#say what you will about Scott but for all his flaws. Toxic masculinity is not one of them. He cries/fake cries several times during roti

[i-wanna-show-you-off]

tdroti except when Scott gets eliminated he does not take it well. He doesn’t go “oh haha Zoey good job” no. He breaks down in front of Chris when he gets to the catapult (bc he sees fang or whatever) and begs him to let him stay

he’s like “PLEA SE DONT MAKE ME GO HOME” and Chris is like “wtf” and chef just looks mildly uncomfortable

chef’s like “I kind of feel bad even though he’s awful” and Chris is like “I have to send him home I have to get my revenge”

the other contestants hear him bawling from the campfire or whatever and they all just sit there in silence

then lightning nervously smiles and goes “do you think maybe he’s a little sad”

[ardenttheories]

Homestuck's always been antagonistic and insensitive, but I don't recall seeing any of you try to dox Hussie? But please, continue to rationalise how cyberbullying lgbt people for not being nice enough and having opinions about a fictional character you disagree with puts you in the right. A story doesn't go the way you'd like and this is how you respond? You COULD have just not bothered reading it instead of CHOOSING to make your online life about something you hate like a toxic weirdo.

Hi, Kate. I’m so glad you could find my blog. (Edit: that was a joke. Apparently, some anons find it impossible to tell that I don’t actually think you’re Kate). It’s clear to me that you didn’t take the time to read through any of the content that’s actually on here, since you’re throwing around rather wild accusations, so let me take this down step by step.

Homestuck has only rarely been antagonistic and insensitive. Things like the Alpha Trolls - which were clear criticisms of fandom culture - were relatively few and far between, and when we complained about them, they actually stopped. Remind me, for instance, how relevant the Alpha Trolls were to the plot? How long they stayed as mockeries towards the fandom? Yeah, not long. I actually have talked about this before on the blog - alongside other things I thought were negative towards the fandom from the original comic - but the difference here is that... in the entirety of Homestuck, these things were outliers and inconsistencies. They stuck out because they were in stark contrast to the otherwise wonderfully handled content Homestuck went over.

For instance, Homesuck is critical of abuse - especially in terms of relationships. We see through a critical lense the shit normalisation of parental abuse can do to a child - with actual talk of triggers and of the mental and emotional scarring left behind, and the complexities of the child’s feelings towards the parent’s death through Dave - and we see how self destructive relationships can be, how harmful they are, and how hard it can be to leave them - such as Terezi’s very toxic blackrom with Gamzee, which was always portrayed as something negative and harmful especially with how worried Karkat was for her and how withdrawn she became during its run, and Dirk’s relationship with Jake, which goes very much over how communication can cause a deterioration in romantic relationships especially when the two participants have conflicting mental illnesses. 

It also goes over how men, though they can be mired in toxic masculinity, can choose to be good. How sometimes we’re not born as good people, but we can become good people through the love we have for the people around us, through frequent attempts to check what we’re doing, through the sheer willpower to be good. Dirk’s entire arc, knowing that he could very easily become Bro but deciding he doesn’t want to be, that it’s something he wants to work on, is so important and incredibly powerful. Mental illness in men is often just given as an excuse to make them violent with no attempts at betterment - so Dirk actually existed as proof that you don’t have to be that stereotype. 

In contrast, Homestuck^2 completely uncritically gave Jade, who was cis, a dog dick, made her, a bisexual woman, a sex maniac and the yaoi “woman who gets in the way of the gays” trope, made her a cheater and someone who forced her partner into the relationship to begin with, and made her a neglectful mother after having cheated with her best lesbian friend in something that has incredible recall to just about every futanari video ever - and they tried to claim that this was good representation of trans women, actually, and that the only reason we didn’t like it is that Jade is “a woman” who “has sex”.

Likewise completely uncritically, they made Gamzee, an anti-black stereotype, enter a relationship with Jane, a fascist, and then made the entire thing into a cuck joke wherein Jake being frequently drunk and sexually assaulted was funny because he wasn’t “man enough”. They then forced him to go back to his abuser after he left her in a scene that read very much like, “ridiculous man thinks woman is abusing him, go back and do your manly job”. 

This, of course, doesn’t even go into the travesty that is any form of trans representation in the comic. Roxy, a trans man, is barely even focused on as trans; they make no attempt to enforce in the fandom that he’s a trans man the way they do that June is a trans woman, and even then, they seem to think that just saying someone is a trans woman is actually good representation. Not, like, bringing it into the comic - just saying that it’s a thing. And of course, that’s not even going into the completely uncritical lense they have of Vriska, wherein her being a trans woman completely frees her of any and all blame for the past abuses she has comitted, and once again she becomes an amazing character to save the day without a single flaw - which in turn inherently associates trans women with abuse apologism, abusers, and the ideology that just because we’re trans we can get away with anything scott free. 

I honestly cannot think of one instance of good and genuine representation in Homesuck^2, nor can I think of any scene where negative content was actually treated as the negative thing it actually is. There’s no critical lense at all, not like we have in Homestuck; there’s just no fucking comparison. And this isn’t a one-off situation, either. Whereas Homestuck does do fuck ups - isn’t perfect - in between the otherwise brilliant content, Homestuck^2 is just founded upon these horrific takes. There’s almost no good content in between, and what is left is a slog to get through when surrounded by the thick slurry of shit that compromises futa Jade, abuse apologism Vriska, and victim blaming Jake. 

Of course, we didn’t “doxx” Hussie. Hussie actually listened to our complaints, for the most part, and worked with us to create something that worked well. The way Homestuck^2 was touted to work. You know, since it was meant to be written with the fandom in mind, influenced by the things we suggest and react to. We went into Homestuck^2 with the explicit idea that we were going to be listened to and taken into consideration when it was being written - the way we were with old Homestuck. I’m very sorry to say that, when you make these expectations, people are going to be a titchy bit upset when you then commandeer the entire thing and exclude the fandom from any of the process that you said they were going to be part of.

Additionally, it’s rather funny, isn’t it, that what you call doxxing is actually just people upset with how triggering content is being handled, and going to the people who actually wrote the content in order to voice their complaints? It’s almost as if social media exists to allow this communication between reader and author, which is a fundamental thing you’ll learn in any creative writing course, such as the one I’m on currently, wherein you’re actually taught how to respond to social media and to build up your image with your fans. 

