#i know Harry Potter is cancelled now and for good reason but i'm still allowed to be sad when we lose another actor from it

[nightswithkookmin]

BIGHIT vs BTS SHIPS The Difference Between Jikook and Taekook

I think I have explained the commercial value of ships when it comes to content marketing in one of my previous posts. But allow me to use this opportunity to address it in depth.

Bighit did not invent shipping. Shipping predates Kpop and plays a vital role in spiking interest, relevancy and longevity of that interest in a piece of marketed content. It sustains Audience Retention rates and improves engagement rates significantly. It is a powerful marketing tool when used right but I'm not going to get into all that in this post.

Fact is BigHit does benefit from shipping culture because it is one way they keep the audience engaged with BTS content even when they aren't putting out new content for the market to consume. BTS ships serve the same purpose as all the Run, Soop, Bon voyage and myriads of sub content they put out. You may not watch Run every day, but if you are a shipper you will like a ship post at least once a day.

Shipping is organic and costs nothing unlike most other marketing strategies available to the marketer. TV programs such as Harry Potter (Dont lie. I know you shipped Hermoine and Harry. I did too. *tears) Star wars, Friends, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Shadow Hunter to name a few have all benefited from shipping culture significantly.

Can BigHit do without ships? Absolutely. They would be a fool to though. Shipping is just one of the many resource options available to a marketer. It bridges the gap in between formal contents and keep interest in a brand going.

I smirk when some people dismiss shipping, look down on shippers or make ignorant and ill informed comments about shipping culture in general. Audience retention and engagement is king in today's economy and BigHit taps into this resource very well.

All BTS ships are thus relevant and valid. All of them. Unfortunately, this is a numbers games. Numbers play a key role in the commercial value of a ship. And it is a fact universally acknowledged that Taekook and Jikook are ships with the most number of fans and as such provides higher engagement rates within a marketing context.

Taekook is the biggest ship not just in BTS but in Kpop. It is followed closely by Jikook. Does that mean all the ships are nothing but shallow interactions engineered to keep us tethered to BTS for as and when they are ready to sell a product to us? NO.

I don't see BigHit actively curating these ships and masterminding them.

What I mean is, I don't think BigHit is asking the members to interact or even forcing them to interact- except in recent moments but that is another topic for another day.

BTS interact with eachother from their own free will. Of course no two interactions are going to be the same as no two relationships are the same. We cannot compare Taegi to Jikook or Taekook to Jikook or even to VMin because the friendship between Jimin and V is not the same as between V and Jin etc.

No one is forcing Jungkook to interact with Jimin. No one is forcing Tae not to interact with JK. It's absurd to think in such a way.

They all interact with eachother and provide that content for BigHit's use. All BigHit does is decide when to show us that content as and if they want to show it to us at all. They are a business and all these ships are just marketing resources and so they will show us a ship's content in a way that advances their business marketing strategy.

However, if two people within a ship barely interact or do not interact at all with eachother then there wouldn't be any content on them for BigHit to promote or use in their marketing campaigns to begin with.

What I'm saying is, if Taekook sells- as in if there are a lot of people interested in seeing their content(which there are) and those two individuals actually have moments together on or off camera, then in their estimation BigHit will market that content to us. If Jikook sells they will sell it to us; as long as none of these ships are damaging to the reputation and business of BigHit.

[CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC BELOW- Proceed with caution.]

A ships value to BigHit, in my opinion, is contingent on its commercial value as discussed above but if that ship causes BigHit to lose money rather than gain, if a ship negatively affects the business or reputation of BigHit then that ship is as good as dead. They will kick that ship off the spotlight real fast.

Taekook and Jikook have both had moments like this where they are temporarily taken off the spotlight or even asked to tone things down. We've all seen it don't argue with me.

Not everything BigHit does is about these ships. BigHit is a brand in of its own. They have several other brands under their brand and they can't afford to ruin their brand image or any of their artists.

They will not hesitate to shut down a ship if it is doing more harm than good. They did it to Taekook when that ship was in it's hay days. As soon as they started recieving a ton of negative press that is when they started getting 'seperated' -on stage anyway. I don't think they were seperated or asked not to interact off camera. Clearly they do. They are friends after all.

BigHit does the same thing to Jikook whenever they start recieving negative attention. But we see them interacting backstage nevertheless and usually this happens at the same event they get 'separated at.'

