Or Why Shipping Wars Need To Become A Thing Of The Past
“Shipping is a fandom practice that involves imagining relationships between two fictional characters from a show, movie, or book series. This ranges from canon relationships (ones that appear in the work) to alternate universe (AU) scenarios that would be highly unlikely to ever occur in the normal storyline.” – knowyourmeme.com
Until I entered the Supernatural fandom I had never encountered the shipping phenomenon. Soon enough, though, I heard the terms Destiel and Wincest, even Samstiel; suddenly an entirely new world opened up to me, one beyond the canonical aspects of the show, one that I quickly realised could at once be hilarious, sexy and downright violent. (Don’t get me wrong, I have my own ships but those are not going to be discussed here for the sake of avoiding any perceived bias.)
When a show puts characters into perilous situations, or throws romantic tropes at them left and right, it’s hard not to imagine something deeper than a platonic relationship coming from it. Ships are everywhere, from the MCU (Stucky and Thorki) to Harry Potter (Harmony and Drarry) and even Sherlock (Johnlock). Those examples are extrapolations of relationships that fans have created either from canon or from perceptions within that canon. Then there are the ones that are actual relationships: West-Allen (The Flash), Karamel (Supergirl) and Evak (Skam) to name but a few.
Ships are harmless fun. Right? Nothing bad can come of a little bit of R-rated writing or art, it’s all in good fun.
That’s exactly what I thought.
Suddenly fandom is divided into “sides” and “wars” are being fought across the battlefields of Twitter and Tumblr. I’m only really in the Supernatural fandom so I can only attest to how it is here and I can tell you: it’s ugly. People are being driven from social media because of their beliefs and opinions. “HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT’S WHAT THE WRITERS MEAN??” is being screamed into the void and showrunners are being accused of putting in subliminal suggestions and never following through with the ship actually becoming canon.
Let’s take a breath for a second and consider the difference between fact and opinion:
Fact: Salvador Dali was an artist.
Opinion: Dali’s work is unappealing.
You cannot argue the fact. Dali was one of the most celebrated surrealists and is legendary within the art world. He was an artist.
Stated as above, the opinion can be argued, or more accurately, debated. I actually love Dali’s work. I know not everyone does. I can debate why I find his pieces fascinating and hauntingly beautiful. I cannot, however, tell someone who doesn’t like him that they are wrong. Their opinion differs from mine and that’s what makes for interesting conversation. And if the above statement read “I find Dali’s work unappealing” there is no debate to be had.
Shipping is very much in this vein. Regardless of subtext writers may or may not put into scripts, television and movies are works of art and are therefore subjective. Whatever the viewer wants to read into actions or words is entirely up to the viewer. I think back to my high school English class, reading A Man For All Seasons and being told that the reason Sir Thomas More lived downstream from parliament was because if he had to take his boat to the buildings he would always be battling the current, a metaphor for his struggles against government. My response was always…or he lived downstream because that was where his house was. The author could have meant either and if Robert Bolt was still alive maybe I would ask him. But whatever his answer I would still have my own perception.
And that….hear me out…. IS OKAY! Shocking, I know. It’s fine to have an opinion different from others, one completely unique or one in line with a group of others; your opinion is yours and the opinion of the person standing next to you is entirely theirs.
So now we have “shipping wars” and people are taking “sides”. Abuse is rampant on social media and people are having to leave Twitter because they’ve expressed an opinion about one ship or another. Campaigns are launched to prove that one side is right and the other is wrong. Showrunners, writers, network execs and even actors are being dragged into the conversations.
Here’s a novel idea: if you don’t ship something, don’t read about it. Don’t join groups that are created purely to discuss it. Don’t search for hashtags with the sole purpose of victimizing the fans using it. I’m a sports fanatic but I don’t like basketball. Can you imagine how ridiculous it would be of me to hunt down basketball fans online and tell them how wrong they are to like it? Just let that sink in for a second. Because there is nothing different here.
Like I mentioned off the top, I have my own ships but one of the things I enjoy most is talking to my friends about theirs, especially if they’re different. I may not see it and I would never pursue it but to have people I care about show excitement and enthusiasm over something they have a passion for is wonderful. We laugh, we discuss, we compare and contrast (uh oh, high school English creeping in again) and we’re all friends at the end of it.
Art in any form is to be enjoyed. When done right, shipping is fun and can evoke creativity. These perceived “wars” need to stop now. Let’s allow everyone to have their own opinion, their own enjoyment; let’s embrace our similarities and discuss our differences with respect and interest.
Maybe I’m asking too much, or maybe it’s not such a pie-in-the-sky idea, but I’d sure as hell like fandoms everywhere to give it a shot.
Life Happens 