#and mocking and deriding shippers

[pekorosu]

it’s honestly so funny to me how the only reason spn got so much attention the past few weeks was bc of cas’ confession in 15x18. if it weren’t for that, the show would have died quietly like it should have. im sorry if you have good feelings for the show and maybe the scene meant something to you, but for me, the fact that they genuinely thought doing that sort of thing without following up on it was in any way OKAY in 2020 is just. wow. wooooooooohoooowowooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww. they deserve to be dragged thru the mud forever for that alone.

[esther-dot]

I don't trust bnf's mostly because 90% of them are sans*ns. They're really right here saying that theories about dany being an antagonist are misogynistic even though they're basic in text evidence but thought for years that sansa's ending would be as the h*und's trophy wife. To this day they act like he was her savior instead of one of her abusers. And no, It's not the author's fault if they find romantic a grown man bullying a child and holding a knife to her throat

If you have your own theories/interpretation and get a lot of validation it would be hard not to get carried with with that, so I do theoretically understand how they got to the place where they feel ….a sense of ownership of the text and reflexively dismiss anything that isn't how they see things. But I have exactly the same problems with them as you do.

Some of these people didn’t just claim Dark Dany isn’t a book thing, they denied it would happen in the show, derided Jonsas because we talked a lot about it, and then when it did happen, claimed it was out of nowhere…as if they hadn’t spent years refusing to listen to people who were pointing it out. They’re shameless. And then, instead of going back and saying, “maybe I missed something” or "maybe I should reevaluate my stance on this" or “oh, maybe that Martin endorsed essay that talks about Dark Dany was onto something” or “maybe I shouldn’t start developing theories about how Dany murdering innocents is ok” (Is it a crime to want to keep people warm??? Who said toasting humans makes you a bad person? Nobody is perfect!), instead of doing anything along those lines, they still mock Jonsas. It’s hard to not think it’s their own form of…petty retribution.

The excuse to be so dismissive of everything Jonsas say is that they think viewing the Hound and Dany the way we do is in service of our ship, but I can turn that around and say, if they're arguing that assaulting a child and burning people alive aren't the actions of baddies, that isn't because they genuinely think that, it's because they are ignoring the obvious in service of their ship. I find it hypocritical. Also, Martin was surprised people ship Sansa and the Hound (this clip), so we all already know it isn’t canon/wont be Sansa’s big romance or endgame. People can ship whatever they want, but claiming not only that it will be canon but is already when the author said that...it’s silly. Especially because if you go to the anti S@ns@n tag, the criticism isn’t just “I hate it,” but tries to contextualize it within the story/other ideas to explain why it isn’t a thing. Here’s one of my answers about it. Our aversion to it has nothing to do with Jonsa, and everything to do with looking at how The Hound fits into Sansa’s story rather than dismissing her trauma to make him seem like a decent person. In addition to attempting to have a stranglehold on interpreting the story and maintaining a hierarchy in the fandom, they also do weird shit! A while ago a BNF started trying to make money off of Jonsa fanfic without the authors’ permission. Icing on top of cake? He apparently thinks there's a real chance that Jonsa will happen, he just hadn't owned up to it at that point. I understand self-preservation, but the fact that one of the more reasonable/decent BNFs was too afraid to be honest about the probability of Jonsa happening but was happy to try to make money off of the work of the shippers...yikes.

The exception to all my gripes is Kelsey Hayes who was the most popular GoT/ASOIAF writer on Quora for years and as soon as I started posting there right before s8 she followed me and liked my stuff there. I even talked about Jonsa and Pol Jon. She said she didn’t think it was happening on the show, but that didn’t mean she stopped interacting with my stuff, even my answers that mentioned it. So, it’s possible for people with huge followings who have been “ordained” by the fandom to interact with Jonsas pleasantly and appreciate their perspective even without agreeing on everything. Those other fans are choosing not to. Anyway, I spend my time interacting with/supporting Sansa fans/Jonsas on tumblr because most of the rest of the fandom worked hard at making me not care about their opinion. I will respect their wishes. 😇

[gascon-en-exil]

I... Really wanna know what the Khalidstans racism thing is now but I am also absolutely terrified to know as a dmcl/Claurenz/Claulix shipper...

I’m probably not the best person to ask as I’m generally neutral on Claude and have had little direct exposure to any of those ships. I did become a target of attempted trolling by the Khalidstans back in June, although it had nothing directly to do with Claude. One of them wrote a very long and tedious moral treatise proclaiming that FE16 encourages “pedophilia” and grooming through the Byleth/student relationships among other things. Several of us had our fun mocking it, they tried to remove it from the internet but we got around them, and the trolling commenced from there. Not the prettiest thing ever.

In short though, Khalidstans - so named because they refer to Claude exclusively as Khalid and believe that this name appearing nowhere in the game itself, or Claude concealing his Almyran heritage at all for that matter, is racism on IS’s part - deride Three Houses and FE and its fandom as a whole as racist in addition to being filled with everything else purity culture types love to deride as nasty and problematic. They focus primarily on the game’s darker-skinned characters, going to great lengths to strip them of any context they have within their own world and placing them within real world racial/cultural contexts instead, no matter how much reaching this requires. They revile Dimitri as a white savior and regard his relationship with Dedue as inherently racist, they misread Cyril to demonize Rhea and believe that he, like Dedue with Dimitri, would happily denounce her were the game less racist, they either glide over Petra’s situation as a political hostage because they tend to also regard Edelgard positively (if they do criticize the Empire’s treatment of her it seems to mostly get passed through Hubert who mocks her in supports similar to Felix’s mockery of Dedue - and of course they also hate Felix), they ignore the ramifications of the Nabatean genocide and the impact this plays on Rhea and the others because they’re light-skinned, and they...basically never talk about Shamir or Balthus at all, even though they’re of full or partial non-Fódlan ancestry. 