Homestuck^2 is an ongoing piece of media. We’re well aware that we have a potential to change these uncritical takes and the horrific way they’re being handled if the writers will just listen to genuine criticism. This is, frankly, no different to the people who go to J. K. Rowling’s Twitter to tell her how harmful her transphobic comments are; because if she believes these things, they will work their way into her texts and will perpetuate harmful ideologies. 

The literal same thing is happening in Homestuck^2 - again, such as futa Jade, which normalises the point of view that bisexuals are cheaters and completely trivialises what it means to be trans, or Gamzee, which perpetuates just about every anti-black stereotype possible. Media does have a very powerful impact on what people see in the real world. This is why, for instance, positive black characters are so important in media; if they’re always portrayed as villains, then people will see real world black people as villains as the ideology is perpetuated to the point of fact. This is especially true if the people already believe in the ideology.

Fiction is one of the best ways that we can counteract this cycle. If you make a character that they like, and they happen to be positive representation, and then they watch more media that is likewise positive representation, it’s more likely to stick that these positive representations are the actual experiences of minority groups. Also? It’s important TO those minority groups. A black person, especially right now, doesn’t want to see an anti-black stereotype fuck a fascist, engage in sexual assult, and then enact pedophilia - only to die at the hands of a hero and be laughed at for the death. Surprisingly, shit like this is why we need to tell the writers that what they’re doing is harmful, that they’re perpetuating phobic ideologies, and that we need better representation - especially in a comic that is this widely read, and also has a very large minor fanbase. 

I shouldn’t need to explain why exposing minors to anti-black stereotypes, transphobic, homophobic, biphobic, abuse apologism, victim blaming, and the trivialisation of rape and sexual assault (especially towards men), might be a federal fucking issue. 

So, no, we’re not actually cyberbullying LGBT+ people. We’re trying to hold shitty writers accountable for the incredibly toxic and harmful ideologies they’re forcing into a text that has always been written with critical thought in mind. 

I should also point out how funny it is that you’re focusing on how some of the writers are LGBT+ - as if we’re not? I’m trans, I’m gay, and I’m ace. Yes, I can actually be these things and absolutely furious that a trans women is writing some of the most transphobic shit I’ve seen in a while into characters she then claims to be completely free of blame. We can be furious that people within our own community are enforcing negative stereotypes.

Being LGBT+ does not make them free from blame. We cannot give them a free pass to be racist, to be transphobic, to be homophobic, biphobic, to be abuse apologists, just because they’re LGBT+. Not only because that’s just a terrible fucking idea to begin with, but because it also reflects so, so badly on the community as a whole. As if being part of the community instantly means that you can do no wrong? As if there can be no toxicity within our own community, despite the fact that there very much is and it is still an issue to this day?

That is such an issue, one of the biggest issues even shown just in Vriska and the way Kate handles her as a whole - and, once again, is WHY we need to get them looking at this shit more critically. This view that LGBT+ people can do no wrong and cannot be criticised is shoved into Homestuck^2 and, once again, perpetuates the ideology. This isn’t something to be proud of. This isn’t something that’s actually okay.

Also, your point that the writers aren’t nice enough and that we disagree on fictional characters - well, I’ve already been over the second part. But for the first part, I would like to remind you that they aren’t just random LGBT+ people on the internet that we’re going to because we think their takes are a little shitty. They’re actual writers working on a piece of media. They are official content creators. 

Again, one of the first things you learn on any creative writing course is that when you become a writer, you gain a significant amount of responsibility for your interactions with the fandom. This is something that you genuinely have to expect, and if you don’t, then, unfortunately you just don’t know what it means to write something that thousands of people have a potential to read. As a writer, it is your responsibility to portray your image online; it is your responsibility to engage with the fans in a meaningful way; it is your responsibility to not cause drama and to listen when criticism is brought up, to have genuine discussion and not to perpetuate hatred - especially towards your own fanbase.

Consider, for instance, the way I’m talking to you right now. This is the sort of tone that someone should take when talking to a fan about genuine criticism. When things are brought up, you go over them step by step, you listen, you write back - you don’t go on a flurry of “fuck yous” to a minor who asked you why your team didn’t post anything about the BLM movement on the official Twitter, and you definitely don’t respond to every comment with genuine criticism with the word “pigshit”. You almost definitely don’t tell your trans masculine and masculine-aligned nonbinary fans that their opinions don’t matter.

As a writer, Kate and the rest of the team have a responsibility with their interactions with their fans. They aren’t just normal fandom voices anymore; they’re official fandom voices, voices that have more weight behind them than anyone else. They’re who people are going to turn to when it comes to anything regarding Homestuck^2. Their words now reflect literally everything about Homestuck^2, the future of Homestuck as an expanded universe, and the opinions of the group as a whole. They have to be careful with what they say. They have to be held to the same standards as industry voices because that’s essentially what they are - especially now that Homestuck is something you pay for. 

Also, this isn’t a point of the story not going the way I want. This is a point of many of people in the fandom being upset with how content is being handled, upset that their voices are being shut down, upset that triggering content is being laughed at or used flippantly and without care or respect. This is people being upset that trigger warnings were removed specifically to make the comic unsafe for them as a punishment for daring to say that something was wrong. This is people being upset that a piece of media that used to be so fucking good at portraying sensitive content in a critical light, that used to be so good at normalising LGBT+ identities and healthy representations of those identities, has suddenly turned to this. 

The story can go whatever way it wants - and frankly, that’s fine be my. What isn’t fine is that content is being used specifically to hurt and to incite.

And, of course, that final piece; nothing will improve if we don’t say that it’s wrong to begin with. Someone needs to voice the complaints of the fanbase, othrewise these toxic ideologies are going to go unchecked. One of the biggest things I’ve come to understand while making these posts is that a significant portion of the fandom feels isolated in their hurt; they don’t think other people feel the same way they do, and several people have mentioned feeling like they were going crazy because they were upset with things that the text and writers are normalising. It’s so important to make sure that these people know they’re not alone. It’s so important to make sure that our voices are heard. It’s so important to try and create critical discussion and debate over something that so many people still fucking love. 

The thing is, I don’t hate Homestuck^2. I actually really, desperately wish I could enjoy it. I wish I could read through it and theorise, could go in depth about how amazing the characters are, could write long and extensive posts on how creative and engaging it is - could even just go on about how interesting the Meat-Candy divide is, and all the points they’re trying to make about canonicity. But I genuinely fucking can’t. There is just so, so much wrong in the text that is completely unrelated to plot and to the overarching Point that makes it impossible for me to read, to want to read, to try to encourage other people to read. They’re things that literally don’t need to be in there, either; stereotypes and toxic ideologies and uncritical or badly handled sensitive topics that could be rectified so, so easily. 

