#idk maybe it just frustrates me bc i like to engage in media analysis? so all of the stupid shit makes me go -_-

[animentality]

I've always harboured a mild dislike for x reader stuff. I never really held it against people because I don't have the time to antagonise them, but it was so upsetting when every time I opened the fandom tag and all I saw were posts and posts and posts of bland x reader stuff that clearly is ooc with no real substance to them at all. So many of the RP blogs seem the same way.

As someone who tries to make analysis posts and art for the same fandom, it is disheartening when I spend hours and hours on an analysis post about a character and it maybe hits 120 notes while an OOC x reader of the same character soars to the thousands. Maybe it's selfish of me to say but I say it anyway.

The fandom is full of youngsters and I never felt comfortable voicing my opinion for the same because it just felt wrong to tell kids to stop existing in communities. But the amount of times I've been put down for shipping characters with each other rather than myself is an honestly surprising number.

Um. I don't really know where I was going with this.

But your post definitely opened my eyes a little bit on even why I dislike x reader so much. It's sinking in a little bit. My hatred for OOC stuff seeps into this, I suppose. So I wanted to say that. Yeah. I agree with you.

Thank you for saying it.

Signed,

A fellow analyser / artist / fanfic writer lmao

— @lunarcloak

I get you, man.

I know self shippers have always existed.

I don't mind them. If that's how you enjoy the media, then fine.

However.

I just don't think that the sudden rise of self shippers over fan analysis and shipping is a good sign.

I think it comes from a lack of media literacy and willingness to actually engage with a piece of fiction. At least shippers and fan analysts actually talk about the world and plot itself.

self shippers imagine themselves dating a character in an au that is completely disconnected from the story, and acting in a way that's not even close to how they are in canon.

which to me is like... you have a creative writing prompt but it's not a story you're actually engaging with. someone showed you a picture of a handsome man and said write a story about how he'd kiss you.

and it's like... ok. there's no crime in just being horny, but... when that's all a fandom is... I don't consider it a fandom, it's just a masturbation fantasy.

I thought the whole point of fiction was to dive into the human experience and try and understand ourselves better. See the perspectives of others. Live vicariously in another person's shoes.

Fan analysis about themes? Perfect. You're thinking. You're feeling. You're articulating. You're growing as a person as you decide what you like or don't like, or try to put together puzzle pieces so that the whole picture makes sense. Shipping? You're imagining scenarios. You're bending canon to fit your interests. You are developing your own ability to write characters, and growing as an artist and a writer.

But self shipping...?

Eh.

You're writing, I guess, but when you reduce yourself to just... idk, some generic girl that Gojo decides is the Bella to his Edward... I mean I'm glad you're happy and all.

But how happy are you

Are you happy at all, or are you frustrated by this aching loneliness deep in your gut that you just don't understand, and it never quite feels whole bc you keep cramming nothing into it.

And it's not the loneliness or the social awkwardness that I'm criticizing here ok, shippers and fan analysts can be just as lonely. I just think that the human relationship to art should be confusion and appreciation.

you should be trying to understand others or yourself.

you can insist well what's so wrong with escapism? why does everything have to be an intellectual exercise?

it doesn't have to be ... but there's a reason people feel so hollow watching marvel movies.

art without substance is consumption. it's a distraction from your own humanity, it is not anything more.

not to you, anyway.

and I don't know.

that's really sad.

I've made so many friends through ships and babbling about canon and gushing about narrative beats.

I feel like I got something out of fandom, if other people force me to see the world in another light. I feel like a story has done its job if it's made me feel something. and it's really done a great job if I feel invested enough to hope two characters smooch.

but self insert?

eh. so you just like the character and think they're hot. that's fine.

not that interesting to talk about either. requires very little analysis on your part.

they just provoke sexual feelings or romantic feelings , which are easiest for you to process, and then you can move on to the next pretty boy you can turn into a Dom.

it irks me, man.

just a tad bit.

[whimsyrefrain]

enstars is one of those things i genuinely cannot think about the canon for too long or otherwise i get annoyed with all of the plot points or random lore reveals made. truly amazing that this is the highest grossing joseimuke when it has some of the most haphazard writing i've ever seen in anything

[angelsdean]

My way of dealing w the "autonomy" flavor deancrits is to take a deep breath and remind myself that they are probably still living w (possibly v controlling) parents & projecting their own issues. It's the most plausible reason i think why someone would blow this whole autonomy debate so out of proportion, if they struggle w things like that and so they blindly sympathize w Sam's subjective view w/out thinking much abt it. Not to overanalyze, i'm just trying to find logical reasons, it calms me.

yea i totally get that. i think a lot of times projection is an issue when people seem to be completely ignoring and misinterpreting aspects of the text. like of course we'll all bring some of our own feelings and biases and experiences when we engage with any media, but it's something i'm always aware of and actively working against letting those things color my interpretations. i think it also has to do w/ my background in literally getting a degree in literary analysis so like, i'm bringing all that to the table too. but it's funny tho to me bc *i* am also living w/ a pretty controlling parent bc of circumstances. and STILL *i* can see the nuance and not project my own feelings onto sam. maybe it's bc i'm just so deancoded in other aspects that i just don't relate to sam all that much despite feeling sometimes frustrated at my own situation. but still. it's not like i can't empathize with sam, and also see how his situation is different and not project things onto him and not cast dean into the role of "controlling parent." idk i just think people need to learn better media literacy and media analysis skills and also like, take themselves out of the equation and be more objective when it comes to character analysis.

but anyways, yea i'm sure you're right and many people who relate to sam's autonomy issues (and keep pressing that argument from a deancrit perspective) probably are coming to the argument with their own experiences coloring their perceptions of the text.