As for Claude/Khalid himself, while they do seem to have produced a variety of headcanons fleshing out Almyra in ways the game never bothers to do that positivity is drowned out by their vitriol - toward Hilda for her explicit racism toward Almyra, toward Dimitri for the aforementioned white savior interpretation, toward Byleth for “grooming” Claude like all the other students (this resulted in an infamous troll fic in which Claude’s mother travels to Garreg Mach to physically assault Byleth for flirting with her son), toward the Faerghus childhood friends for all being supposedly racists and/or misogynists (the worst of which seems reserved for Ingrid, as might be expected - doubly so since she has a marriage ending with Claude), toward Rhea and sometimes the other Nabateans for heading an allegedly oppressive pseudo-Christian religion, and toward others I’m probably forgetting. They overwhelmingly seem to favor pairing Claude with Lorenz, being apparently the least problematic of his options. Claude/Petra has some traction with them as does Claude/Dedue, but I would guess that the former is less popular for being M/F and the latter for having almost nothing to pull from in canon. 

The overall thrust seems to be, with Claude as well as with the other dark-skinned characters mentioned, that the Khalidstans hate them as they are in canon and prefer in their place OCs who share their names and elements of their backstories and personalities. It’s all a curiously targeted form of engaging with the game and its fandom, which is perhaps why it’s little surprise that the Khalidstans are so frequently mocked.

[mrchalamet-mrstyles]

*A MUST READ:*

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart never broke up. Indeed, their split was merely a distraction for the press that would guarantee the former Twilight stars privacy. In the interim period, where Pattinson got engaged to FKA Twigs and Stewart dated a series of women, including St. Vincent, the pair were actually living in wedded bliss. Their PR game was so effective that it helped to hide no fewer than two pregnancies for Stewart. Now, the Pattinson-Stewart family are happy together, laughing at the ignorance of the press and public who believe they broke up years ago and moved onto fulfilling and happy relationships with other people.

Of all the weird celebrity conspiracies that pollute the internet, the Robsten fandom may be my favourite one. It has everything: Press conspiracies, outlandish theories that would put Moon landing truthers to shame, the inability to tell reality from fiction, and of course, bad photoshops. Every now and then, when I see Pattinson and Stewart in the headlines, I go and visit the tin-hatters’ sites for that potent combination of entertainment and fear for my life. It’s astounding that they’re still keeping up this façade. 

As time passes, I wonder more and more if they truly believe it or if they’re going full My Immortal with the scam. It’s too outlandish to be real, yet the emotions behind it clearly are.

Sadly, this is nothing new for the world of shippers, nor is it limited to the breeding pair of Twilight. Name a prominent pop culture property and the chances are there are hardcore shippers whose interest goes beyond a fizzy hobby. Some fans truly believe that Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are a real couple, which is hysterical because their chemistry levels in the Fifty Shades series are sub-zero. The stars of Outlander face the same shippers. Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss are secret lesbian lovers, according to a subset of their fandom. Cate Blanchett will eventually leave her husband and children for Carol co-star Rooney Mara, thus freeing her from an exploitative bearding relationship with Joaquin Phoenix. The Larry fandom have yet to admit defeat, even as both Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson admit the fan delusions over their supposed secret romance hurt their real-life friendship. The Supernatural guys may never shake those conspiracies.

It isn’t all romance related either. Spare a thought for poor Benedict Cumberbatch, whose already overzealous fan-base includes a portion of people who think he was trapped into marriage and fatherhood by his wife, who they paint as the modern-day iteration of Medea. They don’t even think his kids are real. Apparently, one of them is clearly a doll.

I could go on, listing the many other fandoms I’ve come across with these near identical conspiracies of secret relationships, hidden children, public relations bullying, and so on. From Scandal to Orange is the New Black to The Hunger Games, it’s as big a part of fandom as cosplay and dirty fanfiction. A lot of the time, the celebrities being obsessed over don’t even know it’s happening. 

If they call it out, as Robert Pattinson did, or mock it, like Armie Hammer recently did on Instagram after someone DM-d him to claim he should be gay like his character in Call Me By Your Name, then they write that off as simply proving their point. The majority of fans deride and condemn this behaviour, partly because it reflects badly on everyone else but mostly because it’s blatant bullshit that should be treated as such. What is most striking about these myriad conspiracies is how eerily similar they all are in terms of tone and content.

The basic set-up for a tin-hatter shipping conspiracy is thus: The pair are in love, the pair are in a serious relationship, but they have to hide it from the world because of ‘evil PR’. The nature of this shadowy public relations organization is never made clear. It’s mostly rooted in conjecture and a hazy understanding of how the entertainment industry has worked over the decades. 

Historically, publicists and studios have operated with a certain degree of shadiness. In the Golden Era of Hollywood, where studios reigned supreme, a star’s image could be kept on a tight leash and their indiscretions hidden from the public. Fixers like Eddie Mannix (made famous in the Coen Brothers’ movie Hail, Caesar!) could clear up all manner of problems if the occasion called for it. Pregnancies could be hidden, illegal abortions procured, marriages annulled or concealed, and even the occasional murder dealt with (allegedly). We know this stuff happened, and we know that today, publicists do a lot of work to keep their clients happy. That probably doesn’t extend so far as to covering up marriages and multiple pregnancies and fake babies.

