Fandom Overview: Teen Wolf

[christycorr]

Hello! I'm Chris, and I'm your Teen Wolf crack_van driver for November!

If you have yet to be introduced to the cracky wonders of TW, I hope you'll give this post a chance to be your gateway drug! In the past few months, as Teen Wolf took over pretty much every corner of fandom ever with rather startling speed, you may have read people rhapsodising about the wonders of one Stiles Stilinski, or perhaps heard people commenting on the actual possibility of a slash ship going canon for the first time ever omg!.

Mostly, if you're not into Teen Wolf, you're probably wondering why on earth so many people are obsessing over an MTV show about werewolves. (From what I can gather, this comic accurately describes every single Teen Wolf fan's spiraling descent into teen-wolf-dom. It's uncanny.)



To start off, let me just say that there is no way I can hope to outdo the utter brilliance that is hellotailor's Teen Wolf primer, so you should totally give up on this overview and go read that instead.

[warning: spoilers for seasons one and two of Teen Wolf]

Summary:

Teen Wolf, in canon, is mostly about a teenager named Scott McCall who is bitten by a werewolf and has to come to terms with his new powers, with the help of his genre-savvy human best friend Stiles. There is one other werewolf in town, the ~mysterious Derek Hale, who helps Scott when the mood strikes him—but mostly just growls at Scott and Stiles for a variety of reasons. Scott falls in love with new-girl-in-school Allison Argent, who, (initially) unbeknownst to both of them, comes from a long line of werewolf hunters.

Teen Wolf, in fanon, is mostly about Stiles being awesome and Derek being growly. They somehow end up having sex and/or pining epically for each other and/or mating for life. As one does. Scott may show up occasionally. (There is non-Derek/Stiles fic out there, but at this point they are still relatively few—unfortunate, really, because there are so many other awesome characters in the show!)

If you've only ever read TW fic without ever watching the show, the show's focus on Scott can be downright befuddling. If you want to watch an episode to get a feel of what the show is like, I strongly recommend bypassing the first few episodes and jumping straight to episode 104 (this link only works in the US, but it's a very easy show to obtain via, ahem, less-than-legal means). The show has underwhelming special effects, pretty awkward dialogue at times, and not-even-close-to-stellar plots—but somehow, it's very, very addictive.

Main characters:

1. Scott McCall

Scott being Scott. (source)

Scott McCall is, you know, not all that bright, not all that awesome, not all that popular, nothing much, really—just a totally regular teenager until he's bitten by a werewolf. Luckily for him, his childhood best friend Stiles is all over that, and uses the Power of Google to help Scott throughout the mess that ensues.

Scott is desperately in love with Allison Argent, which, considering her family's penchant for exterminating those of the growly persuasion, makes from some seriously awkward meet-the-inlaws dinners.

He also loves: his mother (the awesome nurse Melissa McCall), playing lacrosse (lacrosse is a Very Big Deal at Beacon Hills High—don't ask), and animals (he works at a vet clinic—Deaton, see below, is his boss).


Scott in full werewolf regalia. (source)

Despite the fact that werewolves are stronger in numbers, Scott isn't all that keen on the idea of joining the local pack, under Derek's leadership; his character arc points more towards him eventually becoming leader of his own pack, which at the moment is pretty much just Stiles and Allison.

2. "Stiles" Stilinski

Stiles. (source)

Stiles is the trusty sidekick, and can always be depended on to provide comic relief and witty banter. He's also Research Guy, and pretty much the only character in the main cast who has shown actual planning skills so far. He's very much the heart of the show. Stiles is the reason a lot of people fall in love with Teen Wolf, and it's not hard to see why: he's loyal and fiercely protective of the people he loves; he's hilarious; he's clever; he's observant; he's resourceful.

Because of these qualities, fanon quite often has Stiles in the role of "human pack mom" in a hypothetical future where Derek's pack is somewhat functional and not a loosely-gathered bunch of misfits. He would clearly be brilliant at glueing them all together, and boy, are they in dire need of that. But I disgress.

