Why do we have to justify who we ship with meta and conspiracy theories?

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Title: Why do we have to justify who we ship with meta and conspiracy theories?
Creator: Raven Morgan Leigh
Date(s): January 17, 2017
Medium: Tumblr discussion
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External Links: Why do we have to justify who we ship with meta and conspiracy theories?
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Why do we have to justify who we ship with meta and conspiracy theories? is a 2017 post by Raven Morgan Leigh.

Some Topics Discussed

The Ask

Serious question: why do we have to justify who we ship with meta and conspiracy theories? Is there reason we can’t just say, “ I don’t care what the writers wrote those characters as Gay or straight, I’m shipping them in the way see fit!” I don’t understand the need for justification or the tendency to evangelize about it. I’m not trying to be dismissive, but think back to Kirk/Spock and Starsky and Hutch and other famous ships where people shipped them knowing that the writers absolutely would never, never, ever “approve” it. Just trying to get my brain around it.

Fan Comments

[vali at braindamageeclipse-blog]

Shipping “in the way you see fit” has literally been how fandom’s worked forever. If some anxious types just can’t wrap their heads around doing it without “evidence” and canonical approval and Word of God head-pats, it’s nobody’s problem but theirs. Because, see, it’s shipping, not a fucking capital murder trial.

#fanfic #fandom #i can't believe this shit even needs to be said #it's shipping not a fucking capital murder trial[1]
[taraljc]

I’ve been in media fandom for 30 years, and it seems to me that there are usually only three reasons that people feel the need to “justify” a ‘ship.

1) They want it to become canon and/or endgame in order for their adoration and time to be considered “worth it”, and for their team to “win” while all the other ‘ships lose like it’s some weird fannish Hunger Games, and it’s about being in competition with other fans.

2) They either are feeling ashamed for loving something that they love, or they are ashamed to admit they love something for exactly what it is–and feel that they will lose face or be considered less important in the community, and so they must invent a doctoral thesis to try and elevate the thing they love so other people won’t judge them for loving it.

3) it’s a rarepairing or crackship where the characters in question have no relationship in canon, a wildly different relationship in canon, or in some cases have never even met in canon (ask me about my MCU crackfic someday! It involves Darcy Lewis and her relationships with A WHOLE LOT of people she has never met in canon!)

In the first two cases of justification, it’s wanting other people to validate you and your worldview so you feel valued and loved. It’s about “winning” an imaginary prize that comes with you AND your fannish choices getting some kind of rubber-stamp of approval (official or otherwise).

In the third, it’s usually about explaining why you love a thing and why you think other people would love it, too.

But there’s a big difference between “justifying” a ‘ship in my mind, versus ‘shipping a ‘ship.

I’ve always seen discussion and cheer-leading and meta and fanworks and so on as being an integral part of ‘shipping AND ‘shipping within a community of other fans, because it’s a form of engagement like any other.

As someone who used to put together archives and fan sites for pairings every single time I fell for them, and ‘ship everything from canon ‘ships to rarepairs to femmeslash to crackships to slash to self-inserts (Owen Burnett and I had a wild, passionate affair he’s not aware of in canon), I don’t know any other way TO ‘ship. It’s about exploring about how characters grow and change based on a ‘ship why you think they would potentially make an interesting story you would want to hear or see or read or write or draw or manip or vid or discuss or just LURK AND ABSORB ALL THE THINGS. Cos it’s a journey alone or in a group, finding ways of articulating your findings and taking your headcanon out for Show & Tell so it can grow and evolve among all the other headcanons running around the playground, and hopefully make new friends.

I guess to me, that sort of thing almost never falls under “justify” cos it’s not about outside validation of this thing you love unashamedly. It’s about exploring and celebrating a thing you love with zero fucks given.

To me, it mostly falls under OMG I LOVE THIS THING I WANT TO TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT THIS THING I LOVE OMG IT’S SO GR8 LEMME TELL YOU WHY I LOVE IT, AND IT’S OK IF YOU DON’T LOVE IT I JUST APPRECIATE YOU LETTING ME BE SUPER DORKY ABOUT THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR FACES BUT HERE’S THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF MY HARDRIVE, SO YOU CAN SEE IF YOU LOVE IT TOO AND WHO KNOWS MEBBE THEN WE CAN BE BFFS AND RUN FICATHONS TOGETHER AND THERE WILL BE MORE THAN JUST ME WRITING FIC ON THE TAG AT A03 FOR THIS OTP OR OT3 OMG I WILL GO DOWN WITH THIS ‘SHIP.[2]
[burntcopper]

There was an entire lj comm that was devoted to shipping essays. They were fascinating. ‘I ship these two, and now I will explain WHY.’

So often you didn’t agree but watching them go through the thought process was great. Plus back in the height of Buffy and Angel fandom, there was a network of sites that were devoted to providing you with writing resources for characters and pairings - essays and the old school version of powerpoints.

#says the girl who either ships the rare pair #or the most popular #and both makes it an absolute sod finding fic i like[3]
[taraljc]

OH GOD I FORGOT YOU AND I WERE THERE WITH ME IN ALL THE SAME PLACES AT THE SAME TIME!

