I don't understand shîpping

[collex]

Hi people. I'm writing here because there is one thing I just can't grasp in ANY fandom, and it's shipping. It always become quite heated when there is talk of shipping, and I don't quite get why. So I have a couple of question:

Why is it so important to people? Romantic relationships are only a part of the story (and not the most important), so why focus on this one particularly?

Why do people get so angry about it?

To recycle a statment Scott Allie made, when you ship two characters that aren't shipped in canon, what do you do with it apart doing a fanfic?

Why do "shippers" think that an author should care about ships when he make a story? (That's one I encountered personnally when I wrote a fanfic about Buffy's daughter in a future where her parents were both killed. Someone told me: you should not say who her dad is so to not make shippers angry. My answer was "I don't care about shippers", and got blamed for not respecting the fanbase. I was like WUT?)

So I would like someone to explain to me all that concept, because I juts can grasp why everybody makes so much of a fuss about it. I mean, I have my preferred relationships too, but its only part of the story, not the whole.

[Randi Giles]

I ship my favorite couples cause I want to and I adore them and their important to me. For some reason romances or should I say sex always sells. As far as people making a fuss about how you should right your own story about how you see Buffy's future is kind of ridiculous. If I were writing a Spuffy fanfic I wouldn't care about how Bangel or Biley shippers wanted it to end cause it's obviously not written for their favorite couples. You can't please everyone. So I understand that part of it. If I had to guess it was probably more of the way you said it, since there is a good sum of Whedonverse fanbase that are shippers.

[The Girl In Question]

Sometimes when romances parallel our own, we ship them. Or if we want our favorite characters to be happy, and feel they would be happiest with person x, we ship them. Also, some couples are just so adorable you don't want them to split up! And I agree, you can write your fics however you want. People can get over it.

[CourtneyDax]

Personally, I love to ship characters together because its damn good fun! I love the different possibilities, or even the notion that a character could be happier if they were just convinced that this other character is their true soulmate.

Also, sometimes groups of people see more than what is actually in a scene between two characters. The writers of the show either: A) Not notice the chemistry, or B)Notice their chemistry, but choose to ignore it. Unfortunately for the writers, there is a small contingency of fans that definately do notice it, and will never let this subtext die. They write multiple stories, they make fan groups on facebook, hell I've even seen entire websites with their own domain and everything made just for one made-up couple on a show!

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that when people invest so much time into one thing, I assume they would get a little sensitive if anyone else tries to threaten their favorite couple. At least, that's how I would rationalize it. I'm probably way off base with it.

Anyway, these people shouldn't be bothering you with their "fanbase" nonsense. It's completely insane to think that there are "rules" that say you can't offend people of different ships. If it were me, I'd ignore their crackerjack lunacy. Hey, your story sounds interesting. Could you message me the link to it? (I don't want to break the forum rules by posting different sites.)

[Eric]

Mar 6, 2010 20:55:09 GMT -5 collex said:

Hi people. I'm writing here because there is one thing I just can't grasp in ANY fandom, and it's shipping. It always become quite heated when there is talk of shipping, and I don't quite get why. So I have a couple of question:

Why is it so important to people? Romantic relationships are only a part of the story (and not the most important), so why focus on this one particularly?

I think it's important because it's kind of a big "will they, or won't they" kind of thing.

Mar 6, 2010 20:55:09 GMT -5 collex said:

Why do people get so angry about it?

I've never really seen people get angry over it. People can get emotionally invested in a certain couple and be passionate about them, but if they're mature they shouldn't be getting angry over something like that.

Mar 6, 2010 20:55:09 GMT -5 collex said:

To recycle a statment Scott Allie made, when you ship two characters that aren't shipped in canon, what do you do with it apart doing a fanfic?

You can discuss it with other fandom members, create fan art and some of the lonelier members of the fandom may just sit around and fantasize, lol.

Mar 6, 2010 20:55:09 GMT -5 collex said:

Why do "shippers" think that an author should care about ships when he make a story? (That's one I encountered personnally when I wrote a fanfic about Buffy's daughter in a future where her parents were both killed. Someone told me: you should not say who her dad is so to not make shippers angry. My answer was "I don't care about shippers", and got blamed for not respecting the fanbase. I was like WUT?)