Family-wise, Stiles lost his mother when he was younger, which is a source of a lot of angst for both him and his father. Stiles's father, the town Sheriff, is amazing. More on him below.

Stiles has had a crush on the amazing, brilliant Lydia Martin for many, many years. He's all kinds of adorable about it. Lydia has mostly ignored Stiles up until the series started, but they're now starting to inch towards friendship.

Stiles has ADHD, and while the show doesn't deal with it well—it's basically just played for laughs—fandom has produced some interesting meta on the subject, such as this.

We don't actually know Stiles' real first name—even his father just calls him "Stiles."

Stiles is thoroughly human, and refused to take the bite when offered.

3. Derek Hale

How to make friends and win over allies, by Derek Hale. (source)

Derek Hale is a born werewolf. He's broody, lurk-happy, quick to resort to physical intimidation, and seems to believe that social niceties are things that happen to other people. (If you're about to start delving into Teen Wolf fanfiction, be prepared to read the "raised by wolves, literally" pun a lot of times. Like, a lot.) In his defence, his entire family was slaughtered six years ago by Kate Argent, a ruthless hunter who seduced teenage!Derek in order to gain access to his family home and set it on fire. Needless to say, this left him with a truckload of issues.

In the pilot, Derek's sister Laura shows up murdered. Stiles and Scott actually get Derek arrested for that crime, because Derek? Cannot catch a break. Ever. Shortly thereafter, Kate Argent comes back to town, and kidnaps Derek to torture him. His life is the absolute worst, seriously. From what we can gather, Derek actually lives in the burnt-out shell of his childhood home, because bless this show, subtlety is not its forte.

Scott getting turned and being generally both useless and stubborn about it is yet another constant source of woe in Derek's very tragic life. Scott and Stiles aggravate Derek to no end; they also save his life from time to time.

Derek, like almost every other male main character in Teen Wolf (apart from Stiles), has a serious case of Shirt Allergy. He's also often seen wearing leather jackets, which are his standard lurking attire.

Contrary to what is probably popular belief in Beacon Hills, Derek does, in fact, know how to smile. He even does it this one time to get someone to do something for him!


See also: Derek's "Get in, loser, we're going shopping." look. (source)

Most of the time, though, his facial expressions range from "angry" to "extremely annoyed," with some serious eyebrow action, with bonus werewolf!glowy eyes.

Since the season one finale, Derek is the alpha (leader) of the Beacon Hills pack. (This means that he can, and did, bite humans to transform them, to strenghthen the pack.) He's...not very good at it.

4. Allison Argent

Allison/Bow OTP! (source)

Allison is a badass archer who comes from a long line of werewolf hunters. She finds out about this legacy during season one, but her character gets significantly developed as more than Scott's tragic love interest in season two.

Her father, Chris, seems to be the only reasonable hunter in the family; her mother Victoria, her aunt Kate and her grandfather Gerard (played by Saul Tigh from Battlestar Galactica!) are all very, very trigger-happy in the worst ways. In theory, the Argents are supposed to mind the family's Code to decide whether to kill a werewolf; in practice, these last three seem fonder of Kate's kill-first-ask-questions-later philosophy, with liberal helpings of torture along the way.

Allison is very torn between her loyalty to her family and her love for Scott, and in late season two—manipulated by her grandfather Gerard—she ended up placing herself very dramatically in the anti-werewolf camp. She's now figuring herself out again. Scott and Allison broke up, but fanon—much like Scott—tends to ignore that.

5. Lydia Martin

Lydia. (source)

Lydia, on the surface, seems to be your average teen show "popular girl." She's gorgeous, she dates the captain of the lacrosse team and whatnot. (Seriously, don't ask about the lacrosse thing.) Most people in school, however, are blissfully unaware that Lydia is in fact an actual genius. She has, among others, major math and language skills, but tries her best to hide this behind a vapid mask.