Homestuck^2 could be amazing for a lot of the fandom. It could be something that we all rally around the same way we did for the original comic. For for a lot of people, it has ruined their fandom experience, has ruined their desire to want to read anything more to do with Homestuck, and has caused a significant portion of the fandom to just drop out entirely. That in and of itself should be a sign that this isn’t just a little fandom drama. That this is something much bigger and much more serious that, just maybe, needs to be looked into, talked about, understood - and, potentially, changed. 

[jeanvaljean24601]

How to Watch Mad Men and More Great Shows for Free Right Now

Another day, another brand new streaming platform out there begging you to subscribe to its service so you can ignore your family members and binge-watch a bunch of TV shows and movies in the name of entertainment. This time, it's NBCUniversal's Peacock, which offers a free tier as well as  two premium options (one with ads and one without). The service  features a number of programs for free, including Friday Night Lights and even Parks and Recreation, but Peacock isn't the only place you can stream great shows without breaking the bank.

Below, we've gathered up a number of shows that don't require you to shell out money for Netflix,  Hulu,  Amazon Prime,  Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Peacock, and/or  whatever other streaming service subscriptions are out there. Sometimes you just need a simple freebie. And you know what? You deserve it. So check out the list below and take comfort in knowing it won't cost you a thing.

Watch it on: IMDb TV

Until recently you had to have a Netflix subscription to watch Mad Men, AMC's Emmy-award winning period drama from Matthew Weiner that was dedicated as much to style as it was to substance. The 1960s-set series, which traced the rise and fall of flawed Madison Avenue advertising executive Don Draper (Jon Hamm) through his own complicated relationship with identity, was a pointed commentary on the toxic masculinity, sexism, and racism of the era. It also changed the way we watch and talk about TV. If you haven't seen it yet, now's the perfect time to do so.

The Dick Van Dyke Show

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (complete series)

Realizing  The Dick Van Dyke Show is streaming for free feels a bit like winning a secret lottery or viewing an exceptional piece of art without paying the museum admission fee. The popular comedy, which ran for five seasons, was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke as the head writer of a TV show, while  Mary Tyler Moore portrayed his wife. It's a timeless classic — one that took home 15 Emmys during its run, and if you've yet to experience it, you literally have no excuse at this point.

The Dick Van Dyke Show Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Felicity is best known as the show in which Keri Russell cut her hair (not to be confused with the show in which Keri Russell wore a lot of great wigs, aka The Americans). Depicting Felicity Porter's (Russell) college years and the struggles that accompany trying to figure out who you're supposed to be, the show is also famous for Scott Speedman's whisper-talking and the ongoing battle of Ben (Speedman) vs. Noel (Scott Foley). Although the WB series was previously streaming on Hulu, you can now watch it for free on the ABC app.

A reimagining of the kitschy original series, Syfy's Battlestar Galacticastarred Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, James Callis, and Jamie Bamber and explored the aftermath of a nuclear attack by the Cylons, cybernetic creatures invented by man who evolved and rebelled against their creators. The show was critically acclaimed for the way it tackled the subjects of science, religion, and politics, and for the way it explored the deeply complicated notion of what makes us human. Everything from the miniseries to the two BSG films (Razor and The Plan) is currently available to stream for free on Syfy's website, so there's no better time to watch it. So say we all!

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series), Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (first 13 seasons), YouTube (first 13 seasons)

For many millennials, the fourth series in the Degrassi franchise, Degrassi: The Next Generation, is the defining iteration of the long-running Canadian series. The drama series, which was sometimes so overly dramatic it was actually funny, tackled everything from date rape and suicide to sexual orientation and teen pregnancy. The series, which launched the careers of Drake (then known as Aubrey Graham) and Nina Dobrev, is streaming on multiple free platforms.

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Eli Stone really had it all, which is to say it had Victor Garber singing George Michael songs, Loretta Devine singing George Michael songs, and George Michael singing George Michael songs. What else is there? ABC's offbeat two-season comedy-drama starred a pre-Elementary Jonny Lee Miller as Eli Stone, a high-powered San Francisco lawyer whose brain aneurysm gave him prophetic visions — which usually involved his friends, family, and colleagues breaking into song. Aside from a couple of ill-advised plotlines (the pilot, which suggests vaccines cause autism, is best forgotten), the show was a blast: a weird but memorable cocktail that should have stuck around for more seasons because, as I mentioned, Victor Garber sang George Michael songs. Also, Sigourney Weaver played God?! -Kelly Connolly

Watch it on: YouTube (nearly every episode)

A true Canadian treasure,  The Red Green Show was a long-running comedy starring Steve Smith as Red Green, a handyman who constantly tried to cut corners using duct tape and who had his own cable TV show. It was a parody of home improvement shows and outdoor programs and featured segments like Handyman Corner, Adventures with Bill, and The Possum Lodge Word Game. The show ran for 15 seasons, airing on PBS in the States. 

TV Premiere Date Calendar: Find Out When Your Favorite Shows Are Back

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series), ABC app (complete series)

Critically beloved but struck down before its time,  My So-Called Life has been praised for its realistic and honest portrayal of teenage life, not just via Angela Chase (Claire Danes), but through the show's young supporting cast as well. Now considered to be one of the best shows of all time, it tackled topics like homophobia, homelessness, drug use, and more without ever feeling preachy or like an after-school special. Also, Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto) could lean.

Watch it on: CW Seed (first five seasons), IMDb TV (first five seasons)

If you don't have Netflix but still want to watch  Schitt's Creek, you'll be happy to know you can watch the first five seasons of the heartwarming, Emmy-nominated comedy series, about a wealthy family who loses everything they own except the town of the show's title, for free on CW Seed and IMDb TV.

Dan Levy and Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek Photo: Pop TV

Watch it on: Peacock (complete series); IMDb TV (complete series)

You may never know what it feels like to have Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) be proud of you, but you can pretend by watching all five seasons of  Friday Night Lights, a series that was as much about a Texas community as it was about the sport that united it. By the end of the show, you'll be asking yourself "What Would Riggins Do?" and tattooing "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" on your body, all while chanting "Texas forever!" Trust me, it happens to everybody.

