt ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural beings. Sam Winchester is the younger brother out of the two. He is the one with the empathetic and open mind. On the other hand, Dean Winchester is the older brother out of the two who has a personality of being a bit reckless and narrow minded towards the supernatural creatures. He is the type to “shoot first and ask later” whereas Sam would rather communicate without the use of violence and get on the same level. Season one mostly focuses on the brothers trying to find their father who goes miss-ing on a “hunting trip.” Along the way they encounter various types of creatures which include ghosts, vampires, and spirits. Appropriate behavior within the Supernatural world include saving innocent people that have encountered some sort of supernatural being. They are expected to kill


the supernatural beings to save the lives. For example, in one of the episodes Bloody Mary was terrorizing people who had some sort of deep secret. Dean kills the spirit by showing her own re-flection and smashing the mirror to “kill” her. All supernatural creatures in season one are seen as malevolent and are mandatory to be killed. There is a variety of communication that is within this figured world. That includes cell phones, computers, emails, and more advanced types of communications such as Ouija Boards. The main discourse communities that you expect to find in this series is Good and Evil. Good would include innocent people, Sam and Dean, and anyone

that is not aware of the “other world.” Evil would include all the supernatural creatures, more specifically the ones that harm people. Also, there is a discourse community within the brothers. They somewhat have their own way of speaking to each other. They talk about things that they did as they were kids and how most of the time Dean was more of a father to Sam.

Actors: Actors are individuals who play an important role within the figured world.

As an actor in this figured world, it definitely impacts my observations in a positive way. I feel as if I get a better perspective of what is going on within the television series/figured world. As an actor, you get to empathize with the main characters (Sam and Dean) and their journey to


find their father to get answers for their mother’s death. I have been watching this show since fifth grade, when it first came out so I have a very close connection to the show and the people that are within it. Because of it being one of my all time favorite shows, it helped me construct my observations in a very good manner. I was able to rematch the show that I had grown to love and to maybe learn some new things that I did not grasp beforehand. This was helpful be-cause I had a better perspective and view of the episodes I watched and had the ability to have a keen eye while observing.

Sam Winchester: Senior at Stanford University who is applying for law school. Mother died in his nursery room while he was in there when he was 6 months old. Girlfriend died in the same manner. Younger brother of Dean Winchester. Agrees to go on the road trip with his brother to find their father.

Dean Winchester: Older brother of Sam Winchester. Loyal to his father. Very arrogant and brings humor to the table. Wants to find his father and wants to find the thing that killed his mother. Lives off of credit card scams and other illegal activities.

John Winchester: Father of Sam and Dean. Has gone missing on a hunting trip. Mary Winchester: Mother of Sam and Dean. Died mysteriously when Sam was 6 months

old. Jessica Moore: Sam’s girlfriend. Died in the same manner that Sam’s mother died in.

Artifacts: Artifacts are objects, they can either be physical or emotional, that are highly impor-tant to the actors in the figured world.

Parents: Dean asks Sam for help to help find their father that has gone missing. Mary dy-ing was the cause of them all distancing away. Dan and John want to find what killed Mary, whereas, Sam went off to college to live a normal life.

Literacy: Books, computers, newspapers, etc were used to find a solution to the mysteri-ous death. Helped gain knowledge of local legends and mysterious deaths.

Discourse Communities: Discourse communities are groups that share common goals and inter-ests and have their own type of lexis/vocabulary.

The brothers: The brothers are trying to find John who went missing on a hunting trip and has not been home for days. Sam and Dean have a different way of communicating to each other. There is a lot of sarcastic and witty responses that are spit out from each other to each other

Father and Son: John and Dean are trying to keep the family hunting business and go af-ter what killed Mary. John leaves coordinates behind to Dean for him to know where to look for him.

Literacy Practices: Literacy practices are a way of communicating whether it is verbally or with actions.

John’s Numbers in Diary: John left mysterious numbers in his diary that was messaged out to Dean. They turn out to be coordinates for Dean to goto to find him

Dean’s Code Words: Before Dean got arrested by the cops, he called Sam up and said something in code to let his brother know that he is in trouble.