Due to several events in the show so far, Lydia's popularity has taken a bit of a hit, and it's probable that she'll grow closer to the other main characters as time goes by. Her mental stability was a major issue throughout season two. She was manipulated by the late Peter Hale (see below) in a roundabout yet terrifying way into resurrecting him.

She is in love with Jackson, despite the many ups and downs of their relationship, and recently pretty much managed to single-handedly save him from death-by-inner-lizardness (don't ask) with the Power of Love.

Lydia is human, and immune to the bite.

6. Jackson Whittemore

Jackson being Jackson. (source)

Jackson is a dick. He's very aggressive, and a total jerk to pretty much everyone, up to and including Lydia, despite the fact that he's in love with her. (One notable exception: his best friend Danny, see below.)

At first, Jackson is envious of Scott's new werewolf-powered lacrosse skills, and does his best to find out the guy's secret. Once he does, he's determined to get bitten as well, so that he can be stronger, faster and whatnot. Derek eventually relents and bites him, but it doesn't turn out quite as planned.

See, Jackson has major issues and is seriously emotionally repressed, and in Teen Wolf, sometimes bitten werewolves can take on different shapes if they have unresolved issues. Jackson became a mind-controlled lizard-like monster (called a kanima), and was used by a guy named Matt to exact revenge on several people in Beacon Hills. In the season finale, Jackson came to terms with his issues, with Lydia's help, and became fully realised as a regular werewolf.

There was probably going to be more to Jackson, but the actor who plays him, Colton Haynes, has recently announced that he's leaving the show in season 3. The series' creative team is working on ways to eliminate the plotlines they'd set aside for him so that they can write him off. He still shows up in fic most of the time, though.

7. Isaac Lahey

Isaac. (source)

Isaac is a new werewolf that was turned in season two. His father was extremely abusive (e.g. locking him inside an old freezer as punishment), and Isaac grew up with major issues. He's very kind and loyal. As of the season two finale, he's the only new werewolf that's remained part of Derek's pack.

He and Scott have recently begun growing closer, bonding over lycanthropy and lacrosse, and are sometimes paired in fic.

8. Peter Hale

Peter's eyeroll. (source)

Peter was the only person in the Hale house that survived the fire, but he was badly burnt, and comatose for years. He only managed to recover fully after murdering his niece, Laura, and thus gaining alpha status. He used this new strength to exact revenge on people connected to the Hale fire.

Derek and co. managed to kill him in the season one finale; Derek thus inherited the role of alpha.

With Lydia's help, however, Peter managed to return to life, and somehow managed to hang around as part of Derek's pack. Homicidal tendencies aside, Peter is fun to have around in canon—he's awesomely snarky, and doesn't hesitate to mock Derek's overly-dramatic broody ways.

Other characters

Erica. (source)

Erica Reyes: another new werewolf recently turned by Derek, Erica chose to take the bite to cure her epilepsy. She's since become more confident. She used to have a crush on Stiles. In the season 2 finale, she and Boyd—after being kidnapped and tortured by Gerard Argent—decide to part ways with Derek to find a new pack. They end up running into an invading pack of alpha werewolves; their fate is unknown.


Boyd. (source)

Vernon Boyd: the last of Derek's three new werewolves, Boyd is the most grounded and calm member of pack. He's often portrayed as witty and long-suffering in fic; up until he and Erica left the pack, he was pretty much Derek's right-hand man.


The Sheriff and Stiles. (source)

Sheriff Stilinski: he and Stiles have an amazing, openly caring relationship. They've grown closer since Stiles' mother's death, but it's deeply scarred them both. The Sheriff knows nothing of the supernatural shenanigans that plague Beacon Hills, and it kills Stiles to have to lie to him. (We don't know the Sheriff's first name, either. It's a Stilinski thing, apparently.)


Deaton. (source)

Dr. Alan Deaton: is the Beacon Hills vet and Scott's boss. He's also strangely knowledgeable in supernatural things, and often provides Derek, Scott and Stiles with guidance and information. He seems to be an old friend of the Hales'. No one knows exactly what his deal is.


