A Vindication of the Rights of Shippers (The "Good Parts" Version)
I've been reading a bunch of French post-structuralists the past couple weeks, and I think I understand the problem with fandom: we over-identify with our favorites (be it ship, character, show, narrative device, whatevs), so when someone insults that ship/character/show/narrative device, we take it as a personal blow. De Certeau* (the guy I've been reading the most) has this thing about "strategies" and "tactics" - strategies are the ways "the system" or "the man" or hegemony makes us conform to the dominant narrative, and tactics are developed by individuals to navigate those strategies. We are given a media narrative and told the strategic meaning by the dominant culture. You can "buy in" to the message given, or you can deconstruct it and take what meaning you want from it.
Fandom is a tactic against the strategies of mass media. Star Trek is a very masculine narrative. Except for the awesome Uhura, guys get to do most of the fun stuff. However, fans say "thanks, Star Trek, for your masculinist narrative, but I'm going to ship Kirk/Spock and create my own narrative that isn't confined by your heteronormative story." Thus, slash shipping is a tactic meant to navigate the strategy of the masculinist narrative. Fans are deconstructing the message and creating a version that appeals to them. You see it done in fandoms based on very masculine narratives, from Sherlock to Supernatural.
Another tactic is in picking and choosing what we identify with. In Harry Potter, it can be what house you're in or what you ship. I am a troubled Ravenclaw shipping Tomione like it's nobody's business, you can be a Gryffindor shipping Cho Chang and Minerva McGonagall, Whatever revs your engine. Likewise with Buffy fandom. I am a late-season loving, Dawn adoring, Buffy-centric Spuffy shipper. I identify with the B-Team of Spike, Dawn, Anya and Tara more than Giles, Xander and Willow. When I say I am a Browncoat, I am making a statement not just about Firefly, but about myself. I use these identifiers as my tactic to make meaning of mass media - they become who I am and how I see myself.
So when someone insults Buffy, I want to get into their face about it, because I feel internally that insulting Buffy is like insulting me. People say shippers see the entire series through their shipper-shaped lenses. My answer? OF COURSE THEY DO! The thing they identify with most in the show is that particular relationship, so of course it's going to color the way they see the show. What bothers me is when people dismiss shippers as all being "problematic" or "troublesome" or "the reason why fandom is so terrible."
Let's say you're a Lost fan. You're in it to solve the mysteries and make sure all the questions are answered, not to see who Kate ends up banging back at the Dharma station. You're unhappy with the finale, because it wasn't about the mysteries--that finale was all about character relationships. Maybe you're into Buffy for Xander's wisecracks. You really don't have a horse in the race for Buffy's vagina heart. In both these scenarios, you're a gen fan - someone who isn't in it for the shipping. Why should we privilege how you view the series over the shipper? You have your tactic to make sense of Lost or Buffy, and they have theirs, and neither is an invalid or incorrect way to approach mass media.
Here's my line of thinking: I've been known to get up in people's grill about particular ships and characters. Disliking these ships and characters (I'll leave what these ships and who these characters are up to the reader) is also part of how I differentiate myself from other mass consumers - it's part of my identity as much as being a late-season loving, Dawn adoring, Buffy-centric Spuffy shipper is. So when I say something passionate against said ship or character, I'm saying it because something fundamental inside me objects to them. I don't need to be rude or mouthy about it--much fandom conflict is because people get rude and mouthy--but disliking something doesn't necessarily relegate me to the realm of "haters."
So this brings us to ship wars. You have people who over-identify with ship A, which goes counter to those who over-identify with ship B. "A" shippers object to ship B because we're all rapist lovers (was that too specific? Okay, we're all bad people who like problematic characters). When "A" shippers and "B" shippers meet in discourse, of course there's going to be conflict. I think it's extremely naive to believe that two groups of people who firmly believe and identify with two contrasting things won't have some conflict.
That doesn't mean we dismiss shippers completely, and some of the people dismissing shippers would be the first ones out of the gate with a chainsaw if their favorite character was disparaged or dismissed. WE ALL IDENTIFY WITH OUR FAVORITES. It's how we differentiate ourselves from every single other mass media consumer. When I write my list of fandoms and ships on my tumblr page, I'm making a declaration about who I am. So it really annoys me when people place all the blame about fandom conflict on shippers. If your favorite was threatened, wouldn't you rally to support them?
So yeah. I support the shippers because they have every right to identify with what they end up identifying with. That is their tactic to understand mass media. That doesn't give them (or me) the right to be a jackass about it, but shippers shouldn't be looked at as some lesser being because their distinguishing identifier is a romantic relationship, and when you say "shippers ruin fandom," you're privileging your own way of reading media. You're not some monolithic bastion of objective truth because you don't ship anyone in a show. EVERYTHING IS SUBJECTIVE. And the way fans operate is to take their subjective experiences and apply them to media, making their own meaning through whatever means they find appealing.