The Observations:


9:00pm: This is the opening scene which is set 22 years ago in Lawrence, Kansas. It is nighttime and they are showing a family saying their goodnights.

9:05pm: Everyone is sleeping. Sam is crying according to the baby monitor. Mary, the mother is going to the room to see if Sam is okay. She “sees” her husband’s silhouette in the baby room. She goes downstairs because the television is on and the lights are flickering. She gasps and sees her husband, John, sleeping on the couch. Mary rushes upstairs yelling out Sam’s name. She screams and the shot is turned to John waking up downstairs. He races upstairs yelling her name out. He sees Sam is still in his baby crib, safe and sound. There is drop of blood next to his head, more is dripping on his hand. He looks up and sees Mary on the ceiling, blood falling from her stomach. He screams her name fearfully and suddenly Mary goes up in flames.

9:10pm: John takes Sammy out of the crib quickly and runs outside the room. Dean comes out of his room and John hands him Sam. “Take your brother outside and don’t look back,” is what he says to Dean and he complies without any hesitation. John goes back into the room to help but the room becomes engulfed with flames. Dean races downstairs and goes outside like his father said to. John makes it outside. The scene ends with the firefighters coming in and it shows John holding Sam and Dean, comforting them.

9:11pm: The scene switches to present day at Stanford University. Sam is shown with his girl-friend at a Halloween party. Scene cuts to them sleeping. Sam wakes up because he hears some-thing. He sees a shadow lurking. He takes a bat and fights the silhouette. Turns out it is his older brother, Dean. He asks what he is doing here. Dean wants to talk to Sam about a family situation. “Dad is on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home for a few days,” Dean says. Dean wants Sam to go on a road trip with him to find John. Sam says he doesn’t want to go. They are talking about hunting “things” and the family obsession to find what killed their mother. Sam wants to live a normal life away from the “family business” but agrees to help his brother. Sam asks what John was hunting and his brother shows him newspaper articles of men vanishing from their cars in Jericho, California on the Centennial Highway. In the past 20 years, 10 have gone missing. Dean makes Sam listen to a voicemail from their father, there is a message hidden within the voicemail and it is of a woman saying, “I can never go home.” Dean convinces Sam to go on the road trip and Sam complies as long as he gets back by Monday for his law school interview.

9:13pm: Scene cuts to Jericho, California. A boy is driving on a road and sees a woman on the side. He offers her a ride home. He asks her where she lives and she tells him, creepily. She asks him if he thinks she is pretty. The scene cuts to him dropping her off to an abandoned house. She says, “I can never go home.” He asks her where she lives and finds the car empty with only him-self. He walks out to see where she went. He freaks out from a bird and rapidly goes back into his car and leaves. He looks in his rearview mirror and sees the woman in white sitting in the backseat. He screams and loses control of the car and ends up taking a turn at a bridge. The scene is cut to show the outside of the car, there is screaming and blood splatters.

9:18pm: Scene cuts to Sam and Dean at the gas station. Sam asks about the credit car scams and insults Dean’s cassette player set. They drive off to Jericho, California. They stop at the bridge because they see uniformed officers. Dean takes out fake US Marshal IDs. They question the po-lice officer to know what the situation is all about.


9:20pm: The brothers talk to the victim’s girlfriend, Amy. Amy’s friend talks about the local legend about the woman in white who was murdered on the Centennial Highway. She hitchhikes and whoever picks her up, disappears forever.

9:22pm: Sam and Dean research the deaths surrounding Centennial Highway. There is an article about a woman who committed suicide after her two children drowned. Constance Welch jumped from the bridge in 1981. The brothers go back on the bridge to find some answers or clues.

9:24pm: They talk about how Sam wants to live a normal life away from the family business. Dean is getting angry over the fact that Sam doesn’t remember Mary and doesn't really care about finding the thing that killed her. Dean turns around and sees Constance standing on top of the bridge railing. She turns around to look at them and falls, they race after her and see no sight of her. Dean’s car is heard in the distance, they look up and are confused because Dean has the keys. The car is trying to run them over and the brothers jump off the bridge.