It's nothing personal, just business.

[Controversial content ahead. Proceed with caution]

At this point, I know you would be asking why Taekook seemed to have dimmed as a ship where BigHit is concerned but Jikook recieve the same negative press and yet they still market Jikook and shine more light on it....

A Taekooker friend whom I had this discussion with pointed out to me that it seems whenever Jikook receives a ton of negative press BigHit claps back with more Jikook content and in an aggressive way yet has it being Taekook we wouldn't get any content outside official content for a whole year.

To be fair, BigHit treats all ships equally in my opinion. Jikook gets penalized for certain moments just as much as Taekook or any ship gets punished. Example, after the New Jersey VLive Jikook were banned(allegedly) from doing a Vlive on their own for a whole year and after the ban was lifted their VLive was monitored the same way Taekook's Vlive was monitored.

Secondly, perhaps they keep pushing Jikook content because that is all they have? Perhaps, they have more Jikook content than Taekook?

Jikook spend so much time around each other and they don't mind their interactions being filmed as content. Not because they are doing fan service but more so because they are lowkey exhibitionists or exhibit exhibitionist tendencies. Lol. More on that later.

When it comes to Taekook; Tae have said once that JK avoids him off camera which I assume by that he meant Jk doesn't interact with him much off camera. Now it could also be that Jk was not on good terms with him during that particular period which is normal because friends fight.

Jk have also said him and Tae's relationship is not for the cameras and I assume by that he meant they are both are not comfortable providing content for Bighit to use as marketing because as I said all these ship interactions are by their own free will. Bighit can't force Taekook to interact and if Taekook hasn't given them permission to air certain moments they just can't.

Or... or....

The reason BigHit pushes back with more Jikook content even after negative press is because Jikook is real. DEADASS.

Hear me out. Calling Taekook out for promoting Homosexuality in S.K will be deemed negative press if Taekook are not gay or in an actual romantic relationship. Calling Jikook out for promoting homosexuality will not be deemed as negative press but an abuse if Jikook are in fact gay and in a gay relationship with eachother.

BigHit is not homophobic. Bang PD is known for his openly support for members of the LGBTQ plus community. If people hate on Jikook because of their moment he will sympathize with them and shove that in your face.

While Taekook negative press will be a nuance, Jikook negative press will be revolution and BigHit will make a statement: a statement that says they stand with LGBTQ plus community PERIOD.

They will do this not for money but for the boys so they feel loved and supported. So Jikook knows they are not in this fight alone especially coming from a highly homophobic society as S.K.

The thing about Jikook is, Jikook is real. That alone gives BigHit a competitive advantage in the Industry. It means Jikook produce more content for BigHit over any other pair and that content is juicy. It's similar to how companies want exclusive access to certain power couples in the industry. If Jikook are real and BigHit have access to them, exclusive access mind you, then that places BigHit above the competition business wise.

Think of Jikook and BigHit as the Kardashians and Entertainment company behind them. Jikook has given BigHit partial access to their private lives extending beyond the access they have over BTS.

If Taekook or any ship give similar access to them we will see more of them. If they give BigHit content we will see more of them. It's as simple as that.

Jikook is a brand and BigHit is their brand manager. This means BigHit gets more content from Jikook and is at liberty to use that content any how they want and milk the shit out of it. In return, BigHit has a duty to protect Jikook and so no. When Jikook gets negative press due to homophobia BigHit is not going to cancel them.

May be chill on them for a while, because that exposure they give Jikook can be traumatizing for Jikook especially if the feedback is negative.

What I'm saying is, where Taekook would be asked to chill and lay low from public scrutiny it will be because BigHit wants to protect their business interest whereas in Jikook's case it would be to protect Jikook themselves. If Taekook are both gay and in a relationship with each other BigHit would do same for them.

I don't think BigHits marketing tactics however affects the status of Jikook, Taekook or any other ship's relationship in any way. Jikook is real whether it is made the center of attention or not. Taekook could be real regardless of whether they are marketed or not. Just because a certain ship is put under the spotlight doesn't mean that ship is 'real' neither does that negate the genuine friendship that exists between members of other ships.