I don't why that person told you you shouldn't say who it is. It could bother people, but the vast majority of people could probably still enjoy your fic. I mean, let's say it was Spike. People who are avid Bangel shippers (Buffy x Angel) might not be into reading a fic about Spuffy's (Spike x Buffy) love child. But, Spuffy shipper will be more interested. Also, no one should be getting angry. If they do, that shouldn't be a representation of the fandom as the vast majority of us have the ability to control ourselves and respect the opinions of others.

Mar 6, 2010 20:55:09 GMT -5 collex said:

So I would like someone to explain to me all that concept, because I juts can grasp why everybody makes so much of a fuss about it. I mean, I have my preferred relationships too, but its only part of the story, not the whole.

Basically, I think it's really important to people because everyone wants their favorite characters to end up being happy. The most simplistic (and somewhat cliche) is to have them walk off under a sunset holding hands with their honey. Shipping is just the discussion and support of a certain someone being someone else's said honey.

[dragonweaver]

Love, romance, sex...these are basic things that almost every person can connect to, which is why most TV shows have romantic elements and / or pairings. People like seeing beloved characters find love and happiness or at least like seeing the possibility of these things in their future.

Now specifically to shippers! I view shippers as fans who believe the "story" on a whole would be better if their favorite character(s) were with a specific lover. It's important to them because out of all the story elements and plot points, it's probably the one thing they can relate to the most. Granted the love and fantasy all play a part, but you have to admit that certain couples being together or not being together can drastically effect how a story is told.

And just to reiterate what others have said...

I can guarantee that angry shippers are not the norm. Most are mature and cool enough to respect differences of option.

Fanfic is personal and you should write whatever you feel like writing regardless of what certain shipper fanbase might think. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people who will respect and even like what you have to say.

"Love makes the world go 'round"

[Billie Erin]

When you invest yourself emotionally in a cult science-fiction world such as the Buffyverse you have to re-create it in your own mind. Most of us are physically incapable of imagining a limited universe in which we do not answer questions such as "who loves whom" and "where do the events of the world stand chronologically", as this universe would seem artificial by its lack of certainty and coherence. Therefore shipping, and also "canon", become major issues,as each of us re-creates the buffyverse in our own imaginations and answers each of these two questions differently.

Therefore each of us fights so hard for our "shipping" choices to win, because if they do not then the Buffyverse worlds that we have individually perceived are challenged and may fall apart, thus forcing us to question the legitimacy of our own dreams and rendering us unable to fully enjoy the series anymore, as we can no longer access the flawed perception of it that we created and, to an extent, believed in.

[Skytteflickan88]

I get shipping(as in prefering one ship over others) I do, but I would never want the canon story to suffer for it. I'm kind of afraid that Joss won't let Buffy end up with either Spike or Angel, because it's too touchy. I know he likes to write the story without caring too much about the fans reactions, but I'm not sure if he would risk losing half his fanbase, by making Buffy choose.

I can't say that I want Buffy to end up with Angel, but I wouldn't want any writer to care about the "holyness" of Spuffy or whatever and not write Buffy falling in love with Angel because fans want Spike and Buffy together. That's ridicoulous. I'm sure the story could be good, Buffy ending up with either guy or neither of them, but that choice should not be made because of the fans.

I'm not saying that the writers should ignore tha fans completely: Writing a story that no fan will like is killing the show/comic and completely useless since the story in itself might be worth nothing after the wrong choices (both in artistic value and when it comes to being able to sell the comic).

However, screw the fanbase and shippers when writing fanfics. If you can write a believeable story where Buffy falls in love with Snyder, go for it. It's just fanfiction. Of course, if you write a very long fic and promote it as a Spuffy-fic (instead of a general open fic), and then make Buffy dump Spike in the last chapter and go after Angel, you shouldn't expect people to be nice.

I do see the value in shipping. I "ship" Fresley (if you can call it that, it's not like I have a "I love Fresley"-t-shirt) because I think they were good together (me not liking Gunn also played a part in wanting Fred to be with Wesley instead of Gunn).

