User blog:Lupin505/The Thing About Sterek Is...

The thing about Sterek is...its the ship that everyone can't get enough of, the ship people are sick of hearing about, the thing people ship like mad, the ship people think is ridiculous and could never happen, the thing that is making a buzz in the teen wolf fandom, whether that be positive or negative buzz, and the thing that has caused many arguements. But what is the big deal about Sterek? Now keep in mind that this is just a general opinion piece. I do not consider myself much of a writer nor do I have the arogance to think that I speak for parts of the fandom or the fandom as a whole. There are three points on this topic which I feel need to be brought to attention.
 * 1) The Sterek Campaign. What is it exactly? Is it just another way of fans trying to push their views on Jeff Davis and weasle a Sterek storyline out of him?
 * 2) Hating on other people's ships.
 * 3) Why do people feel like Sterek would make a great pairing for the show and actually help the characters Derek and Stiles to expand?

The Sterek Campaign
The Sterek Campaign is being brought up in the Teen Wolf fandom a lot lately. People either hate it or love it. That sounds about right when it is something involving Sterek. However, the biggest problem people seem to have with the campaign, despite the fact that the campaign raised over $9,000 dollars for a Wolf Santuary (more on that later), is the fact that they are obviously trying to force Sterek. Now before you go and start thinking I am insanely hateful towards this campaign (I'm not), the last sentence was drenched in sarcasm. Because if you had bothered to visit the campaign's tumblr, or just tried to see what it was about at all, you would see that they clearly state, "We want to reinforce the non- demanding nature of the Sterek Campaign project. This is, above anything else, an expression of love and support... so please do not ask, beg, or demand [Sterek]" They did not start this venture to demand Jeff Davis make Sterek a reality. They did, in fact, invent this group to show support for Jeff Davis and to let him know that if he were to make Sterek happen, they would support him. The leaders of this operation have also said, through posts and livestreams that they would support him even if he did not make the pairing canon.

This being said, the only reason in which I see that you could hate this campaign is that it is supporting something that you do not. Which is fine, by all means, no one is asking you to put your faith in something from which you would get no gratification from. But, you should at least ask youraself this, is it really all that bad? They are a group that was formd together to support Sterek, yes. It is obvious from their actions though that this was not their only intent. Any group that can form together and raise that much money for a good cause has my support and the tip of my hat if I were wearing one. Unless, you dont support wolves. Then I guess you would still think this organization was a bad thing. You obviously must like wolves on some level though because, well, you watch teen wolf.

I would also like to add one more addition to this overview of the Sterek Campaign. They like to make it known that you do not have to be a fan of Sterek to support the Sterek Campaign. Since this group's motive is also just to show your love for Jeff Davis, they have given other opprotunities to do that without also supporting Sterek. One way was participating in buying from the auction they held that raised the money for teh wolf sanctuary. You could have bought or created fanfiction, fan art, and crafts. Not all of the fanfiction, fan art, and crafts that could be sold were told to be strictly Sterek. You could have bought/made Scallision, stydia, or jydia stuff as well. Of course, the majority would probably be sterek, but that is to be expected. They also had an option of sending postcards to the creator, which you could do a postcard that wasn't even about Sterek or anything. Some of the events were purely involving Sterek, but they at least gave other people a way of particiapating.

Ship Bashing
The first section and this section were my original reason for writing this blog. I was extremely purturbed the comment section in one of Paul's frequent news updates. People are commenting about why they don't like Sterek, the only problem is that I don't see many people providing a convincing arguement. Most things I read are "No more Sterek. No more Sterek." That is spam. Not a valid reason. I also have seen people say, "They are not gay." This is not valid either. You do not know if a character is gay or not. The answer to why is simple: ''You are not Jeff Davis. You did not create the character. You know nothing about the sexuality of either party.'' They don't have to be gay. There are many other sexualities: Bisexual, pansexual, etc. Even if Stiles or Derek do start out thinking they are just straight, there is always the possibility of realising something later. Willow, on of the three main character's on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, thought she was straight the first three seasons of the show. She even had a crush on her guy best friend and dated another boy for two and a half seasons. She realized, in the fourth season, that she was gay and starts to date Tara. Joss Whedon did something that I thought was rather brave and out there. He broke up Willow and Oz, they guy she dated, and had her go through a major change that no one saw coming. It was brilliant and baeutifully done.

However, I am drifting from my point. I am perfectly okay with people disagreeing with the fact that Sterek should be a couple. That is fine by me. I just don't like it when people are spamming hate on someone's ship instead of actually engaging in an intelligent debate over why the two characters should/should not happen. When people do this it leads me to believe they are either homophobic (Don't fly off the handle. I don't think everyone who doesn't ship Sterek is homophobic. But some are because I have heard from them) or that you don't actually have a reason sayign why they don't work. The section below this is my thought out explination of why they would (not htat they will) make a good couple if Jeff chose that particular path.

Would Derek and Stiles Progress the Storyline?
Time and time again I have heard people bashing Sterek because they think that Derek and Stiles getting together wouldn't progress the storyline. This is however false. The first thing I have to ask you is: Do you really have such little faith in Jeff Davis that (if he were to make it canon) you think he wouldn't be able to write it and make it progress the storyline? He has never done so before, and I doubt he will do so in the future. Now, keeping that in mind, lets continue. I don't want to make this section that long because I could go on  forever a long time. So I will cut it into three points. P.S. I am in no way saying this proves why they are meant to be. I am merely explaining why the storyline could progress if they got together/why a pairing like them is not so uncommon to want. It is a love-hate relationship pairing. The only difference is that they are dudes.
 * 1) Derek and Stiles, despite being so different, have so much in common. They both, though they express it in different ways, have the same views about Scott. In season one Scott attempts many times to nullify his responsibilities when regarding his new wolfie powers. An example would be the lacross game that Derek forbids him from participating in season one. Although Stiles unerstands why Scott wants to play in it, he also understands Derek's point when he talks to him in the cop car. Through out all of season one this happens. As Scott trys to supress his wolf powers and live a normal life, Stiles and Derek try to make him see that he can't.
 * 2) Derek and Stiles both suffer inside and try not to let people see it. Stiles does this through humor and Derek through anger and a tough exterior. Stiles, as shown in the episode 209 Party Guessed, blames himself for his mother's death and thinks that he is ruining his father's life. Derek is overwrought with guilt after the death of his family, which was caused by Kate Argent who had tricked Derek. I think it would be awesome if they recognised this in the show. That both Derek and Stiles recognise what the other has gone through. This would also serve to further progress there characters.
 * 3) Lastly, Derek and Stiles DON'T hate eachother. No matter how hard they play this in the show, I don't think they really do. I think that bit is mostly for humor (Plus love-hate realtionships are the best. Barney and Robin, Chuch and Blaire, an Ron and Hermione). Anyhow, I think if they truly hated eachother they wouldn't spend so much of the show saving eachother. The first time being when they first discovered who the alpha was in season one. Derek shows up and protcts Stiles, not only that but voices major concern for stiles safey over the phone when he is telling stilles to run away because Peter is the alpha. Ther are other scenes. The pool scene in which derek and stiles both protect eachother (Stiles went underwater trying to hold Derek up). The scene where Derek stops Isaac from attacking Stiles. The scene where Derek tells Scott to save Stiles when Matt is holding them hostage at the police station.