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

It is relatively easy to forget that The CW series The Carrie Diaries was a prequel to  Sex and the City, because the charming show, which lasted just two seasons, was able to stand on its own. The coming-of-age series that followed a teenaged Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) was relatively innocent compared to the original series. The show's 1980s setting made it easier for the writers to focus on more harmless family storylines and teenage heartbreaks, but the show never shied away from the heartstring-tugging drama of young adulthood either. It's a shame the show never got the kind of ratings it deserved and wasn't able to exist beyond Carrie's high school years, but the Season 2 finale works well as a series finale, so viewers won't feel as if the story was left incomplete. android tv box

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

It's a shame Bryan Fuller's saturated dramedy  Pushing Daisies, about a pie-maker (Lee Pace) with the ability to bring the dead back to life, couldn't bring itself back to life after becoming a casualty of the 2007-08 writers' strike. A whimsical delight, the show featured the pie-maker teaming up with a local private eye (Chi McBride) to solve murders by reviving the victims for a brief time. Known for its quirky characters, eccentric visual style, and Jim Dale's pitch-perfect narration, it remains must-see TV.

Watch it on: IMDb TV (first seven seasons); Peacock

Columbo kicked off nearly every episode by revealing the crime and its perpetrator to the audience, which means unlike most crime dramas, the show was less about whodunnit and more about Peter Falk's iconic raincoat-wearing homicide detective catching them and getting them to confess. Oh, and just one more thing: it's great.

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

The charming and playful Forever, which starred Ioan Gruffudd as an immortal medical examiner, was the one show that could have saved ABC's Tuesday at 10 p.m. death slot. But the network still canceled the series anyway, enraging the show's fans, who have never let the sting of its death go. Luckily, it now lives on, ahem, forever (aka until the content license expires) on CW Seed.

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series)

It sounds odd to say The Middle, which ran for nine seasons on ABC, was unfairly overlooked, but it always felt like the series, which followed the middle class Midwestern Heck family, was a bit of a hidden gem. It wasn't as popular with Emmy voters as, say, Modern Family, and critics also failed to give it its due, but it was a real, heartfelt, reliable family comedy with mass appeal, and you can stream it on IMDb TV for free. h96 tv box

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Trophy Wife's short life — it was canceled after just one season — can probably be chalked up to its unfortunate title, which was meant to be ironic but ultimately kept viewers from tuning in and experiencing the warmth of the show and the relationships at its center. Malin Akerman starred as the young wife of  Bradley Whitford's middle-aged lawyer, and the comedy explored the dynamics between the two, his children, and his two ex-wives, who were played by  Marcia Gay Harden and  Michaela Watkins. h96 max x3

Watch it on: NBC app (complete series)

Loosely based on the Biblical story of King David, Kings was a compelling drama before its time. Rudely cut down after just one season by NBC, the show starred Ian McShane as the king of the fictional kingdom of Gilboa, while  Christopher Egan portrayed an idealistic young soldier whose counterpart is David. The show also starred Sebastian Stan, which is reason enough to want to check it out.

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Ray Wise portrays Satan in Reaper, a supernatural dramedy about a slacker (Bret Harrison) who reluctantly becomes a reaper tasked with capturing escaped souls from hell after it's revealed his parents made a deal with the devil many, many years before. The fact the show only lasted two seasons is a crime against humanity. Luckily, you can watch it in its entirety for free on the ABC app. h96 max x3

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series)

A team of experts led by a kooky old scientist (John Noble), his son (Joshua Jackson), and an FBI agent (Anna Torv) investigate strange occurrences around the country, X-Files style, in the J.J. Abrams-produced Fringe. The series is one of the best broadcast science-fiction shows of all time, particularly in its first three seasons, and perfected the art of the serialized procedural by weaving the show's deep mythology and excellent character work into weekly standalone stories, making it easy to binge or watch in spurts. And by the time the end of Season 1 starts, you'll have a hard time stopping. -Tim Surette

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Vudu (complete series)

Although American TV producers would eventually adapt  Being Human, the original British version, which followed three supernatural beings trying to live amongst humans, is far superior. The show, which ran for five seasons, starred Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey, and  Lenora Crichlow as a vampire, werewolf, and ghost, respectively. So skip the U.S. version entirely and watch the U.K. series for free.

Watch it on: Pluto TV (complete series),  Vudu (complete series), Tubi (complete series)

The Australian young adult-oriented series Dance Academy is not exactly what you'd call "great television," but it is great fun. Brimming with teen angst and melodrama, the series, which ran for three seasons and even had a follow-up movie, followed a handful of dancers at Sydney's National Academy of Dance as they trained in the sport they loved while also falling in and out of love with each other. The acting was sometimes questionable, but the series itself was addictive, not to mention one of the easiest binges you'll ever encounter. h96 max tv box

3rd Rock From the Sun

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (complete series), Crackle (all six seasons),  Vudu (all six seasons)

You might think a show about a group of socially awkward, 1,000-year-old aliens in human skin suits who are trying (badly) to pose as a human family and blend into an ordinary Midwest town might sound ridiculous, and, well, that's fair. But  3rd Rock From the Sun was still charming in even its most bizarre moments and gave its cast a lot of room to play up their roles and create an ensemble of weirdos that, at some point or another, start to tap into their newfound humanity and relish their new home here on Earth. -Amanda Bell.

[pass-the-bechdel]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend s02e02 ‘When Will Josh See How Cool I Am?’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, three times.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Three (18.75% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Thirteen.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Episode Quality:

Not great.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Paula and Rebecca pass regarding Paula’s law-school plans, three times.

Female characters:

Rebecca Bunch.

Paula Proctor.

Heather Davis.

Male characters:

Greg Serrano.

Guardrail.

Josh Chan.

Jim.

Darryl Whitefeather.

Tim.

Kevin.

Xiao Huang.

Hector.

White Josh.

Father Brah.

Scott Proctor.

Hubcap.

OTHER NOTES:

“It turns out I had a hormone imbalance.” Shoulda dialled back before this one got transphobic. 

Greg’s buddies being nice and supportive after he tells them about AA is sweet - I’m always here for the dudes being good to other dudes instead of all toxic-masculine about it. 

“I’m sorry, did you just bro-hug the guy who’s sleeping with your ex-girlfriend?” Heather says, and when I say urgh, shut up, I mean I literally said that to the screen. When you got me talkin’ out loud to the tv, you know you’re pissing me off. Don’t do this thing where you pretend that people have claim over what their ex does. Don’t encourage it.