It is weird to me when people associate BigHits business tactics to the validity of their ship. There is no correlation. BigHit is a business, BTS are their artists that make them money- all BTS not just two members from a ship. BTS is one of the most powerful brands in the world right now.

BigHit will explore and exploit all the relationships within the group, platonic or otherwise, if that will help them sell more albums or even Icecream.

Jikook gives BigHit a competitive advantage more so than any other ship in BTS not just because they are the second largest ship in South Korea but because Jikook are shaping out to be a power couple and Icons for the LGBTQ community. There is a reason why companies rush to support Pride month parades. I'll leave it there.

So no, I don't see it as BigHit highlighting the ship of the era as you put it or alternating between Jikook and Taekook as and when. BigHit has a business to run, shipping plays a vital role in its business marketing strategy but not everything is about these ships.

The members have a role to play in creating content for these ships and Bighit won't hesitate to market it if the content is quality entertainment, consensual and plays to their overall marketing scheme.

This means if Jikook ship content are boring they will choose to show a much entertaining ship content over them. Nothing personal.

I just think they treat Jikook differently because as much as they want to pander to our delusional shipping interests, they owe Jikook a duty to protect them from homophobic people. When you hate on any ship in BTS, BigHit assumes you are nuts but when you hate on Jikook BigHit will immediately assume you are both nuts and homophobic.

Promoting Jikook is business but it is also validation and acceptance and support. Bighit has a proclivity for sensitizing us to Jikook and normalizing their relationship.

If Taekook are also in a gay relationship they will be treated the same and I will support them the same. But to me, I believe Jikook are real and therefore Taekook and Jikook are mutually exclusive. Both cannot be real at the same time.

Ship whatever you want but support Jikook and stan all seven.

Signed,

GOLDY

[raving--ravenclaw]

Christmas With... The Longbottoms! - Neville x Reader

A/N: welcome to part two of my Harry Potter Christmas series! Neville is my absolute favorite character so I really enjoyed writing this for him. I hope you enjoy reading it!

Warnings: None

Words: 2,500

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I nearly fell to the ground as Neville and I landed our apparition at his house. Him and I have been best friends pretty much since the first day of our first year at Hogwarts and every year we spend Christmas together. We alternate whose house we spend it at every year. Since we were at my house for Christmas last year we'd be spending it at his house this year.

His house was tall, three stories to be exact, and boxy. The siding is darkly colored and it seemed as if it was leaning forward. There wasn't much character to it unless you count the feeling of gloom it gave to anyone within sight of it. One thing about the house was off though… there were no Christmas decorations up.

"Neville, in the six years that we have been spending Christmas together I have never seen your house sans decorations."

"With the rise of he who shall not be named Gran didn't want to decorate. Said it didn't feel very Christmassy this year."

"That's rubbish."

"I s'pose you're going to gripe about it aren't you?"

"You know me too well. The only reason it doesn't feel like Christmas is because you don't have any decorations up! Voldemort didn't cancel Christmas!"

Neville flinched at the mention of the name and I turned to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout it."

"S'alright. Just wasn't expecting it is all."

I gave him a hug and held him tightly. Neville and I were always very touchy. I'm not quite sure what the reasoning was behind his touchiness but mine came from the constant want to be close to him. I would easily admit it to anyone that asked but no one really seemed to notice my liking for him, including him.

Neville pulled away from our hug,"you're still wearing my scarf."

"I need it right now too, it's freezing out here."

"We could go inside if you want. It is cold."

"It is. Let's go."

We jogged inside and pulled the door closed quickly behind us. The warmth hit me like a nice cozy wall. The inside of Neville's house was always dimly lit and you could tell that his gran had decorated. That's not to say it wasn't cozy though. I always felt welcome at Neville's. However, I have to admit that his gran is not my favorite person in the World because of the way she treats him sometimes.

Neville shed his coat and then turned and offered to take mine. I peeled my coat off and set it gently in his hands.

"Gran, we're home," he bellowed after hanging up the coats in the entry way closet.

His gran came shuffling out of the kitchen door at the end of the narrow hallway that led to the rest of the house.

"Welcome, y/n. Merry Christmas."

"Thank you, Ms. Longbottom. Merry Christmas."

"It's late. Shouldn't you be preparing for bed?"

"We just got in Gran."

She huffed, "well I'm going to bed. You know where the blankets are Neville."

"Night Gran."