So don't hate the shippers.
*de Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
Note: This is an expanded version of this post, edited for coherency and content for Watercooler Journal, and to address some things that came up in the comments of the original post.
Also, if you know what the title of this post is referencing (not the Wollstonecraft part), you are my new favorite.
Fandom is a tactic against the strategies of mass media. Star Trek is a very masculine narrative. Except for the awesome Uhura, guys get to do most of the fun stuff. However, fans say "thanks, Star Trek, for your masculinist narrative, but I'm going to ship Kirk/Spock and create my own narrative that isn't confined by your heteronormative story." Thus, slash shipping is a tactic meant to navigate the strategy of the masculinist narrative. Fans are deconstructing the message and creating a version that appeals to them. You see it done in fandoms based on very masculine narratives, from Sherlock to Supernatural.
Another tactic is in picking and choosing what we identify with. In Harry Potter, it can be what house you're in or what you ship. I am a troubled Ravenclaw shipping Tomione like it's nobody's business, you can be a Gryffindor shipping Cho Chang and Minerva McGonagall, Whatever revs your engine. Likewise with Buffy fandom. I am a late-season loving, Dawn adoring, Buffy-centric Spuffy shipper. I identify with the B-Team of Spike, Dawn, Anya and Tara more than Giles, Xander and Willow. When I say I am a Browncoat, I am making a statement not just about Firefly, but about myself. I use these identifiers as my tactic to make meaning of mass media - they become who I am and how I see myself.
So when someone insults Buffy, I want to get into their face about it, because I feel internally that insulting Buffy is like insulting me. People say shippers see the entire series through their shipper-shaped lenses. My answer? OF COURSE THEY DO! The thing they identify with most in the show is that particular relationship, so of course it's going to color the way they see the show. What bothers me is when people dismiss shippers as all being "problematic" or "troublesome" or "the reason why fandom is so terrible."
Let's say you're a Lost fan. You're in it to solve the mysteries and make sure all the questions are answered, not to see who Kate ends up banging back at the Dharma station. You're unhappy with the finale, because it wasn't about the mysteries--that finale was all about character relationships. Maybe you're into Buffy for Xander's wisecracks. You really don't have a horse in the race for Buffy's vagina heart. In both these scenarios, you're a gen fan - someone who isn't in it for the shipping. Why should we privilege how you view the series over the shipper? You have your tactic to make sense of Lost or Buffy, and they have theirs, and neither is an invalid or incorrect way to approach mass media.
Here's my line of thinking: I've been known to get up in people's grill about particular ships and characters. Disliking these ships and characters (I'll leave what these ships and who these characters are up to the reader) is also part of how I differentiate myself from other mass consumers - it's part of my identity as much as being a late-season loving, Dawn adoring, Buffy-centric Spuffy shipper is. So when I say something passionate against said ship or character, I'm saying it because something fundamental inside me objects to them. I don't need to be rude or mouthy about it--much fandom conflict is because people get rude and mouthy--but disliking something doesn't necessarily relegate me to the realm of "haters."
So this brings us to ship wars. You have people who over-identify with ship A, which goes counter to those who over-identify with ship B. "A" shippers object to ship B because we're all rapist lovers (was that too specific? Okay, we're all bad people who like problematic characters). When "A" shippers and "B" shippers meet in discourse, of course there's going to be conflict. I think it's extremely naive to believe that two groups of people who firmly believe and identify with two contrasting things won't have some conflict.
That doesn't mean we dismiss shippers completely, and some of the people dismissing shippers would be the first ones out of the gate with a chainsaw if their favorite character was disparaged or dismissed. WE ALL IDENTIFY WITH OUR FAVORITES. It's how we differentiate ourselves from every single other mass media consumer. When I write my list of fandoms and ships on my tumblr page, I'm making a declaration about who I am. So it really annoys me when people place all the blame about fandom conflict on shippers. If your favorite was threatened, wouldn't you rally to support them?
So yeah. I support the shippers because they have every right to identify with what they end up identifying with. That is their tactic to understand mass media. That doesn't give them (or me) the right to be a jackass about it, but shippers shouldn't be looked at as some lesser being because their distinguishing identifier is a romantic relationship, and when you say "shippers ruin fandom," you're privileging your own way of reading media. You're not some monolithic bastion of objective truth because you don't ship anyone in a show. EVERYTHING IS SUBJECTIVE. And the way fans operate is to take their subjective experiences and apply them to media, making their own meaning through whatever means they find appealing.
So don't hate the shippers.
*de Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
Note: This is an expanded version of this post, edited for coherency and content for Watercooler Journal, and to address some things that came up in the comments of the original post.
Also, if you know what the title of this post is referencing (not the Wollstonecraft part), you are my new favorite.