#BTS&Vmin analysis pt. 2 - About me and my views

[btsandvmin]

BTS&Vmin analysis pt. 2 - About me and my views

I think you who follow me here on Tumblr already know my stance on shipping vs. 100% believing a ship is real. Even if I’m making a lot of analysis like this, and find some things odd about Vmin, I am still not convinced they are real. I think I know they love each other, but I can’t know in which way. Love does come in many forms, and is complex and individual. I don't think anyone should feel convinced about Vmin being together after reading my analyses, which is why I post this to begin with. I could not with good conscience post something that might out an actual couple that obviously would have reasons to hide their relationship. Despite everything I think I know about Vmin it’s still not enough to convince me Vmin is a real couple. Just as no other ship analysis has convinced me about their ship either.

If you are unfamiliar with me I might recommend reading the posts My Vmin story,  I ship Vmin. and Shipping vs Believing to understand me and my view on Vmin and general shipping better. I do touch on these topics in this long analysis as well but I talk about it in more detail in these specific posts.

I will go through a few different points in this post to properly explain myself and how I think shipping should be handled, as well as some things I think are important to know before reading my analyzes (or any analysis really).

Proving a ship is 'real' and how I think about it

Trust in what we see and don’t downplay other ships

Narrative based on facts

My bias towards Vmin and going beyond shipping

If you haven’t read part 1 yet, here is a link: BTS&Vmin analysis pt. 1 - An introduction

Proving a ship is 'real' and how I think about it

Most ships in BTS have “strange” moments according to their shippers, and these moments are easy to miss when you only focus on one ship at a time. In fact it’s easy enough to miss things about your own ship, and you might not notice things until after other people bring attention to it. It's also easy to misunderstand or misinterpret moments for many different reasons. All shippers have these obstacles, in particular with shipping real complex people, but I think we rarely stop and consider these factors and how much it can affect our ideas and in extension beliefs.

Honestly, the fact that there are many “weird” moments with all ships makes the ships kind of cancel each other out. Or at least it makes a lot of things people use as proof pretty futile. Many moments are not unique to just one ship and can be seen between several members or even with people outside of BTS. Most of the time the biggest difference is framing by fans and interpretation.

When you love a ship you usually hyper focus and put more weight on the things your ship does compared to others. It can also happen with the most "threatening" rival ship; that we note their actions more simply because we have been conditioned to "worry" about them. Most people who write analysis seem to ignore their own bias and simply speak as if what they say is fact and unique to their own ship. This is why I want to talk about bias and other problems before I start my analysis, because with all ships you can pick moments and put them together to make things look suspicious and believable.

There are things speaking against all ships, Vmin too, I just choose not to include it. In fact you can partly use this analysis as a counter for other analyses, as well as using other analyses to counter this one.

The fact that several ships have many analyses and have people even believe them as true should say a lot on its own how much shippers simply believe what they want to believe. If people are just as convinced about something else being real as you are, how can you be so sure you are the one that is right?

Also, ask yourself why it’s so important that your ship in particular is real? Likely it has more to do with yourself than with what it would mean for the members. What difference would it make when looking at the members' relationships if they are romantic or not?

Most things brought up in these shipping analyses only show the members being close or physically comfortable with each other, not that they are in a relationship. Many analyses also say very similar things and have the same types of "proof", likely because the consensus is that certain things make the most sense if you want a ship to seem real.

I think it says a lot that many ships have theories about the same things. Like their ship using ARMY as a substitute for each other, that they hide in each other's rooms, that they sleep together, jealous moments, matching couple things, that their songs are about each other, that they leave clues for ARMY to find to support them etc. Some shippers even take other shippers' theories and bend them to fit their own ship as well by just applying a different perspective (for example inspiration behind songs). Basically people want certain things, often the same things, for their ships and thus will search and find clues to prove it. With a lot of material over 7 years, picking and choosing moments and presenting vague enough connections any ship can be made to make sense to various degrees. Especially when some of that material in turn can get slowed down, zoomed in on or taken out of context. And even more so if the person mostly focus on a ship and their moments are what they consume the most or even exclusively at times, because then they might not notice similar behavior with other pairs.

To many shippers it doesn't matter if different ships share similar moments though, because it's either not noticed, gets explained away, or has many reasons why their moment has a different weight to it. They might say the “vibe” is different to other ships. In Vmin's case everything they do is often excused as platonic soulmate behavior. No matter what they do people “know” it’s platonic. And many others agree, so it has to be legit right? But just because many say the same things it doesn’t make it true, though it for sure can make a shipper feel better and more secure in their belief.

