I Took the One Less Travelled By
Notes: This is a "trying to sort out my feelings pretending to be an essay" essay, but I think, as far as the Teen Wolf fandom goes, all of the needs to be said. Basically, a roughly 2600 word essay on the pros and cons of Sterek becoming canon vs. the pros and cons of Sterek not becoming canon. (Outcome: odds heavily in favor of Sterek becoming canon.)
I Took the One Less Travelled By
I've got very conflicting views on Sterek becoming canon--like, actual-romantic-relationship-arc-with-actual-kissing-and-nothing-implied canon. The kind of canon that means we can definitively say that, yes, Sterek is actually a thing. Basically, it boils down to two scenarios: either Sterek becomes canon, or Sterek does not become canon. (If Sterek doesn't become canon there is the queer-baiting route, the everything-as-it-was-before route, and the they-can't-be-in-the-same-scenes-together-so-fans-don't-get-the-wrong-idea route; the third is the route that Vampire Diaries took after the writers started getting Jeremy/Tyler questions from the fans.) Part of the reason that I've got so many conflicting views on Sterek becoming canon is because of the hype that Sterek might actually happen; I've never been in a fandom where a slash pairing was, no matter how small, a possibility of becoming canon. It's screwing up my world view, but hopefully in a good way.
So I'm going to break it down like this: my views on the issues and good things if Sterek doesn't become canon, and my views on the issues and good things if Sterek does become canon. Because there are issues if it does become canon, guys, as far as the relationship between the author and the text and the readers. Sterek becoming canon would be a huge break from everything we've known, in that respect.
Sterek Doesn't Become Canon
...Okay, so I'm going to break it down even farther, because my brain is a bit like a an intersection with the lights out and essays are supposed to have structure or something. There are a couple of major issues if Sterek isn't made canon that really need to be addressed, and they are: queer-baiting, gay couples in the media (i guess you could label Sterek as a queer couple, but I really do feel they aren't encompassing enough to do so), and reinforcement of the heteronormative status in media (which ties into the gay couple issue). On the other hand, there are some good--well, not really good but defining--things as well, namely the independence of the author and the text from reader response, and also...nope, nope, that's it. That's all I've got on the good side of the fence for no canon Sterek (although, to be fair, it is a pretty valid point). So, without further ado:
Queer Baiting
That parenthetical that I made up in the intro paragraph about the three routes that Sterek can be dealt with (in the actual canon) if it's not made canon? That's a pretty important issue, because Stiles-Derek scenes are crucial to the canon, which makes the "never have scenes together again" thing hard to do. And that leaves Jeff Davis (and the other writers) two options: queer-baiting, and going-along-as-they-have-been. Unfortunately, I think that Jeff Davis will take the queer-baiting route.
Let's define queer-baiting: Queer-baiting, in the TV show and movie type of media land, is where two (or more) characters, usually of the same sex (I'd say gender, but unfortunately media doesn't understand the difference between the two), have a tension that can be seen as sexual, and therefore the Powers That Be decide to put those characters, together, in situations that reinforce that tension in a sub-textual, sexual way without ever having that sub-textual tension realized into text. There's a great article here that details it in further depth, but essentially queer baiting is when the Powers That Be make two characters play the equivalent of sub-textual gay chicken while simultaneously screaming, "NO HOMO."
Season one of Teen Wolf didn't have any moment of queer-baiting that I could see, although someone else might disagree with me on that. In season two, however, especially the end of the season, there was queer-baiting abound. Season two was like the frolic of queer-baiting. And there will be people saying, "but no, if Sterek is realized as canon"--but it hasn't been, and more importantly it there weren't plans for it to be at that point. For the purposes of this section of this essay, I'm going to assume it won't be. Because that's the whole point of queer-baiting: the subtext is never realized at text, which means that the Powers That Be are trying to draw in a viewer base without actually representing them in the canon. Which, dick heads.
