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character: *isn’t 100% good or evil*

The Internet: hello naughty children it’s Discourse time

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Source

Video of Tama

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I'm on my scallisaac shit again.

I'm sorry I wasn't your showrunner, you would've been the most powerful throuple to ever exist on tv.

Don't come at me, I'm just telling the truth, the chemistry? Unmatched.

The dynamic? Perfect.

The looks? Oh-my-God.

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in their natural habitat

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Jonathan you r such a tiny rat😔🤲🏻🐭

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my gf and i share a computer room but our activities are very different

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You’re not depressed. You just need $250,000 in your bank account.

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You don’t have to do this- Jonathan, stop talking.

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isaac/allison/scott - "i'm so obsessed with your ex."

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FAVORITE CHARACTER MEME ➜ [1/5] relationships ian gallagher + fiona gallagher

I love you, you know. Love you, too.

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White Spaces Revisited

After @mischievousfoxmen gave a thoughtful reply to my earlier post on Scott McCall's character, I wanted to suggest why I do very much believe that the dislike of Scott McCall is influenced by racism. However, my reply to their reply quickly became cumbersome, so I decided to expand upon it in a new post.

When I was in college back in the Dark Ages (the late 80s) a very influential professor of mine introduced me to the concept of 'white spaces.' To summarize, in United States culture -- which, for good or ill, is very influential across the planet -- the default narrative focus, since the very establishment of the nation, has been on white men. When people raised in that culture (and they don't have to be white or male themselves), start engaging with a narrative, the assumption is that a white male character will be the focus. For example, when we pick up a book, we tend to immediately perceive the protagonist as a white male character unless we are told otherwise. (This goes for women and other genders as well, but this essay will be long enough as it is so I won't delve too deeply into those aspects.)

While neither deliberate nor malicious, this is still an expression of racism. It the same source for why people reacted poorly to the casting of an actor of color for Ariel or Mary Jane Watson. It's why people in the Marvel fandom felt so unsettled with the fact that Captain America is Sam Wilson that AO3 decided to split Captain America into tags in a way that reassured them that Captain America can always be white if they want him to be. Even today, If the narrative protagonist isn't a white man, that is seen as a significant change, and what is different can make the audience uncomfortable, or worse, dissatisfied.

A consequence of this, however, is that characters of color have to consistently earn and keep re-earning the narrative focus in our shared cultural properties. The audience has been trained to see the detail of a protagonist being a character of color as something that has to be justified. They must give a good reason for the audience's attention, or it's just -- as one so often hears when it comes to Scott McCall -- "bad writing."

The plot of Teen Wolf is simple: "Scott McCall gets bitten by a werewolf, and this is how he deals with it." There is no scene, no plotline, no seasonal arc that doesn't have to do with Scott adjusting to having become a werewolf against his will, from 'oh, no, my girlfriend's dad is a werewolf hunter' to 'a powerful fear creature is making the city afraid of me.' As much as the audience might relate to Stiles Stilinski, the main narrative of Teen Wolf is not "a teenager deals with normal teenage insecurities aggravated by his mother's death." As much as the audience might have sympathy for Derek Hale, the main narrative of Teen Wolf is not "a survivor of sexual abuse and mass murder reclaims his sense of well-being." These things do happen in the story, but they are subplots in service of the main plot.

In my opinion, it is the phenomenon of 'white spaces' that generates so much cognitive dissonance in the fandom. They have been taught that the narratives they consume should be focused on white men, so when they encounter one that doesn't, they expect the character of color to earn that focus. But when Scott, desperately seeking a way out of the danger that confronts him, tells mass-murder-survivor Derek that Allison's family might have had a reason in Magic Bullet (1x04) or when Scott doesn't believe Stiles after Stiles lies and cruelly lashes out at him in Lies of Omission (5x09), the audience reacts as if Scott has failed to earn the privileges reserved to white male characters.

Let me bring this back to your original post that started off this conversation. You described Scott as egotistical in the first season. You did so (unless I misinterpreted) because he spent time on his romance with Allison. The narrative makes clear, however, that Allison is more than just his girlfriend. She's his anchor, which werewolves have to have, and she is also a connection to the life he wanted that being bitten by Peter is threatening to take away. I would propose that Scott anchoring himself and his desire for a 'semi-freaking normal life' are significant in terms of what I believe is the main plot of the show. If you accept my argument, Teen Wolf isn't about Scott bringing justice to Beacon Hills (though he will in the future) it's about him surviving what Peter did to him. However, I would also propose that Scott's investment in his relationship with Allison as means to secure his own survival doesn't sit well with you because 'white spaces' thinking insists he has to do more than pursue his own wants and needs to be the narrative focus.