The psychologies behind these tin-hatter conspiracies tend to be remarkably similar too. There’s always massive amounts of paranoia at the heart of their delusions. Arrogance is key as well. You need infallible ego to maintain repeatedly debunked fantasies. They talk of their conspiracies as if they’re the most obvious truths in the world, deriding the ‘ignorant masses’ who refuse to see the reality in front of them, which they’ve kindly circled in MS Paint. The mentality is frequently rooted in a strong brand of self-victimization: They tie their theories to social issues like homophobia and claim anyone who opposes their belief that the One Direction guys are in love are clearly bigots. Even when the people in question call out this nonsense, they’re written off as poor closeted prisoners of invincible publicists. The game of tin-hating shippers is designed so that they never lose.

That’s the sad part of this all. They won’t be proven wrong simply because they’ve invested too much of themselves into this fantasy. They run around in circles, desperately claiming everything is against them and only they are smart enough to know the truth. 

If Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan insist they’re just friends, it’s only to throw everyone off the scent. When Tony Goldwyn talks of his love for his wife, it’s just to distract everyone from his romance with Kerry Washington. If Robert Pattinson is smiling in public, it’s because he’s thinking of Kristen; if he’s looking a bit down, it’s because he’s thinking of Kristen.

When the fantasy does begin to crumble, the tin-hatters get violent in their rhetoric. Taylor Schilling’s rumoured boyfriend briefly deleted his social media after receiving harassment from her fans who think she’s with Laura Prepon (who just had a baby with Ben Foster). Rooney Mara’s so-called fans called her a disgrace for dating a man and claimed she was letting down LGBTQ+ kids everywhere because of it. Robert Pattinson’s then-girlfriend FKA Twigs faced all manner of horrific racist and sexist abuse for simply existing. It can be easy to laugh people like this off, but we’ve also seen what happens to celebrities when their obsessive fans decide to invade their lives. A 19-year-old fan of Lana Del Rey drove cross-country to her house, broke into her garage and tweeted about it. An obsessive fan of Paula Abdul committed suicide outside her house. Rebecca Schaeffer’s stalker shot her on her own doorstep.

Real person shipping (or RPF) doesn’t bother me in theory. If you just treat it like any other fandom hobby - safe, private, clearly fiction - then go for it. There’s a major difference between liking two actors and writing silly fanfiction about them and going to extremes to prove they’re actually married. 

The people who cross that line are a minority, but they’re a loud and insidious minority who shouldn’t be written off as mere ‘crazies’.

This phenomenon is undoubtedly fascinating and reveals a lot about various intersections of celebrity, media, the internet, fandom, and so on. It’s worth keeping an eye on, if only to ensure nobody gets hurt, because it’s not unique to internet culture. This stuff breeds, and that should concern us all.

Now, when do I get my shadowy PR conspiracy cheque?

[littlehollyleaf]

Oh my God, your tags on that Dean/Cas Ten/Rose parallel post were exactly what I was feeling scrolling down it. I was also in the minority of DW fandom that couldn't stand that ship (although I loved Rose and read/wrote a ton of fic about her) and I resent that the Destiel hell I've been plunged in for 6 weeks has made me have to reevaluate it(/consider several times how I would have felt if, eg, Jack had somehow created a duplicate Dean to get with Cas in the finale)

HELLO fellow minority non shipper! (did we, in fact, bond over this already??)

UGH though, I had not considered how I'd feel if Dean got a duplicate Cas instead of the real one like happened to Rose...

(though, indecently, way way way back in the day, like S04 or S05, I read an AWESOME FIC where exactly that happened- Cas died helping save the world and Dean was heartbroken and left Sam to be alone for a bit, then he was investigating a case where wishes came true or something and 'Cas' appeared in his hotel room, and they... you know, were intimate and stuffs... only after a bit they both realised he wasn't the real Cas just a fabrication created by the MotW, cos he was Dean's deepest wish/desire... Dean then resented him for a bit, but fake!Cas ended up helping Dean solve the case and faught against his MotW creator, giving Dean just enough time to tell him that he cared for fake!Cas as himself as opposed to just cos he reminded him of real Cas before fake!Cas poofed into nothing once MotW was dead...... it was, you know, ANGSTY AS HELL, but that's my jam :P In the end the experience kinda, helped Dean deal with Cas' death and move on I think...)

ANYWAY. While I disliked the ship and was thus personally chill with Rose ending up in her separate world with Ten2 cos it finally removed her from the narrative (though I was DEVASTATED over the associated end to Donna's story D':), I always felt bad for v the shippers cos it seemed like it would be very unsatisfying for them? Cos (unlike the explicitly and gloriously angsty fic above) it was largely presented as this Happy Ending for Rose? Except, it wasn't? Cos she didn't actually get to be with the Doctor. He was genuinely someone ELSE - not an exact clone, but a blend of the Doc and Donna. So... he wasn't the man she loved? OR, if you do read the relationship as reciprocated, the man who loved her... though he had the memory of loving her I guess (or at least the memory of almost telling her he loved her in an emotionally charged situation where he was saying goodbye to her forever - which I personally will continue to read as being therefore not necessarily meaning he genuinely full on loved her romantically, just that he felt compelled to say it in that moment, so there!).

...there is that last shot of Rose turning to the disappearing TARDIS that maybe suggests her future with Ten2 is not necessarily gonna be completely happy cos it's actually the Real Doctor she'll always be pining after. So maybe many/most shippers DID take it as an angsty/tragic end for both The Doc AND Rose and enjoyed it as such? ...but idk...the show seemed to me to be mostly pushing the idea that it was tragic for the Doc but Satisfying (or bittersweet at least) for Rose, so... *shrug*

Certainly if Dean had ended up with a fake!Cas (like in the above fic but forever, or a duplicate created by Jack like you suggest or a memory!Cas in Heaven or something) and presented it in the same way as Rose/Ten2 I... would NOT have liked it!

