fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2122 ]

[ SECRET POST #2122 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2122 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 034 secrets from Secret Submission Post #303.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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I have never seen a single minute of Teen Wolf and even I'm sick of Sterek just from incidental stumbles and osmosis. Can someone explain to me what their canon vs fanon relationship is like and why people ship them so hard?

I do sympathize though. I remember how, for some people, every single thing in Avatar the Last Airbender was viewed through the lens of shipping and ship-support and ship-sinking and it was like they thought every character besides Aang/Katara/Zuko/Mai and the entire plot and all the storylines and events and were just there as pointless filler or as plot devices that existed for the sole purpose of enhancing the (very minor, btw) romance angle and the shipping wars. Argh. Same for those ultra-fanatical Barney/Robin shippers too, who make me embarrassed to ship Barney/Robin because they're literally convinced that HIMYM is actually the story of how Barney and Robin met and the other three characters exist solely to give Barney and Robin someone to talk to when they're busy ~yearning.

I think you kind of just have to take it in stride at this point, that fandom is going to randomly get obsessed with some pairing or show. It's, like, a natural phenomenon. The tides will go in and out, a show will randomly develop an extremely fanatical fanbase around one ship. It's just the way of things. Gotta accept it and work around it.

Canon: Stiles and Derek tolerate each other...somewhat. Derek tolerates Stiles more. Stiles on the other hand has occasionally mentioned that he would not mind one bit if Derek would die because werewolves, with the exception of Scott, seem to do nothing but destroy everything they touch.

Fanon: Derek and Stiles are secretly in love. Like some forbidden Romeo and Juliet type deal. Derek watches out for poor, helpless little red riding hood Stiles. (He is often pictured with a red hoodie.)

Well, to be fair, for all that Stiles has said that people should die (Derek, Jackson, probably more people I'm forgetting) he works pretty hard to keep that from happening.

I was skimming this post to see if anything would ping me into watching the show and while I like werewolves, the fanon actively turned me off. That's a whole big bag of nope, so I'd never be able to read fic even if I did like the show. I don't even like the new Beauty & the Beast where it's actually canon.

Okay. In canon, Stiles and Derek have a comedic, antagonistic, reluctant allies, trust issues type of dynamic going on, which is entertaining, but there's really no mutual affection there. It's kind of a thing wherein one calls the other up for help a few times a season, they yell at each other, and then they save each other's lives. It's not slashy in any of the usual ways; there's no ~beautiful devotion~, or strange obsession, or anything like that. The thing is that there's a ton of slashy potential, and it's easy to see a million different ways in which the relationship could be deepened and explored (or lbr, just exploited for porn). What's not to love about the idea of a broody werewolf with emotional trauma and a teen genius with ADHD fighting evil and having kinky underage sex? There is everything to love about it. So it became a great big fanon Thing.

And then the creator of the show smashed down the fourth wall with the power of twitter when he cheerfully declared that he could be persuaded to make it canon, and it's been a bucket of insanity since then.

Yep, couldn't have explained it better. Honestly, I think a large part of their appeal is that their chemistry and dynamic hits a lot of kinks and plays to many tropes for a lot of people. And because their relationship, such as it is, is not that explored in canon, there's lot to work with in fic and other fanworks.

That's why I like it! It's the idea of it as much as what's actually onscreen. And thus, if it actually becomes canon -- unlikely -- there could have consequences I doubt a lot of Sterek shippers are thinking about. That would mean Davis picking one path for their relationship and exploring it. What if the path he chooses... is boring?

I don't think it will ever be canon but if it were, given the Scott/Allison and Lydia/Jackson romances, I don't have much faith in it being anything innovative or interesting beyond the fact that it would be unexpected. I find the romantic pairings in Teen Wolf the worst part of the show and Jeff Davis writes them poorly. So, yes, the potential to make Stiles and Derek boring or bad would be high, which would seem hard since I think their relationship is so entertaining. Luckily, the fic out there does a good job of making me continue to enjoy their dynamic.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-24 23:55 (UTC) - Expand

The creators of Lost started listening to fandom, too, and that made the show unwatchable. Then it got canceled. Be careful what you wish for, fandom.

This is kinda long, but you asked about fanon vs. canon and it's kinda hard to explain

When I first watched Teen Wolf, I shipped Sterek. I think it's because I usually fall for the dynamic of ~broody frown monster~ and ~peppy snark monster~.

After thinking about it, they have nothing in common. Oh, wait, they both know the main character. And...that's it. They don't like each other. Stiles constantly alludes to how he wishes Derek would die, but fangirls play that off as "oh he's just being tough! he' really does care about him!" Which, no. He doesn't. Stiles cares about three things in the world: Scott (the main character), Lydia (the girl he's "in love with"), and his father. Everyone else can fuck off a cliff and die for all he cares. Stiles is an asshole.
Derek doesn't care about Stiles, either. All Derek cares about is avenging his dead sister and being a good leader. A job which he could use some improvement in.

Fandom, however, thinks they are in ~twu wuv~, which irks a lot of people because Stiles and Derek are literally the whitest dudes on the fucking show, and they aren't even confirmed gay. There's been some allusions as to whether Stiles may be bi or pan or something, and yes, I know that sexual orientation has never stopped fandom before but it's kinda gross.
Because the canon gay character just so happens to be named Danny Mahealani, as in, he's not white. And so he is glossed over by the entire fandom, or killed in fics for an emotional punch. Then they cry "but he's so boring/underdeveloped!" well, that's the writers' fault, and can't you develop him a bit more in your fics? You have no problem elaborating on Derek, Isaac, and Erica, all of whom are mysterious without a lot of backstory, but when it comes to Danny or Boyd (a black character)? NOPE. THEY'RE BORING I DON'T WANNA.