9:27pm: The brothers book into the hotel that John was in and go into his room. They see that John was trying to solve the puzzle and did solve the puzzle. They go to Constance’s husband’s house to find out where she is buried so they could destroy the corpse in order to remove the spirit.

9:28pm: Dean goes out to eat and sees a police car. They are coming his way with suspicion and Dean hurriedly calls Sam and says something in code. Sam knows something is wrong and he leaves. Dean gets arrested for the impersonation of a US Marshal. He ends up in the interrogation room and fails to comply with the police officers. The police officers hands him John’s journal. The cop asks him what the mysterious numbers mean that are written in the diary. Dean is sur-prised to see them.

9:31pm: Scene cuts to Sam making his way to Constance’s husband’s house. He asks Welch about what happened back in 1981. Sam makes out to believe that Welch was unfaithful and that is why his wife killed her kids and then herself which then makes her out to be the woman in white who kills unfaithful men. Welch gets angry and tells Sam to get off the property and never come back.

9:34pm: Scene cuts to Dean in the interrogation room. The cop comes in to tell the sheriff about shots being fired and that it is an emergence call. Dean is left alone yet again and he manages to escape by picking the locks with a paperclip. Sam is driving to the abandoned Welch house where Constance is buried. Sam and Dean are on the phone with each other and Dean tells his brother about the numbers John left for them, they are coordinates and they must follow the co-ordinates. The woman in white appears suddenly in front of Sam’s car and he drives right through her. The woman in white is now in the car with Sam and asks if he can take her home. Sam says no and she takes control of the car and drives it to the designated location.


9:39pm: They reach the house and Constance says, “I can never go home.” Sam realizes that she is afraid to enter and Constance tries to make him unfaithful. She starts to fight him and shows her true face, very ugly and monstrous. Dean shoots Constance and gives Sam enough time to hit the gas pedal and accelerate the car into the house. Constance’s two children show up and take their mother’s hand and they disappear into the puddle of water that is on the floor.

9:44pm: Scene cuts to Sam and Dean figuring out where their dad is supposedly. Sam ends up going back home and feels content. Sam lies on the bed and drops of blood come onto his face. He opens his eyes and sees his girlfriend up on the ceiling, just like his mother was, and bursts into flames. Dean comes to the rescue and takes him out of the house. Sam and Dean pack up and it is shown that Sam complies with Dean on the trip to find their father.

Observation Two Friday, January 31st, 2014

Time: 8:00pm-8:44pm

Description of Location: The majority of the location was set in Blackwater Ridge, Lost Creek, Colorado in a re-

mote forest. In the beginning, however, the location was set in Palo Alto, California where the brothers spent a week searching for the thing that murdered Jessica. After the desperate search for the killer, the brothers set out to Blackwater Ridge, the destination their father wrote in coor-dinates.

8:00pm: It starts out in a forest in Blackwater Ridge, Lost Creek, Colorado. There are two tents and in one of them are two friends playing a video game. In the other tent, one of them is record-ing a video to a girl named Haley telling her that everything is okay and he will talk to her to-morrow. In the tent with the gamers, one of them goes outside because “nature’s calling.” As he stands outside, he hears something in the darkness. He looks up and screams.

8:03pm: The scene cuts to the other friends turning around and becoming alert of the scream. One of them goes outside and is taken away while screaming. The last guy is seen sitting in his tent seeing the “monster” take rounds around the tent. Everything goes quiet and he screams be-cause the tent is ripped apart by a claw.


8:05pm: Scene cuts to Palo Alto, California where Sam is walking towards Jessica’s grave with flowers. He is seen crying and feeling guilty about what happened. As he puts the flowers down a hand grabs him abruptly and Sam is seen waking up in the car making it show as if it were a dream. Dean asks him if he is okay and if it was another nightmare. The brothers head to Black-water Ridge, believing that John, their father, will be there.

8:07pm: They reach at the ranger station and are assumed friends of Haley, the sister of one of the men that went missing. The brothers set out to go talk to Haley to get some answers and she shows them a video of Tommy recorded while being at the campsite. As she shows them the video, Sam sees a shadow behind Tommy. Haley tells them that she and her other brother will head out to the forest to find their lost brother.