Danny and Stiles. (source)

Danny Mahealani: Jackson's awesome best friend. He's smart, very tech-savvy, and friendly with Scott and Stiles. He's openly gay, and the show treats this in a very casual way; Beacon Hills apparently exists in an alternate universe where homophobia does not exist.


(If you think you have a good grasp on what everyone looks like, this hilarious fanvid should give you an essential feel for most S1 TW characters. If you don't, what the heck, watch it anyway. You won't regret it :D)

Most common pairings:

1. Derek/Stiles

An infamous scene where Derek and Stiles were paralysed together. (source)

Derek/Stiles (or "Sterek") is by far the most common ship in TW—to the extent that, in Teen Wolf fandom, "rare ship" is basically defined as anything that is not Derek/Stiles.

In canon, despite Derek's general aura of menace and growly intimidation, Stiles always calls him out on his crap. They're gradually establishing mutual trust—well, "gradually" may be pushing it, since they keep saving each other's lives and have been leaning on each other almost instinctively since they met.

Both the Teen Wolf showrunner (Jeff Davis) and the cast enjoy pandering to their slash-loving fans. The show's online presence is very well-managed; they have an active tumblr, they ran a fanfiction contest, and they make tongue-in-cheek promos, and share slashy edited scenes and whatnot. They've indicated that there is a possibility that Derek/Stiles will actually become canon at some point in the future. Needless to say, fans are all kinds of thrilled.

2. Allison/Scott

Scott and Allison. (source)

Allison/Scott is the show's canon OTP. Their love is very tragic, starcrossed and whatnot. They're both ridiculously adorable, but there isn't much actual fic written about them—the ship is often relegated to the background in Derek/Stiles fics.

3. Lydia/Jackson

Lydia and Jackson. (source)

Lydia/Jackson is a very conflicted ship in canon. Jackson's a very difficult guy with serious emotional issues, and after he broke up with Lydia for no good reason, they each tried very hard to act stand-off-ish toward the other, and only recently admitted that they still care for each other. In fanon, sadly, this ship is often just used as a convenient way to pair off characters as background to Derek/Stiles, especially considering Stiles' old crush on Lydia.

Other ships

Scott and Isaac. (source)

Other ships that often make an appearance in TW fic, even if just in the background, are Isaac/Scott, Danny/Jackson, Erica/Boyd, and Danny/Stiles.


Pack dynamics in canon. (source)

The show offers plenty of subtext for pretty much any ship you can think of. There's plenty of threesome/poly/etc. fic out there—the Teen Wolf fandom really loves its puppy piles!


Peter offering Stiles the bite. (source)

Peter/Stiles seems to be the fandom's creepy OTP of choice, with several fics spawning from this one moment in season one where Peter offers Stiles the bite in a somewhat seductive fashion—as opposed to simply biting, which is what Peter did to Scott. (Stiles refused.)

Fandom resources

The Teen Wolf fandom is widely cross-platform—but mostly, it's heavily based in tumblr, AO3 and Twitter. Sure, there are LJ comms, and there's some activity there, but if you're looking to read Teen Wolf fic, you'll inevitably end up on AO3. (Interestingly, there are 7,221 works listed in the AO3 TW tag, whereas there are 4,400 works on ff.net. Feedback stats on TW AO3 fics are unprecedented to a degree that's actually kind of terrifying sometimes.)

General links

Teen Wolf AO3 page

Teen Wolf tumblr tag (see also: the sterek tag)

Teen Wolf at kink_bingo

Teen Wolf Fanlore page

JeffDavis75 — the showrunner's twitter account. Following his replies on twitter, while at times slightly terrifying, is actually a strangely good source of fanart, since people keep tweeting him links.