Where was this queer-baiting? When Stiles held Derek up in a swimming pool for two hours. When a paralyzed Stiles conveniently fell on top of a paralyzed Derek. Shit, this isn't the canon but when Dylan and Tyler did their whole ship thing. There are a lot of people that are really excited about how nice and accepting Jeff Davis and the cast are of Sterek, but you know what? That makes it worse for me. Because Jeff Davis has been carefully ambiguous about Sterek and the entire cast seems amused by it, and if Sterek isn't realized into canon, it'll just be Supernatural: Electric Boogaloo. It makes it worse because our desire to have a gay couple represented in the media becomes an amusement. It makes it worse because it marginalizes an entire group of people (which, unfortunately, is the standard for media). It makes it worse because it means that when Jeff Davis was writing the scene of Stiles and Derek laying paralyzed together, he was, in part, doing it because he wanted that fan base to keep watching. It was a business move, even more so than a plot/character interaction move. Because if Jeff hadn't know about Sterek? Then it would have been a comedic move. But if you take all the lines that Stiles and Derek say while paralyzed on top of each other, but put it in a scene where they would have been lying side by side, the effect is still the same. The difference is that there wouldn't be any sexual subtext. The difference is there wouldn't have been queer-baiting.
Gay Couples in Media
I really don't have much to say on this, mostly because it should be common knowledge (and son, if it ain't, you better get some knowledge real fast). Out of the very few representations of gay couples (which are even rarer than representations of gay people, as in just a person who is gay and who is unattached/never has a visible partner in the canon), I cannot name one couple whose relationship portrayal has not been shitty. I'm not just talking about stereotypes and ridiculous portrayals, I'm also talking about how much plot/character development/relationship development/actual screen time they get. From what I understand, Kurt and Blaine get virtually no screen time, in relation to portraying any type of physical relationship or relationship development. They've had only a few kisses (or so I've heard)? And yet every single episode can have a hetero couple mackin' on each other like it's the end of the world. And this is normal in our media. Sterek not realized into canon is the loss of a potentially great representation of a gay couple in media, especially if the relationship is treated like how they treat Danny (as in, Danny's sexuality is only one very small part of his overall character). It means that the viewers that are watching for the (what right now is queer-baiting) Sterek interactions would become a visible base of fans, rather than the butt of a very shitty joke. It means that we can change media (which in this country might as well be interchangeable with "society") if we scream loud enough.
Reinforcement of the Heteronormative
This is completely tied with the two sections of the above, because what queer-baiting and shitty representations of gay couples in the media does is this: They underline the fact, clearly, that media is produced for heterosexual couples. It redefines and reinforces over and over and over that heterosexuals are the norm. Which is absolute bullshit, because society didn't even have the notion of that norm until the Victorians decided to fuck that up like they did everything else tied to sexuality (and also women). Every reinforcement of the heteronormative is the reinforcement that being gay or queer or a bisexual unicorn or a I-don't-know-what-that-is pansexual or, hell, even a something-is-wrong-with-you asexual, is not normal. That being any of those things makes you worthless, because otherwise you would be represented as a mainstream part of society. We can all joke about wanting Sterek because it's hot (which, point because true), but at the end of the day having Sterek realized into canon would mean validating, maybe not all those people, but definitely gay people and bisexual unicorns (I'm sorry, I just can't stop making fun of the whole "bisexuals are to unicorns as doesn't exist is to doesn't exist"). And maybe that would start the validation of the other groups.
Independence of the Author
Like I said before, I hesitate to call this a good thing if Sterek isn't realized into the canon. So let me explain why this is so important: if Jeff Davis realizes Sterek into canon, that means that it was strictly because the fans wanted it.
Jeff Davis' game plan wasn't Sterek when he started out, and I still don't think it's his game plan. (Sorry, everyone who's convinced that it's happening.) If Jeff Davis decides to realize Sterek as canon, it is literally because the fans convinced him that it would be a good thing. And it would be a good thing in some respects, which I'll get to later, but it also has a bad side to it. Because that means that Jeff Davis has lost a large portion of control over his writing, even more so than what he already does because of producers and tv networks. It means that the reader's response is literally defining the text, and that the author has to go along with that definition. It's one thing to understand that a reader's response opens up definitions that the author did not intend the text to have; it's another thing to literally have the reader defining the text in the author's stead.