8:11pm: The brothers are in a bar and are researching what is going on. Sam finds out that there is someone who survived the attack previously and set out to meet the man, Mr. Shaw, to get some answers. Sam asks what the man saw and he answered with, “Nothing.” Furthermore, he said that it was not a grizzly bear or an animal, but a creature who had the capability to unlock the cabin door and “moved like lightning.”

8:15pm: The brothers tag along with Haley, her brother, and tour guide Roy, to help find the creature and Tommy. Scene cuts to Tommy being hanged in a cave with blood all over him. There is another person with him as well and the creature comes toward him. Sounds of blood gushing is heard and Tommy turns away in fear without making a sound.

8:17pm: Haley starts asking the brothers who they are since they weren’t rangers. Dean tells her the honest truth and carry on with the hike. They reach the camp and see that the tents have been


ripped apart with blood splatters. Haley screams out her brother’s name but no reply Dean finds out the bodies were dragged from the campsite but the trail stops mysteriously. Haley finds Tommy’s phone, which is completely trashed. They hear screams for help and run towards the sound of the scream but there is no one in sight. Sam tells them to go back to the campsite and see that all their packs have been taken away.

8:22pm: Same takes Dean to the side and wants to see their father’s journal. Sam finds out what the creature is, Wendigo. Sam tells the others to leave and Roy keeps on saying no. Haley tells them to stop fighting and says she will not leave without Tommy. Dean says that they all need to settle in and protect themselves.

8:24pm: The scene cuts to nighttime where Dean draws Anasazi symbols for protection which will not make the Wendigo step in that territory. Dean and Sam start talking about their father. Sam wants to leave this hunt and go search for John. Dean tells him that their father wants them to pick up where he left off, “saving people and hunting things, the family business.” Dean says to have patience and things will fall right into place.

8:28pm: As Sam and Dean talk, they hear cries for help and go back towards the campsite where the rest are. Dean says to stay within the symbols but Roy sets out to kill Wendigo. As he says that he found what it is, Wendigo grabs him from the top and does not come back to site.

8:29pm: It is morning and Roy is not to be seen or heard of. The brothers explain what Wendigo is to Haley and her brother. They tell them how it used to be a human but became something else when it was forced to eat humans to survive. In order to kill it, it must be torched. They realize that when Wendigos hibernate they like to store live food. As they are walking toward a bloody trail, they hear Wendigo and Roy’s body falls from the trees. Haley and Dean are captured by the creature while Sam and the brother try to find them. They follow a trail of M&M’s, which Dean was eating earlier.

8:34pm: Sam and the brother find an abandoned mine and eventually find Dean and Haley. They are hanging in the same manner as Tommy, from a ceiling. They cut them loose and Dean asks where the creature is. Haley goes toward Tommy thinking that he is dead, but he is very much alive. They find flare guns and calls the creature to draw it away while the siblings run away. Sam is followed by the Wendigo and is cornered. He tries to shoot is but he misses. As they are all cornered, Dean comes to the rescue and shoots it in the chest. Wendigo is bursting into flames and dies.

8:40pm: Scene cuts to the ranger station and the group is questioned, where they fabricate the story and say they were attacked by a bear. Haley and Dean talk, where she thanks him. Dean talks about how much he hates camping to lighten up the mood but later on says that they will find their father. The brothers drive off and the episode ends.

Observation Three Monday, February 3rd, 2014

Time: 6:00pm-6:44pm


Description of Location: The episode sets place in Lawrence, Kansas. It is the town that the brothers used to live in when they were young with their parents. Furthermore, the majority of the episode sets place in the brothers’ childhood house.

6:00pm: It starts out at a house in Lawrence, Kansas. A woman, Jenny, is looking at her wed-ding picture and is interrupted by her daughter who says that there is something in the closet. She goes upstairs and tells her that there is nothing in the closet. She tucks her daughter into bed and the daughter says that she does not like the house. The mother calms her down by saying that she is just not used to it as of yet. The mother puts the chair in front of the closet and goes back downstairs to unpack. She hears a creaking sound and says that it is rats and goes down into the basement to find the rodents. The daughter sees that the chair is moving by itself making it open the closet. The scene cuts back to Jenny finding a trunk full of pictures of the Winchester family. Scene cuts back to the daughter and the closet is opening on its own. The daughter, Sari, screams as she sees fire coming out of the closet. Jenny is seen banging on the window screaming for help and the scene cuts immediately to Sam waking up startled.