...honestly tho the whole deancas-dr/rose thing is just WILD to me.

Cos I was arguing, so LOUDLY and for YEARS, through Drs 9 and 10, that the relationship was one-sided on Rose's side (heck I even felt like Nine kissing her kinda VALIDATED that reading, cos it was him giving her what she wanted to save her and as a last act before he maybe died forever), and while no one ever told me I was crazy or delusional for said reading/option, the sheer widespread assumption that the truth was otherwise def made me an Outsider (I remember watching one of those filler tv shows listing the best / most popular Romantic Moments in tv, cos it was on before whatever else I was about to watch- and it had, like, a love confession scene from The Office and a wedding from a soap and stuff, but we got to #1 and it was fucking Dr and Rose being separated, with the fact they were a mutual romance not even being QUESTIONED and a bunch of random celebs gushing over how painfully romantic the moment was and why they loved it, and I was mentally flipping tables!!).

So yeah - spent pretty much all of the Dr/Rose saga feeling defensive and like my reading/opinion of the relationship was being unfairly dismissed/ignored/not even considered.

Then forward to deancas and, lol, I spend my time feeling EXACTLY THE SAME... but this time I'm actually reading/embracing pretty much the same kind of subtext I was refusing/denying before?? But the widespread assumption is still once again against me?? (with the added bonus of my reading being literally labelled 'delusional' this time).

So yah, two ships that parallel each other that I happen to have been massively emotionally connected to for years and I just... Did Not Win with either of them :P Cos the one I hated was understood and celebrated as explicit canon and the one I loved was never understood as explicit canon (and still isn't I assume) and was often mocked/derided. AND YET it's turned out much of the text for both of them turned out pretty similar...

...wild :P

(of note - even when arguing against Dr/Rose I never denied Rose romantically loved, or crushed on, him, even before her 'I love you', that much was always undeniable to me... and yet even now there are MANY people claiming Cas' final 'I love you' wasn't romantic? ...the parallel really does highlight the prevailing heteronormativity huh?)

[bisansastarks]

honestly the only thing i have against theonsa is that certain people (read: anti jonsas and anti canon shippers) are now shipping it as sansa's endgame, based on an emotional reunion, sharing soup, and tender expressions. in other words, they're shipping it based on the exact same things, only LESS intense and LESS in general because no heart-to-heart talks or ust-filled candlelit arguments, that they've mocked and derided us for basing jonsa on.

Oh yeah I AGREE About that lmao..

Idk why theyre even concerned with Sansa’s endgame. Their OTP is about to fucking try and kill each other. 

[superaloyavanza]

Tinhatters Unite: The Problem With Real Person Fanfiction And Shipping

By Kayleigh Donaldson | March 28, 2018 |

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart never broke up. Indeed, their split was merely a distraction for the press that would guarantee the former Twilight stars privacy. In the interim period, where Pattinson got engaged to FKA Twigs and Stewart dated a series of women, including St. Vincent, the pair were actually living in wedded bliss. Their PR game was so effective that it helped to hide no fewer than two pregnancies for Stewart. Now, the Pattinson-Stewart family are happy together, laughing at the ignorance of the press and public who believe they broke up years ago and moved onto fulfilling and happy relationships with other people.

Of all the weird celebrity conspiracies that pollute the internet, the Robsten fandom may be my favourite one. It has everything: Press conspiracies, outlandish theories that would put Moon landing truthers to shame, the inability to tell reality from fiction, and of course, bad photoshops. Every now and then, when I see Pattinson and Stewart in the headlines, I go and visit the tin-hatters' sites for that potent combination of entertainment and fear for my life. It's astounding that they're still keeping up this façade. As time passes, I wonder more and more if they truly believe it or if they're going full My Immortal with the scam. It's too outlandish to be real, yet the emotions behind it clearly are.

Sadly, this is nothing new for the world of shippers, nor is it limited to the breeding pair of Twilight .Name a prominent pop culture property and the chances are there are hardcore shippers whose interest goes beyond a fizzy hobby. Some fans truly believe that Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnsonare a real couple, which is hysterical because their chemistry levels in the Fifty Shades series are sub-zero. The stars of Outlander face the same shippers. Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss are secret lesbian lovers, according to a subset of their fandom. Cate Blanchett will eventually leave her husband and children for Carol co-star Rooney Mara , thus freeing her from an exploitative bearding relationship with Joaquin Phoenix. The Larry fandom have yet to admit defeat, even as both Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson admit the fan delusions over their supposed secret romance hurt their real-life friendship. The Supernatural guys may never shake those conspiracies.

It isn't all romance related either. Spare a thought for poor Benedict Cumberbatch , whose already overzealous fan-base includes a portion of people who think he was trapped into marriage and fatherhood by his wife, who they paint as the modern-day iteration of Medea. They don't even think his kids are real. Apparently, one of them is clearly a doll.

I could go on, listing the many other fandoms I've come across with these near identical conspiracies of secret relationships, hidden children, public relations bullying, and so on. From Scandal to Orange is the New Black to The Hunger Games , it's as big a part of fandom as cosplay and dirty fanfiction. A lot of the time, the celebrities being obsessed over don't even know it's happening. If they call it out, as Robert Pattinson did , or mock it, like Armie Hammer recently did on Instagram after someone DM-d him to claim he should be gay like his character in Call Me By Your Name , then they write that off as simply proving their point. The majority of fans deride and condemn this behaviour, partly because it reflects badly on everyone else but mostly because it's blatant bullshit that should be treated as such. What is most striking about these myriad conspiracies is how eerily similar they all are in terms of tone and content.

