Chapter Text
On the surface of things delving into the various[snack] ways that anthropocentrism is articulated in an urban fantasy TV show for teens and the fanfiction created by fans is a frivolous endeavour. In general, media created for teens and children tends to be viewed as frivolous in and of itself. Then there’s the general handwaving and dismissal of fanfiction as being the frivolous creations of people with too much time on their hands—if only because it challenges our general view that labour must produce capital for it to be meaningful. Fans, by their own admission, create fanworks for fun. This essay will not be engaging in this debate.[glad] Many defences of media created for children and teens have been mounted, the same with fanfiction and other fanworks. That anthropocentrism—as one part of the worldview held by white, colonial cultures and states—is worthy of study should require no defence. However, as with many abstract ideas—particularly those that are part of a set of assumptions that structure how we perceive and interact with the world—concrete examples help illustrate the material reality and consequences of these ideas and worldviews.
Zhuangzi, over two thousand years ago during the Warring States period in China, told a story about a discussion he had with Huizi—himself a member of the School of Names, known for their sophistry— that tidily explicates anthropocentrism and one critique of it:[anthropocentrism]
Chuang Tzu and Hui Tzu were strolling along the dam of the Hao River when Chuang Tzu said, “See how the minnows come out and dart around where they please! That’s what fish really enjoy!”
Hui Tzu said, “You’re not a fish – how do you know what fish enjoy?” (Zhuangzi 1968).
This story is particularly illustrative since it emphasizes something we do with animals all the time: that is, we ascribe human emotions and motivations to them—in other words, we anthropomorphize them. We say dogs love us when they greet us at the door—all wagging tails and excited jumping.[dogs] Note, no assertion is being made as to whether or not animals can feel love. Rather, anthropocentrism suggests that the question ‘Can dogs love?’ is fundamentally flawed since the way we usually answer the question is by comparing it to human experience.
Whales provide a more concrete example of how anthropomorphizing is also anthropocentrism. Whaling (i.e., the hunting of whales) was a common practice before the 1970s: it was serious problem that still endangers many species. In 1970, Roger Payne released Songs of the Humpback Whale; thereby sparking a global ‘save the whales’ movement leading to our current international ban on hunting whales (“Songs of the Humpback Whale (Album)” 2020).[whales] Why did this happen? What does it matter that whales sing? It matters because singing humanized whales. We saw them as intelligent animals capable of creating music and, thus, they moved to a category beyond food or consumable resource. It’s the same reason most people find eating dogs, cats, and horses morally repugnant.
Of course, you can look at the example of whales and think, “If it saved the whales, is anthropocentrism so bad?”. The example’s purpose was to demonstrate that anthropocentrism has material consequences. In that case, they were positive. In most cases, they aren’t. Again, consider whales. Anthropomorphizing saved them from the more dire consequences of anthropocentrism. As part of the worldview that created the white, colonial, and capitalist cultures of Europe and North America, the separation of humans from nature and centring of humans in the world is what led to whales—and nature as a whole—to be seen as exploitable resources for and by humans. Unchecked exploitation is precisely why whales were endangered. In other words, anthropocentrism cannot be the solution to the problems it causes.
This essay will discuss anthropocentrism, werewolves, and urban fantasy as it occurs on three different levels: the individual, the pack, and inter-pack werewolf culture as a whole—working from the micro to the macro.
For the sake of brevity, this essay will focus on the popular show, ‘Werewolf High’, since it’s more likely you’ll be familiar with it. Werewolf High is a show about a teen who—by a twist of fate—gets turned into a werewolf, introducing him to the scary world of the supernatural.[bite] Since the show is told from the protagonist’s perspective, we only get hints about this new world as he learns them. The relatively sparse world-building is part of why there is a large and active fandom—the fans are able fill in a lot of the details as they see fit, generating a vast amount of stories and text.
In any case, the werewolf lore in the series has some features common to urban fantasy in general, while also having a few interesting deviations. Common elements include having an alpha/beta/omega hierarchy, some wolves being born, and some being turned. Unique elements include omegas being defined as lone wolves—wolves without a pack—and that only alphas can turn humans. There is, of course, the part where alpha werewolves have red, glowing eyes, while betas or omegas have either gold or blue.[blue] That’s the show. In the fiction written by fans—known either as ‘fanfic’ or sometimes just ‘fic’—certain themes in the lore have risen to the height of what is known as fanon—fandom canon. Some of these themes will be engaged, since they represent shared ideas about how werewolves are conceptualized in urban fantasy.
Anthropocentrism in Werewolf High is interesting because of how interesting and exciting it is to imagine and explore the implications of sentient non-human beings,[nonhuman] like werewolves, existing in our current world. Obviously, non-human beings are all around us, the difference with werewolves—and similar creatures from mythology—is that we can communicate with them in ways we understand. They can use human languages to communicate their inner thoughts and worlds to us. It isn’t possible with most non-human animals on earth.
