Fandom really is a place where media literacy, critical thinking. and empathy go to die… especially when characters or people of color that fandom doesn’t like are concerned
Because tell me why this moomoo (the OP of the post) is calling Scott McCall “an antagonist (who’s actually a protagonist bc of the unreliable narrator and the moral greyness of the plot)”.
Beyond how he’s literally the protagonist and a hero because he’s the titular teen wolf with a furry heart of gold… You can only get this reading of Scott that makes him an antagonist and difficult to write if you’re poisoned from fandom already. I know this because I made Meems watch Teen Wolf and the movie with zero knowledge of Scott beyond “I like him a lot” (a thing she doesn’t ever trust because she knows that I’m currently feral for multiple awful antagonists and villains in Jujutsu Kaisen).
Without her having any exposure to fandom, she came out of it not just loving Scott but adoring Tyler Posey.
A normal person’s response to Teen Wolf is to like Scott. Not necessarily to love him, but to like him… The way people tend to like protagonists with a heroic heart. The way fandom normally does… when that protagonist is a white guy.
Also, Teen Wolf… Doesn’t have a singular narrator. Scott isn’t relaying the story and lying about it. This really speaks to how people don’t understand media but also won’t shut up about it. Because what about Scott makes him an unreliable narrator to the point where, if there was a “reliable” narrator, Scott would wind up actually being an antagonist?
Finally, the OP frames this as a “I’m just asking questions, I want to write Scott better” thought exercise.
It’s not.
It’s actually a post made in bad faith in order to collect other Scott antis shitting on him and talking about why they also don’t like him. Look at the comments. They’re awful. Just… eagerly rushing to talk shit about a character who is, at the worst, as annoying as most teen protagonists are on supernatural shows. If you could stomach anyone on Vampire Diaries, Scott is basically an angel. (He’s also… just a peach.)
And yet to this day, this behavior (both the OP fishing for a shit talking community and the comments giving them what they want and trashing Scott) isn’t recognized as being an anti… But me talking about this would be even though… I’m pointing out a discrepancy and a willful misreading of a character likely tagged with the character’s name, therefore opening his fans up to seeing a disengenous request for writing help coupled with nasty comments about their favorite character.
Anyway, this is why I don’t actually want these people writing the characters they hate. I don’t need a diehard sterek fan who ignores their pairing’s own characterization towards Scott to try writing him. They won’t do a good job and it’ll just be an experience that results in weak characterization all around. That’s why, to this day, the best sterek stories either don’t have Scott in them at all… Or are written by fans who, like me, love Scott a reasonable amount… And want Derek and Stiles to be a couple outside of that.
When you start by being a Scott anti… Your story suffers the second you put him in because you’re rolling with an agenda that rots your silly little fanfic and renders the characters you actually like out of character.
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