Ping Pong Girl...they are on fire with their songs so far this season.

Chiphunk...I love White Josh. Easy favourite.

Please follow through on actually just being a better person, Greg. I can’t help but feel like they’re kinda...tossing out his old personality and replacing it with something more palatable, delivered on a big ol’ sympathy platter. I’m skeptical about this move (and it reminds me of a less-excessive version of the Mon-El debacle from Supergirl, in which the terrible love interest from season two (heavily derided by fandom) returned a ~changed man~ with none of his old flaws (which previously comprised basically his whole personality), so that the show could continue to beat the dead horse of his supposed romantic potential instead of just committing to the fact that they wrote a shitty character in the first place and no one liked it).

She’s hugging Greg’s sweater while looking forlorn now, huh? Greg, with whom she had some sex but was unsatisfied emotionally during the brief fling they had after months of antagonism? And this is prompted by Rebecca feeling that Josh (who, prior to this episode and especially throughout their not-sleeping-together friendship across last season, has been really thoughtful and kind) is now ‘not treating her well’ by spending a lot of time with his friends instead of investing in the non-relationship full of mutually complicated feelings that he and Rebecca are both struggling to navigate? Ok.

I think it remains obvious at this point that I don’t trust this show to deliver story in good faith; I’m also increasingly concerned about what it considers to be a ‘healthy relationship’ to begin with, because of all the controlling elements and bad communication between partners that appear to be being presented without comment. I really need them to sort out where they stand and start making it consistently obvious, because I’m having a harder time getting into this season than I anticipated, even though I knew exactly what my qualms were going in. 

[dellaliz19]

Ant-Man and the Wasp review: spoilers

So, a little late to the party, but this weekend I saw Marvel’s newest entry to the MCU, Ant-Man and the Wasp...and I loved it! (Rambling ensues now, beware of spoilers).

The superhero genre has gotten, shall we say, very touchily self aware of the danger of superhero fatigue. Some of the latest entries to the genre have felt like they’ve needed to justify their existence, to ramp up the drama and the seriousness of storylines, but Ant-Man and the Wasp is never so phased, which is great. Ant-Man and the Wasp knows exactly what it is from the moment go; a fun, superhero action movie about family.

The family dynamics of the story are the absolute core, and they shine as such. Scott and his daughter are sweet and real, Hank and Hope and Janet are so hopeful and bittersweet and lovely (curse you Thanos!!) and Ava and Bill are touching and strong. I’ve said before that Guardians of the Galaxy was Marvel’s “Fast and Furious IN SPACE,” and Ant-Man and the Wasp makes a great arguement for being “Fast and Furious WITH ALL THE SHRINKING” which just, A+. Sure, there is a little dramatic angst thrown in there, for the momentum, but the movie never sinks into melodrama or action schlock, and rides that wave well.

The character depictions, especially Hope and Hank and Scott are also so amazingly refreshing. Hope Van Dyne as Wasp could have easily have been “Action Girl,” the “strong, badass woman who don’t need no man,” but instead she gets to show real vulnerability, with her father, her mother and Scott, while also kicking ass and taking names. The Wasp is undeniably my favourite female Marvel superhero right now, a crown I think will be hard to take from her.

More so, the way the movie just hardcore dismisses toxic masculinity is so, so important. Scott and Paxton (his ex-wife’s husband) have one of the best on screen ex-husband/new husband dynamics; no macho posturing or feeling threatened, but instead a combined goal to parent Cassie and a real respect for each other. Scott and his ex-wife’s relationship is also so well done; no overdone “shrill harpy of an ex-wife” here; rather we getMaggie passionately defending Scott’s right to privacy because she objects to his treatment and the way it portrays him in front of his daughter which is just so god damn refreshing. Hank, as well, gets softened; he’s still a cranky old man, but it’s touching to see how he was never threatened by his wife’s brilliance, and the sheer depth of that love he has for her. I’ve said it before, the snap in Infinity War didn’t really get me that emotional (because it’s so obviously how and that they’ll undo it) but seriously, after being so freaking invested in getting Janet back to Hank and Hope, to have it end like that, fuck that purple ballsack, for real.

The movie does sort of suffer from the “Marvel villain deficiency” in that it has two villains but also none. Ava Starr, the daughter of a previous work associate of Hank’s who is left with a phasing ability that is killing her, and that black market guy Walter Goggins played (I cannot remember his name) are both technically villains, but neither are truly either. That might bother some people, but it worked well for me; I didn’t need another “moustache twirling guy in version of the heroes super suit,” and Ava’s family driven arc worked well with the driving theme, with Goggins adding some needed momentum and comedic relief.

The movie isn’t without flaws of course; although I give the movie all the props for having characters pay the consequences for their actions (the house arrest thing was actually perfect, and I’d like Civil War to now be referred to as that movie where Ant-Man went to Germany with Captain America to draw on the walls please), the Hank/Ava/Bill tension was especially thin. Hank handwaves away Bill’s accusations that Ava’s condition is somehow his fault as “filling her head with lies” and we never get any deeper, or have any more fallout, than that. It very much feels like the screenwriter wrote NEED AVA TO HAVE PERSONAL VENDETTA AGAINST HANK BUT NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE HANK UNLIKABLE and then just kind of left the outline as the plot. It’s not a deal breaker or anything, but it is undeniably a weak spot that could have been used to add some interesting moral complexity to the story. Janet’s assertion that “I’m not the same woman you knew/this place changed me” was another cliche that was a little on the nose, especially since we, the audience, don’t know who Janet was before. It’s about as subtle as a truck for saving Ava, and I snorted a little out loud at the line, and the cheese inducingness of it.

Still, I truly enjoyed Ant-Man and the Wasp. The new cast, especially Michelle Pfieffer, Hannah John-Kamen and Jimmy Woo all killed it, and the retuning cast were also fantastic. I’d absolutely recommend the movie to anyone whose a Marvel/superhero fan, or even just someone who wants to watch a funny action movie about family (and giant ants) that will make them feel good (AS LONG AS YOU SKIP THE END CREDITS SCENE MARVEL YOU ABSOLUTE BASTARDS). But seriously, 8/10 for me, would definitely watch again!