The basic set-up for a tin-hatter shipping conspiracy is thus: The pair are in love, the pair are in a serious relationship, but they have to hide it from the world because of 'evil PR'. The nature of this shadowy public relations organization is never made clear. It's mostly rooted in conjecture and a hazy understanding of how the entertainment industry has worked over the decades. Historically, publicists and studios have operated with a certain degree of shadiness. In the Golden Era of Hollywood, where studios reigned supreme, a star's image could be kept on a tight leash and their indiscretions hidden from the public. Fixers like Eddie Mannix (made famous in the Coen Brothers' movie Hail, Caesar! ) could clear up all manner of problems if the occasion called for it. Pregnancies could be hidden, illegal abortions procured, marriages annulled or concealed, and even the occasional murder dealt with (allegedly). We know this stuff happened, and we know that today, publicists do a lot of work to keep their clients happy. That probably doesn't extend so far as to covering up marriages and multiple pregnancies and fake babies.

The psychologies behind these tin-hatter conspiracies tend to be remarkably similar too. There's always massive amounts of paranoia at the heart of their delusions. Arrogance is key as well. You need infallible ego to maintain repeatedly debunked fantasies. They talk of their conspiracies as if they're the most obvious truths in the world, deriding the 'ignorant masses' who refuse to see the reality in front of them, which they've kindly circled in MS Paint. The mentality is frequently rooted in a strong brand of self-victimization: They tie their theories to social issues like homophobia and claim anyone who opposes their belief that the One Direction guys are in love are clearly bigots. Even when the people in question call out this nonsense, they're written off as poor closeted prisoners of invincible publicists. The game of tin-hating shippers is designed so that they never lose.

That's the sad part of this all. They won't be proven wrong simply because they've invested too much of themselves into this fantasy. They run around in circles, desperately claiming everything is against them and only they are smart enough to know the truth. If Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan insist they're just friends, it's only to throw everyone off the scent. When Tony Goldwyn talks of his love for his wife, it's just to distract everyone from his romance with Kerry Washington . If Robert Pattinson is smiling in public, it's because he's thinking of Kristen; if he's looking a bit down, it's because he's thinking of Kristen.

When the fantasy does begin to crumble, the tin-hatters get violent in their rhetoric. Taylor Schilling's rumoured boyfriend briefly deleted his social media after receiving harassment from her fans who think she's with Laura Prepon (who just had a baby with Ben Foster). Rooney Mara's so-called fans called her a disgrace for dating a man and claimed she was letting down LGBTQ+ kids everywhere because of it. Robert Pattinson's then-girlfriend FKA Twigs faced all manner of horrific racist and sexist abuse for simply existing. It can be easy to laugh people like this off, but we've also seen what happens to celebrities when their obsessive fans decide to invade their lives. A 19-year-old fan of Lana Del Rey drove cross-country to her house, broke into her garage and tweeted about it. An obsessive fan of Paula Abdul committed suicide outside her house. Rebecca Schaeffer's stalker shot her on her own doorstep.

Real person shipping (or RPF) doesn't bother me in theory. If you just treat it like any other fandom hobby - safe, private, clearly fiction - then go for it. There's a major difference between liking two actors and writing silly fanfiction about them and going to extremes to prove they're actually married. The people who cross that line are a minority, but they're a loud and insidious minority who shouldn't be written off as mere 'crazies'. This phenomenon is undoubtedly fascinating and reveals a lot about various intersections of celebrity, media, the internet, fandom, and so on. It's worth keeping an eye on, if only to ensure nobody gets hurt, because it's not unique to internet culture.This stuff breeds, and that should concern us all.

Now, when do I get my shadowy PR conspiracy cheque?

http://www.pajiba.com/celebrities_are_better_than_you/tinhatters-unite-the-problem-with-real-person-fanfiction-and-shipping.php

[cindersinrags]

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart never broke up. Indeed, their split was merely a distraction for the press that would guarantee the former Twilight stars privacy. In the interim period, where Pattinson got engaged to FKA Twigs and Stewart dated a series of women, including St. Vincent, the pair were actually living in wedded bliss. Their PR game was so effective that it helped to hide no fewer than two pregnancies for Stewart. Now, the Pattinson-Stewart family are happy together, laughing at the ignorance of the press and public who believe they broke up years ago and moved onto fulfilling and happy relationships with other people.

Of all the weird celebrity conspiracies that pollute the internet, the Robsten fandom may be my favourite one. It has everything: Press conspiracies, outlandish theories that would put Moon landing truthers to shame, the inability to tell reality from fiction, and of course, bad photoshops. Every now and then, when I see Pattinson and Stewart in the headlines, I go and visit the tin-hatters’ sites for that potent combination of entertainment and fear for my life. It’s astounding that they’re still keeping up this façade. As time passes, I wonder more and more if they truly believe it or if they’re going full My Immortal with the scam. It’s too outlandish to be real, yet the emotions behind it clearly are.

Sadly, this is nothing new for the world of shippers, nor is it limited to the breeding pair of Twilight. Name a prominent pop culture property and the chances are there are hardcore shippers whose interest goes beyond a fizzy hobby. Some fans truly believe that Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnsonare a real couple, which is hysterical because their chemistry levels in the Fifty Shades series are sub-zero. The stars of Outlander face the same shippers. Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss are secret lesbian lovers, according to a subset of their fandom. Cate Blanchett will eventually leave her husband and children for Carol co-star Rooney Mara, thus freeing her from an exploitative bearding relationship with Joaquin Phoenix. The Larry fandom have yet to admit defeat, even as both Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson admit the fan delusions over their supposed secret romance hurt their real-life friendship. The Supernatural guys may never shake those conspiracies.

