Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-25184427-20140722165407/@comment-6383956-20140722222016

HolyDrumstickofLove wrote: I will give Teen Wolf kudos for throwing gay couples into normal situations, and not stereotyping....but I still feel like they HAVE to have a gay character there or something.....I mean Danny (who was awesome, btw) leaves and BAM! A new gay guy shows up. Just seems weird and forced....that's all I am saying. They don't HAVE to have a gay character, as in it is not required by law. But, they sure as hell ought to.

The lowest estimate for a LGBT/cis-hetero is one in ten people (though I've actually seen a lot higher ratios as of late). As LadyX so generously pointed out, the ratio on Teen Wolf is two in thirty. If you're feeling bombarded or like the gay people are out of place, I can't imagine what real life is like for you. Teen Wolf isn't at real life's ratio at all because most shows have a zero in 492874589275289578957 ratio. (That's a guesstimate, in case that wasn't clear. :P)

Aside from just having some semblance of realism on the show, do you have any concept what representation in the media can do for people in minorities? Not just kids or teenagers. It dramatically boosts self esteem in all age groups. Not to mention the fact that LGBT teenagers -- the age group that Teen Wolf is aimed at -- have the highest suicide rate in the country, so maybe showing them off a little bit in a positive light is a good thing.

These teenagers, who are at high risk of suicide, are constantly bombarded with heterosexuality. This doesn't bother you at all because that's your life. You're used to it. Imagine how you're feeling about the gay characters though -- characters who are gay for no reason, characters who are just there to attract gay viewers, etc. Now flip it around. That's what gay people go through when they watch TV -- straight characters who are straight for no reason, and are just straight to attract straight viewers. Just looking at Teen Wolf, can you imagine how alienating that is?

You want to be irritated with how this show handles homosexuality? I'm pretty irritated with it myself. Not for the same reasons you are -- because the show is totally, adamantly refusing to allow any of the main characters to be gay. Ethan was the closest, but he was, y'know, kinda evil for most of the time he was around. Then you have Danny, who they revealed knew about the supernatural but apparently gay people who know about the supernatural don't feel like being heroic ever. Thanks for that, Jeff Davis. :P

I really don't want you to feel like I'm making you out to be a homophobe, that's absolutely not my intention and I don't think that you are at all. I just think you may not be seeing the big picture where this issue is concerned.

Also, the kid playing Mason so far seems like a pretty clunky actor to me too, yeah. But in his defense, in Season 1 almost the whole cast seemed clunky and they've all grown a lot (go back and watch how often Dylan O'Brien makes the same motions with his hands over and over and over in a scene, and then compare to any scene of his in seasons 3a through 4). I'm willing and eager to see how much he learns from the people around him this season.