Newsletters

teenwolf_daily

twnewsletter (inactive)

Communities

teenwolf_mtv

teenwolfkink (kink meme)

teenwolf_slash

teenwolffic

stiles_derek

teenwolf_mpreg

beacon_hills

teenwolf_rpf

teenwolf_beta

teenwolfgen

tw_jackson

jackson_stiles

jacksonscott

derekxjackson

travel_in_packs

Fic finders

teenwolffinders

teenwolfsearch

Big Bangs and ficathons

teenwolfbbang (inactive)

teenwolf_bb

tnwolfsuperbang

twreversebang

tw_holidays

tw_fallharvest

stop_drop_howl

Podfic

teenwolfpodfics

teenwolfpodfics

Teen Wolf audiofic tag

amplificathon's Teen Wolf tag on DW, on LJ

Primers

Teen Wolf 101: An introduction to the eighth wonder of our world by hellotailor

sarahtales's Teen Wolf intro/parody

brownbetty's TW primer

thebrotherswinchester's Derek/Stiles manifesto

Orange and Blue, a color theory Derek/Stiles manifesto

Icons

twmtv20in20

teenwolf_elite

teen_wolf_icons

Recs

The Pinboard /popular/fandom/ page, while not a traditional reclist, is an amazing source of Teen Wolf recs.

aliassmith has a series of great TW rec posts

TeenWolfRecs

swing_set13 has an actual multiship reclist, a rare animal seldom found in the wild in Teen Wolf-dom. Also, a Derek/Stiles reclist.

sterek_recs

aznara_recs's recs

orange_8_hands's recs

Erin's Teen Wolf slash reclist

TW recs GDoc

tumblrs

teenwolf - the official TW tumblr

teenwolfmeta

fyeahteenwolffanart

stereklove

fuckyeahstilesderek

werewolfromance

fuckyeah-teenwolf

(and countless others—seriously, way too many to mention.)

Thank you for the extra links, lillian_raven!

Comments

[bibliokat.livejournal.com]

Great primer! I'm definitely looking forward to your recs:)

THANK YOU for linking that fanvid! I was on tumblr for an hour random searching trying to find it again! ♥

[an-sceal.livejournal.com]

Awesome primer. I'm still puzzled about how I wound up in Teen Wolf fandom. I don't like werewolf stuff. I don't like MTV anymore. I get the motts when shows openly acknowledge fandom. And yet, I CANNOT LOOK AWAY.

I also firmly maintain that Derek Hale's personal motto is: "I am why I can't have nice things."

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

This was great. Thanks so much. I haven't watched the show or read any fic, but If I do, I'm prepared now.

Laurie

[lillian-raven.livejournal.com]

A perfect overview for a not so perfect show which is still wonderful. Also Jeff Davis is a gift. ♥

There are also other
ficathon communities tw_holidays, tw_fallharvest, stop_drop_howl
other bigbangs tnwolfsuperbang, twreversebang
fic/fanart finders teenwolffinders, teenwolfsearch
other pairing communities jackson_stiles, jacksonscott, derekxjackson, derekxjackson, travel_in_packs
character communities tw_jackson
Icons twmtv20in20, teenwolf_elite, teen_wolf_icons
theme communites teenwolf_mpreg, teenwolfkink, beacon_hills, teenwolf_rpf, teenwolf_beta, teenwolfgen
Rec communities sterek_recs
Podfic communities teenwolfpodfics

[liliaeth]

Loved the primer.

I have to admit that the main thing keeping me from getting into the fandom beyond watching the show, is all the focus on Stiles and esp the Stiles/Derek, which is a pairing that just doesn't work for me. (probably in a huge part because I lack interest in Stiles as anything other than Scott's best friend.

[christycorr]

Ah, yeah, that would be a big issue. As the fandom grows, though, other ships are becoming more and more popular—check out the AO3 feed and the Pinboard tag for your ships of choice! I linked to a multi-pairing reclist in there somewhere, too :D

[christycorr]

Oh, thank you so much for these links! (I've added them to the post.) I'm so ridiculously out of touch with LJ TW fandom, it's tragic. ♥!

[christycorr]

Yay! Thank you!

Oh man, I love that video so much. I watched it before watching the show—it was definitely one of the things that lured me over for good. :D

[christycorr]

I also don't like werewolf stuff! Or MTV! I have no idea how this fandom does it.