OH GOD I wrote man, many, MANY #Crackvan guides.[4]
[aerialsquid]
I absolutely love ship manifestoes, as long as people don’t assume that violating them is somehow unethical. It’s just like any other kid but kind of fan theory except this one may or may not result in kissing and or sexy times. I like the logic trains, I like seeing the examination of interpersonal interactions, and to be quite frank I often get confused when other people don’t like to look at pieces of media with that same kind of analysis.[5]
[hexiva]
I love ship manifestos too, I actually wish we had more of those these days. But I really don’t like the tendency to insist one’s ship is canon when it’s … really not.[6]
[taraljc]
I actually really miss ElJay sometimes, but we still do get that kind of meta on zee tumblr. it’s just so much harder to keep up/keep track of the conversations. I swear, the most fun I’ve had in FOREVER was that week or so of ALL THE SNARTS HEADCANONS EVER. It was only a half dozen people, but I HAD FOUND MY TRIBE, you know?[7]
[aunt_zelda at out-there-on-the-maroon]

#BringBackShippingManifestos2k17

Seriously, I got into fandom right as LJ was staring to wind down, but Shipping Manifestoes were super useful. Episode specifics, sometimes timecode specifics, with pictures, showing you the key moments that people would be referencing. Explaining in-jokes, where ship names came from, etc. If you got into a new fandom and wanted to read up on the main pairing or even a rarer pairing, there was a shipping manifesto right there.

#fandom #fandom history #fandom culture #long post #shipping #personal[8]
[taraljc]

Yeah–those fannish shared resources are what have been missing from my fandoms since I came over to tumblr, and tracking the tags used to be 3000% more useful. Not so much, since they mucked about with the search function :( Most of my Lucifer fannish dorkitude is on other platforms. I think that if I’m going to write anything in 2017, it’ll probably be a PITA to fact-check.

At least if your show (or in the case of the SuperLegendaryFlarrowVerse, universe of shows) has a good wikia these days, you’re all sorted. But I’m learning the hard way that the one The Librarians wiki isn’t as detailed and hasn’t got caught up to s3 yet, and all the “transcripts” I’ve found are just reformatted SRT files. Feeling my way around right now…[9]
[madamehardy]
Gosh, I miss Crack Van. And I miss having people puppypile on me to congratulate me on having discovered Farscape. AND I MISS THREADED CONVERSATIONS SO MUCH.[10]
[franzeska at olderthannetfic]

I love shipping manifestos. Canon primers too. And I still write them, but now I post them to AO3 as well as Tumblr. I can write 20k of that kind of writing in a couple of days. Writing a long fic that lays out the same groundwork for why a pairing is awesome would take me months.

AO3 allows meta, guys! It’s a great place to post something more in-depth and longer that you’ll want to link back to later. (Random 3a.m. thoughts labeled as “meta”, not so much, but a proper essay, absolutely!)

That kind of manifesto doesn’t have to be a tinhat conspiracy thing. It has several important and healthy functions:

  • a type of fanwork available to people bad at fiction writing
  • a chance to see a canon through someone else’s eyes the same way you do in a vid
  • a chance for people who already see the canon similarly to bond
  • a quick canon refresh when you’re going back to that abandoned WIP you always meant to finish but haven’t because you don’t have time to consume all of canon again
  • a quick guide for readers who enjoy fic in unfamiliar fandoms
  • a guide to prevailing fanon trends for someone who consumed canon a billion years ago before they had any awareness of fic or shipping
  • a summary of the shipping potential or iddy fannish tropes for people considering checking out the canon for fandom purposes

One thing that a good manifesto rarely is is an attempt to convince rival shippers that your ship is more canon, better, or more in-character. Manifestos aren’t for people on the opposite side of a pre-existing fandom divide. They’re an opportunity for people who are already basically on the same side to coalesce around a shared interest.

They’re a particular kind of formalized pimping and/or discussion prompt.[11]
[minim-calibre]
God, the “SO AND SO IS WATCHING FARSCAPE!” alerts were so great.[12]
[feldman at handypolymath]

Witnessing their journey of discovery…the first time the muppet characters make them cry… Good times, good times.

#port authority of multishipping #fandom is my fandom #farscape[13]

References

  1. ^ "ravenmorganleigh: Serious question: why do we..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  2. ^ "my geek, let me show you it — taraljc: I've been in media fandom for 30 years, …". Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  3. ^ "burntcopper: There was an entire lj comm that was devoted to ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  4. ^ "taraljc — OH GOD I FORGOT YOU AND …". Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  5. ^ "aerialsquid: I absolutely love ship manifestoes, ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  6. ^ "Hexiva's Tumblr - I love ship manifestos too, ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  7. ^ "taraljc — I actually really miss ElJay ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  8. ^ "aunt_zelda: Seriously, I got into fandom right as LJ was staring ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  9. ^ "taraljct — Yeah–those fannish shared resources are what have been missing ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  10. ^ "madamehardy: Gosh, I miss Crack Van. ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  11. ^ "Older Than Netfic - I love shipping manifestos. Canon primers ..." Archived from the original on 2018-12-30.
  12. ^ "minim-calibre: God, the "SO AND SO IS WATCHING ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
  13. ^ "minim-calibre: madamehardy: taraljc: ..." Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
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