Even if moments or behaviors are unique to one ship, we have no idea why they are unique to that ship or if they might be romantic or sexual in nature. In fact, a lot of "proof" used can still be 100% platonic and the nature of a relationship is very difficult to understand from a distance. If the relationship is controversial it might be even more difficult to define and interpret (as would likely be the case for any K-pop romance, not to mention a homosexual one). Remember that there are many K-pop idols dating and very few who reveal it willingly.

We also have to remember that making analysis regarding ships being real are often not based on objective facts. A lot is speculation and interpretations. You can't easily compare ships to one another because many aspects play a part in how and why they could act in a certain way. Shipping analysis tends to have a lot of gaps that people fill with their own speculations, interpretations and projections because we are missing too many of the pieces.

Things get interpreted as romantic or sexual mostly because that’s how shippers want it to be. The fact that most peoples’ go-to conclusion is a romantic, healthy and loving mutual relationship between two people also tells you it’s often tied to what the shippers’ ideal scenario and norm is. Reality could be much more messy and is usually more complicated than our own ideals and ideas.

In the end, there is no definite empirical evidence to prove any ship is real. Or any evidence to define their sexualites and/or gender for that matter. People might call it proof, but I personally would rather call it speculation as nothing has been confirmed.

Trust in what we see and don’t downplay other ships

Shippers, and even more so believers, have emotional stakes in being right, and this can often lead to wanting to disprove or discredit other ships or its shippers/believers. This isn't a versus game or fanfiction where everyone is a rival and there is a winner and a loser. If there is a real ship in BTS it doesn't change the fact that they are all close and love each other. Even if one ship proves to be in a romantic and/or sexual relationship, that doesn’t make the other relationships between the members any less real and important.

There is no point in trying to disprove one bond to highlight your own ship, this just makes it seem like you don’t care about the members as individuals. They have said multiple times that they are close to and love all members. If you try to prove the opposite you don’t trust their words. And if you don’t trust what they say regarding some things, then why trust them only when it matches your own views and wants for your chosen ship? 

A theory might sound convincing because the creator chooses moments and narratives that benefit their own view. I, as a creator, also choose what to present and not to present in my texts. It’s what all shippers and believers do, conciously or unconciously. The basis for analysis should come from BTS themselves, and no matter how I shift the focus I need to recognize and trust the things they have said and shown us. I won’t discredit another ship because they look close, because I believe all the members are close and there is nothing wrong with that.

To me it's also important to not go against the material we have. I don't want to stray too far from what we see and in particular from what the members themselves say. For example when Vmin says they are soulmates I trust that they mean that. But this mindset needs to include trusting things that contradict my views as well. Because otherwise there are no boundaries for what is real or not. I can basically justify or believe anything. 

There is a difference between BTS lying by omitting or bending the truth and by making up things.For example, of course I don't want the soulmate claims to be fake, but I also see no purpose for them to exaggerate their bond to that extent. BTS can lie for sure, but some things wouldn’t make sense to lie about and would be very difficult to fake for this long. If BTS are lying about their relationships and are capable of exaggerating their closeness I see no reason to trust the members at all. Thus when I see BTS as a whole talk about being close I trust that.

My wish is for all shippers to realize that we need to be able to trust BTS for the most part or you can basically bend anything to fit your own view. Then the truth literally doesn’t matter anymore, because only what you as an observer says is true counts.

And please, no one needs to go to other shippers and tell them why they shouldn't ship what they ship or why their ship is better. Let's just try to be nice and ship and let ship.

Narrative based on facts

A narrative is basically the story a shipper or a group of shippers come up with to explain the actions of their ship and the members in a way that (supposedly) fits. But it’s still a story, only partly based on the truth and the things we know.

Any ship can be bent to look a certain way when a biased shipper picks what to show and puts their own meaning behind it. I am sure most shippers could make and do have a similar analysis to this one. Most shippers will make their theories in a way that presents it as a narrative, with something similar to a storyline and that is easy to envision and relate to. They have their own stories and fill in the gaps with interpretation to reach their conclusions. Shippers who make you believe in a ship are usually great story-tellers who write in engaging and convincing ways.

