The Werewolf Pridemovement - Part 5 (Last part)

Ok, it has been some time since my last journal entry and like with the last one I post this final part of the Werewolf Pridemovement series due to Teen Wolf. The last episode and both its portrayal of the werewolves and non-werewolves made it obvious what is simply wrong with the popular depiction of werewolves:

Werewolves are way too normal


It's a fact that no matter how open-minded or progressive a society considers itself to be, there persists a common, if not entirely shameless, desire to reduce complex concepts and hybrids, such as the werewolf, to a formula which is easy to understand and accept: a wolf-man monster whose origins, motives, and self-identity are irrelevant. The myth, of course, suffers from this reduction. Direct-to-DVD werewolf horror movies of the past decade spend most of their budget on the transformation scenes, and with good reason; it was makeup artist Rick Baker's meticulous work for the transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London which gained the film an Oscar and its place in the horror film canon. On the other side of the spectrum, the Twilight films do not dwell on the werewolf transformation; in fact, they do not dwell enough. The hybrid bodies of Meyer's werewolves do not complicate or motivate the plot. Although they are inconspicuously segregated by the text as "others," Jacob and his packmates might as well be members of any human minority. And arguably, not even that since they seem to be very Anglo-American, so much that it is in fact hard to believe that they are actually supposed to be Quileute people.

In modern fiction werewolves need a space of their own and it is usually granted to them, but humans must still be able to regulate their actions within that given space and so the Werewolf Pride movement has been allowed only under certain conditions. Werewolves can be oversexed, but only if they are heterosexual (possibly due to the werewolf's intense identification with common ideas of masculinity). Werewolves can pursue relationships with humans, but they are doomed to unhappiness and premature death, or at least serious complications. They are thus mostly restricted to heterosexual unions among their own kind, something not so typical for vampire stories. Perhaps this is due to the fact that unlike the werewolf, the vampire does not usually exhibit any frustrating fluidity of form which acts as a reminder of the fluid identity it has come to represent and as such it is more easier to see it as human and not some eerie other, despite its blood-drinking, and thereby arguably cannibalistic, tendencies that accompany it in every mainstream depiction.
Modern acceptance of the werewolf as equal successfully squelches the inherent queerness of the werewolf, which in turn limits the werewolf's sexual freedom from which many other freedoms derive (something that understandingly frustrates many watchers and readers of werewolf-fiction). Even if as in Meyer's case werewolves are not technically werewolves in the folkloristic European sense at all, but "more a product of her imagination and of the romantic and patronizing Western stereotype of the 'Noble Savage'", the often handsome man-to-wolf shapeshifters have replaced previous popular notions of the werewolf. Meyer has started a trend which allows any identifiable element of the myth -- the full moon, a curse, the werewolf's loss of control -- to be dispensed with so long as a man-to-wolf transformation occurs. There is no deeper conflict or interaction between beast and man, male and female, or individual and society: at least none which Meyer will acknowledge, in The Vampire Diaries this element was only there at the start and later played down, while Teen Wolf shows promise of portraying this part of their mythology (e.g. while the full moon was rarely mentioned after season 2 in the Vampire Diaries on Teen Wolf it stays a constant reminder, showing how aggressive especially bitten werewolves are during that time). Meyer's werewolf features human-like eyes which reveal a civilized consciousness piloting a typically untamed body, unlike Teen Wolf's werewolves which often show their inhuman eyes. In the Twilight films, the seamlessly transformed werewolf body is unidentifiable from that of a sleek, muscular wolf for most people. Actually it rather looks like people think wolves look, in their summer fur wolves usually show how slender they actually are, either way its CGIperfection is nothing like the piles of misaligned bones and patchy fur featured in many pre-Twilight werewolf films. The Vampire Diaries showed normal wolves/wolf-dogs but Teen Wolf went back to the hybrid version of the fictional werewolf, even the most bestial Alpha from season 1 doesn't look very wolf-like but with its dark, smooth skin and occasional patches of fur, coupled with the red eyes, is rather a Throwback to the old werewolf films by showing less a wolf but rather a demonic creature full of revenge and blood-thirst.
While the Alpha and other werewolves of Teen Wolf are accepted as a villainous monster or reluctant heroes the acceptance of Meyer's werewolves largely depends on their domestication into attractive and heterosexual creatures whose actions and desires are completely unambiguous (unlike the Alpha who got some sympathy for wanting revenge for the death of most of his family and his 6-years long catatonic state and both Scott and Derek show a more ambiguous character). Nonetheless the feature of domestication ala Twilight is seemingly imported into The Vampire Diaries and the latest Teen Wolf incarnation. Despite fans desire to see some wolf-on-guy action this will probably never happen, due to the werewolf's heteronormative status, both shown by the hairiness of the males as well as the lack of hair in females when transformed into hybrid bodies (in TVD the transformation of Jules was never shown, and when slowed down at the end of season 2 there wasn't even a hint of fur or fangs) and Teen Wolf's Erica is the least hairy of the werewolves.

