CRYING

this episode is just gonna be stydia af

#dorks

REBLOG IF I CAN MESSAGE YOU AND BECOME FRIENDS WITH YOU

(x)

I actually wasn’t planning on doing this at all but I skipped last week entirely and now with the confirmation that our beloved BH cyclones are taking the field again, I feel like there’s no possible way I can skip this week too. 

It’s been a long, hard, heartbreaking Lacrosse-less road for the past season and I’m so excited. SO EXCITED. 

You all know the drill by now. 

As always, hoodies are available here!

Good luck everyone!

"He’s my cousin, Miguel."

Stiles and Kira parallels aka Stiles and Kira being adorable dorks spying on people and being awkward dancers [part 1]

You know what? This is pretty harsh, but I’m going to reblog it, because so far the show’s given me nothing to indicate I shouldn’t agree with this analysis of her character. We’re specifically told in interview after interview that we’re supposed to find her selfishness and abrasiveness charming and funny, but she hasn’t earned that. She’s done nothing to indicate that we should care about her, and, in fact, the more present she is on screen (and the more we hear about her in interviews), the less I like her. That’s not the right kind of progress for a new primary cast member to be making.

And I’m glad that particular quote about her relationship with Stiles was included. Setting up this epic new romance as a situation where someone makes a character we love “willing to shrink around her" isn’t something I have any desire to embrace. Being a strong, independent, powerful, stubborn, even amoral woman is all well and good. But making the other partner shrink or become less or welcome a punch in the face as an indication of affectionisn’t a mark of a healthy relationship. 

I’m not going to get into shipping discussions, because that’s a tiring process and everybody has their opinions and their way of reading character interactions. So this isn’t about whether another relationship is better or worse than Stalia. But there’s something particularly unnerving when the actress herself describes a growing relationship as:

"He’s who she lives for, really. It sounds kind of desperate and pathetic in human terms — in high school, you shouldn’t put so much stock to someone of the opposite sex. You need to grow into who you are before you can fully be there for somebody else. But, that being said, this is a supernatural show. And Malia doesn’t have a family." (x)

First of all, Malia has a father. Has this already been forgotten? And no, I’m not talking about Peter. I’m talking about the father who grieved for her and the rest of their family for 8 (?) years before finding out she was still alive. Are they seriously going to just ignore the fact that he ever existed? I’m not the person to talk to about healthy relationships with your father, so sure, there can be some distance and complications there, and maybe she doesn’t feel like she knows or can trust him, but are we actually forgetting that he exists at all?

Secondly, in what world (supernatural or not) does this sound like a healthy basis for a relationship? I’m sorry, but setting something in a more-than-human environment doesn’t mean you need to throw away reason, logic, or emotional well-being. Jeff Davis is the one who said in previous interviews, years ago when I still thought he was a reasonable person and a writer and show-runner I respected, that he didn’t want Teen Wolf to become Twilight. Isn’t that exactly what’s happening with this kind of frighteningly co-dependent, weirdly abusive language?

A girl coming out of a feral state and learning how to be a human teenager is a fascinating idea with so many possibilities. She’s probably not going to be very good at romance, and may well latch onto one person while having absolutely no interest in anyone else’s well-being. That’s okay. That’s setting up a different kind of character, and it’s great to have a diversity of non-cookie-cutter females in the cast, in particular. But setting this kind of dynamic up as something utterly positive that we should be whole-heartedly supporting disturbs me. This is supposed to be the ideal, end-game relationship?

I won’t go (again) into my absolute, unremitting disgust with Eichen House and the introduction of their relationship, but nothing I’ve seen or heard thus far has made me feel like they’ve progressed in a healthier, more balanced direction. There’s an obsessive element to it, and a lot of other dynamics that personally don’t appeal to me in the slightest.

For example: The way Stiles talks to her like she’s a child, yet we’re supposed to simultaneously think of her as a sexy 17 year old we want to see hooking up with him. The way she’s willing to abandon the rest of the pack - people he loves and would die for - at a moment’s notice and glue herself to his side despite barely knowing him. The way we’re supposed to swallow the “mates” idea as a convenient explanation for their lack of chemistry and build-up. It’s supernatural! They’re mates! They’re meant to be together, so fuck what we’ve actually SHOWN you, just love them already.

I don’t love Malia Tate. I don’t love Stalia. Maybe I’ll change my mind as the season goes on. After all, we barely know anything about her. But that’s half my point. You can’t fling a new character into the mix, screw up her introduction in possibly the worst and most offensive episode the show will ever produce, and then complain when we aren’t sold on her from her first snarky comment and queerbaiting dance sequence in Season 4. I’m not buying what you’re selling, Teen Wolf. Maybe throw that $50k at me from another angle.

I’d also like to say that it’s complete and utter bullshit for anyone to say that we either a) don’t like Malia because she’s a female character & we’re being misogynistic or b) we don’t like her because she’s a female character paired with Stiles.

While internalized misogyny does happen, it’s used as an excuse in cases like this to avoid the real truth. And that is that female characters are hated because Hollywood has proven time and time again that they don’t know how to write women.

Jeff Davis, specifically, has proven that he doesn’t know how to write women.

Jennifer Blake, for example, was supposed to be an avenging angel. She was supposed to be sacrificing people to gain power so that she could avenge her pack. So that she could stop the Alpha Pack from destroying another pack’s life.

In the end, she was reduced to a vain woman whose only concern was that she wasn’t pretty anymore.

Lydia Martin, as another example, was supposed to be the ice cold beauty queen with a secret passion for math and science. In season one, her knowledge of Molotov cocktails is what helped bring Peter down and she did all of that while still making it clear that she was HBIC and she wasn’t taking anyone’s shit.

She has since been watered down. Her rude, take charge attitude has been exchanged for the helpless damsel in distress. Her smarts have been left behind to make room for crying, saying, “I don’t know,” and the occasional sassy quip.

When she walked into a room in season one, you knew she was there. Now she’s a wall ornament; a pretty piece of scenery or furniture.

We’re supposed to think JD’s female characters are fresh and progressive, that they’re strong females with independent storylines, that they all have something to contribute beyond whatever connection they have to the men in the show. 

Except they don’t.

Braeden stands as the only truly independent female in the entire show and yet in order to bring her from cameo/recurring character status to secondary character, they’ve sacrificed that to make her a love interest this season.

Malia could have been an independent female character. She has no connection to the pack outside of the supernatural; she’s a coyote and they’re werewolf or werewolf-adjacent.

Her independence was sacrificed for an unnecessary, unhealthy relationship that’s being painted as perfectly acceptable and healthy because that’s what the writers of this show do.

Because none of them know how to write independent female characters. None of them see the value in a female character if she isn’t a love interest.

Which brings me to my next point and that is: you’re damn right I’m pissed that she’s with Stiles.

I’m pissed on behalf of yet another female character who’s been failed and I’m pissed on behalf of Stiles’ bisexuality, which has been teased at for four seasons but never explored.

I don’t hate Malia because I’m internally misogynistic, I hate her because the men writing her are and I shouldn’t have to put up with that.