shipping kills puppies!

[xparrot]

I've seen a couple discussions about the negative turn SGA fandom has taken, re: McKeller, people, mostly Keller fans (or at least not anti-Keller fans) who are feeling actively driven from the fandom by aggressive character/pairing hate. They feel this is a recent trend, and I concur; while SGA had its share of past wank, I think it was one of the lower-conflict fandoms for its size. And if that's changed now, then I blame shipping. Or rather, canon shipping.

Every fandom I know of that has these battles, has these levels of anger and resentment between fans, is a fandom with canon ships. Witness Smallville, or HP. Ships going canon wreak havoc on a fandom. Nothing embitters your average fan as much as a ship that sinks their own, and an embittered fan can be eager to share their hate, wants the solidarity of all of fandom telling TPTB that they're wrong, wants all of fandom together seeking change. Even killing a character doesn't cause the kind of conflict that shipping does...

There are other things that get fans' backs up, but the majority of fen are shippers, and ships are often why they fan. There are exceptions, there are other types of fans - and other types of shippers - but in modern Western media fandom, the majority of fans (slash, het, even many gen fen) are in it for particular relationships. Mess with those relationships in canon, and you get fandom meltdown.

(I think there's a reason that a lot of the old fan shows, the big ones, were series that never had canon ships, never had any romances that lasted more than a single episode. Star Trek, Starsky & Hutch, The Sentinel, all those old episodic shows that never really progressed the character relationships - that never changed them, never pulled the figurative rug out from under fannish feet. The only series I know of with low-conflict canon ships are ships which were introduced in the first season, that the fandom grew up around, and even in those there's often little interaction between contrasting shippers. I also suspect it's a major reason why new female characters are viewed with such suspicion, because while male characters are often introduced for plot purposes, nine times out of ten a new female character is going to mean new canon ships.)

I don't blame shippers. I'm a shipper myself; I wouldn't fan without my ships. I need my OTPs to fic. And I strive to be reasonable and fair to all my fellow fans, but I still have been known to go utterly psycho batshit when I feel my OTP is "threatened," so it doesn't surprise me to see other otherwise reasonable types lose it over shipping. It's frustrating since the fandom used to be cooler about it - but then the fandom didn't have canon ships before. A fandom with canon ships has ship wars. It just seems to be a fact of fandom; it's why I tended to avoid Who fandom, or Avatar fandom, why I often keep wary distance from anime fandoms.

My OTPs aren't canon, generally (at least not in my fic fandoms, my active "Type B" fandoms - and I tend to avoid main fandom for my Type As, because I'd just as soon not get drawn into shipping wars.) But I don't need my OTPs to be canon to be satisfied, don't need my interpretation of the characters validated above all other interpretations. As long as they're never actually denied, I'm good. The more open-ended canon is, the more freedom there is for all fans, all different shippers, to peacefully co-exist, and I like it that way.

If I sound like I'm saying I'd rather not have canon ships in my ficcing fandoms - yeah, I am. Bring on the subtext and the UST, and leave the consummations to the fanfic. Maybe it's unrealistic and maybe it's boring, but I don't care. It's more peaceful that way XP

Comments

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I'm totally being selfish! 100%, absolutely, I should've made that point cleared in my post ^^;

As I've mentioned in my comments above, I love many a canon pairing. It's just in the fandoms that I fic actively for that I want that freedom.

It used to be that most shows were episodic, and didn't develop the characters; the writers were restricted to writing them in particular relationships, a particular way. Arc shows, with changing characters and relationships, are much more the norm now. And I enjoy a good arc show - but I can't fan on it, not in the same way. I miss the episodic shows. I don't want every show to be like that - but it would be nice to have just one. Same as, like I mentioned to you before, it would be nice to have just one show that the most major relationship wasn't a romance. It's great if you like romance. But if it's something you're merely enduring, in show after show after show...yeah, one gets bitter, after a while.