Team Jacob, Sterek and respectively Jyler fans hoped for werewolf-human romance and sex in vain, because, although all the wolves here prove merely to be men in wolfs clothing, sexual intimacy between the two races somehow remains a taboo (as well as homosexual romance) that is only rarely overcome. The depiction of Scott's lycanthropy being triggered when he is sexually aroused without the feeling of love but not when the feeling is there is reminiscent of the claim that sexual intercourse without feeling love is either dangerous or not permissible. Equally Jacob Blacks truly aggressive advances on Bella are a clear sign for the danger of animality, only when he is domesticated by the enslavement of imprinting is he happily allowed into the Cullen clan. In the same way Scott is only allowed to be sexually intimate with Allison when it is established that it is due to true love.
While werewolf groups tend to have a male majority (a breeding pair becomes unnecessary thanks to the recruitment by bite) the heterosexuality that structures the typical wolf pack often acts as the natural model for werewolf tribes and packs and thereby as a clear message for acceptable sexual relationships. In this scenario the wolf pack can easily symbolize the ideal community, one that "happens" to be characteristically heterosexual, but it also realizes Sedgwick's claim that "heterosexuality does not function as a sexuality" as it is marked by "discretionary choice between display and concealment." The lower-ranked wolves are defined by the sexual behavior of the breeding pair which must continue for the pack to function: what goes on among the other wolves (since wolves are not exclusively monogamous) is irrelevant from a social standpoint, but they fit into a heteronormative social order by association. Thus the wolf pack as a symbol for human community and a model for werewolf community simultaneously reinstates and undermines heterosexuality.
Heterosexuality operates primarily as a means of reproduction, and not as a sexuality: of serving the pack's needs, but not necessarily its desires. The choice of display -- of the mated alpha male and female leading the way -- is just as necessary, because it maintains an established social order in which heterosexuality is not only the norm, but also the preference.

Although wolves are commonly thought of as belonging to packs, many of the animals accounted for in the wild have been identified as lone wolves: those who have challenged the pack hierarchy or, for whatever reason, have left the pack (usually due to age since most wolves leave about the age of 2 years).
While a "lone wolf' mentality is a trope attributed to the modern human protagonist, modern werewolves rarely act alone (in Teen Wolf those without a pack are regarded as the lowest of the low, Scott only got redeemed because the current Alpha Derek regards him as an Alpha of his own).
However, the modern werewolf often reproduces -- that is, transmits the curse -- through a bite or scratch rather than sexual intercourse. Despite representations of the werewolf as the masculine extreme, the feminine extreme, and pack mentality embodied, this violent act of reproduction occurs without concern for gender, sexuality, or any other identity. Such reproduction is possible, but is it pleasurable?
Accompanying deaths could suggest otherwise (in Teen Wolf bite victims usually die or transform, something Derek Hale had counted upon when he bit the character of Jackson), but the werewolf's violence does produce impressive offspring which can expand the pack.
Despite this disregard for sexual intercourse for reproduction the classic werewolf is still a heterosexual in every sense of the world. In this regard Bernhardt-House made an argument by drawing a connection between the bite of the werewolf and the perceived propagation of homosexuality through "recruitment." From a certain heteronormative perspective, the werewolf and the homosexual become equally cursed: both are "unnatural and against the will of God," the results of a "lifestyle choice". A similar comparison to homosexuality can be made regarding the bite of the more overtly sexualized vampire, but the werewolf's bestial sexuality calls to mind a cultural taboo few would even deign dignify as a "lifestyle choice." The werewolf s implicit bestiality -- or at least the uncertainty of whether it desires man or beast -- makes it a stronger codifier of not only homosexuality, but queer sexuality in general.
Werewolves are not, however, simply convenient metaphorical stand-ins for homosexuals: especially in times and places when self-proclaimed homosexuals have very little social presence. Instead, werewolves are stand-ins for the spaces that allow non-normative experiences of identity which includes, but is not defined by, sexuality

