So... about that time John Barrowman and AfterElton instigated a multifandom war.
I don't really give a shit about Internet polls. They're Internet polls, for fuck's sake. I just roll my eyes whenever SPN steamrolls through one poll after another and mind my own goddamn business.
Then Teen Wolf exploded all over the Interwebs, followed by that Entertainment Weekly Internet poll fiasco. Because banning non-straight non-canon couple submissions while letting straight non-canon couple submissions through is totally cool.
So AfterElton made its own poll and John Barrowman brought it to everyone's attention. And for a while things were pretty chill and then Dean/Cas and Derek/Stiles reach the final round. And then Tumblr gets downright nasty.
That and
regicidaldwarf sits my ass down to watch six episodes of the first season of Teen Wolf. Did you know she also force fed me Supernatural?
So here's the thing - I don't care about polls. I care about the implications. This isn't just any poll. It's the result of Entertainment Weekly getting caught rejecting Derek/Stiles and other nonstraight couple submissions. Like, Dean/Cas more or less won everything under the sun but it's Teen Wolf that's making everything a BFD.
And what gets me the most is that after a while I just gave up on Dean/Cas. I stopped expecting it to happen because the cast and crew never took it seriously. They played it up for laughs and adoration but they're never going to let it happen. I'll be happy to be proven dead wrong but I'm not expecting anything. For me shipping became less about "two really hot people (cis white men) with ridiculous chemistry and potential that don't require being canon because that's what fandom's for although becoming canon would be reeeaaaaal nice" and more about "I want to see something more representative of nonstraight people on my fucking TV". So yeah, I burned out on Dean/Cas and I got tired of it and I got tired of being played with.
Teen Wolf is... how do I explain. I kept my distance partially because seriously, you guys? A show about high school werewolves on MTV? You've got to be kidding me. But I kept hearing things about it. I kept hearing all the good things and all the problematic things and the existence of more than zero recurring female characters and Danny and Scott the potato and Stiles my spirit animal. I kept hearing about the ridiculous chemistry between Stiles and Derek. More like, I kept seeing it aaaaall over Tumblr and I thought, Oh fuck, another ship that fits my type to a T.
But you know what made me really cave in? The cast and crew. They're marvelous. Simply marvelous. They're so grateful to their fans. It's so heartfelt and tangible. There's no veiled mockery here. They acknowledge the fandom and take everything in stride. They encourage people to vote for Sterek on twitter, ffs. And when asked they give Sterek a 50/50 chance of becoming canon. No hemming, no hawing, no "What the fuck is wrong with these people?" looks as they answer. On a show where being gay/not-straight is just a fact of life and not something to mock.
People one person keep spamming my dash arguing so loudly in favor of Dean/Cas. How it'll be more canon than any argument made against it. But how can anything be canon when TPTB doesn't take it seriously? See, what's the vibe I get whenever people pass around gif sets and videos of Jensen, Jared, Misha, & Co. at cons. They think it's funny, they play it up for the fans, they reenact scenes from When Harry Met Sally, but there's no real meaning behind it. I don't feel it. I just feel teased and baited and toyed around with, and I don't like it.
But the people of Teen Wolf are just so smooth and friendly and open and welcoming and I just want to cry. Sure they have their problems. Sure I wish but don't have much hope that they'll address those problems when they start filming the next season. But they've already given me more than what SPN and other TV shows gave me.
So, polls. When it comes down to it they're all about bragging rights, but for me there's a lot more riding on this particular one than just that.
So please vote for Derek/Stiles and Teen Wolf?
Then Teen Wolf exploded all over the Interwebs, followed by that Entertainment Weekly Internet poll fiasco. Because banning non-straight non-canon couple submissions while letting straight non-canon couple submissions through is totally cool.
So AfterElton made its own poll and John Barrowman brought it to everyone's attention. And for a while things were pretty chill and then Dean/Cas and Derek/Stiles reach the final round. And then Tumblr gets downright nasty.
That and
regicidaldwarf sits my ass down to watch six episodes of the first season of Teen Wolf. Did you know she also force fed me Supernatural?
So here's the thing - I don't care about polls. I care about the implications. This isn't just any poll. It's the result of Entertainment Weekly getting caught rejecting Derek/Stiles and other nonstraight couple submissions. Like, Dean/Cas more or less won everything under the sun but it's Teen Wolf that's making everything a BFD.
And what gets me the most is that after a while I just gave up on Dean/Cas. I stopped expecting it to happen because the cast and crew never took it seriously. They played it up for laughs and adoration but they're never going to let it happen. I'll be happy to be proven dead wrong but I'm not expecting anything. For me shipping became less about "two really hot people (cis white men) with ridiculous chemistry and potential that don't require being canon because that's what fandom's for although becoming canon would be reeeaaaaal nice" and more about "I want to see something more representative of nonstraight people on my fucking TV". So yeah, I burned out on Dean/Cas and I got tired of it and I got tired of being played with.
Teen Wolf is... how do I explain. I kept my distance partially because seriously, you guys? A show about high school werewolves on MTV? You've got to be kidding me. But I kept hearing things about it. I kept hearing all the good things and all the problematic things and the existence of more than zero recurring female characters and Danny and Scott the potato and Stiles my spirit animal. I kept hearing about the ridiculous chemistry between Stiles and Derek. More like, I kept seeing it aaaaall over Tumblr and I thought, Oh fuck, another ship that fits my type to a T.
But you know what made me really cave in? The cast and crew. They're marvelous. Simply marvelous. They're so grateful to their fans. It's so heartfelt and tangible. There's no veiled mockery here. They acknowledge the fandom and take everything in stride. They encourage people to vote for Sterek on twitter, ffs. And when asked they give Sterek a 50/50 chance of becoming canon. No hemming, no hawing, no "What the fuck is wrong with these people?" looks as they answer. On a show where being gay/not-straight is just a fact of life and not something to mock.
People one person keep spamming my dash arguing so loudly in favor of Dean/Cas. How it'll be more canon than any argument made against it. But how can anything be canon when TPTB doesn't take it seriously? See, what's the vibe I get whenever people pass around gif sets and videos of Jensen, Jared, Misha, & Co. at cons. They think it's funny, they play it up for the fans, they reenact scenes from When Harry Met Sally, but there's no real meaning behind it. I don't feel it. I just feel teased and baited and toyed around with, and I don't like it.
But the people of Teen Wolf are just so smooth and friendly and open and welcoming and I just want to cry. Sure they have their problems. Sure I wish but don't have much hope that they'll address those problems when they start filming the next season. But they've already given me more than what SPN and other TV shows gave me.
So, polls. When it comes down to it they're all about bragging rights, but for me there's a lot more riding on this particular one than just that.
So please vote for Derek/Stiles and Teen Wolf?