"Goodnight," I added as she began to climb the stairs.

Neville and I watched in silence as she disappeared at the the top of the stairs. She was awfully abrasive tonight. Don't get me wrong she was often grumpy but not usually entirely unpleasant. I assumed it was voldemort's recent re-appearance that probably had her on edge.

"Shall we go up then," Neville asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Sure."

I went to grab my bag but Neville got to it first.

"Let me y/n."

"You don't have to do that, really, I can get it."

"Y/n, I'd carry you up if you let me," Neville said starting up the stairs.

"You're too sweet, Neville," I said following.

Neville's bedroom was on the top floor of the house and down a long haul. I wasn't in the best shape and I hate to admit but I would be put of breath by the time we got to his room. Once, when we were younger, we got an old slab of wood out of the attic and sled down the stairs over and over again until his gran caught us. I swear we never sat still as kids.

Reaching his room, Neville dramatically kicked the door open, having both of his hands full with my suitcase. I laughed at his overdramatic way of opening the door. Every year we spent Christmas at his house we always just slept in his room together. I was surprised that this hadn't changed as we grew older.

"Y'know, either your gran really trusts us or she hasn't really thought this whole thing through," I chuckled.

"I think she just doubts my abilities."

"Your abilities‽" I laughed.

He struggled to try and explain what he meant and was stuttering all over the place. He finally settled on saying, "you know what I mean."

"I really don't," I said pulling blankets down out of his closet and setting them on the window seat.

"Gran sees it as how I tend to be bad at everythin'," he said coming over to make the window seat up for a bed.

"You are not Nev." I cupped his cheek and turned his head to look at me. "Sure you used to be a bit clumsy but first of all there's nothing wrong with that and second of all you've grown out of it."

His eyes were so gentle. I could truly sit and stare into them hour after hour. "It's hard to shake, y'know? That view of myself."

I guided his forehead to mine and practically nuzzles into him. "It's not hard for me. I see my best friend everyday and realize that he's turned into this amazing, gorgeous, young man and we're only sixteen. You've still got growing left to do. I'm not going to be able to handle you by next year." He chuckled. "And I'm so luck to have you. Honestly I'm jealous too, I wanna look this good." We both laughed. "Never doubt yourself Neville, you have no reason too."

"For the record, I think you look better."

I finally let go of his face and he continued to make up a bed with a big smile.

"Why don't you sleep in your bed and I'll take the window seat this time."

"But the window seat's not very comfy. I don't mind sleeping there for you."

I had to take a deep breath and clear my mind before speaking. He was so sweet sometimes that it was hard to not just tell him how much I love him. He's just so good to me. How could I not love him? It's a bit overwhelming but in the best way.

"I'll take it Neville, it's okay."

"If you want to switch just let me know, okay?"

"Okay."

I settled down into the window seat and Neville in his bed. Out the large circle window I could see the moonlight glinting off the snow below. One thing I loved about Neville's room is how at night it filled with moonlight because of this window. It made you feel calm and on a full moon you didn't need any artificial light to see. His room in general was calm, just like his presence. It's funny how someone so riddled with nerves and anxiety could always make others feel so relaxed and safe. I guess he didn't want anyone else to go through what he was going through. I looked across the room to see him gently fiddling with a plant on his nightstand. I always did my best to make him feel calm too. He's been through so much his whole life. A lot of it right here in this house.

"Hey, y/n, do you want to decorate for Christmas tomorrow? You were right, it feels wrong without it."

"I would love to."

"Can't wait. Good night, y/n, sleep well."

"Good night Neville."

"If you need anything, I'm right here."

I rolled over and dozed off quickly feeling safe and excited for the next day.

In the morning I quickly hopped up out of bed, excited to decorate and get in the Christmas spirit. I ran across the room and flopped onto Neville's bed causing him to bolt upright and exclaim.

"Good morning sleepy head."

"You really scared me there!"

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I'm excited too. Just let me get dressed."

He tucked himself away in his closet to get dressed and didn't come out until I had told him I was fully clothed.

"You look so festive!" He was referring to my Christmas sweater that had little lights all over it.

"Thank you! You look very cozy."