And the creator, Jeff Davis, says that he doesn't expand on Danny or Boyd because he "doesn't know enough about such minority groups so he's not comfortable writing them." Okay, then why are they even in the show? Better yet, HIRE WRITERS WHO ARE POC. And some more women, because you suck at writing women, Jeff Davis.

Worse is that Teen Wolf has fallen into queer-baiting; Jeff Davis and the other creators know that people ship Sterek, so they just love to tease everyone with it, even go so far as to have a fanfic contest, where like 1 out of 10 winning stories wasn't about Sterek.

I just feel there's a lot of hypocrisy in the fandom, and the slash goggles are on so tight that many Sterek fen are blinded to the fandom's problems.
And god forbid you're not a Sterek fan! If you don't ship it, then you may as well not even be alive, because you are a heartless piece of shit.

And don't get me started on the Sterek fen creating false meta to make it seem canon. Ugh. Meta is supposed to make you think about the world of the story, not reinforce your stupid ship.

Stiles cares about three things in the world: Scott (the main character), Lydia (the girl he's "in love with"), and his father. Everyone else can fuck off a cliff and die for all he cares. Stiles is an asshole.

Ahhh this is one of the reasons I love Stiles. If a hero character has intense loyalty to ~HUMANITY~ because he's such a good guy and everyone should be happy omfg, it's so boring. When a character has intense loyalty to a select few people, that friction in their personality makes them so much more interesting. (See also: Mal from Firefly.)

I do mostly agree with you on the canonicity of Stiles and Derek not really giving a shit about each other, but re: Stiles wishing Derek would die -- I actually do think he didn't mean that. I'm not saying he'd cry soul tears if Derek kicked it, but when it comes down to it, he has risked his own safety to save Derek. And anyone who genuinely wishes a good person to die is reprehensible. Stiles may have limited reserves of compassion, but he's not a monster.

I think Stiles is a 16 year old boy who casually jokes about letting people die (which teenagers and adults have been known to due) who he doesn't like, but would ultimately not allow it to happen.

Well said. Stiles is a sarcastic little shit who can be callous and crack jokes but when push comes to shove, he'll put aside those sentiments and help. He's saved Derek's life and helped him on several occasions and he helped Lydia come to Jackson's rescue in the season finale despite not giving much of a shit about him. I like that juxtaposition of what he says vs. what he does.

(no subject)

themperor - 2012-10-25 00:20 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

themperor - 2012-10-25 00:57 (UTC) - Expand

Yeah, I should have been more clear.

I'm sure Stiles doesn't actively want Derek to die, I just think he wouldn't care too much.

I thought Boyd got so little development because they weren't sure Sinqua Walls was going to stick around on the show?

TBH, the idea of Davis saying "doesn't know enough about such minority groups so he's not comfortable writing them." is so gross I kind of don't want to believe it. :( Do you have a source?

Agreed that it sucks that fandom has settled on two white dudes once again, though. :/ I basically spend all my time in the fandom searching (mostly in vain) for Danny fic.

I feel like there is a lot of Danny/Stiles fic out there. That and Isaac/Scott are the two other huge slash pairings that regularly show up on my dash. While neither of those are my jam, a few authors I follow wrote some Danny/Stiles if you are interested in links.

When I see Danny/Stiles, it usually ends with them breaking up, or Danny just helping "ease Stiles into being gay", if that makes sense.

And then Stiles gets with Derek in the end. So.

And not who you were talking to, but I'd appreciate some links to Danny/Stiles if you're okay with it.

(no subject)

themperor - 2012-10-25 00:30 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

pynapel - 2012-10-25 00:43 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

themperor - 2012-10-25 00:45 (UTC) - Expand

Danny/Stiles has been gaining in popularity over... maybe the last two or three months? and I'm really grateful for that, as someone who wants a non-Sterek corner of the fandom to hang out in (I would read Scott/Isaac, but I kind of love Scott/Allison too much, and also I a lot of Scott/Isaac has background Sterek, or at least Sterek subtext). Still, Danny/Stiles is pretty tiny compared to Sterek. I've read maybe ten Danny/Stiles fics that I thought were really good? And considering that there are hundreds of Sterek fics (and, TBH, I am spoiled and have mostly shipped ships with large following until now), it still feels a little lonely over here.

(no subject)

themperor - 2012-10-25 00:46 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-25 01:00 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

themperor - 2012-10-25 01:27 (UTC) - Expand

http://gawker.com/5930518/racism-debate-ravages-teen-wolfs-online-community

if you google 'jeff davis tumblr' you can probably find the thing in full. he is also known to block people on twitter who asked him about this/if POC characters will get more representation.

truly he is a national treasure

Sinqua had a lot of other commitments that were generally in LA, and since the show was shooting in Atlanta, that meant that they had to do a lot of working around his schedule with the writing. Hopefully this won't be as much of an issue in season 3, since they're now going to be based in LA, but we'll have to wait and see, especially since he's now on OUAT (if Lancelot's not dead... I haven't watched, but I've heard rumors he might be?).

(no subject)

sensualcoco.livejournal.com - 2012-10-25 03:17 (UTC) - Expand

This comment reminds me that I will always be grateful for watching AtLA in its entirety before discovering its fandom.

My friend used to watch that fandom from afar after we both started watching and holy shit.

Hee, I actually watched ATLA casually off and on for a while, then marathoned a load of it while the last season was airing and finished marathoning just a month or so (I think...my memory's a bit fuzzy) before the series finished in real time, so I was spared the fandom during most of the show's run. But ho boy, when I found the fandom...well, actually I was so baffled I just lol'd and popcorn giffed like crazy and read through months and months worth of backlogged wanks and flamewars and wandered over to The Simpsons :D

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