In our world, shipping these characters if just that - shipping characters. In the world of the tv show, however, these are real people. That's not fanfiction, that's RPF. (RPF is not my thing, personally, but I have no problem with other people who write it. I swear I'm not trying to start a debate on whether RPF is right or not.)
The people portrayed in this episode don't sound like regular shippers to me, but extreme tinhatters. This would be the equivalent of a bunch of fans showing up at, say, a Supernatural convention and screaming in Jared & Jensen's faces about when they were going to drop the sham, divorce their wives and finally come out to the public as being together.
I'd like to think that if we got wind of something like this in our world, where a bunch of people at a convention were harassing a group of teenagers about who was dating who on their web show, we'd look at it distastefully. Because who they're dating or not dating is no one else's business, and it would make the rest of us look bad.
Now I haven't seen this episode, so I really don't know how it was done or how it was intended. It could be a giant "screw you" to shippers in general, which would really really suck. But I just wanted to give a different perspective on it.
Wow, that was really long. Sorry to hijack your comments page!
(Pssssssh no prob about the length thing. It's all good.)
I totally understand your point about trying to represent EXTREME tinhatters and their craziness. Hell, I understand the wtf of !!!tinhats since I'm in a rpf fandom and I've been to a panel where shipping was hinted at and it made things awkward for me (luckily, Jon Stewart is amazing and handled it beautifully).
The thing is, even then, there are problems. Not everyone is like that in the rpf/tinhat world, and fuck it if we would EVER seriously do that. It shows a complete removal from what fandom is truly like, and it's just unfair. We are, in general, a decently mature bunch who understand the Rules of Conduct, especially when we are dealing with real people or the actors of the characters we ship. But... it also goes into how fandom acts overall, simply because it is the only time you really, really see it. It gives the wrong impression on fandom, a minority in viewership that is CONSTANTLY getting slack from every which direction. Considering how much fandoms love their shows, it's surprising that they would be targeted by a writer/creator in such a way.
Also, it really does read as a big fuck you to shippers. TV is an awesome medium to get messages to the public, and you can do it simply by including it in a storyline. And in a tween show like this, it's clear when the writer is talking to us, the viewers. And there was definitely a PSA against shippers there. For example, the part that really bothered me: lecture (youtube, 0:31). It is SO easy to hear see that this is the writer/creator speaking to fandom (basically, replace "webseries" with "kid's show"). It's really, really saddening; I'm just glad I'm not in that fandom and didn't have to hear canonverse making fun of me. :\
In our world, shipping these characters if just that - shipping characters. In the world of the tv show, however, these are real people. That's not fanfiction, that's RPF. (RPF is not my thing, personally, but I have no problem with other people who write it. I swear I'm not trying to start a debate on whether RPF is right or not.)
The people portrayed in this episode don't sound like regular shippers to me, but extreme tinhatters. This would be the equivalent of a bunch of fans showing up at, say, a Supernatural convention and screaming in Jared & Jensen's faces about when they were going to drop the sham, divorce their wives and finally come out to the public as being together.
I'd like to think that if we got wind of something like this in our world, where a bunch of people at a convention were harassing a group of teenagers about who was dating who on their web show, we'd look at it distastefully. Because who they're dating or not dating is no one else's business, and it would make the rest of us look bad.
Now I haven't seen this episode, so I really don't know how it was done or how it was intended. It could be a giant "screw you" to shippers in general, which would really really suck. But I just wanted to give a different perspective on it.
Wow, that was really long. Sorry to hijack your comments page!
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I totally understand your point about trying to represent EXTREME tinhatters and their craziness. Hell, I understand the wtf of !!!tinhats since I'm in a rpf fandom and I've been to a panel where shipping was hinted at and it made things awkward for me (luckily, Jon Stewart is amazing and handled it beautifully).
The thing is, even then, there are problems. Not everyone is like that in the rpf/tinhat world, and fuck it if we would EVER seriously do that. It shows a complete removal from what fandom is truly like, and it's just unfair. We are, in general, a decently mature bunch who understand the Rules of Conduct, especially when we are dealing with real people or the actors of the characters we ship. But... it also goes into how fandom acts overall, simply because it is the only time you really, really see it. It gives the wrong impression on fandom, a minority in viewership that is CONSTANTLY getting slack from every which direction. Considering how much fandoms love their shows, it's surprising that they would be targeted by a writer/creator in such a way.
Also, it really does read as a big fuck you to shippers. TV is an awesome medium to get messages to the public, and you can do it simply by including it in a storyline. And in a tween show like this, it's clear when the writer is talking to us, the viewers. And there was definitely a PSA against shippers there. For example, the part that really bothered me: lecture (youtube, 0:31). It is SO easy to hear see that this is the writer/creator speaking to fandom (basically, replace "webseries" with "kid's show"). It's really, really saddening; I'm just glad I'm not in that fandom and didn't have to hear canonverse making fun of me. :\
Reply
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