There Is Nothing “Beautiful” About Scott McCall’s Heroism In Teen Wolf! My Response To The Mary Sue!

December 19, 2018 Farid-ul-Haq

Teen Wolf Stiles Scott Riders on the Storm

When it comes to Teen Wolf, you can like any character you want whether said character is the hero, a villain or somewhere in-between. But there was something off about Princess Weekes’ article about Scott McCall. The words she used could serve as fuel by a certain part of the Teen Wolf fandom I avoid- which led me to write this.

There is nothing “beautiful” about Scott McCall’s heroism even if he is a POC.

Weekes, from The Mary Sue, is a fan of Scott McCall. Many people are. I can understand where she is coming from when she talks about the need for more Latinx representation on our TV screens. However, her article, titled “Scott McCall Should’ve Gotten More Fandom Love for His Beautiful Heroism in Teen Wolf,” brings forth certain issues I want to speak about.

The most important one is how she blames the fandom for propping up Stiles (a white dude) and ignoring Scott (a POC) because apparently, that’s what fandoms do: they ignore POC characters. Her words fuel the narrative a certain part of the Teen Wolf continues to push, the one where you are immediately labeled a racist if you like Stiles more than Scott.

I would like to tell Weekes the reason the fandom doesn’t like Scott is due to how poorly written he is as a character. I mean, it’s Teen Wolf so basically the entire show is poorly written, but the treatment of Scott McCall is surely the worst of the bunch. He is presented as a werewolf messiah who lets others do the heavy lifting for him and doesn’t seem to face any lasting consequences.

Also, from the article, it might seem Weekes has seen the show, though I doubt it considering she thinks Scott’s heroism is “beautiful” and compares him to Captain America. Couldn’t she think of a Latinx superhero to compare him to?

Does she not remember how Scott forced Derek to bite Gerard Argent back in season 2? Or how he worked with Deucalion to kill Theo’s pack (a group of teenagers)? You know, all things which are totally done by people who exhibit “beautiful” heroism. Sigh!

Kira Yukimura Teen Wolf Arden Cho
Kira is the POC who deserved a lot more! Teen Wolf writers (not the fandom) did her wrong.

As far as Scott being Latinx representation is concerned, I don’t know if one can consider a character to be worthwhile representation when the only diverse thing about them is they are being played by a POC actor. Dylan O’Brien was supposed to audition for Scott McCall back in the day. You can tell Jeff Davis didn’t write the lead as a POC, and it shows in the content we got.

There is nothing Latinx about Scott (the character- we are not talking about Tyler Posey here). Even his parents aren’t Latinx or played by racially-appropriate actors. So, excuse me if I don’t want to give Teen Wolf major representation points as far as Scott’s character is concerned just because he is played by Posey.

When she says, “It goes beyond taste and preference; it’s about actively devaluing another character that we are actively asking for by uplifting a character who fulfills no actual needed representation,” she’s adding fuel to an old fire. I wouldn’t be surprised if her words are used by certain individuals to continue labeling Sterek fans (a very diverse group) as racists.

Not liking a character because they are poorly written (even if they are POC) doesn’t make you a racist. Those who imply otherwise and attack fans over it are the problem.

Scott McCall, while being Latinx representation at some level due to the actor playing him, was not a well-written character. Him not getting love or attention from the fandom is a good thing because it shows other creators that fandoms will not stand for tokenism.

Also, Will Wallace defended Malia being a POC (played by a non-POC actress). So I’m not sure what Weekes’ point is when the writers of the show clearly don’t understand the concept of representation in media.

Furthermore, the Stiles fandom doesn’t owe anyone anything. They do not owe the rest of the fandom (especially Scott fans) their valuable time to create fics and fan art for others when the same fans label them as racists for liking Stiles (even though he is a problematic character).

In the end, all I can say I wish Weekes choose her words more carefully. She could have written a beautiful article about how she likes Scott and how he deserved better. However, by dragging the Stiles fandom into her content and pitting a POC character against a white one, she has done nothing more than give ammunition to the ‘liking-Stiles-more-than-Scott-makes-you-a-racist’ part of the Teen Wolf fandom.

It is kind of funny how Teen Wolf ended back in 2017 and the Stiles fandom (especially Stereks fans) is still blamed for watching the show for the wrong reasons because they didn’t support Scott even though he is definitely a POC and more queer-coded.