Sterek Becomes Canon
So, let's talk about if Sterek is realized into canon. On the not-so-good-side, reader response defining the text is a literal thing. But even that has a good side, especially since this is a form of media and not print: marginalized groups have the power to insert representations of said group into the media. There are so many good things about Sterek being realized that, really, they outweigh the bad. It means that Sterek wouldn't be queer-baiting. It means representation of gay couples in the media. It means undermining the idea of heteronormative culture with two major main characters. It means, basically, that we should all build a shrine to Teen Wolf if Sterek is realized. (But no mixing it with your Dylan and Tyler shrines, guys. That's where it dives over to the creepy side of the obsession line which is formally know as Awkward Stalker Territory.)
Reader Response Defining Text
(This is a legit critical analysis in English, just fyi.)
This is literally the only "bad side" that I can find about Sterek becoming realized. As I mentioned above, I am definitely for author independence. Mostly because the idea of someone having that much control over what I would write, if I were in Jeff's position, freaks me out. (Also, I feel shitty about the idea of him feeling like he's being forced to write something he doesn't want to write.)
That being said, it's also a great thing.
It would be one thing if this were print, where then author independence would definitely be infringed upon in a "woah, dude, not cool" kind of way. But I feel like this would be a great thing for media, because media is interactive. Media needs us to keep watching and listening in order for media to keep existing. And having a reader response realize a gay couple into canon (and there's just a whole reader-response critical analysis essay just dying to be written if that happens) means that people who are marginalized can change things.
Queer Baiting
Obviously, if Sterek is canonized those moments right now that are definitely queer-baiting will take on a definition of "setting up a romantic plotline." It would mean that writers can either: a) be persuaded to represent a marginalized culture and/or b) that they can be shown how what they're doing is really shitty. Because queer-baiting is like the equivalent of your parents buying a pony, what you've always wanted, for Christmas, and then giving it to your sister, who already has a guitar and ballet shoes and soccer cleats and doesn't actually really like horses that much anyway, but there's no way she's going to turn down a pony. If Sterek was realized, all of that would be erased. It wouldn't make it okay, as Jeff Davis still was queer-baiting in the second season, but it would at least make amends.
Gay Couples and the Heteronormative in Media
If Sterek is realized in canon and Jeff Davis does not write as many make-out scenes for them as he did for Allison and Scott, so help me Loki I will punch him through the internet.
(No, okay, I actually wouldn't because I can't see Stiles and Derek being that crazy-young-love with each other, but still. It's the principle of the matter.)
The worst thing about Sterek not being realized in canon is that the pairing has so much potential. When people bitch at me about "why do you find two guys together so hot" and "I think you have a gay obsession" and "that's so gross," what I ask them is, "If one of the characters was a girl, how would you feel about their relationship?"
If Stiles or Derek was a girl, they'd definitely be in a romantic relationship.
And that's really the point of having Sterek; not just a good representation of a gay couple of in the media, but the fact that it would seem plausible if they got together. They've already been fleshed out as three-dimensional characters, and being in a relationship together would just add to the richness of them. Their sexuality wouldn't be the most important thing about them--it would still be their interactions, how they change and grow together. And given their similar plot lines, values, and goals, I think it'd be easy--organic, if you will--for them to change and grow with each other.
Lo and behold, if Sterek is realized into the canon, they would function just like a straight couple would. Which brings us to heteronormative values, because Sterek would normalize a gay couples. They would (I hope) realistically portray that gay couples exist just the same way straight couples do (without the privileges that a straight couple has). They would be a step in the right direction in recognizing that marginalizing a large part of your fan base is not okay. They would be a step in the right direction of recognizing those people, and making them matter.
Conclusion
I still don't feel optimistic that Sterek will be realized into the canon. I don't feel optimistic that Teen Wolf will turn away from queer baiting like so many other shows don't. I don't feel optimistic that any of this will happen, but I want it to. I want to be able to have my hopes recognized and realized and made tangible. I want to be able to say, "Look at what we did. Look at what we accomplished." I want to be able to recognize that Sterek changes the relationship of the author, the text, and the reader respond completely, and that it can have downsides as well as upsides. I want a gay couple that we can be proud of--that we can relate to. Mostly, I just want to be visible.