6:05pm: The brothers are in a motel and Dean is trying to find a new hunting job while Sam is drawing a tree. He realizes that he has seen the tree before and finds a picture of the family with the same tree behind them. Sam says that they need to go back to Kansas and Dean asks why. Sam tells him that he gets nightmares and they usually come true. He tells Dean about how he had a nightmare about Jessica and how she died prior to her death. Dean doesn’t want to go back to Kansas especially since he swore that he would never go back there. Sam convinces him that it is necessary to go and he complies.

6:08pm: Scene cuts to the brothers driving to Lawrence, Kansas. They knock on the door and ask Jenny if they could come in and just see how the place is. Jenny introduces them to her two children, Sari and Richie. Sam asks how she likes the house so far. Jenny tells them about flick-ering lights, sinks are backed up, rats are in the basement. Dean asks if she actually saw the rats and she says no, she only heard scratching. Sari tells Jenny to tell the brothers about the thing in the closet and the figure made of fire.

6:11pm: Scene cuts to the brothers arguing outside. Sam wants the family to get out of the house and Dean says how are they supposed to tell them the truth. Sam asks him about what happened 22 years ago and what Dean remembers from that night. Sam says that they need to figure out what the thing is and if it is the same thing from the past. They need to approach it just like any other case. Dean says that he has to goto the bathroom and goes to the side and calls his father. It goes straight to voicemail and Dean leaves a message telling John about the situation in Lawrence and asks for his help while showing some tears.

6:15pm: Scene cuts back to the house where Jenny calls in a plumber due to the sink being backed up. While fixing the sinks, the toy monkey starts making nose, banging its cymbals. It stops mysteriously The plumber puts his hand into the garbage disposal after seeing that it is not working and it mysteriously turns on again, shredding his hand in the process.

6:17pm: The brothers go the a garage to talk to one of their father’s friend, Mike, who co-owned the garage with him. Sam asks how his father was after the fire and Mike tells them that it got


worse and worse. He said that John started reading strange books and visited every psychic in town. Sam searches through the phone book for psychics and a name rings a bell with Dean. Missouri is one of the psychics that John would go to and they set out to Missouri’s. She recog-nizes them and knows about Jessica’s death and John’s disappearance, especially after she held Sam’s hand. Sam asks about their father and Missouri told them how she felt a strange and evil feeling in the house when John took her there.

6:22pm: Scene cuts to the house and Jenny is on the phone with the plumbing company. Richie is shown in his playpen and something mysteriously opened the gate. The fridge opens and Richie walks towards it to get his cup. He ends up sitting in the fridge and the door closes abruptly. Jenny comes back and starts freaking out yelling out her son’s name. She sees that the milk is leaking from the fridge and opens to see Richie inside. The brothers come back with Mis-souri and she tells Jenny about how she knows there is something inside the house. She explains to Jenny that they can help her get rid of whatever is in the house. Missouri walks around the house and feels two presences but neither are responsible for the death of their mother. The brothers ask what is in the house and she tells them the presences within the house is a polter-geist. She cannot tell what the other presence is as of yet. Dean asks how to stop it. Missouri cre-ates bags that will help purify the house.

6:28pm: Missouri makes the family to go somewhere while they purify the house. They start putting in the bags inside the walls. As they all try to put in the bags, strange occurrences are happening. The poltergeist starts fighting back violently. Sam is being choked with the lamp cord and Dean has a knife thrown towards him in the kitchen. Dean goes to Sam and cannot take the cord off. He puts the bag inside the wall and the cord is no longer choking Sam. After that being done, Sam asks Missouri if she is sure it is over. She says yes and says that the house is safe. The trio leave the house and are thanked by Jenny. Sam is still unsure about whether it is safe or not. The brothers sit outside the house and watch the house. Jenny is seen in bed and it shaking. Jenny is seen in the window screaming, just like how Sam saw in his nightmare. They rush into the house. Sari is in her room and the figure of fire is coming towards her. Sam comes and grabs her and Ritchie.