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I'm totally being selfish! 100%, absolutely, I should've made that point cleared in my post ^^;

*hugs you* That comment of mine was pretty damn rude, and I love, love, love how you kung-foo'd it here. I apologize for being angry and bitter and also, yay you for being cool and kind! :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

No problem - your "rude" is rather more understanding than many people's nice! XP

I think it is different if one doesn't fic. As far as I can tell, you relate to all shows the way I do to certain ones (e.g. Avatar - I never shipped in Avatar, nor did I read or write fic), which is why the shipping and OTPing and such totally passes you by. For me, with certain fandoms, the fandom trumps the canon - I genuinely believe the fan-Atlantis, the semi-shared, partly-fanon universe that so many fic'ers move in, is better, more appealing, than the show itself was, and wish that one to trump canon. But canon, being the shared source, will alter that fan version, and the tone of it, and sometimes I dislike the alterations.

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

I think that's it. I either like a tv show, or I don't. Fandom can enhance my love for a show, but it doesn't fully replace it. And I think my surprise and then unhappy reaction after the show ended was that I thought fandom, as a whole, were fans of the actual show, like me. But I think that wasn't so much the case. At least, much of fandom started out liking the show (is my guess), but then moved (at various times and speeds) into the fanon realm and liked it better. And I... didn't.

(I do want to say it's not because I dislike fan-works or anything. On the contrary, so many fan-works are amazing. But they're not the show, so there's an implied nebulousness to fan-work. Whatever supercool background one fan gives John (to pick a not-too-controversial example *g*) it's just one of many. It's never going to sweep through fandom the way the show giving John his "child of wealthy parents" background did. And since I love to do critical analysis, I'm looking for something solid I can grab hold of. Fanon isn't solid enough. If that makes sense.)

Oh! You know, I have consumed pure fanon stuff though. I've read "Weiss Kruez" fanfic and also "Gundum" (I'm not exactly sure which series... the first one, I think?) fanfic without ever watching the source material. And I'm honestly not interested in the source because I strongly suspect the fanon stuff was better. (Especially WK because I've heard it's pretty awful.)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yes, as I understand it, most of SGA fandom liked *parts* of the series, but were frustrated with the series as a whole - and then when those parts were excised (less team, less McShep scenes), stopped liking the show. That was the case with me before I got into the fandom - I found the show mildly entertaining but mostly "WTF"-inducing until 3rd season, and that was because the John-Rodney friendship and teaminess became explicit. And then I still would WTF anything with Pegasus natives and call where they ripped off their scifi from, but once I was into the friendshipping/slashing, then there was always stuff to squee over, and reason to go back and rewatch, picking up subtext I'd missed before. But the most interesting parts of the show to me were always the stuff that was there accidentally...

But, yes, fanon can't replace canon - it's too nebulous, as you say - which is why when canon gives something that I really don't want, it's so frustrating. It can be a character death or a ship; either way, it means that the nature of the fic is altered, when I don't want it to be.

(Gundam was almost definitely Gundam Wing - did it have Heero and Duo and such? It's not the first Gundam by about two decades, but it's the one that caught on with fangirls. And no, that canon wasn't really worth it...)

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

Yes, as I understand it, most of SGA fandom liked *parts* of the series, but were frustrated with the series as a whole...

I've noticed, traveling back through the layers of SGA fandom, that there are definitely trends of people liking the show, and then not so much as changes occur. When it's not something I'm emotionally involved in, it's kind of interesting. :D

Gundam was almost definitely Gundam Wing - did it have Heero and Duo and such?

That's it! :) There was (still is, I'd imagine) tons of fic for that anime. And some of it was amazingly good. (There was a Duo/Wufei fic that had such cool world building...) But yeah, the consensus seemed to be, the show wasn't all that.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

One of the great rules of fandom (I stated it elsewhere, maybe to you? I'm responding to too many comments here! ^^;) is that Fans Do Not Like Change. Any time you change canon - kill a char, introduce a new char or a new ship - some of the fans will Not Be Happy. Whether they're the majority of fans in your circle determines whether the tone of the fandom changes, from your POV. (The one time change has a positive impact is if there is something the majority of fandom dislikes - if that's changed, most of the fanodm will be happy. Though the minority that liked that element will still be disappointed - e.g. if McKeller was ended, most of the fandom would cheer, but you would be disappointed. So no, you can never please all of the people all of the time...)

I am very interested in observing trends in fandom - fan psychology is fascinating. Though it often can be painful when one is in the thick of it.