I Took the One Less Travelled By
I've got very conflicting views on Sterek becoming canon--like, actual-romantic-relationship-arc-with-actual-kissing-and-nothing-implied canon. The kind of canon that means we can definitively say that, yes, Sterek is actually a thing. Basically, it boils down to two scenarios: either Sterek becomes canon, or Sterek does not become canon. (If Sterek doesn't become canon there is the queer-baiting route, the everything-as-it-was-before route, and the they-can't-be-in-the-same-scenes-together-so-fans-don't-get-the-wrong-idea route; the third is the route that Vampire Diaries took after the writers started getting Jeremy/Tyler questions from the fans.) Part of the reason that I've got so many conflicting views on Sterek becoming canon is because of the hype that Sterek might actually happen; I've never been in a fandom where a slash pairing was, no matter how small, a possibility of becoming canon. It's screwing up my world view, but hopefully in a good way.
So I'm going to break it down like this: my views on the issues and good things if Sterek doesn't become canon, and my views on the issues and good things if Sterek does become canon. Because there are issues if it does become canon, guys, as far as the relationship between the author and the text and the readers. Sterek becoming canon would be a huge break from everything we've known, in that respect.
Sterek Doesn't Become Canon
...Okay, so I'm going to break it down even farther, because my brain is a bit like a an intersection with the lights out and essays are supposed to have structure or something. There are a couple of major issues if Sterek isn't made canon that really need to be addressed, and they are: queer-baiting, gay couples in the media (i guess you could label Sterek as a queer couple, but I really do feel they aren't encompassing enough to do so), and reinforcement of the heteronormative status in media (which ties into the gay couple issue). On the other hand, there are some good--well, not really good but defining--things as well, namely the independence of the author and the text from reader response, and also...nope, nope, that's it. That's all I've got on the good side of the fence for no canon Sterek (although, to be fair, it is a pretty valid point). So, without further ado:
Queer Baiting
That parenthetical that I made up in the intro paragraph about the three routes that Sterek can be dealt with (in the actual canon) if it's not made canon? That's a pretty important issue, because Stiles-Derek scenes are crucial to the canon, which makes the "never have scenes together again" thing hard to do. And that leaves Jeff Davis (and the other writers) two options: queer-baiting, and going-along-as-they-have-been. Unfortunately, I think that Jeff Davis will take the queer-baiting route.
Let's define queer-baiting: Queer-baiting, in the TV show and movie type of media land, is where two (or more) characters, usually of the same sex (I'd say gender, but unfortunately media doesn't understand the difference between the two), have a tension that can be seen as sexual, and therefore the Powers That Be decide to put those characters, together, in situations that reinforce that tension in a sub-textual, sexual way without ever having that sub-textual tension realized into text. There's a great article here that details it in further depth, but essentially queer baiting is when the Powers That Be make two characters play the equivalent of sub-textual gay chicken while simultaneously screaming, "NO HOMO."
Season one of Teen Wolf didn't have any moment of queer-baiting that I could see, although someone else might disagree with me on that. In season two, however, especially the end of the season, there was queer-baiting abound. Season two was like the frolic of queer-baiting. And there will be people saying, "but no, if Sterek is realized as canon"--but it hasn't been, and more importantly it there weren't plans for it to be at that point. For the purposes of this section of this essay, I'm going to assume it won't be. Because that's the whole point of queer-baiting: the subtext is never realized at text, which means that the Powers That Be are trying to draw in a viewer base without actually representing them in the canon. Which, dick heads.
