Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-25184427-20140722165407/@comment-19765459-20140726053932

Grahamburglar wrote:

That's exactly the problem with Jeff Davis' "world without isms" mentality in regards to the Teen Wolf universe. He's absolutely "white washed" everyone.

Like, yeah, nobody makes a big deal about Scott's heritage or ethnicity. Because there is literally no sign of that heritage in his lifestyle or behavior. Same with Boyd. The only heritage Deaton or Morell seem to have any interest in is druidic -- as in, from Ireland? Danny is not only a POC who's been utterly white washed, but even his representation as a gay guy has been mostly "he's just like straight guys only he likes to sleep with boys!" (Side note: the fact that there's a gay bar in Beacon Hills undermines the whole "world without isms" philosophy because without homophobia being so prevalent, gay bars and straight bars wouldn't be separate things. That's off-topic though. :P)

I can, and do, really appreciate the entire lack of prejudices in the Teen Wolf world, I just wish he could have made them apparent and still had all of the various cultures and subcultures be part of the world as well. Well, in fairness (and I cannot believe I am defending Jeff here!), as with my own case, it is a false stereotype that certain behaviors, modes of speech or mannerisms are linked to race, ethnicity or cultural background.

Barack Obama is exactly one generation removed from his African ancestry. Unlike most "African-Americans", whose ancestors may have been taken from Africa centuries ago! Yet he speaks and acts like a white, middle-class American. Because that's what he was raised by! He has neither the urban inner city or Southern country backgrounds traditionally associated with African-American culture and thus could not even fake it convincingly! Nor does he try.

Likewise, just because somebody can count "Mexican" as part of their ancestry is meaningless. My first cousin (son of my paternal aunt), had a Puerto Rican father. He and I are very similar in most respects, except his hair is a little darker and his skin will actually tan, whereas my pale Slavic skin generally just burns. We otherwise could pass for brothers. He also has only the most marginal understanding of Spanish and what is basically a New Jersey accent. Is this real world "white-washing", or just the reality of his upbringing?

The people in Beacon Hills generally act like Northern Californians, which is what they are regardless of underlying race/ethnicity. Since Beacon Hills does not appear to be large enough to be segmented into racial/ethnic ghettos, there is no real reason why the residents would not be fairly homogenous culturally speaking. It's not a big city with a large transient population (other than werewolves, Hunters and the occasional demons summoned from gods alone know where).

My grandparents had lost their original accents within their lifetimes. Neither my parents' generation nor mine retain any Slavic linguistic traits (and none of us can speak Polish). People do assimilate!

Gays too by the way. Go back and study the early history of the gay rights movement and it was often very counter-cultural. Ironically, as recently as the 1980's many prominent gay rights activists were scornful of the idea of gays adopting "heteronormative lifestyles" such as marriage and many (like straight Hippies) exalted promiscuity instead. Flash ahead to our time and younger gays sneer at such talk. They want marriage equality instead of protected right to sex in public restrooms! Cultural paradigm shift within a very short span of time.