It isn’t all romance related either. Spare a thought for poor Benedict Cumberbatch, whose already overzealous fan-base includes a portion of people who think he was trapped into marriage and fatherhood by his wife, who they paint as the modern-day iteration of Medea. They don’t even think his kids are real. Apparently, one of them is clearly a doll.

I could go on, listing the many other fandoms I’ve come across with these near identical conspiracies of secret relationships, hidden children, public relations bullying, and so on. From Scandal to Orange is the New Black to The Hunger Games, it’s as big a part of fandom as cosplay and dirty fanfiction. A lot of the time, the celebrities being obsessed over don’t even know it’s happening. If they call it out, as Robert Pattinson did, or mock it, like Armie Hammer recently did on Instagram after someone DM-d him to claim he should be gay like his character in Call Me By Your Name, then they write that off as simply proving their point. The majority of fans deride and condemn this behaviour, partly because it reflects badly on everyone else but mostly because it’s blatant bullshit that should be treated as such. What is most striking about these myriad conspiracies is how eerily similar they all are in terms of tone and content.

The basic set-up for a tin-hatter shipping conspiracy is thus: The pair are in love, the pair are in a serious relationship, but they have to hide it from the world because of ‘evil PR’. The nature of this shadowy public relations organization is never made clear. It’s mostly rooted in conjecture and a hazy understanding of how the entertainment industry has worked over the decades. Historically, publicists and studios have operated with a certain degree of shadiness. In the Golden Era of Hollywood, where studios reigned supreme, a star’s image could be kept on a tight leash and their indiscretions hidden from the public. Fixers like Eddie Mannix (made famous in the Coen Brothers’ movie Hail, Caesar!) could clear up all manner of problems if the occasion called for it. Pregnancies could be hidden, illegal abortions procured, marriages annulled or concealed, and even the occasional murder dealt with (allegedly). We know this stuff happened, and we know that today, publicists do a lot of work to keep their clients happy. That probably doesn’t extend so far as to covering up marriages and multiple pregnancies and fake babies.

The psychologies behind these tin-hatter conspiracies tend to be remarkably similar too. There’s always massive amounts of paranoia at the heart of their delusions. Arrogance is key as well. You need infallible ego to maintain repeatedly debunked fantasies. They talk of their conspiracies as if they’re the most obvious truths in the world, deriding the ‘ignorant masses’ who refuse to see the reality in front of them, which they’ve kindly circled in MS Paint. The mentality is frequently rooted in a strong brand of self-victimization: They tie their theories to social issues like homophobia and claim anyone who opposes their belief that the One Direction guys are in love are clearly bigots. Even when the people in question call out this nonsense, they’re written off as poor closeted prisoners of invincible publicists. The game of tin-hating shippers is designed so that they never lose.

That’s the sad part of this all. They won’t be proven wrong simply because they’ve invested too much of themselves into this fantasy. They run around in circles, desperately claiming everything is against them and only they are smart enough to know the truth. If Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan insist they’re just friends, it’s only to throw everyone off the scent. When Tony Goldwyn talks of his love for his wife, it’s just to distract everyone from his romance with Kerry Washington. If Robert Pattinson is smiling in public, it’s because he’s thinking of Kristen; if he’s looking a bit down, it’s because he’s thinking of Kristen.

When the fantasy does begin to crumble, the tin-hatters get violent in their rhetoric. Taylor Schilling’s rumoured boyfriend briefly deleted his social media after receiving harassment from her fans who think she’s with Laura Prepon (who just had a baby with Ben Foster). Rooney Mara’s so-called fans called her a disgrace for dating a man and claimed she was letting down LGBTQ+ kids everywhere because of it. Robert Pattinson’s then-girlfriend FKA Twigs faced all manner of horrific racist and sexist abuse for simply existing. It can be easy to laugh people like this off, but we’ve also seen what happens to celebrities when their obsessive fans decide to invade their lives. A 19-year-old fan of Lana Del Rey drove cross-country to her house, broke into her garage and tweeted about it. An obsessive fan of Paula Abdul committed suicide outside her house. Rebecca Schaeffer’s stalker shot her on her own doorstep.

Real person shipping (or RPF) doesn’t bother me in theory. If you just treat it like any other fandom hobby - safe, private, clearly fiction - then go for it. There’s a major difference between liking two actors and writing silly fanfiction about them and going to extremes to prove they’re actually married. The people who cross that line are a minority, but they’re a loud and insidious minority who shouldn’t be written off as mere ‘crazies’. This phenomenon is undoubtedly fascinating and reveals a lot about various intersections of celebrity, media, the internet, fandom, and so on. It’s worth keeping an eye on, if only to ensure nobody gets hurt, because it’s not unique to internet culture. This stuff breeds, and that should concern us all.

Now, when do I get my shadowy PR conspiracy cheque?

[rtarara]

On Supergirl and Homophobia

I am seeing a lot of posts saying how calling out what happened at SDCC as homophobic is ‘ridiculous’. I’d like to address first the scope of what homophobia is, then move onto how the incident was driven by homophobia. 