Where was this queer-baiting? When Stiles held Derek up in a swimming pool for two hours. When a paralyzed Stiles conveniently fell on top of a paralyzed Derek. Shit, this isn't the canon but when Dylan and Tyler did their whole ship thing. There are a lot of people that are really excited about how nice and accepting Jeff Davis and the cast are of Sterek, but you know what? That makes it worse for me. Because Jeff Davis has been carefully ambiguous about Sterek and the entire cast seems amused by it, and if Sterek isn't realized into canon, it'll just be Supernatural: Electric Boogaloo. It makes it worse because our desire to have a gay couple represented in the media becomes an amusement. It makes it worse because it marginalizes an entire group of people (which, unfortunately, is the standard for media). It makes it worse because it means that when Jeff Davis was writing the scene of Stiles and Derek laying paralyzed together, he was, in part, doing it because he wanted that fan base to keep watching. It was a business move, even more so than a plot/character interaction move. Because if Jeff hadn't know about Sterek? Then it would have been a comedic move. But if you take all the lines that Stiles and Derek say while paralyzed on top of each other, but put it in a scene where they would have been lying side by side, the effect is still the same. The difference is that there wouldn't be any sexual subtext. The difference is there wouldn't have been queer-baiting.
Gay Couples in Media
I really don't have much to say on this, mostly because it should be common knowledge (and son, if it ain't, you better get some knowledge real fast). Out of the very few representations of gay couples (which are even rarer than representations of gay people, as in just a person who is gay and who is unattached/never has a visible partner in the canon), I cannot name one couple whose relationship portrayal has not been shitty. I'm not just talking about stereotypes and ridiculous portrayals, I'm also talking about how much plot/character development/relationship development/actual screen time they get. From what I understand, Kurt and Blaine get virtually no screen time, in relation to portraying any type of physical relationship or relationship development. They've had only a few kisses (or so I've heard)? And yet every single episode can have a hetero couple mackin' on each other like it's the end of the world. And this is normal in our media. Sterek not realized into canon is the loss of a potentially great representation of a gay couple in media, especially if the relationship is treated like how they treat Danny (as in, Danny's sexuality is only one very small part of his overall character). It means that the viewers that are watching for the (what right now is queer-baiting) Sterek interactions would become a visible base of fans, rather than the butt of a very shitty joke. It means that we can change media (which in this country might as well be interchangeable with "society") if we scream loud enough.
Reinforcement of the Heteronormative
This is completely tied with the two sections of the above, because what queer-baiting and shitty representations of gay couples in the media does is this: They underline the fact, clearly, that media is produced for heterosexual couples. It redefines and reinforces over and over and over that heterosexuals are the norm. Which is absolute bullshit, because society didn't even have the notion of that norm until the Victorians decided to fuck that up like they did everything else tied to sexuality (and also women). Every reinforcement of the heteronormative is the reinforcement that being gay or queer or a bisexual unicorn or a I-don't-know-what-that-is pansexual or, hell, even a something-is-wrong-with-you asexual, is not normal. That being any of those things makes you worthless, because otherwise you would be represented as a mainstream part of society. We can all joke about wanting Sterek because it's hot (which, point because true), but at the end of the day having Sterek realized into canon would mean validating, maybe not all those people, but definitely gay people and bisexual unicorns (I'm sorry, I just can't stop making fun of the whole "bisexuals are to unicorns as doesn't exist is to doesn't exist"). And maybe that would start the validation of the other groups.
Independence of the Author
Like I said before, I hesitate to call this a good thing if Sterek isn't realized into the canon. So let me explain why this is so important: if Jeff Davis realizes Sterek into canon, that means that it was strictly because the fans wanted it.
Jeff Davis' game plan wasn't Sterek when he started out, and I still don't think it's his game plan. (Sorry, everyone who's convinced that it's happening.) If Jeff Davis decides to realize Sterek as canon, it is literally because the fans convinced him that it would be a good thing. And it would be a good thing in some respects, which I'll get to later, but it also has a bad side to it. Because that means that Jeff Davis has lost a large portion of control over his writing, even more so than what he already does because of producers and tv networks. It means that the reader's response is literally defining the text, and that the author has to go along with that definition. It's one thing to understand that a reader's response opens up definitions that the author did not intend the text to have; it's another thing to literally have the reader defining the text in the author's stead.