Agreed! He likes to pretend it's "I'm the alpha. This is why I can't have nice things," but come on, Derek, who do you think you're kidding.

[christycorr]

Woot! I hope you enjoy the recs. :D

[an-sceal.livejournal.com]

Manpain and sarcasm, and possibly the most fucked up characters backstory I've ever seen on tv. Derek Hale is my catnip, and I don't think he'd appreciate knowing that.

And Stiles. I mean, at this point, I would actually watch a show that was just about Stiles flailing.

[ladyoneill.livejournal.com]

This was hilarious! And thank you for the mention of Peter/Stiles, my current OTP of wrongness. As you can see from my icon, I have a problem that way. *g*

[christycorr]

I always wonder if the show's writers really thought this through, because my God, why would you be that cruel to anyone, fictional or no? Sheesh. Poor Derek. I love Stiles, I do, but I'm starting to realise that I may actually love Derek a tiny bit more. I JUST WANT HIM TO SMILE SOMETIMES OKAY.

Well, who wouldn't watch that, really? *grins*

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

I don't actually watch this show, but being on Tumblr makes it a bit impossible not to wonder what on Earth is going on there. So thanks for the overview! Way to answer some questions.

[christycorr]

Peter/Stiles is totally my current OTP of wrongness too! It warms my heart to see so many people sharing my pet creepy OTP. *cuddles ship* *stares at fandom and taps foot waiting for more fic to turn up*

[christycorr]

It really is pretty impossible to avoid TW on tumblr, yeah—even with Tumblr Saviour! On the plus side, though, that leads to awesome misunderstandings like this. *laughs* I'm glad you found the overview useful! :)

[lillian-raven.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to help also shhh, you forget Chris Argent, one of the hottest DILFs ever, in your overview.

I'm also mostly involved in the tumblr fandom except two or three LJ communities. I look forward to see your recs.

[christycorr]

I meant to include Chris—I love Chris! I even set aside the gif for him!—but I was afraid the character list was growing long enough as it was! *laughs*

[hobbes75.livejournal.com]

Great primer! I still don't know how I've gotten so obsessed with this show but I cannot stop reading Derek/Stiles. Looking forward to your recs.

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

I don't mind--it's easy enough to scroll past stuff I don't care about, and all the Sterek business is hilariously awesome, most of the time. Although I have to admit, I was *shocked* when I checked Wikipedia a few weeks ago and learned that there's technically no canon that intentionally supports the ship. It's impressive that it's gained so much traction in spite of that!

(As opposed to say, the other "TW" on Tumblr--Torchwood--which has a canonical M/M relationship that's hinted at for several episodes in the first season without confirming anything...although by the second season they've managed to be snogging and shirtless onscreen, so that was fun.)

[christycorr]

It's kind of unfair to compare canonical innuendo in any show featuring Jack Harkness to any other show ever, though. *laughs* But yes, I kept expecting more canonical base for the ship when I watched it, too—they hardly have any scenes together! People read volumes into every single time they're onscreen together, of course.

I'm very curious to see how awareness of just how huge the whole Sterek thing is on the writers' part—which, as far as I know, dates back to earlier this year, after S2 was filmed, which was when the fandom exploded—will affect S3 episodes. There sure is more fan interaction with TPTB in this fandom than in any other I've ever seen!

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

Okay, best icon I have evereverever seen, ever.

I wasn't really taking Jack and his 51st-century pheromones into account in my comment--I was thinking more in terms of what the creators chose to show. Jack's pretty much an equal-opportunity maker of suggestive comments, so it's really just the scenes where he and Ianto have or resolve actual sexual tension that are of note.

And yeah, for all that Torchwood had some awesome dude-on-dude action, and every main character hooked up with folks of both genders, there was SO much more time dedicated to the straight relationships on the show. I didn't really care about Gwen and Rhys! I found a video that compiled all their shippy scenes together (from s1 and s2), and it was maybe 10 or fifteen minutes long. They got that one shirtless-snogging scene that Gwen interrupts, but just about everything else is implied...whereas the Owen/Diane sequence was borderline porny. (And Burn Gorman is not nearly as attractive as the other two guys.) Sigh.