Some highlights;

- The Micheal Pena “sped up narrated scene” was well down in a way that didn’t make it feel gimmicky

- the hot wheels case I’m dying

- Janet-as-Scott was the greatest and Paul Rudd is seriously an amazingly talented actor because he had Pfieffer’s body mannerisms down

- no but seriously your daddy went to Germany and drew on the walls with Captain America is the greatest thing ever

- Jimmy Woo and the school of close up magic

- the roller suitcase lab absolutely delivers

- Ant-tonio Banderas and “murderers”

- Janet and Hank in the subatomic my heart

- Hank and the would you please stop starring lovingly at each other so we can save my wife and escape from these nice policeman vibe was just absolutely hilarious

- “it is truth serum!”

- “Baba Yaga!!”

- Kid sized Scott and his juice box and string cheese

- Hope frantically trying to save giant Scott and then surfacing with tiny Scott in her palm like he’s the most precious thing ever 😍

[judedeluca]

BTW, not trying to convince you of anything, I haven't read Shazam! and feel... Complicated about Geoff Johns. Is that a sentence? Not a native English speaker.

Ah, my bad.

Please note if I get testy during this it is absolutely NOT aimed at you in any way, but it’s just how I feel about Johns.

Okay so Geoff Johns was one of the three current comic writers who got me into buying comics on a regular basis in 2005, alongside Grant Morrison and Gail Simone. I was following Johns’ “Teen Titans,” Morrison’s “Seven Soldiers,” and Simone’s “Villains United.”

What got me into Johns’ “TT” was, I was already a Titans fan, but I saw he introduced a version of Batwoman based on Bette Kane. Bette was the original Batgirl in the Silver Age, the niece to Batwoman Kathy Kane, but no one ever referenced that anymore and I love Betty so I wanted to know more.

I was supporting Johns’ Teen Titans as well as his Legion related stuff, JSA, and some of his Green Lantern writing too…

But then came Brightest Day and I began to realize the man had a disturbing tendency to rely on mutilating and dismembering characters, including a lot of Titans such as Pantha, Baby Wildebeest, Damage, and Tempest, as well as Legionnaires like Kinetix. Tempest especially bothered me because apparently Johns didn’t like him because he wasn’t “Bad ass” like Hal Jordan, so Johns went out of his way to kill Tempest’s entire family in “Infinite Crisis” before having his zombie girlfriend murder him.

Flashpoint and The New 52 only solidified my dislike for the man, as I absolutely HATED his Justice League and Aquaman stuff and only supported them because my friend worked on the titles as an inker.

Looking back on his older stuff I saw a lot of other stuff I disliked. There was his gross racist handling of Judomaster in JSA where he retconned out her ability to speak English to pair her up with Damage via having him teach her English, even though in Birds of Prey a year prior she could speak English perfectly.

With his Legion of Super-Heroes writing he retconned Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, turning Garth into a hothead who barely went a single panel without screaming at someone while Imra could barely control him. The woman used to be called “Iron Ass Imra” and he essentially ripped out her spine. These two had one of the best marriages in the DCU and he ruined it with his toxic masculine bullshit. Thank God Paul Levitz managed to fix this mess.

He also tried to downplay and/or erase Lightning Lass’s queerness by putting her back together with her ex-boyfriend Timber Wolf, ignoring her steady relationship with her girlfriend Shrinking Violet. The two of them were one of the earliest lesbian couple DC had (even if they couldn’t outright say it) but nope, Ayla’s back with Brin like Violet didn’t exist. Again, Paul Levitz rectified this problem.

He turned Star Boy into a caricature of schizophrenics by retconning him into being mentally ill and having him serve as the wacky comic relief in the JSA when he wasn’t breaking the fourth wall or dropping foreshadowing. So basically a ripoff of Deadpool. His whole JSA run really hasn’t aged well.

His Teen Titans consisted of making Superboy obsessed with being a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman, made Wonder Girl obsessed with Superboy, and he drove Rose Wilson insane to make her the new Ravager which included her graphically gouging out her own eye after her father pumped her full of drugs.

His love for Barry Allen and Hal Jordan blatantly outshines his work with the other Flash and Green Lantern characters, and he’s essentially crafted a sequel to Watchmen no one asked for or needed in order to absolve Barry Allen, God of the Silver Age, of ruining the DCU by blaming it all on Doctor Manhattan.

He’s also obsessed with portraying morally grey men and downright evil men like Captain Cold, Sinestro, Black Adam, and Superboy Prime as flawed individuals who are, at the end of the day heroic, when they do completely horrible things and never get punished for them. Cold’s a hypocrite with how he’ll ignore certain Rogues breaking his precious rules but then makes a big deal of how other villains violate said rules. SInestro is a sociopath who murdered Kyle Rayner’s mother in cold blood just to break Kyle’s will, but still gets to be remembered as a great Green Lantern. Adam brutally slaughters people like the Psycho Pirate and almost no one complains. And Prime is a monster who’s murdered children and pregnant woman, including an entire world, but is still considered a victim. He’s now added Doctor Manhattan to the list, since he claims a man who orchestrated the death of Alan Scott and casually fucked up an entire universe simply to see what would happen is somehow not a villain.

Whatever small bits of writing from him I still like are not enough for me to still be an overall fan of him. I don’t care what he’s done with Shazam, I don’t care if people think it’s been really good. If other people like it I’m happy they’re enjoying it.

But really, fuck him. Fuck him a million times over. I hope there comes a day when DC throws his ass out the door along with Didio, Eddie Berganza, Tom King, James Robinson, Bob Harras, Scott Lobdell. Jim Lee, and all the other fake geek guy assholes who’ve practically ruined DC’s characters for all of us.

Geoff Johns makes me sick to my stomach as a comic fan, a writer, a man, and a human being.

Yet there is still a part of me that wonders, looking back on the stuff he did for Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., what someone at that fucking company must’ve done to him. And I do feel bad his work keeps getting interfered with by editors, just not enough to absolve him of his own individual grossness.

[that-thing-that-feeling]

Some Thoughts on As You Are*

*Intended to avoid spoilers

I found it to be a haunting, lyrical film that lingers. It impressionistically captures various moments of loneliness, pain, longing, and that magical moment of finding a real connection with another person in a way that was both visually beautiful and had real depth. I was surprised at the extent to which I thought it was really a love story—both in terms of love extending in all different directions within a group of friends and also in the way that it felt like two characters were in love, but that love was not compatible with anything they understood about their place, world, other relationships, or most importantly, about themselves. And a network didn’t exist to understand and support it. So it felt like you were in part watching those characters Mark (Charlie) and Jack (Owen) just struggle internally with something they both felt deeply and had no idea what to do with, and that tension both manifested itself in quiet restraint and extreme volatility.  

