Teen Wolf creator battles claws and stereotypes

August 1st, 2012

If there was one thing Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis wanted to do, it would be to imagine a near perfect uptopia. Albeit, a utopia filled with monsters and fangs. Jeff Davis talked to AfterElton and spoke on his ideal world stating, “I’m trying to create a world where there’s no racism, there’s no sexism, there’s no homophobia. And I know it’s not real life, but I kind of don’t care. I’d like to create a world where none of that matters: you have the supernatural creatures for that to work as an analogy. In my mind, if you can create a world like that on TV, maybe life starts to imitate it.”

However, some Teen Wolf fans have wondered if Davis can actually pull it off. Some have referenced the Beta character Boyd on the show. Fan site owner Taylor of the blog there are roads left in both of our shoes wrote about how much Boyd has been left out of the series writing, “Boyd has no family, no story, no background, no home, and when he even makes his brief cameos in the show, he’s usually somebody’s backup or lackey. He has no human complexity, and his one moment of individuality comes when he says he wants to be like Scott. Which is then promptly ignored and never covered again. Erica gets a storyline. Isaac gets a storyline. Matt the photographer gets a storyline.”

As the resident Teen Wolf recapper, I would have to agree, Boyd’s absence has been truly felt. But that doesn’t mean that he won’t have the chance to shine in an extended season three, nor does that mean other characters who have been “ignored” won’t get their due screen time. And though this is besides the point, we might not even get a chance to see Boyd anyway. As shows get more complex (as they often do), the chances for characters (especially ones who are even deemed betas) to get full coverage is slim. This is an hour long teen drama and there are many stories to be told.

Jeff Davis spoke to this on a letter addressing the issue stating, “I have said numerous times in interviews that the new supporting characters are there to “support” the main characters. I have 41 minutes a week in which to tell a story. It’s not easy to service every character equally!” But Davis also supported the feedback writing, “I love the passion all of the fans bring to the show and I’m glad it creates far more of a discourse than I ever expected. I’m pretty sure most of my response here comes out of my own insecure thinking: “Are they calling me racist? I’m not racist! Wait… am I?” But maybe some of this information [from this letter] will provide a different insight into the why’s and how’s of the world of television and if you don’t necessarily forgive our flaws, you might at least understand them a little better.”

We want to know what you guys think. How can Teen Wolf become a better series? Do you think they should better themselves in including equal screen time amongst supporting actors? Do you think this is even an issue at all? Hit us up in the comments section below and tweet at us @MuchMusic to share what’s on your mind!

And don’t miss Teen Wolf when it airs on Mondays at 10:30pm ET/ 7:30pm PT after Degrassi right here on MuchMusic.

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Tags: Jeff Davis, Teen Wolf