Trophy said:
Shipping wars my friend, I'll use letters since referring to the characters pretty much spoil the entire series and since it's a mystery one some people would be disappointed in that :P
Character A is generally obsessed with both talent and a trait that Character B possesses to the point of worshipping it in a twisted manner, and even though it's a common trait Character B is agreed upon by everyone as the "Ultimate" of that and has the potential to use that trait and talent to save the world. However he's pretty much insane and was prety influential in twisting things to potentially make this trait stronger, and Character B is against that. Think of A as an obsesssive antihero who's deluded into thinking their actions are the best ones when they're clearly not.
Yet SOMEHOW people ship those two together and I'm pretty convinced it's just because they're the two main male characters and some fans are vicious, so no shipping is not harmless. I was only responding to that :P
Yeah, that's a little clearer now. :thumbsup:
I feel like shipping is a rather complex thing in some aspects; there are different reasons why people may ship two characters: the chemistry they have makes them think of them as a couple; the dynamic between them is interesting enough to these people to try applying in context of a relationships, or maybe even personal identification/relateability for either of the two previous examples. I mean, some people just ship pairings just because they like them, and that's cool as well; pairings don't really require too much of an explanation - people ship it just because, and unless they're asked, others aren't interested in why they're so invested in two particular characters being in a relationship.
Interesting thing I want to say - I did end up looking up part of the first comment of yours in Google ("
ship that's moreso one-sided obsession between two straight people") and one of the results took me into some familiar territory - a DeviantArt user's essay on why they shipped Kyman - a popular South Park ship involving two of the show's characters that are often portrayed in the show as having a mutual dislike/rivalry. The essay is long (very long...I admittedly didn't bother reading most of it), and covers what she says are the psychological aspects of the pairing and how Kyle and Cartman make her OTP. Honestly, I felt like perhaps there was way too much detail - it is just a ship after all - but it makes you see a whole new angle of this situation; what someone who ships the pairing has to say in their defense. I admire the effort, even if it wasn't necessary.
Shipping wars though...ugh, I don't think I considered this when saying shipping was harmless. But in a way, one's personal experience with a ship prone to a shipping war may not be all that toxic. My major concern with shipping wars is that each side has to make a point about why their ship is the superior one, and that takes away from the whole point of shipping, from my viewpoint - it's supposed to be fun. Amusing. Something people can do with any characters in a show/movie/game and people just either respect it or leave it alone and not cause a ruckus. These shipping wars also require some base of logic to show that the "superior" pairing actually "works" and "is" canon, and I hate that.
I mean, I find SpongeBob and Squidward to be rather cute together (don't SquidBob, but hey, it's related to the topic and it's a genuine observation of mine besides :xP:) mostly due to SpongeBob's fondness of Squidward and their contrasting personalities. In my mind, this makes for a very interesting dynamic that someone could use if they were to ship them as a couple; what I don't like is when people try and
justify the pairing and saying things like "oh SpongeBob is so gay for Squidward" and then list these reasons. It doesn't justify anything; the show's presenting us with a rather ambiguous friendship dynamic between these two, and it is those who like them as a couple who take this in a more romantic context for their own fulfillment. There's nothing wrong with that provided it's just not used to say "it's totally there". Because it's not.
But people are funny. Pairings can't exist without some sort of commotion in the community. Literally
any community. So, I suppose in that regard the ship itself is harmless, but it's the people who approach it who make it so (or, they're the ones who are harmful). Ships are just for fun and people just need to stop taking them seriously. They mean almost nothing when it comes to the actual show/movie/game and it's really just a product of the fanbase. Its worth, as such, is determined by us as individuals and has no base value within the actual source material. Several different ships out there, good, bad, and crazy, are all just the product of the interpretations people have towards any pair of characters.
So, umm...yeah. That's everything I have to say about the whole pairings ordeal right now.
(Didn't expect it to be lengthy, or to be overtly serious, but here we are.)