Similarly with your idea that he is 'inactive.' I've seen similar concepts like this before, such as where Scott is criticized for not being more interested in learning about the supernatural. Aside from the fact that neither criticism is true, I would propose that he doesn't need to learn about werewolf hierarchies in order to reach his narrative goals. However, him learning about the history of the Hale family would serve the goals of Stiles Stilinski, who frequently demonstrates insatiable curiosity about it, and the goals of the Hales, who are part of the greater supernatural world. Their wants and needs don't have to be justified in a 'white space,' thus, Scott's ascribed lack of interest or intensity of involvement causes the audience to believe he hasn't earned the narrative focus.

I do believe that a lot of dislike of Scott McCall is motivated by the racist idea that a character of color has to attain certain narrative accomplishments in order to be worthy of narrative focus. Stiles and Derek (and Peter and Chris Argent and Liam and Theo) don't have to attain those accomplishments to claim focus. Whenever someone says "I just don't like Scott" but can't explain why, or when they dislike Scott for reasons that don't cause them to dislike white male characters, I feel more confident in my position.

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@teenwolffemslashcollection - late night texts + angst

Lydia couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t leave her bed. Turning over, phone in hand, she sent a text to Allison - the love of her life and her best friend.

Just wanted to let you know I’m thinking about you

Of course Scott and Allison dated but that didn’t mean anything. Lydia adored Allison. She was so kickass. She was loyal and strong and not to mention looked goddamn beautiful shooting a bow. She was everything to Lydia.

Everyone knew they were a power duo - never one without the other. Yet it still stung like salt to a wound. First it was allisonandlydia and then it became allisonandscott and Lydia.

I miss you

Lydia chews on her lip before debating it, reading over her text again. She knew she wouldn’t get a reply, but the lack of bubbles still hurt.

Not enough hurt. Nothing hurt enough as watching the love of her life die in Scott’s arms. Allison - her first kiss, her first love was gone. Not just from her but from the world.

Lydia could handle not having Allison to herself. Atleast Scott and Allison meant there was still Allison.

But now…

Now her heart felt as cold as Allison’s body did in Scott’s arms.

And isn’t that tragic?

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this duck LOVES pink drink

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The mods favorite scene 5/6

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what do you think about Corey and Mason?

They are SO underrated it's annoying.

They are one of the healthiest and most stable couples in the series and in my opinion no one gives them much thought because it's not an epic or tragic love like most other relationships, they are just... two boys in love.

Mason manages to bring Corey out of his metaphorical and non-metaphorical "invisibility". He helps him study and in general express his full potential, Mason is Corey's number one fan and wants him to succeed in every way possible.

Corey on the other hand is calm, quiet and in my opinion helps Mason relax and understand that there is nothing wrong with not ALWAYS having a solution or not always being 100% even if that's what everyone else often expects from him.

They just... fall in love, in the least favorable context possible (Liam initially opposes them a lot and it's perhaps one of the few situations in which we see Liam and Mason "clash") and they do it so slowly and sweetly that it's almost unnoticeable.

The locker room scene? Stay alive with me? Corey is not a coward and he's not even some kind of inept, Corey is actually just a bit like Theo in the sense that he initially has a different ethical evaluation (probably because of how he grew up/his education) and despite this, while Mason very rationally defends his integrity (I don't want to stay alive with the bad guys) Corey is like "Yeah but I love you so I don't care what side I'm on as long as you're there too" and that's actually such a powerful thing to say.

And then what actually happens is that Mason teaches Corey how much better it is to be on the good guys' side but Corey teaches Mason that sometimes it doesn't matter what side you're on but who you're with.

Corey sees Mason simply for what he is outside his "facade" and Mason has never tried to change Corey, but only to love him as he is, which is what paradoxically makes everything change.

Theirs is a very psychological and "mature" love compared to, for example, Theo and Liam, very emotional/impulsive, to Scott and Allison who are pure teenage love or even to Stiles and Lydia who have a long history behind them before love.

It's all very much played on diametrically opposed personalities/life experiences (technically they are in two different factions for a good part of the time) and on the fact that people can spontaneously evolve into each other and grow without there necessarily being friction/tension.

They are simply in love, compared to everyone else, and that is enough to put everything else in order.

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You know @huron132 . You can find people hot without being gross.

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allison femslash week → day one         ↳favorite ship: allison/braeden/kira