#I don’t ship them I just think they’re silly

[maidenvault]

The thing is the idea that “fun” and “literary criticism” are two things totally separate from each other, especially in fandom, is funny considering fandom dwellers are obsessed with what they think “death of the author” means because it makes them feel smarter about shipping or having headcanons. Many pretentiously invoke some basic concepts of literary criticism where those ideas don’t apply in support of their fanfuck and then act like someone else is the snob if they’re like…

Yes, all of you in the notes writing this whole post off just because it’s kinda bitchy, I am such a monster for making the general point that there’s a widespread misconception about what it means that “art is open to interpretation.” Which is just true. In a silly meme format that doesn’t allow for much nuance.

If you’re going to bring up ideas like authorial intent and art being open to interpretation, that is presenting your perspective as interpretation, not just a headcanon. And if there’s to be any kind of informal “peer review” to make discussions more productive, interesting, and inspirational as I love that fandom discussion can be, we should be able to give counter-arguments to consider. There’s a polite way to do this ofc, but I don’t feel like being polite about someone’s argument if its general attitude is something like “if you see this thing in canon differently you’re stupid/homophobic/a rape apologist/a supporter of the author’s wrongs etc.”). Often people reblog my meta posts with tags like “I don’t agree with this one part but…” and it drives me crazy that they don’t explain themselves because of course I could be totally overlooking some things and be wrong. Disagree with me! But tell me what your basis is in canon for thinking that!

Not “Only my reading of canon is correct” or “Interpretations are subjective and all valid” but a secret third thing, “More than one interpretation can be valid but there’s a reason your English teacher had you cite quotes and examples in your papers, you have to have a strong argument that your interpretation is actually supported by the text or it is just wrong and I’m fine with telling you it’s wrong, actually.”

[ayleeyunn]

sillies I guess

[cartoonguy08]

Guys. I’m begging you. Don’t crucify me PLEASE

Cigarettes out the Window by TV Girl plays when they’re around him

OKAY I’M DONE I’M DONE— 🙌🙌

I don’t know if this will get me banned from Tumblr

[arthur-lesters-prefrontal-cortex]

i don’t ship arkayne in a “i think they should make out” way but i do ship them in a “i think they should stand across the room from each other and play mind games but like. in a way that it’s clearly hot to both of them” way

[wilted-kittenz]

i can’t stop. it’s impossible

[fumifooms]

thanks for infecting me with marchil its so so fun to just see them pair themselves up in the background now

especially love how much she picks him up like a cat (and when he has the opportunity to do it to her too he just lugs her around like a sack of oats) gosh i love them they're so funny

YAAAAAA 🎉🎉 I’m so glad to hear it welcome to the sillies corner 🤝

THEY’RE SOOO SO FUNNY

They’re worsties that cannot get enough of each other

[ryssbelle]

Have you heard about a new ship between John Dory Delta Dawn? Though I find it kind of weird

It is on TikTok and Tumblr, If You want to check it out?

I’ve heard of it, I think their ship is as old as tbt at this point XD

I think their dynamic is really funny

[javierduffy]

DO IT. WRITE THE JOHN X KIERAN FIC AND I WILL READ IT TRUST

ALSO HAPPY NEW YEAR

happy new year to you as well :] !!! i hope it’s filled with fun and love and light !!!!!!!

WAUGH THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT 💔💔 now idk about a full fic but uuhhmmm i can offer you some silly doodles ? hopefully i’ll have the energy to draw/write them for real soon 😭

and of course the 3rd boyfriend

[fantasmadelaciudad]

truthfully while i enjoy billford and fiddauthor i think they’re much more fun as like. lightning in a bottle moments. weird built up tension that neither side acknowledges. but It’s There.

and 30 years later ford is shooting up in bed wide eyed and sweating going. oh my god i was in love w them. while both bill and fiddleford moved on LONG before ford even realized what was happening.

[saikitsu]

the state of soloasmo right now

[albi-bumblebee]

Snupin

[lavender-teardroplettes]

Is anyone ready to talk about how I think Sollux and Equius make a great redrom ship, or am I still crack-shipping?

