Not Into Bad Guys Anyways: Scott McCall, or Positive Representations of Masculine Identities in US Supernatural Teen Drama

Abstract

[eng] This paper examines the representation of non-toxic masculinities in US supernatural teen TV drama at the beginning of fourth wave of feminism through the character of Scott McCall in Teen Wolf (Davis, 2011). Worshiped and idolized by the millennial generation, Teen Wolf presents at least two characters who, prior to the recent social awakening regarding gender rights and considering its phallogocentric historic-geographical context, particularly challenge conventional gender discourses and practices of hegemonic and accomplice masculinities. Through the interactions and decisions presented in the series, the protagonist, Scott McCall, is constructed breaking the grounds of traditional masculine performativity previously depicted in vampire and werewolf narratives. Consequently, such changes in gender display pave the way for positive representations of male characters in fantasy television, which constitute a necessary tool to wreck the cements of patriarchy and end an archaic social infrastructure founded on the systematicity of oppression exerted on deviant cultural agents. Thus, and as the plot develops, the public not only witnesses a mere teenager who is now a werewolf coping with regular high school drama, but an adolescent constructing his masculinity surrounded by a group of individuals contributing to its development in a safe and respectful environment, where the main priority is the survival of a pack in which does not exist a hierarchy but a bond that is unbeatable. By providing an in depth analysis of this character and how he allows himself to be positively influenced by those around him, the main aim of this paper is, on the one hand, to explore why the construction of Scott’s masculinity as a contraposition to other toxic supernatural masculine figures in the TV series is crucial for male audiences in order to provide the public with alternatives to hegemonic masculinity, further interrupting the legitimization of violent and oppressive gender performances. And, on the other hand, how women play a significant role not only in the unity of the pack but also in the formation process of the male identities in the show.