And that's a non-American show, with an out showrunner and an out lead actor, and with half of the same-sex pairing being the main character of the series. It'd be awesome if MTV could do better. And if they did, I might actually have to follow suit with the rest of Tumblr and actually start watching.

[christycorr]

I love this icon so much!

Yeah, you have a point. Torchwood was such a relief in that respect—after over a decade of fandom, I'm so, so sick of getting queerbaited in every fandom with little to no actual representation. I don't know if I actually believe MTV will do better; it's possible, but I'm not quite as trusting as most other Teen Wolf fans. But! If they do do it, it will be actually amazing to have two canonically bisexual characters on television. /grumpy bi girl who resents the lack of visibility

Well, I'm sure you'll hear via tumblr if it actually ever becomes canon, so you can decide whether to watch it then :)

[christycorr]

I don't know either! And I can't either! This show is craaaaack.

Hope you enjoy them!

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tumblr has the tendency to explode when major canon developments happen in certain shows. I was late watching the first episode of the current season of "Doctor Who" in September and had to stay off the site for several days until I had seen it. It's a special little corner of the internet.

I'm assuming from your icon that you're familiar with the Whedonverse...which isn't actually *that* much better than most American television, but you do get Willow/Tara there. It was almost two seasons before they were allowed to kiss onscreen, but it's there.

I identify as heterosexual, myself, but in this day and age it's such an obvious oversight in terms of representation. Especially in the "genre" world, where many folks involved (both on the production and on the consumption sides) are awesome people who would actively want to see a truly diverse cast of characters. And even then, we mostly just...don't.

[christycorr]

Yeeeah. For example, I watch Sherlock, and I think it's mostly all right—but for the week following 203, I just had to stay away from tumblr. I was so sick of seeing the same posts over and over again!

I am, yes. It is better, though—especially considering it aired in the late 90s. Willow/Tara was huge for gay representation in media! I particularly love the fact that the episode where they did kiss was such a major episode for the show—one of its best, in my opinion.

It is! When there are characters who experience sexual/romantic interaction with men and women, it's pretty much always 1) girls who do it for kicks/to get men off/whatever (there's nothing wrong with that! go them! but this isn't accurate representation, bisexuality is not a fucking party trick) or 2) people who fool around with both before "settling" one way or the other. I think this kind of representation is largely to blame (well, it's a vicious cycle, really) for most people's perception that bisexuals are just "greedy." Ugh.

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

I discovered Sherlock and Tumblr roughly around the same time this spring/summer, so I did miss that madness, at least...I love that place, but it's also a nice reminder that there's always someone nuttier than you are out there.

I've also been confused by this vague trend of content creators making a character queer but not doing anything with it. Not that any character (or person) should be defined by their sexuality, but in a world as (canonically) heteronormative as the Potterverse, and in a story that is to an extent about tolerance and outcasts finding family, it *matters* that Dumbledore is (supposedly) gay. But I don't even recall it being baited in the books, beyond offhand mentions that he was once friends with Grindelwald. It's awesome that JKR intended that to be the case, but why would she leave that fact to "Word of God" canon?

[karaadora.livejournal.com]

Excellent overview! I maintain that MTV should produce some "Teen Wolf Ruined My Life" tshirts, they'd make a killing.

[twigged.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for posting!

[rynne.livejournal.com]

I watched the first episode and thought, "Entertaining, but meh." I keep wondering if I should give it another shot, mostly because of fandom. :p You said start at 1x04 instead?

[just-for-kicks.livejournal.com]

Great primer! I'm always bummed there's not much (if at all) Stiles/Scott fic - I love the besties turn into more trope so much.

[christycorr]

Thank you!

Can't say I've ever read any, to be honest—except for, if memory serves, a random tumblr!fic of gyzym's? Maybe? oh well. Have you read these and these?