The film was not without flaws (a scene a little too on the nose, a need for the grunge soundtrack the budget couldn’t afford, a plot point that was slightly forced), but it was high quality throughout. I also believe some of the controversies it could produce are all worthy of discussion and will raise some very fair points. It handled its subject matter with care, though.

I think it’s fair to say that the full story of the film lies in its performances, which are stellar across the board, from Mary Stuart Masterson’s lovely performance as Jack’s single mom, to Scott Cohen (Max from the Gilmore Girls) giving a nuanced, difficult to watch performance as Mark’s Dad (whose toxic masculinity manages to surpass even Lonnie, or just manages to manifest itself in different ways). Amandla’s part is smaller, but still crucial, and she’s so believable and lands so much quiet feeling in every moment that she is in. Owen also has this very subtle part because so much of it lands in his eyes and quietness, and he fills every moment. They are such excellent actors.

So—let me write a mini-essay here about Charlie’s performance (I mean, I’m essentially a Charlie blog, after all, so bias!), but even if I wasn’t, it deserves pause. First, the character is basically this charismatic, dreamy, angsty, hilarious, infuriating, beautiful, odd person that comes into someone’s life and is capable of waking everything up. He has a huge emotional range in it and is just so raw and vulnerable in his performance that he sort of breaks your heart. I can’t really emphasize enough how strong his work is. The other thing that’s sort of interesting is it feels like the camera in this film is in love with him: it lingers on him, its gaze constructs him as this object of longing, or intense fascination in a way that’s different from some of his other projects. While this might sound like a superficial point, to me it also created an actual problem in the film, which is that the character can be in a lot of emotional and physical pain in moments (I don’t think that’s giving away too much; you can get that from the trailers) and the camera almost enjoys this, wants to depict his beauty in it. I don’t think that this necessarily romanticizes forms of pain inflicted on his body, but it maybe walks up to that line. I actually have a lot to say on this point about a specific scene, but it’s too spoiler-y, so I’ll avoid it here until more people have seen it (or I’ll put it in a spoilers post?). I have a lot of questions about it, especially in relation to gender. Anyhow, it’s a really multi-dimensional role and I just hope he keeps getting other kinds of nuanced roles. He’s made really good choices between this and Stranger Things.

Anyhow, let’s hope the film continues to come to more theaters and gets to a streaming service soon. There’s so much to talk about in it!

[pass-the-bechdel]

Teen Wolf full series review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

82% (eighty-two of one hundred).

What is the average percentage of female characters with names and lines for the full series?

35.07%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Twenty-eight.

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 50% female?

Seven.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Two.

Positive Content Status:

Impressive and uplifting: it’s a show aimed at teens and young adults, and it recognises and takes full responsibility for representing a positive and progressive outlook to its audience. It’s a show full of complex, powerful, smart, skilled, wonderful, diverse female characters, and male characters who are emotional and vulnerable and honest and supportive with one another without judgment, and queer people living openly and happily without fear. I have had relatively minor quibbles, and I wouldn’t call it perfect representation, but it is easily the strongest example I currently have of the kind of positive representation I value (average rating of 3.18).

Which season had the best representation statistics overall?

Tough call, but season six part one edges out the competition by virtue of the highest percentage of female characters for the series (42.52%), which helps it to also score six episodes with 40%+ and three with their casts balanced or female-led at 50%+. It also turned in a 90% pass on the Bechdel.

Which season had the worst representation statistics overall?

Season two, which featured both of the series’ under-20% female cast episodes, and turned in a total percentage of 26.5%, with only 58.3% on the Bechdel. It’s saving grace: the second-highest positive representation score of the series (3.41).

Overall Series Quality:

An absolute delight, end to end. It’s outrageous, it’s bombastic, it is, at times, ridiculous. But it embraces this about itself, it owns it and loves it and revels in it, and it maintains itself with remarkable consistency and never shows any sign of being embarrassed to be just exactly what it is. In a way, that’s another point in favour of the positive message it sends to its audience; there’s no reason to consider Teen Wolf a guilty pleasure, something to hesitate or equivocate before admitting your enjoyment, for it never hesitates or equivocates about itself. It’s an honest and uncomplicated kind of pleasure, and I, unabashedly, love it.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

“You’re not a monster,” Scott declares, at the triumphant conclusion of the Teen Wolf series finale, “you’re a werewolf. Like me.” It’s a reiteration of the same line he uttered to his new beta, Liam, back in season four, and it’s a thoroughly earned mission statement for the show, a declaration that being different is ok, even if others have made you feel like an outcast for it, even if it’s difficult, even if it hurts. The way you are is ok, you have value as you are, and you are not alone. It’s easy to be cynical about that if it isn’t a message you personally need to hear, but for the youths in Teen Wolf’s target audience - especially the large queer contingent - it’s a crystal-clear affirmation that could not be more important, and not one made lightly. After all, it’s easy to make statements that sound glossy and progressive, but if you want people to really take it to heart, you have to earn it. Don’t just say it; demonstrate it. Whatever else you might think of this silly schlocky show, it didn’t just walk the walk with its representation: it strode out with pride. 

With a show that performed so admirably, it’s hard to know what to discuss in summary: the female characters really are so varied and wondrous, so complex and realistically flawed and none of them ever shamed for being different to the rest (because different is ok). The male characters really are so refreshingly low on toxic masculinity, or alternately, they have the limitations and the damage of toxic masculinity so thoroughly exposed through their narrative arcs that there’s no question about the show promoting emotionally healthy openness as a masculine ideal. The queer characters really are so numerous and loved and never made to suffer for their identities (though, if one is quibbling, there was certainly a preponderance of queer males compared to a pretty limited supply of queer females, and don’t think I forgot how they teased us with the idea of queer Stiles early on but never canonically delivered). At the end of the day though, I have discussed the above all over the individual episode/season posts, and what I really want to talk about now is how well they packaged their lesson of diverse acceptance for a young audience, because that target intention is where the show’s progressive ethos really shone.