Definitions:

When you hear the term homophobia, it conjures up images of assault or of slurs being thrown out in the open. This is often not the case. Incidences of homophobia can range from the above to smaller instances that make you question whether of not you’re being ‘hysterical’ or ‘dramatic’ for thinking you’re being discriminated against or not. Merriam-Webster defines homophobia as: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. 

An example that I have in my own life is that my conservative Christian relatives often ‘forget’ to call and invite me to gatherings. Another is that they will avoid any talk saying I’m married. In these cases, it falls under aversion for not wanting to be around us because we’re gay, and discrimination for not treating our marriage as equal to that of my sister or cousins. It would be easy in the silence to say that these things were the result of personality conflicts or something in my own behavior (Was I too touchy? Did I say something that mentioned homosexuality or gay culture when they didn’t want to hear it?), but time, study and the support of allies in my family has helped me to see the behavior for what it is: homophobia. 

The Issue:

In the case of the SDCC video, we see Jeremy Jordan start off singing about the season and joking that hoover was the only thing that rhymed with Vancouver. It was fun and silly. He moved on to sing that Kara Met Lena and they were best friends. This was great. He then, unprompted, turned to the camera and shouted that they were only friends. By changing his focus to the camera, he shifted the address to the people watching and those who shipped Supercorp specifically. This is an audience of predominately young queer women. Melissa Benoist loudly joined in and Jeremy continued that they were not getting together and they were only friends. The rest of the cast present was laughing. 

The cast gleefully mocked and dismissed a group of young queer fans. By addressing them directly, this action was a form of silencing and bullying. Part of his message was to shut up about queer things because they won’t be canon. It was a JOKE to think they could be.

The greater societal context of that is that they won’t be canon, BECAUSE it’s two women. The level of joy in the mockery was really a way of distancing themselves from gay people and othering them. This is an act of homophobia because wlw (supercorp supporters) were singled out for mockery and silencing. It had a profound negative effect on a lot of people. This is a natural human reaction to being mocked, especially for disenfranchised groups because it is devaluing those who are already devalued by society.

During the recap they also failed to mention the canon lesbian storyline, which was one of the bigger ones for the year, lending to the overall impression that gay people were not important or welcome or worthy of any sort of inclusion. 

The interviewer spoke that, “Any show like this naturally has such a fandom that there’s the natural shipping that goes on.” He gestures to Melissa and Katie and says ‘your two characters, you know about this...” They joked about having no idea while Mechand was like ‘I know about this.” Between that and the singing, this shows that the fandom is one that the show is aware of, members of which (young queer girls), they have been seeing online and at various events. They have a context for who they are talking about. 

Jeremy then took over and said that he felt like he was going to get destroyed, Melissa said something along the lines of, “Maybe, yes” and Jeremy gave a joking ‘I’m sorry’ and said “I just debunked Supercorp live.” Melissa said, “That’s pretty brave.” 

Yes, Supercorp is a vocal fandom. It’s a large fandom, but calling it brave to mock a group of wlw publicly because they might be called out on their homophobia speaks to the self-congratulatory martyrdom of those who speak out against gay marriage and then point out how ‘cruel’ gay people are when they get blowback for it. It’s a lousy thing to do and it serves a greater homophobic purpose as setting up wlw as the ones perpetrating bigotry and ‘forcing their beliefs on people’.  

The interviewer asked if they were caught off guard by fans seeing things that might be there or could be there and what they made of it at this point. 

Melissa said that, ‘It was surprising, not what Katie and I expected to say the least.” She looked very uncomfortable at the prospect of a character she plays being perceived as queer, but did not say anything further negatively. 

Katie was very affirming/not at all uncomfortable. She spoke about how she often plays character with that subtext and she thought this time that it wasn’t there, but, “Wow I was wrong, apparently.” She went on to say that they’d talked about it and was adamant about how wonderful it was that people could take away so many things from the art that they created—that anyone could read into and see anything and that was what THEY saw in it, then to take that away. This was wonderful and a great example of being a great ally. Melissa did nod along at this point as Katie tried to elevate the conversation.  

Chris broke in and said, “Sexuality is all about others perceptions of yours.” He tried to cover it by saying, “That was sarcasm.” This was really a particularly vicious jab because what he was implying was that it’s terrible of gay people to see themselves in this characters because they’re straight. It implies that by not seeing them as 100% straight, queer people are invalidating their (the fictional character’s in this case) straight sexuality and that is wrong. He is saying that a queer reading of the text has no value. It is homophobic because it devalues queer people and plays into a heterosexist world view that because something seems straight it CAN’T be queer.  

Jeremy played the, “I went to musical theater school. I know all about other people’s perceptions of sexuality.” As to say that being perceived as gay was a negative experience that he knew a lot about. 

There was a lot to unpack in a relatively short interaction, but I hoped this helped explain to some extent. There is also the fact the wlw representation has historically been treated as a joke, ratings stunt, or way to titillate straight men. Mocking what would be a really healthy ship based on mutual support as some sort of lunacy is incredibly harmful. 

A Few Themes:

1. It wasn’t that supercorp was gay. It was just that those fans are annoying/intense.

There is definitely a section of fans who is too intense and lacks boundaries and manners. I’ve seen this section of fans in a lot of fandoms, both in wlw ships and in sci-fi fandom in general. It does not make it right, but young wlw fans are the ones being singled out AS A GROUP for it. This is really common with minorities and it in no way excuses degrading them because they are girls who like girls. Mocking a group of queer people and making them a punchline is not an appropriate response to this. 

2. Well Eliza says things about Bellarke so it wasn’t just Supercorp.

The possible Supercorp relationship in no way degrades either of the characters or a marginalized group of people (as is the case when Eliza speaks about Bellarke). She has also, to my knowledge, never directly mocked those shippers in song. There is no history of straight ships being mocked or derided. This is an apples to oranges comparison. 