People who go beyond shipping and start to believe ships to be real can be called believers. These people exist in all fandoms concerning real people, and definitely for all the ships within BTS. I've seen analyses for not just the biggest ships but for ships like Nam*Jin, Hope*kook, Tae*Jin, Yoon*Min, V*hope, Min*yoon etc. where people present proof and are convinced of their ship being in a real romantic and/or sexual relationship. Everyone has their own bias and agenda regarding their ship. This leads to further problems like echo chambers, false information being spread, and interpretation being presented as facts.

I once again recommend reading my post Shipping vs Believing if you haven’t.

What you consume can be viewed and analyzed from many perspectives. A hater may attribute Vmin's odd behavior as dislike or them faking it, while I read it completely differently and a third person might not even have noticed these things at all. What everyone does is fill in the gaps, consciously or not it will happen. Since the material is not just limited but also at times shown with a particular narrative we also need to be aware of the gaps and what we fill them with.

The fandom can’t all agree on one thing, and not even shippers of the same ship has the same views or theories, which should tell you again rather clearly that it’s not fact-based most of the time.

Within the BTS fandom every individual chooses what they consume and what they hold on to. It’s important to ask yourself these questions when you consume fan material. Have people fact checked their information or not? Are they aware of the difference between fact and interpretation? Are they biased with an agenda? Are they open to having their view challenged? Because what you end up with every time you read a BTS analysis is your own interpretation of someone else's interpretation. And those two separate interpretations might not even have the same conclusion. For example, I have seen people misunderstand my own analyses many times. That’s because it’s not just facts, but rather a narrative based on facts that can be viewed differently. Every person is filling in the holes between the facts with speculation.

I do not want to end up spreading my theories as facts because it could be both deceptive and even harmful if it ends up as fuel for people who want to spread negative agendas or if it makes people believe in Vmin who then turns out to not be real. Again, these are all biased opinions and my analysis could be completely wrong, and that is fine, I am not here to “prove I’m right”. I am also not out to disprove or discredit any other ships and I do not want a ship war.

If you want, this big analysis could even be considered my Vmin storyline, the “BTSandVMIN narrative” rather than a analysis. All the things I’ve read into Vmin’s and the members’ behaviors while watching them and speculations on what it might mean.

My bias towards Vmin and going beyond shipping

I am a Vmin shipper, but beyond that I also think if a ship in BTS is actually real (in whatever form) Vmin makes the most sense. I have a bias towards Vmin and I love their type of relationship, which makes me partial no matter how objective I try to be. Confirmation bias always makes being objective very difficult.

I love Vmin's dynamics as a ship and is drawn to romance between friends in many stories/fandoms and real life. Vmin are easy to love and have a lot of great moments and a very close bond that I admire. No matter the status of their relationship their bond is something I aspire to and wish to have with a romantic partner. I suggest reading my post My Vmin story If you want to know more on how I got into BTS and fell for Vmin as a ship.

I try to separate the shipper in me from the analysis writer as much as I can, and see the difference between enjoying a fantasy and speculating if Vmin might be in a relationship for real. Enjoying Vmin as a ship is not the same as thinking they might be real or writing analysis, but being a shipper does make me more biased towards the conclusion that Vmin is real in real life. I suggest reading Shipping vs Believing for more on the subject.

I started off as a BTS fan, became Jimin biased, and then became a Vmin shipper rather quickly after falling for their bond. As for making analysis I started to write about reasons to ship Vmin (10 Reasons to ship Vmin, 10 more reasons to ship Vmin) and how they got friendzoned more than other ships (The “bromance” issue), because I was frustrated that people wouldn’t let Vminies ship Vmin romantically in peace. And as time went by I noticed interesting behaviors and patterns that I felt like pointing out. Not to prove anything or to say that Vmin must be more than friends, but simply to make people open up to the idea and discuss the possibilities. I also wanted to make it as a sort of counterweight to the other two maknae line ships which have a lot of analysis.

I am always trying to make think-pieces rather than propaganda. I don't want to tell you there is one correct way to see things, I just want to add my own perspective.

I am a Vmin shipper, and that preference and bias will always be present in the things I write. Thus my analysis can never be made with objectivity no matter how hard I would try. I think this is true to all ship analyzes, no matter how objective they might claim to be. There are simply too many things about writing shipping analysis that makes it difficult to be objective and conclusive. I will go through the things I find are some of the biggest and most overlooked problems with analyzing real people in my next post.

Lastly. Feel free to read my theories and agree or disagree. This is simply my way of thinking. Don't let me or any theorist writer do the thinking for you.