Not all teen-targeted shows take it upon themselves to teach good morals, and to suggest that they should can come off as infantalising; as if young adults are still children, needing to be taught fundamental behaviours. Setting aside the fact that in some cases they really, really do need that (otherwise they become maladjusted adults who still really, really need those lessons on fundamental behaviours such as accepting other people for being different, et al.), the result of either option is often a bit of a disaster: you get teen shows that ignore their moral responsibility and consequently teach/reinforce incredibly damaging and even dangerous ways of thinking, or you get teen shows that treat their audience like morons while preaching in an embarrassingly out-of-touch fashion. For this reason, I have rarely enjoyed shows targeted at young adult audiences (even when I was part of that demographic) and I normally avoid such programming. As such, I am not a connoisseur of teen shows, but of the ones I have indulged Teen Wolf is absolutely the standout, not only for just getting me on pretty much every socio-political and entertainment level available, but for the attitude it takes toward that aforementioned target audience: specifically, how very in-tune it is with the way the demographic thinks and acts.

Whether a bad teen-targeted show is of the morally-irresponsible kind or the morally-preachy kind, the core problem is the same: they promote shame. It might be shame in the form of peer pressure, encouraging wild, foolish, and inconsiderate behaviour because ‘that’s what teens are like’ and making their young impressionable audience feel like weird losers if they don’t mirror the actions and attitudes depicted on their favourite shows, or it might be shame in the form of heavy-handed judgment, the idea that any experimentation or pushing at the borders of authority are absolutely BAD AWFUL things that only BAD AWFUL people do. For Teen Wolf, being in-tune with the audience means understanding that there are certain things that teenagers are extremely likely to do regardless of whether they have permission, and approaching those things as part of the audience’s reality within that spirit of understanding, focusing not on shame but rather on promoting positive and responsible behaviour. It’s really not rocket science, but somehow it’s still a wonderful anomaly. Instead of depicting teen sex as a taboo or a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t world full of dirty sluts and naive virgins, Teen Wolf is sex positive, even-handed across the spectrum of sexual activity and promoting enthusiastic consent and open discussion of boundaries. Instead of depicting teen drinking as either the worst of crimes or a guaranteed gateway to regrettable actions or something you just gotta do in order to have fun and fit in, Teen Wolf encourages making your own decisions for your own reasons, and watching out for your friends to make sure everyone gets home safe. It certainly doesn’t depict a conflict-free world where no one ever makes a bad choice or does anything stupid or selfish; it just doesn’t approach normal human behaviour with an air of judgment. There’s just no shame.

What makes this really significant is that it’s part and parcel of the whole acceptance ethos: it’s not just werewolf metaphors or telling kids that gay is ok. In order to really craft a message about not feeling ashamed to be who you are and how you are, you need to let the message touch all parts of the story, and all parts of the character’s lives, not just the big obvious points of contention. It’s a great way to be morally responsible with your impressionable audience without getting preachy and trying to tell them how to live: just encourage them to be considerate and wise about their choices by showing them how it’s beneficial for everyone, demonstrate, don’t just tell. Not rocket science at all. The other thing is that it really doesn’t need to be thought of as a ‘lesson’ at all; it’s just people being depicted in a non-judgmental fashion as they try their best to do the right thing in whatever situations they encounter. Sometimes they mess up, and sometimes they repeat mistakes, and sometimes they get overwhelmed, but they’re trying and they’re growing as people, and that’s the best you can ask of anyone, whether they’re supernatural teenagers on a tv show or not. Really, it’d be nice if more entertainment media spared a thought to reinforcing fundamental moral principles in their everyday content, because the world sure as Hell is full of maladjusted adults who are still absorbing and entrenching bad attitudes normalised in their television consumption. There’s no reason we should only expect this level of attentiveness from stories aimed at young people. That said, if this show were not targeted at young adults, it probably also wouldn’t be as good, because the reality is that the majority of ‘grown-up’ programming makes little to no effort to challenge the perceived social status quo. We’re probably lucky they kept the teen part of Teen Wolf when they adapted this story for television (the original 1985 film of the same name is NOT progressive or accepting, and I can’t recommend it - the show kept mercifully little beyond the basic idea of a teenage werewolf).

What Teen Wolf has done - and certainly not by accident - is create an entertaining safe space. For all that Beacon Hills is full of supernatural horror and grisly murders and nightmare fuel and sometimes, straight-up Nazi ideology, on an individual personal level it is a place without shame, a place where even when the characters feel backed into a corner with no good options, we can see that they have support, they have friends and family and slightly-nutty lacrosse coaches who have got their backs in a crisis, they have intelligence and skills and the hard-won knowledge of experience that will help them find a way; there is always an element of virtue shining within every moment. They still feel desperate sometimes, and hopeless, and alone. There are still a lot of bad things in their world, and sometimes that stuff is too big and too terrifying to bear, and the real world is like that too. You don’t have to be a teenager - or a werewolf - for that struggle to resonate, and you certainly don’t have to be either of those things in order to value a fiction in which being judged, marginalised, or mistreated for being the way you are is not a concern you have to add to your roster of ills. There are plenty enough terrible things in the world still, and sometimes what we really need is a little space to believe that there’s some inherent good left, too. Even if no problem is ever completely fixed, even if there will always be hate and evil and horror out there, waiting. You are valuable as you are, and someone’s gonna have your back. 

This is exactly the context in which Scott utters that final triumphant line “You’re not a monster, you’re a werewolf. Like me��, echoing that same thing he told Liam when he was miserable and afraid of what he had become and what it would mean for his life. It’s a sentiment that Scott earned from his own misery, his own fear, his own battle with having his life upended irreparably against his will. Scott is being for the new generation what no one was for him; he’s taking his hardships and forging them into a lifeline for those who come after, so that they don’t have to struggle as hard as he did. He’s doing better, one step, one person at a time. The parallel there isn’t hard to draw; the affirmation can’t get any clearer. You can’t have real representation - on any level - if you don’t have unconditional acceptance, and you can’t have unconditional acceptance if you don’t let the demonstration of it permeate your narrative. You can’t just say it. You have to be the change you want to see in the world. Unlikely as it might seem, schlocky and silly as this show was with its Steampunk doctors and Demon wolves and mountain aaaaassshhh, it was also a show dedicated to demonstrating - in varied and delightful detail - the kind of young people it hoped to be reflecting as they stepped out into adulthood. It’s easy to be cynical about that, but it isn’t useful, and there’s a kind of shame wrapped up in cynicism. Teen Wolf, to its utmost credit, was always far too busy embracing its own quirks to ever let cynicism in. I miss it already.