[christycorr]

Honestly, fanon >>> canon in absolutely every way. (Well, except that in fanfiction you don't get to see Tyler Hoechlin's face all the time, which is pretty damn tragic.)

I recommend 104, yeah. The show only improves greatly in season two, so you could maybe start with that, if you prefer? But if you don't mind not knowing canon, you can definitely read fanfiction without watching the show—a lot of people do it. I'd mainlined a bazillion TW fics by the time I acknowledged my addiction and figured I might as well watch the damned thing. I found that even early S1 is marginally less cringe-worthy when you already know and care about the characters!

[christycorr]

No problem! Thank you for letting me post early!

[christycorr]

Thank you! And oh man, I'd totally buy that.

[christycorr]

I'm very conflicted about the Dumbledore thing. While it would've been really great to see it in the novels—I mean, yes, it was baited, there was plenty of very unsubtle subtext in DH, both in the narrative of his relationship with Gellert and in Aberforth's bitter rant about Elphias, but it wasn't said outright—I also think that Dumbledore's sexuality is deeply irrelevant to his presence in Harry's life. How much do any of us know about our teachers' sexuality anyway? Especially considering Dumbledore, if I recall correctly, was pretty much celibate after his love for Gellert backfired so spectacularly decades earlier—how would Harry know?

In what context could we have found out about this? The obvious choice, the only way I could really see it happening, would've been Rita's anti-Dumbledore book. That being the case, I'd much rather hear it as Word of God than to have anything horribly homophobic, or Albus' sexual orientation being used as another negative/mockable weapon against him, in print in a Harry Potter book.

I can totally understand why people call JKR cowardly for not having said anything in the books, and I think it would've been amazing to have that as another level of pro-tolerance message in the series, but...I think I kind of get why she didn't do it.

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

I get it, too, but it really did feel like a cop-out to just mention it after the last book was published. I wouldn't call it cowardly, just a bit weak. Your point about Rita's book is definitely right ( as for the rest, I'm assuming you're correct--unlike the earlier books, I only read HBP and DH once, so my knowledge of them isn't encyclopedic).

That being said, there were a few gay teachers at my (private, rather conservative) high school, and everyone pretty much knew even if they were pretty quiet about their personal lifes. I guess it could be different at a magic boarding school in rural Scotland where the professors seem not to have outside lives...but for the amount of time spent on the relevance of Snape's lost love, and the power of love as a magic force throughout the books, surely it could've popped up somewhere.

Honestly, I might've felt differently if she'd mentioned it before the last book came out, too. But that's just me.

[christycorr]

Heh, sorry, I went a bit overboard with the HP canon spillage—I actually haven't reread DH since it came out, either, I'm just a bit too passionate when it comes to Dumbledore. *laughs*

Yeah, you definitely make some excellent points. I would've loved to see it in the books, too, and I'm sure she could've worked it in somewhere if she wanted to. And even if she'd just said it at any point before DH came out, anyone would've read between those lines very, very easily.

[lorax.livejournal.com]

This did a great job as an overview! <3!

[just-for-kicks.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! I've read the tumblr fix and that's it - I tend to read more based on recs then testing out myself!

[chase-acow.livejournal.com]

You are such my hero! The failwolf tumblr made me cry. : )

[an-sceal.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with smiling! Unless you're convinced that any second of happiness is only the precursor to crushing grief and survivor's guilt. Ah, Derek.

Right?

[christycorr]

*siiighs* Poor Derek.

You know, now that I think about it, Derek and Angel would be great brooding buddies. What a guiltfest!

[christycorr]

Thank you! ♥

[christycorr]

That tumblr is the best. :D

[duonoaikouka.livejournal.com]

So, seriously late to the party commentwise. But OMG you are so right about this show being addictive!!! I've devoured both Seasons in the last 3 days and am counting down the days to June for Season 3. :) Your overview is what started the feast and I thank you immensely for that. It's been a real treat and now I can't wait to dive into the glory that is Derek/Stiles. :)