3. They were shitty to Rahul so they deserve it. People are just responding.

There were some very shitty things said to that man and he didn’t deserve it. Some were from Supercorp shippers and some were from people mocking Supercorp shippers (the tweet that he retweeted and called out was mocking the wlw fans by being shitty to him). This is why it was completely acceptable for him to talk about the intensity of the Supergirl fandom and even Supercorp. He didn’t mock anyone and people were not mad at him, they just wished that the hate was less visible and that things had gone down differently.

That doesn’t mean that the cast has a free ticket to mock wlw shippers.

4. It’s just a fanon ship, so they’re sick of being asked about it. They are being too pushy.

Content creators decided to tap into fandom as a revenue stream and way to increase ratings/merchandise sales. I think this shift started around Twilight and the Jacob vs Edward debates. Content creators encourage shipping to promote sales. It’s not altruistic. They almost always leave any mention of queer ships out. Queer people have stopped accepting that because they are less afraid than they used to be. It’s actually pretty brave to ask in the vast flurry of Peeta vs Gale, to declare yourself Team Joanna and ask about that. It isn’t rude to be gay and engage in the same way as straight shippers do. It isn’t rude to see your ships as equally valid. There are those who take it too far in all aspects of shipping, but gay people aren’t terrible for pushing for representation. 

I think it would be more productive to ask why actors were so bothered by the idea of a main character being bisexual that they decided to mock a large swath of their fanbase. 

5. They didn’t mean it. They have done X, Y, Z things for gay people in the past.

Doing something homophobic, doesn’t mean you are strictly a giant homophobe. Everyone is a little homophobic in the way that everyone is a little racist. Growing up in a heterosexist society does a lot of damage. What matters is learning and moving on. I’m going to give Jeremy a chance to show change. Good allies listen when they’re told that they’ve made a mistake. The rest of the cast has not apologized yet, but if they can do so meaningfully and show change as well, then that would be for the best. 

6. People are Overreacting

You don’t get to decide how people feel about being mocked for their sexuality. They are not being awful for posting things like this, calling out bad actions and asking for change. They aren’t even wrong for saying that they no longer wish to watch the show or interact with a certain actor or actress.  

You CAN call out individuals if they are using hateful language themselves, as always, but you can’t lump all the hurt wlw shippers together in one boat and say negative things about them. 

[houseofjoy1766]

1. I am not angry with anyone for not shipping. I could care less. I barely ship anymore myself. I am upset that someone who many of us used to be friendly with is now posting and reblogging and commenting on things that at best throw shade and at worst openly mock and deride shippers. 2. I did not mean for this to become a free for all, but obviously others are feeling the same way I was. Not much I can do about that. 3. To be clear, I don't bully, mock, screencap. I am pretty quiet here in Tumblr. So you can all throw your bullying comments my way...but they aren't true and people who know me know that. 4. No. I didn't stay in my lane @foldingstars295 You're right. I didn't call you out to say you can't be friendly with who you want or that you can't ship who you want (because you are all shippers). I called you out because I was hurt and angry over how you are treating friends. Sorry this turned into a shit show, but not sorry I said something

[veils-in-flight]

Okay, I give. You win. UNCLE. I just spent the last hour deleting, unfollowing, and purging what little footprint I had left on social media. I'm still here. I'm just not willing to participate any longer in the Outlander Obsessable Universe. I, like so many others, have been accused of despicable things online. Yes, I am a shipper. But, I have never left hate on anyone 's IG account. And I, like thousands of other shippers, are being maligned for simply admiring the chemistry between two actors and hoping it carries over into their private lives. But, I am no longer OBSESSED. I'm disgusted.  I don't give a rat's ass who's dating whom. But that doesn't mean I can't observe and comment on my observations. I have come to know so many beautiful, funny, talented women in the shipper community. And, now those women are being derided as old, fat biddies who don't have meaningful lives. Those women are wives, mother's, students, doctors, nurses, accountants, lawyers. And they are being marginalized because of what they think. So, many of them are just walking away, with a bitter taste in their mouths, from something that had given them joy.  Sam, I feel especially saddened by the effect this is having on the MPC Program in which you have invested so much time and effort. At ECCC you seemed genuinely moved at the stories of how that program has helped so many to feel good about themselves for the first time in their lives. And now you have this journalist, Bernadette Giacomazza, spewing hate toward some of these same women because they happen to call themselves shippers. She and her aide de camp, Vince DeMello, mock the before and after pictures of MPC participants as a way of "putting them in their place". I'm sure this is not what you had in mind as the legacy of your labor of love.  None of the women I know, who call themselves shippers, condones the terrible comments posted on Mackenzie Mauzy's IG account. Many of those being blamed by Mr. Shatner have been in the forefront of begging people to stay away from those posts. Some of us have asked why Ms. Mauzy doesn't simply disable comments as a way of eliminating a war zone. But, to merely suggest such a solution, is seen as an approval of the trolls. If all the shippers somehow magically disappeared (and we're close to that outcome), the trolls would still be there stirring the pot.  Every time, things quiet down in the fandom, and people are just enjoying being an Outlander fan, William Shatner starts dredging up old grievances, calling the fans cockroaches and deranged grandmothers. He seems to get a perverse amount of pleasure in belittling anyone who speaks up for shipping in any fandom. It seems a strange way to build a fan base. So, the outcome is that finally self-preservation takes over any fan loyalty. Fans can take only so much abuse. Starz has let this bloodbath go on too long. It breaks my heart.