Of course, talking about the show requires talking about the fandom’s most popular ‘ship: Kirk, a portmanteau for ’Koz’ Kowalski and Dirk Howell. Dirk Howell is the mysterious, dark possible-antagonist for the first few seasons and ‘Koz’ Kowalski is the best friend of Steve Delgado—the teen whose world gets turned upside down after being bitten by a werewolf. The popularity of the ship means that most of the themes explored will have these characters as their main protagonists. While this essay is a critique and exploration of anthropocentrism in Werewolf High and the fic created by the fandom, it isn’t a judgement on the participants or writers. Indeed, the enthusiasm of the fans is why there is such a large body of work to examine, why it becomes easy to identify themes—or ‘tropes’ in fandom jargon. Werewolf High fic is merely an illustrative example of themes that exist both within urban fantasy and the world at large.[plans]
Footnotes
snack Stiles groaned. He hates it when you finally sit down to read or do something, only to realize you want snacks. He grumpily heaves himself off the coach to wander into his kitchen. He settles on red vines and plops himself down. He hopes this meta essay is as interesting as it sounds. [return to text]
glad Stiles was glad that he wasn’t going to have to read yet another ‘fic is real writing’ defence. He’d seen most of it. Fuck, he’d had to defend himself and his love of fic to his friends and family. So what if he liked a TV show for teens about werewolves and shit? It was his time and he could do what he wanted. [return to text]
anthropocentrism Stiles blinked. Was this author really not going to give a more accessible definition of anthropocentrism? Fucking academics. He quickly googled it to see what Wikipedia had to say about it: “Anthropocentrism…is the belief that human beings are the most important entity in the universe. Anthropocentrism interprets or regards the world in terms of human values and experiences” (“Anthropocentrism” 2020). Ah… That was clearer. He paused, mind racing. Could this explain some of why it was so hard to get along with Derek? **return to text]
dogs Stiles makes a face at the essay. He gets what the author is saying but he’ll fight to the very bitter end defending dogs and their pure love. [return to text]
whales Stiles wasn’t gonna lie. He immediately bought a copy of Song of the Humpback Whale and was currently listening to it as he read.
“Stiles!” Derek growled, “What the fuck are you listening to?”
“Have you seriously never heard whale song, Derek? Because I won’t believe you,” Stiles said. He was totally onto Derek. The dude was a secret marshmallow and 1000% would listen to whales sing.
“Why are you listening to whales?”
“Um… because I’m reading this essay about anthropocentrism and fanfic? They totally just talked about how this album literally saved the fucking whales. So obviously it needed to be the soundtrack of my journey through this essay,” Stiles explained, flailing his arms because whales, man. Whales!
Derek narrowed his eyes, “This is about that show Werewolf High, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Stiles said defensively, “And before you start, I know the show is silly but someone who knows about actual werewolves created the show. A lot of the lore is wrong but there are enough nuggets of truth that it counts as legit research! Wait, what are you even doing here?”
Derek looked shifty, “Mostly hiding from Laura.”
Stiles laughed. Marshmallow. Derek looked like a bad boy and was a werewolf to boot but he wasn’t the alpha and Laura totally dominated their relationship. Mostly with loving kindness that Derek loved to hate. [return to text]
bite Stiles will never stop being amused at the existence of this show. Yes, as a spark, he was part of the real supernatural world, so the show’s inaccuracies and melodrama should put him off. It totally didn’t. He’d say it was his guilty pleasure but he didn’t feel an ounce of guilt over his gleeful enjoyment. The entire premise was absurd! It was glorious. [return to text]
blue Stiles thought that the eye colour detail was something that irritated him the most. Derek had blue eyes because he was a born wolf. Bitten wolves had golden eyes. The whole thing about blue eyes meaning a wolf who’d killed an innocent made Stiles angry because some of those misconceptions bled into real life. Stiles hated that Derek got teased about being a killer because he could tell it hurt him. And Stiles didn’t like things that hurt Derek.
“Why do you smell angry?” Derek asked.
Stiles startled. He’d thought Derek had left. Had he been watching Stiles read? Why was Derek such a creeper?
“As much as I love Werewolf High, the whole eye colour thing bugs me,” Stiles grumbled.
“Why? It’s good that they didn’t get the details exactly right,” Derek said, eyebrows conveying his confusion.
“Because you don’t like it when people tease you about being a killer!” Stiles practically shouted, one flailing hand almost hitting Derek in the face.
“Huh,” was Derek’s eloquent response. [return to text]
nonhuman Stiles grumbled at the use of ‘non-human’ since it seemed to still centre humans by making them the default and marking everything else as ‘other’. But he supposed it was marginally better than the author coming up with some awkward alternative. Still… [return to text]
plans “What are you doing later?” Derek’s voice brokes Stiles’ concentration but it was okay, since he just finished the introduction.
“Um, nothing? Why?”
“Good,” Derek said and then wandered off.
Stiles squinted at him suspiciously. Derek was being weird. Like, he was normally weird but there was something off about him today.
If only because he’d never come to Stiles’ place to hideout. Or, Stiles thought for a moment, he doesn’t think Derek’s ever been to his apartment. [return to text]