6:35pm: Sam tells Sari and Ritchie to go outside and not look back. As Sam says this, he is dragged back into the home. The main entrance closes. Dean takes his guns from the back and runs into the house to save his brother. He breaks open the door with an axe. Sam keeps getting pushed and pinned to the wall. The figure of fire comes towards Sam and Dean is about to shoot it. Sam says not to shoot and sees that it is Mary, their mother. She looks at Dean and says his name and then goes toward Sam and says, “I’m sorry.” Sam seems confused and asks for what. Mary looks at him and turns away. She looks up at the ceiling and tells the other presence to get out of the house. She disappears in a ball of flame. The brothers look at each other and know it is over for good.

6:39pm: Dean is shown looking at the childhood pictures. Jenny and her children return to the house. Sam and Missouri sit down on the steps and Missouri tells him that Mary was protecting the brothers from the poltergeist. Missouri apologizes and says that Sam could sense the pres-ence but does not have any answers on how and what is going on with him.


6:44pm: Missouri goes back to her home and talks about how she could not understand how Sam could not sense that his father was there. John is finally shown and he is asked on why he doesn’t just talk to his children. He says that he can’t, at least not yet. The scene cuts out.

In- ter-view


(Note: The interview that is taking place is given to Sam Winchester, a character on the show. The answers that are recorded portray how he is shown in the series and how he would an-swer to them)

Q1. How is your relationship with your brother, especially after the road trips you are tak-ing with him to find your father?In the beginning, I sort of resented my brother for forcing his way back into my life especially when I told him and my father that I did not want anything to do with the family business. After the first road trip we took to find where Dad was, we did somewhat rekindle our relationship es-pecially since I want to find my dad so he can give me answers on what killed my mom and my girlfriend. All in all, I have to say that my brother looks out for me constantly. Despite his rowdi-ness and stubbornness, he really does want the best for me and since he needs help finding dad, I sure as hell should help him. Q2. Tell me about the death of your girlfriend. Explain the coincidence of how she died the same way your mother did when you were a kid. After coming back from the road trip with Dean, I was contently laying in bed waiting for Jess to come back. I felt something dripping upon my face and when I opened my eyes, I saw my girl-friend pinned to the ceiling with blood all over her. To make things more worse, she bursted into flames which left me screaming for her and Dean coming back in to help me out of there. There is no coincidence of how she died the same way my mother did. I know for a fact that it is the same person that killed my mom. I am in the search for that person and to find out what killed my girlfriend. It cannot be a coincidence that Jess died in the same manner that my mom did when I was 6 months old.

Q3. How does going on this road trip with your brother change things for your overall life considering you have to leave law school and your friends? Going on this roadtrip means that I need to cut ties with everyone that I ever associated with. Which means that I cannot talk to my friends and colleagues at Stanford. My life only consists of my brother, my dad, and the search for find Jess’s killer. I have no time to think about my nor-mal life, it is all gone.

Q4. What type of relationship do you have with your father? Give me an example of the hardships you faced with him growing up. The relationship I have with my father is not much of a father/son relationship that I always wanted. He was never there for me and he got pissed when I left the family business to goto col-lege. He wasn’t much of a father type regardless. When I was younger, I told him how I was scared about the monsters under my bed. And what did he say to me? Not something a normal father would say or do, he ended up giving me a revolver and to shoot whatever it was under my bed if I ever saw it. He took away my childhood as well as my innocence.

Q5. During the course of the road trip, you are always opposed of the ideas your brother presents. Give me an example of how you are different from you brother and father.Dean and my father are very much alike. They are more of the “shoot first, ask later” kinds of people whereas I would rather communicate with whatever it is and then logically find a solu-tion. Aside from the differences in “hunting”, I always wanted to have a normal life. And be-cause of that, I left the family business and did not want anything to do with it and started my


normal life when I went to college. Away from anything supernatural and abnormal to say the least.

assignment one observations second revised

Documents