I smile when I think about that ship, but I'm not hating the writers for killing of both characters, and making sure that Wesley works for W&H for eternity while Fred's just not existing anymore.

That relationship is over, and while I can see it having a place in future comics (maybe Angel thinks about his former co-workers and remember their romance) I wouldn't expect the writers to make sure that the ship was "honored".

Kind of like Riley-haters hating Riley because he "took Angel's place" and he shouldn't have. They care more about Bangel than they care about the overall story, and Buffy's entire journey, not all of it. And I don't get that kind of thinking. I'm not saying it's wrong, I mean we all love Btvs for different reasons, but I'm saying that I don't get being too into a ship.

I think I used to get it. I was such a big Bangel fan and hated Angel for leaving Buffy and starting a new stupid life in LA and I hated Buffy for dating Riley so quickly, but I got over it in time and now I can hardly remember that love for one single ship(Angel becoming a douche helped). (Sidenote: I didn't hate Riley tough, for the simple reason that I knew a lot of other people would, and I wanted to be nice).

[joan]

Why do I ship Spuffy?

Simple, because of the awesomeness of this scene:

Just kidding, lol. In all seriousness, for me personally, the only couple I am invested in is Spuffy. Why do I ship Spuffy? For about a million reasons; I think Spike was at his best when he was at Buffy's side, I think they're meant to be and that their love transcended everything. Because I believe they had what it took to ditch Joss' No-One-Ends-Up-Happy rule into the gutter. Because they're beautiful and make each other better people. Because they fascinate me. Because loving Buffy made Spike a hero. Because Spike taught Buffy to love again after being hurt to the core. They never cease to fascinate me. The chemistry is undeniable. They SCREAM for meta, endless fan fic, and the debate still rages on regarding the two.

A real answer to this question would take pages. I'll spare you the essay, and just say because this couple inspire mes, they make me believe in these characters, that these relationships had the power to make them better people.

You say you don't think that relationships should be important to the plot and I disagree. They were always a subplot, but the relationships the characters went through were just as an important part of their personal character journey as anything else.

A lot of shipping debates go on over at the Buffy-Boards, another Buffy/Angel forum I belong too. So, I direct you to this thread: www.buffy-boards.com/showthread.php?t=48614
There are some great answers in there.

Hope this helps.

[willowsummers]

I like shipping because it's fun, like many other people on here. It becomes important to some of us because it strikes a chord. It is usually something important in our lives either that we've had or we want and that makes it more important in fantasy than it probably should be. I think anyone taking it so far as to say that you can't write your own story how you want to is ridiculous. Those are their feelings and these are yours. They should all be respected. I suppose if you posted such a story in a group where you knew everyone was all chip-on-the-shoulder about a certain ship or two, it could seem rude to post it to people you knew wouldn't be interested.

For me, I like many of the relationships on Buffy and Angel so I can't get so bent out of shape about it as some people. I know that in other fandoms people can get VERY upset and even get mad at the writers and creators because it is part of why they love the show/story/etc.

Bottom line- we all feel the ways we feel and we should all be allowed to feel them without hindering the other. We're supposed to be enjoying things.

[whitecandy]

I think we can get attached to characters in our favourite shows, and feel some kind of actual happiness when they are happy. When we see these characters fall in love with someone we 'approve of' and really like, then we feel a bond with that relationship, and can feel quite sad when it ends. I think it helps us to bond with characters too when we see them go through the same love and heartache we ourselves have.

[The Night Lord]

I like shipping cuz I guess passionate love is a part of me. Well, it feels that way. I'm passionate about love so I guess that's why I like pairings that are passionate and have great chemistry. And when I mean passionate, I do not mean Bangel. Also, I'm kinda like the person who doesn't follow the 'they have a forever love' kind a thing. Little boring to me, like Buffy/Angel, Edward/Bella, Cyclops/Jean Grey, etc etc. Give me something like Buffy/Spike or Wolverine/Jean Grey and I'm happy. As for my shippings in my writing, well, I'm not worried if someone doesn't like the pairing. If they don't like it, why are they reading it?