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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10 thoughts on “There Is Nothing “Beautiful” About Scott McCall’s Heroism In Teen Wolf! My Response To The Mary Sue!”

  1. Full offence, but Princess Weekes’ “Scott McCall Should’ve Gotten More Fandom Love for His Beautiful Heroism” piece is literally the most toxic, delusional thing I have ever read.

    Also,

    In what kind of delusional, unrealistic, OOC universe is canonically heterosexual fictional character Scott “I LIKE GIRLS, COACH!” McCall queer-coded (or “frankly more queer-coded” than actually canonically neurodiverse, queer-coded character Stiles Stilinski ever was) exactly??????

  2. This article on The Mary Sue came out of nowhere. I really don’t now how these stuff work. Was this paid for by someone? Something like we give you $500 and you write something good about Scott McCall? Perhaps it doesn’t work like that. Please can Viacom, MTV and MGM just give things a rest. Stop trying to push him on us. Can everybody stop playing silly games!!! I got really hurt by the shenanigans of this show. Get it?, Everybody it really hurt so can we move on from this show. Do you even get that Jeff Davis, or are you so unable of sympathy and empathy?! I was thinking this week: Some people love queer baiting and others seems to love shipping. In the end the people that get the most hurt are the gay guys that get caught up in the games people are paying and the ships that don’t go canon. Please can we move on. Allow people to move on. Please stop these articles.

    1. I mean, being given $500 to write something good about Scott McCall would have also interested me to write a nice article about him, lol ;)… but the fact she had to drag the Stiles fandom (and the Sterek fandom due that ‘more queer coded’ line) into the mess and prop them up as racist for not liking Scott is the problem. I expected better from The Mary Sue.

  3. There is nothing POC about Scott McCall except the actor is. I mean even his parents aren’t Latin but Italian!

    And let’s not get started on McCall’s “heroism”! Especially when his actions fit the role of a villain far better.

  4. I have a friend you made similar arguments about Scott McCall. While I give Tyler Posey props for playing him. The Character so underdeveloped. He was a love sick Character, who only thought of himself. He never really grow as character making the same mistakes over again. Not believe his friends when people told him something was wrong. Never looking more then what was in front of his face (that was Stiles’s Job). Never think about the consequences of his actions. He was more like Tony Stark then Captain America. Which isn’t to blame on anyone y the the writing and the executive producer. The writing writing got worse as the seasons went on. Making me believe the writers kept leaving the show as much as the other actors. That the also couldn’t follow a story board and, Jeff Davis really didn’t know where he was going with the show. while Tyler Posey maybe Latinx the character never even hinted about his ethnicity. So there can’t really be a claim of racism, because the name McCall is certainly not Latinx. Even when people asked what Scott MCCall was, Tyler Posey said he thought he was Mexican. He did even really know what his character was.

  5. What a great response!!

    Even his parents aren’t Latinx or played by racially-appropriate actors. – Don’t you know that Melissa Ponzio being part Native American is just like being Latinx as one Scott fan claimed. Also, Matthew Del Negro isn’t really Italian b/c Scott stans know his ethnicity better than he does.

  7. I’m not even going to bother reading that article. I have blood pressure issues, and frankly, I don’t need another trigger.
    However, I will say that when I’m watching a show, I don’t really consider the representation or orientation of the actual actor. I only consider the character they as they are portrayed within the show itself. Scott McCall was not portrayed as a POC.
    What he was portrayed as – as per the writing – was a young kid who managed to skate through his adolescence and get credit for things he didn’t do, and at the expense of others who suffered the consequences of those actions/inaction’s.
    Because he was so consistently portrayed this way in writing, across so many seasons, I can only assume that the writer’s had intended this depiction of Scott McCall..
    Also, although I am sure this was not intent at the time, I think the portrayal of Scott McCall serves as a reminder to us all of what the consequences can be when you elevate people to a status that they do not warrant, and you ignore the inherit flaws in personality.
    They can become president.

  8. I have no problem with what MarySue wrote, it’s an opinion, we all have them, the feature was written thoughtfully and I am sure reflects several voices out there. Team McCall or Team Stiles it’s all good, 6 days until Christmas

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