Shipper Theory 101, veering back into Spuffyland

[mollyringwraith]

Some people have studied, written, and taught, in quite scholarly fashion, upon the subject of fanfiction. I'm not one of them. I only dabble, as I do in so many things. But concerning the "shipper" variety of fanfic--that is, the overwhelming majority of fanfic; the ones featuring romantic relationships between characters--I have always assumed

Comments

[rwarner]

Those two episodes (plus one other that you haven't gotten to yet - you'll know which one I mean when you see it) display exactly why Spike and Buffy are wrong for each other in my eyes.

Mm, you know, I was going to say more about that, but I just realized the rest of that argument would include a HUGE spoiler for the end of S6 and S7, so I'll leave it at that for now. Unless you *want* me to spoil it. :)

[mollyringwraith]

They're definitely no match made in heaven--but, as Spike puts it, if they were it wouldn't be half as interesting, now would it? ;)

No spoilers! But I can see how things could get uglier before they get prettier. *If* they get prettier. ;)

[ithildyn]

I read LJ all darn weekend!

I came into the fandom when it was halfway over, so I was always a little off. I was never fond of Spike/Buffy, and was glad when it ended.

Interesting post!

[mollyringwraith]

Woo, weekend LJers!

Buffy might be healthier marrying, say, Xander, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun for us to watch... ;)

[sopdetly]

I don't think the likelihood of characters getting together in canon or not contributes that much to fanfic. I think it tends to focus on couples that are not and then either may or may not. A really good example is the Ron/Hermione 'ship. It's a big ship with lots of fic, and I'd wager that most people who have written it over the years assumed that they would eventually get together, because that's what the text was going towards. However, there's not quite as much James/Lily, because when we're "introduced" to them, they're married with a kid

[mollyringwraith]

*nods*

As you indicate, fanfic can do anything at all, and that's the fun of it. But I think the majority falls into those two camps: either the totally-not-going-to-happen, or the laden-with-tension-but-unconsummated-as-of-this-writing.

[peripety]

I have always assumed that people were shipping characters who weren't going to get any action together in canon

I agree that that's basically true, but then, there is a lot of shipping of implied but not fully realized in-canon relationships (Ron/Hermione come to mind); or the star-crossed kind including Buffy/Spike, QAF's Brian/Justin, Veronica Mars' Veronica/Logan.

Personally, I loved Buffy and Spike together, even though all the while watching the show's first run I expected their relationship to end, and end badly. I think that was half the fun of it, actually. It felt soooo good knowing it was sooo wrong!

[mollyringwraith]

Exactly--it's so dirty and problematic, and therefore so interesting!

[notemily]

personally I prefer to pretend that the actual version of how Spike and Buffy got together didn't happen, and what really happened was, oh, any one of nautibitz's stories. it's much better that way.

[mollyringwraith]

Hee--I've hardly read any Spuffy fic, but hers were the ones I stumbled upon the other day. She's good!