He and I rushed downstairs to have a quick breakfast before getting to decorating. During which, his gran told us how it was wrong to celebrate when such dark things were going on in the World. Which is exactly why I thought we needed to decorate, it would surely bring some light to that darkness. We asked her for help with decorating since we weren't allowed to use magic outside of school yet and wouldn't have any way to hang the lights. She declined though and we realized we would have to do things the muggle way.

Once up in his attic we struggled to find the string lights and everything we would need to hang them but eventually we found everything. Getting the lights up one the house was certainly going to be the hardest part.

"So we have to use the muggle device," I stared at the tall triangle with spaced out stairs that was folded up and leaned against the wall.

"I think we can figure it out alright," he picked up the odd thing.

We grabbed all of our decorations and the muggle device and lugged all of it to his front yard.

"Where do we start?"

"If you'll hold the ladder, I'll climb up and hang the lights," I offered.

"That's dangerous. What if you fall?"

"Make sure you catch me," I winked at him and giggled as he turned bright red. "I'd trust you with my life any day Neville."

"That makes one of us," he said, leaning the ladder against the house. "Please be careful."

"I will be, try not to worry." 

I climbed the ladder with a bundle of lights and looked back down at Neville. Goodness it WAS high up and we're not even to the top of the house yet.

"You alright?"

"Yeah I'm okay, Neville," I shouted down.

He was holding the ladder steady and I'm pretty sure if I was down there I could see his knuckles turning white from how tight he was gripping it. I was very careful to keep my balance as I hung the lights across the eave. I leaned back, keeping a tight hold on the ladder, to see if I had the lights even. When I was satisfied with the way they looked I began to back down the ladder. I stepped down to the third ring from the top and my foot slipped off. Everything was a blur as I fell toward the ground rapidly. I heard a grunt as I landed that I was sure wasn't mind and the ground felt much softer than it ought to.

"Does this count as catching you," Neville groaned from underneath me.

"I'd say so," I groaned, propping myself up on my hands.

"You alright?" He smiled up at me.

"Yes, thanks to you," I wiped a strand of hair out of his face.

We stayed there on top of each other. It was mildly awkward but somehow not at the same time and eventually we burst into laughter.

"I suppose I should get off you now."

"I s'pose."

"You're so warm though," I laughed getting up.

"If you're cold we could go in and warm up," he got up off the ground.

I told him that I was fine and we continued on with the lights. We each took turns going up on the ladder to hang them. Neither of us made the mistake of falling off again. Not only did we hang up lights on the house but we put lights in his front bushes and candy canes along the front path. By nightfall we had his house looking more festive than ever before. 

We sat inside now, in his room. With everything going on out in the World right now this was surprisingly shaping up to be one of my favorite Christmases with him. I don't know what it is but I feel closer to him than ever.

"I'm still cold from being out all day. Are you," I asked Neville who sat across the room on his bed.

"Little bit. I had fun though."

He got up and walked over to the window seat and sat down across from me. He grabbed the top layer of his clothes and pulled the sweater off and handed it to me.

"H-Here."

"Thanks," I said slipping it on. "I'm beginning to think I'll be cold forever."

Across the seat the Christmas lights shone in the window casting a light glow of color onto Neville. He looked so handsome, he always did. 

He held his arms open for me, "if you're still cold I could help."

I scooted across the bench to lean into him. His arms wrapped around me and I nuzzled into him. We sat like that for a long while, talking about anything and everything, laughing and carrying on. The whole time we've been sitting like this I've been considering telling him how I feel. It would be so easy too. There was nothing stopping me. Well, except for the fact that he can be so shy and if I told him he might just curl up into a ball and never speak again. But maybe it was worth a shot.

"Neville."

"Yeah?"

"I really like you. Like a lot."

"I thought we had established that already," he laughed.

"Wait, you knew I have feelings for you?" I turned around in his arms to look at him.

"You have feelings for me‽"

"That's what I meant when I said I like you a lot!"

"Oh….," He stared off into space as if to contemplate this deeply.

"You know if you don't have feelings for me too that's okay," I said, hopeful that he wouldn't confirm what I had just said.

"No! No! I just didn't want to tell you. I really love having you around and I didn't want that to change."

"Well, I'd like to be around more, if you're okay with that."

"I don't think that's possible," he laughed.

"Even so," I chuckled.

I kissed him on the cheek and settled back down into his arms and as he nuzzled his head into the back of mine everything was as it should be.