What attracts you to a pairing?
There was a post linked to in metafandom about why we choose "our" ships, plus some discussion on the flist. So I thought I'd try to figure out what attracts me to a pairing.
Disclaimer: If I like different pairings than you do, that doesn't mean that one of us must be evil/crazy/stupid/heretical/etc. I think it's closer to "I adore raspberry but you really like strawberry and THE STREETS WILL FLOW WITH THE BLOOD OF THE UNBELIEVERS!" Only without that last bit.
My main fandoms in chronological order:
The Lord of the Rings:
• Éowyn/Faramir (CANON)
• Elrohir/Morwen Sue (NONCANON - so noncanon it hurts!)
A Song of Ice and Fire:
• Jaime/Brienne (SUBTEXT - she's desperately in love with him; he feels something for her but hasn't labeled it)
• Jon/Dany (NONCANON - but possible in future)
(Anyway, no matter how you ship in ASOIAF, in the end "ROCKS FALL. EVERYONE DIES." is the most realistic expectation.)
Battlestar Galactica:
• Kara/Lee (SUBTEXT - the mutual sexual attraction is CANON, but they're going to make us wait and beg for the rest)
• Kara/Leoben (SUBTEXT - he's obsessed with her; she may have gone a wee bit Stockholm Syndrome)
Stargate: Atlantis:
• John/Elizabeth (NONCANON - never going to happen, but they have chemistry like whoa)
• Ronon/Teyla (SUBTEXT - it's a Stargate show so it'll never actually happen)
Lost:
• Jack/Kate (SUBTEXT - Sawyer may have won the battle, but not necessarily the war)
Farscape:
• Aeryn/John (CANON)
Prison Break:
• Michael/Sara (CANON - even though they haven't done it yet, I challenge you to say it's not canon)
Alias:
• Sydney/Sark (NONCANON - he wanted her; she thought his cuteness did not even come close to making up for the whole evil thing)
I started to write about why I liked each pairing, but I realized that I would typing ALL NIGHT when I really need to cook dinner, so I deleted it. If you're curious about why I like a pairing, just ask.
Some conclusions:
• I like the het. (F/M/M OT3s are the only time I do slash, but I didn't want to get into my OT3s here.)
• ANGST ANGST ANGST!
• I like enemies-turned-lovers and love/hate and characters struggling against burning-hot chemistry. (This goes for real life as well: I thought the man who later became my husband was one of the most annoying people I knew - right up until he kissed me until I was weak in the knees.)
• Canon/subtext/noncanon isn't all that relevant when a pairing grabs me, although I'm closer to the canon end of the shipping spectrum.
• I like it when one person is not (in part or at all) what the other person believes he or she wants in a partner, but that person turns out to be exactly what he or she needs. Having to be dragged kicking and screaming into admitting it is half the fun!
• I like good girl/bad boy and bad girl/good boy pairings. Not necessarily evil bad - anything from "abandons her duty and runs off to die in a blaze of glory" (Éowyn) to "unrepentant assassin and mass murderer" (Sark) counts. Good/good can work if there's enough chemistry, but it's a harder sell for me. The closest I see to bad/bad is Kara/Leoben.
I'm probably missing some really obvious patterns in my shipping just because I'm too close to see them.
So how about you?
Disclaimer: If I like different pairings than you do, that doesn't mean that one of us must be evil/crazy/stupid/heretical/etc. I think it's closer to "I adore raspberry but you really like strawberry and THE STREETS WILL FLOW WITH THE BLOOD OF THE UNBELIEVERS!" Only without that last bit.
My main fandoms in chronological order:
The Lord of the Rings:
• Éowyn/Faramir (CANON)
• Elrohir/Morwen Sue (NONCANON - so noncanon it hurts!)
A Song of Ice and Fire:
• Jaime/Brienne (SUBTEXT - she's desperately in love with him; he feels something for her but hasn't labeled it)
• Jon/Dany (NONCANON - but possible in future)
(Anyway, no matter how you ship in ASOIAF, in the end "ROCKS FALL. EVERYONE DIES." is the most realistic expectation.)
Battlestar Galactica:
• Kara/Lee (SUBTEXT - the mutual sexual attraction is CANON, but they're going to make us wait and beg for the rest)
• Kara/Leoben (SUBTEXT - he's obsessed with her; she may have gone a wee bit Stockholm Syndrome)
Stargate: Atlantis:
• John/Elizabeth (NONCANON - never going to happen, but they have chemistry like whoa)
• Ronon/Teyla (SUBTEXT - it's a Stargate show so it'll never actually happen)
Lost:
• Jack/Kate (SUBTEXT - Sawyer may have won the battle, but not necessarily the war)
Farscape:
• Aeryn/John (CANON)
Prison Break:
• Michael/Sara (CANON - even though they haven't done it yet, I challenge you to say it's not canon)
Alias:
• Sydney/Sark (NONCANON - he wanted her; she thought his cuteness did not even come close to making up for the whole evil thing)
I started to write about why I liked each pairing, but I realized that I would typing ALL NIGHT when I really need to cook dinner, so I deleted it. If you're curious about why I like a pairing, just ask.
Some conclusions:
• I like the het. (F/M/M OT3s are the only time I do slash, but I didn't want to get into my OT3s here.)
• ANGST ANGST ANGST!
• I like enemies-turned-lovers and love/hate and characters struggling against burning-hot chemistry. (This goes for real life as well: I thought the man who later became my husband was one of the most annoying people I knew - right up until he kissed me until I was weak in the knees.)
• Canon/subtext/noncanon isn't all that relevant when a pairing grabs me, although I'm closer to the canon end of the shipping spectrum.
• I like it when one person is not (in part or at all) what the other person believes he or she wants in a partner, but that person turns out to be exactly what he or she needs. Having to be dragged kicking and screaming into admitting it is half the fun!
• I like good girl/bad boy and bad girl/good boy pairings. Not necessarily evil bad - anything from "abandons her duty and runs off to die in a blaze of glory" (Éowyn) to "unrepentant assassin and mass murderer" (Sark) counts. Good/good can work if there's enough chemistry, but it's a harder sell for me. The closest I see to bad/bad is Kara/Leoben.
I'm probably missing some really obvious patterns in my shipping just because I'm too close to see them.
So how about you?