Sterek Becomes Canon
So, let's talk about if Sterek is realized into canon. On the not-so-good-side, reader response defining the text is a literal thing. But even that has a good side, especially since this is a form of media and not print: marginalized groups have the power to insert representations of said group into the media. There are so many good things about Sterek being realized that, really, they outweigh the bad. It means that Sterek wouldn't be queer-baiting. It means representation of gay couples in the media. It means undermining the idea of heteronormative culture with two major main characters. It means, basically, that we should all build a shrine to Teen Wolf if Sterek is realized. (But no mixing it with your Dylan and Tyler shrines, guys. That's where it dives over to the creepy side of the obsession line which is formally know as Awkward Stalker Territory.)
Reader Response Defining Text
(This is a legit critical analysis in English, just fyi.)
This is literally the only "bad side" that I can find about Sterek becoming realized. As I mentioned above, I am definitely for author independence. Mostly because the idea of someone having that much control over what I would write, if I were in Jeff's position, freaks me out. (Also, I feel shitty about the idea of him feeling like he's being forced to write something he doesn't want to write.)
That being said, it's also a great thing.
It would be one thing if this were print, where then author independence would definitely be infringed upon in a "woah, dude, not cool" kind of way. But I feel like this would be a great thing for media, because media is interactive. Media needs us to keep watching and listening in order for media to keep existing. And having a reader response realize a gay couple into canon (and there's just a whole reader-response critical analysis essay just dying to be written if that happens) means that people who are marginalized can change things.
Queer Baiting
Obviously, if Sterek is canonized those moments right now that are definitely queer-baiting will take on a definition of "setting up a romantic plotline." It would mean that writers can either: a) be persuaded to represent a marginalized culture and/or b) that they can be shown how what they're doing is really shitty. Because queer-baiting is like the equivalent of your parents buying a pony, what you've always wanted, for Christmas, and then giving it to your sister, who already has a guitar and ballet shoes and soccer cleats and doesn't actually really like horses that much anyway, but there's no way she's going to turn down a pony. If Sterek was realized, all of that would be erased. It wouldn't make it okay, as Jeff Davis still was queer-baiting in the second season, but it would at least make amends.
Gay Couples and the Heteronormative in Media
If Sterek is realized in canon and Jeff Davis does not write as many make-out scenes for them as he did for Allison and Scott, so help me Loki I will punch him through the internet.
(No, okay, I actually wouldn't because I can't see Stiles and Derek being that crazy-young-love with each other, but still. It's the principle of the matter.)
The worst thing about Sterek not being realized in canon is that the pairing has so much potential. When people bitch at me about "why do you find two guys together so hot" and "I think you have a gay obsession" and "that's so gross," what I ask them is, "If one of the characters was a girl, how would you feel about their relationship?"
If Stiles or Derek was a girl, they'd definitely be in a romantic relationship.
And that's really the point of having Sterek; not just a good representation of a gay couple of in the media, but the fact that it would seem plausible if they got together. They've already been fleshed out as three-dimensional characters, and being in a relationship together would just add to the richness of them. Their sexuality wouldn't be the most important thing about them--it would still be their interactions, how they change and grow together. And given their similar plot lines, values, and goals, I think it'd be easy--organic, if you will--for them to change and grow with each other.
Lo and behold, if Sterek is realized into the canon, they would function just like a straight couple would. Which brings us to heteronormative values, because Sterek would normalize a gay couples. They would (I hope) realistically portray that gay couples exist just the same way straight couples do (without the privileges that a straight couple has). They would be a step in the right direction in recognizing that marginalizing a large part of your fan base is not okay. They would be a step in the right direction of recognizing those people, and making them matter.
Conclusion
I still don't feel optimistic that Sterek will be realized into the canon. I don't feel optimistic that Teen Wolf will turn away from queer baiting like so many other shows don't. I don't feel optimistic that any of this will happen, but I want it to. I want to be able to have my hopes recognized and realized and made tangible. I want to be able to say, "Look at what we did. Look at what we accomplished." I want to be able to recognize that Sterek changes the relationship of the author, the text, and the reader respond completely, and that it can have downsides as well as upsides. I want a gay couple that we can be proud of--that we can relate to. Mostly, I just want to be visible.