[spicyicymeloncat]

Yknow what no. I’ll say it louder. Sometimes we should understand that we hate a ship because it’s weird in our specific interpretation of characters.

But if someone ships it and has a different interpretation of the characters, then whether that’s morally okay on how accurate or inaccurate their interpretation is.

If characters are clear cut canonically related/have an age gap, then I don’t think you can just say “well this is an au where they aren’t”.

If the characters are not technically this but its implied in the story and makes so much more sense if they are, then I think the crime committed is how the author completely mischaracterises the characters in order to force a romance.

And you can hate weird interpretations of characters for the sake of shipping but call it as it is. It’s not doing anyone favours for confusing the act of “promoting abusive dynamics in a positive light” and “writing characters out of character” and “writing characters different to popular fan interpretation”.

And don’t tag this post as pro ship or anti or whatever in the idea that this is to support either, because I really don’t like those labels. Imo I think those labels only serve to simplify a situation that needs a lot more nuance to understand. And it feels icky to say that something as serious as various abusive dynamics is actually complicated, but in fandoms where characters ages are weird or ages at different rates or where sometimes there’s a official spin off of the og content where they kept the characters but made them all the same age and completely overhauled their dynamics; the maths gets a little more complicated. There are some icky people out there but that doesn’t mean you can just blindly go into things without properly thinking about it first.

[yuttikkele]

ok this got ranty but I GOTTA SAY IT. I’VE BEEN HOLDING IT IN FOR TOO LONG. before we start, this isn’t personal, I just have pet peeves.

i am SO TIRED of people seeing a cool character and immediately going "oh he's hot and sexy."

i know some people just like having fictional crushes and that's okay, and i know this has been said before, but it gets drowned out so much and i gotta reiterate it.

people, like, mass crush on these characters to the point that the first thing the average person thinks of them is "hot guy" instead of their actual character. and half the time they're actually goofballs like they are silly you are changing their character to fit your romantic "sexy guy" mold that every other romantic "sexy guy" has they’re a carbon copy now where’s the awkwardness? removing the awkwardness has MADE THIS AWKWARD!!!

and it’s not just like “I see it and I don’t like it.” I don’t like talking about some of my favorite characters sometimes because people have mass crushed on them and I know others will assume that I too have a crush on that character when that could be not further from the truth. And they won’t believe me when I say “I don’t have a crush on this character I just like them, like as a character.” because in their mind, EVERYONE has a crush on this character, and I’m just trying to cover up. I wanna talk about this character but I don’t want people to associate me with the GOONERS.

Also, l’ll be talking with someone and I’ll find out we like the same character and I’ll get so excited only for the light to immediately fade from my eyes because the next thing they say is “They’re soooooo hot!” Like, no. I don’t want to talk about how hot they are. I want to talk about how interesting they were in the story. Do you even know the interesting things they did in the story? Do you even care? Do you even know how they actually act? Have you ever even seen the piece of media? I am immediately shut down everything I say now will make me feel out of place and like a nerd and they will be utterly uninterested in whatever I talk about.

“I don’t really care about how hot they are. When they did this in the story it was so cool, though! And the subtext is so interesting!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I don’t like talking down on how people enjoy a character. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having fictional crushes or deviating from canon to make your crush sexier. I just think it’s annoying. It’s made me like some of my favs less because then I only see work of them where they’re “hot and sexy” and I just don’t wanna see that, so I lean towards another character. Live y’all’s truth, but I’m also gonna live mine, and I can’t stand these cheap generalizations of a character no more.

[b1rdbra1ned]

lightbrush yes or no

third secret option!!

[wickjump]

ok i rambled a lot in the tags and there’s a STUPID TAG LIMIT so my thoughts are CONDENSED and LAMEand not smart. but i could be. i could be if i wanted to. also the second half of this is literally me just talking about krepicolor im So sorry i got so off topic and distracted. the first half is good tho and makes sense i think

Why am I chill with most color ships but eh or 😡 and 🙄 or 🫤 on most killer ships