#who has to endure me calling every character babygirl

[collophora]

I posted this on twitter at the beginning of the show haha joke on me.

[princeescaluswords]

Thank you for pushing back against the description of Scott as "pure." I love Scott and I admire him greatly. He is very kind and gentle and he wants to help others. But I feel that calling him "pure" (unintentionally) dehumanizes him. Similar to how Stiles said 'not all of us can be True Alphas,' or how Jeff said Mason (another character of color) was 'too good' to be affected by the Beast. It puts him on a pedestal and it seems like a way to avoid engaging with his complex interiority.

To be quite honest, I was almost going to give this question a pass, because in order to answer it, I'm going to say some things that might offend people that I don't want to offend. There are people who describe Scott McCall "pure," or "a puppy", or "a ray of sunshine" or something of that nature, and they mean every word of it in a positive way. Just today I read someone calling him "babygirl." They see a character being kind in the face of violence, compassionate when it would be easier not to care, and courageous in the face of injustice when it would cost him less to go along, and they applaud. But there are some people who say those very same words, but their intent is not to approve, but to diminish. The difference between them is their ultimate goal: one side wishes to enjoy Teen Wolf as it is; the other side wishes that Teen Wolf was about someone else.

The problem, of course, is how to tell the difference.

The key for me, of course, is if they recognize that while Scott's kindness is a very important trait -- one that sets him apart from many heroic protagonists in United States culture -- it is not his only trait. He also exhibits courage to act in situations in which he neither has the advantage nor a significant stake, resolve to move past emotional and physical trauma, and discernment to perceive the true nature of the characters with which he interacts. Any actual fan of the show should be able to identify scenes that establish these traits in conjunction with his compassion.

But those who seek to de-center Scott from the narrative, to replace him with another character, sometimes try to turn this virtue against him, especially when they fail to magnify his flaws and mistakes into disqualifying crimes. They do this by making his primary and distinctive heroic trait his only trait, and then presenting it as a weakness.

They call Scott "pure," while simultaneously arguing that his compassion makes him soft, because it means he lacks the courage to do what is necessary to protect others. These people say things like he lets enemies go out of mercy only for them to go hurt other people. Ironically, they most often put these words in the mouth of Peter Hale, who is a coward in canon. He ambushes his own niece, attacks unarmed humans from behind, sits out important battles, runs from fights, and works with the person who burned his family alive in order to get what he wants.

They call Scott "a ray of sunshine" while simultaneously arguing that his compassion is childish, only possible because he hasn't really endured loss, and thus he cannot possess true resolve. Not only does this require ignoring repeated instances of physical and mental violation, the absence of Rafael, the disconnect with Melissa, the death of Allison, the loss of Kira, and the way his future was ripped from him. Instead, they argue that Stiles is the 'glue which holds the pack together', even though Stiles literally looks to Scott for reassurance in every single season and crumbles when he can't get it.

They call Scott "a puppy" while simultaneously arguing that his compassion is a function of inexperience and a lack of intelligence, cute but useless. Thus, his 'puppy love' of Allison blinds him to the danger she represents (even though she doesn't). He cannot truly have the discernment to be effective in the supernatural world because he is not by nature a predator, unlike a born wolf such as Derek Hale. Derek Hale, who literally got manipulated by Kate, by Peter, by Gerard, by Peter again, by Jennifer, and by Peter a third time.

Thus, they position his compassion for others, even those who are his enemies, as a luxury that a true heroic protagonist cannot afford. They'll insist that it's sweet, it's laudable even, but since his compassion is his sole virtue (it's not) and he often allows it to override common sense (he doesn't), he is not a legitimate lead for a story taking place in that setting. Thus, they justify their own efforts to take the story away from him and give it to someone more worthy.