Three guesses as to what I am going to talk about this week… of
course it’s Sterek. Yeah I know but I committed so this is happening. The week
started out so well. Sterek won another poll, EOnline interviewed Jeff and Matt
gave us some adorable new Hobrien gifs. Everything was happy sparkle fun time
until MTV remote control decided to get in on the action and everything just
spiraled out of control.
First things first: Sterek won EOnline’s first (annual???) Fantasy
TV Couples Tournament. Good for you Sterek fans, it’s always nice to win
things and you worked hard to get your reward. And for your trouble EOnline got
you this little gem of a quote from our creator-god Jeff Davis:
"I
continue to be amazed at the tenacity of Sterek fans to not only win these
online polls but literally throttle the competition. I think Tyler and Dylan
will be very proud to know that the characters they helped create have inspired
so much dedication and love. Congrats to the Stereks!" (x)
Ignoring the Regina’s Mom use of “the Stereks” this is actually a really
sweet quote. Jeff’s not laughing at shippers (even though it’s clear he still
doesn’t quite understand us) and there’s a nice acknowledgement of Hoechlin and
Dylan – normally they are kept out of these discussions. All in all, as a slash
fan and a Sterek fan I would call this a win.
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Add in the fact that the Teen Wolf Tumblr gave us a couple of
adorable gifs from what I can only assume are the outtakes of the now infamous
boat video. Really things were going pretty well for Sterek fans, some might
even say too well.
Then MTV’s Remote Control Blog published this
article and it sent Sterek fans into a tizzy. The blog post has all the usual
misinterpretations that the media makes, but the fandom has come to expect more
from MTV, I guess that’s why this article pissed so many people off.
The passages that most fans seem offended by are:
“While the likelihood of ever
witnessing sexytime between Derek/Stiles is pretty slim, that never stops you guys from shipping
the hell out of the two hunky characters, and now, all of that pluck has paid
off!” (x)
And:
“We asked Rae Votta, a writer at
our sister site, VH1.com, and verifiable Sterek expert (a Stexpert, if you
will), to chime in on the phenomenon, and she had this to say: "Sterek is
the perfect storm of fandom shipping -- two totally attractive guys, that
tension-filled canon relationship where they sort of hate each other but
clearly care, and you've got supernatural elements clouding their ability to
truly ever be together. It's a wonder Sterek and a legion of young women don't
take over the entire world." Votta, who has her Masters in Linguistics with
a focus on fan communities and culture, certainly knows her stuff, eh?” (x)
Look, I’ll admit the article is a tad patronizing but it’s no worse
than any other time a major media outlet has tried to talk about shipping. In
fact I thought it was a little better than most (let’s not forget that the
whole Fantasy Couples Tournament was
a bit dismissive to start with). But let’s talk about why this upset
so many shippers.
Quite a few fans were upset because the article said the “likelihood of ever witnessing sexytime between Derek/Stiles is pretty slim”. Part of me
understands that, it’s never nice to hear an outsider talk about your OTP that
way. The other part of me, the part of
me that has been a slash fan for the last 14 years, can’t get over the fact
that a blog associated with the network actually said there was a slim chance a non-canon slash pairing could
have sex. Seriously that’s crazy. A couple of years ago they wouldn’t have
even acknowledged the ship existed now there out there saying it could happen…
even if it’s not likely that’s a huge step forward.
The other problem here is, of course, the fact that the
media continues to associate shipping (especially slash) with sex. This idea
seems to stem from two points – there’s the fact that homosexuality is almost
always defined by sexual acts and the fact that female fans are almost always
depicted as horny teenage girls. I’m pretty sure the article’s author was just
trying to be up with it and wink at
the porn but that doesn’t mean it should be forgiven. It’s not just about sex
and the sooner the media starts to understand this, the sooner shipping will
actually be taken seriously.
Okay now let’s talk about what the lovely Rae Votta had
to say about Sterek. She’s actually a really great girl, and if anyone gets it
she does but she made the mistake of referring to Sterek fans as “a legion of
young women”. This plays into the media’s stereotype of fans as teenage girls,
which is employed to dismiss fandom because the tastes of young woman are
simply fleeting fancies controlled by hormones and not worthy of anyone’s respect.
This is one of my pet peeves so I completely understand why people are angry
but if this quote was taken out of the context of this incredibly patronizing
article (and you ignore the ‘young women’ distinction) it’s actually a pretty
accurate description of Sterek and it’s fandom. Don’t hate on Rae Votta because
her quote was used in a crappy article.
In fact the awesome Ms Votta responded
to the objections to her use of phrase ‘young women’ saying: “I am in no way
marginalizing the rest of the fandom, but instead celebrating the power of
female fandom as a cultural force. Too often women, especially young women, are
written off as silly — instead of as the powerful tastemakers and drivers of
popular culture they actually are.” That’s a sentiment I can get behind (sorry guys I got to support
anyone else that made it through fan studies).
The only other thing I have to say about this article
is that this is the Network – not Teen
Wolf. Teen Wolf are use to Sterek
(or getting there), they are even starting to take it seriously. Not everyone
working at MTV is in the same boat and while the author of this particular post
didn’t do a very good job: the amazing thing is that the article exists at all.
Television shows and certainly networks do not usually engage with non-canon
ships in this way… or at all. They’re in uncharted territory so cut them some
slack (and tell them to hire a fandom liaison to help them negotiate a
complicated subculture that they really don’t understand).
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Finally remember this article is not just for fans.
It’s for the general public, which means when talking about shipping you have
to do it in a different way than you would if you were speaking directly to the
fandom. As someone that has to talk about shipping with non-shippers on a daily
basis, it’s not as easy as it looks. Although I want fandom (and shipping) to
be taken seriously my defense mechanism is humour. I know they don’t understand
it, and I know that they are judging me for engaging with it – so I make fun of
myself before anyone else can. I know a lot of other fans that write about fandom
do the same thing.
The inherent problem with this article is not that it
tries to make light of the situation, or even that it states there is only a
slim chance of Sterek happening (we already knew that), it’s that the author is very clearly not one of us.
When we as fans poke fun at shipping or slash to break the tension we do it
with love: we’re laughing with the fandom. The MTV Remote Control Blog post is
laughing at the fandom and that’s really very not cool MTV.
One day the media will learn that we are the only ones that are allowed
to make fun of shipping and that will be a good day.
All right – that’s my two cents on the drama. I will be writing up a
regular shipping news later where I will talk about the latest crop of Teen Wolf spoilers that have come out to
distract us but until then have this little snippet from EOnline’s
Spoiler Chat:
We
can tell you that the first half of Teen Wolf's upcoming season is
a bit light on the Sterek, though they will interact, according to Tyler
Hoechlin. "It's always fun working with Dylan[O'Brien],
we have a blast together. It's been one of my favorite relationships on the
show. There's always going to be that interaction. How much there will be this
season? We'll see!" O'Brien adds that there's been so little Sterek
action so far, "I told Jeff [Davis] I think it
would be funny if the next scene he writes between Stiles and Derek, he ends it
with us like about to walk away but we look back at each other and say, ‘I miss
this!'" (x)
As always remember to let me know your thoughts on the matter in the
comments.
Till next time shippers: never give up, never surrender!