The modern trans-species body and the modern transgender body occupy the same problematic space. With recent acknowledgment of the genderqueer body -- a body which does not commit to either completely masculine or completely feminine gender roles – fictional representations of those who "experience themselves outside of the gender binary" have become more prevalent.
The genderqueer and the speciesqueer are "those abjected beings who do not appear properly gendered [or specied]; it is their very humanness that comes into question". The werewolf, then, becomes the ideal metaphor for queer identity -- a resistance to established identity -- whether regarding sexuality, gender, or both. It exists so that its "very humanness" might be questioned. The werewolf, physically marked by an undecidability in terms of species, renders the possibility of an undecidability in terms of sex even more possible.
The werewolf s trans-species body cannot be successfully heteronormalized without sacrificing its essential hybridity which blends man and animal. Placing standard human limitations on the werewolf --including those of gender and sexuality -- robs it of that uncanny quality which evokes an emotional response: whether horror, sympathy, or empathy. Werewolves powered by machismo and regulated by their menstrual cycle horrify, but they also find sympathy among those who feel the social and biological pressures of their sex. Even feeling empathy for Meyer's and TVD's werewolves is difficult; their exaggerated performances of status quo humanity, rather than their identification as mythical creatures, renders them lifeless. Teen Wolf might not be there but for the most part it does follow the rule of heteronormativity and patriarchy for its werewolves.
The medieval werewolf narratives concern individuals unaffected by any sort of pack mentality: the aforementioned "lone werewolves" of non-heteronormative identity determined not so much by what it is as by what it is not. In addition perhaps a resistance to criticism exists because medieval werewolves' transformed bodies lack the visible, often instantly repulsive hybridity of the monsters produced by Golden Age Hollywood. Instead, they uphold the classical tradition of someone who transforms into a wolf which is not quite a wolf. Rather than possessing just a few vaguely canine facial features, medieval werewolves are predominantly more wolf than man, and yet they are never mistaken for common wolves.
The medieval werewolves of folklore and literature, while sometimes docile and benevolent (as being evident by Livonian belief [which some wrongly assesses to belong to the Friuli Benandanti]), are not domesticated in the same way as these werewolves, who are allowed to perform only as men would -- ignored when they overact -- although they sometimes walk on all fours.
These werewolves are not "walking performative contradictions": especially not in "self-reflexivity and mindlessness". Their bodies and behavior reinstate binaries rather than contradict them.


Further reading:
"Contemporary Werewolf Schemata: Shifting Representations of Racial and Ethnic Difference" by Shelley Chappell
"The Werewolf Pride Movement - A Step Back from Queer Medieval Tradition" by Caitlin B. Giacopasi
"Seduced by Twilight" by Natalie Wilson.
"The Curse of the Werewolf: Fantasy, Horror and the Beast Within" by Chantal Bourgault Du Coudray
"Hairy Thuggish Women: Female Werewolves, Gender, and the Hoped-for Monster" by Elizabeth Clark