What's So Bad About Shipping? · 2:03pm Jul 21st, 2012
I'm in the process of writing my first fic, but in the meantime I've been thinking about the vehement opposition to shipping that I see from parts of the MLP fan community. Mainly, I've been thinking how irrational it seems to me.
Yes, I know the jokes, like "They're standing next to each other so they must be a couple!" I assume the real point of this is to attack stories that go too far in their speculation, which I think is just silly. All fan fiction is speculative to some degree, so why make arbitrary boundaries on how far that speculation can go? As long as the result is a good story, who cares? And if it isn't a good story, well, click the "dislike" button and move on. No need to write off an entire subject because you don't like some stories that explore it.
Really, though, I don't think the issue is with speculation. I've seen some of the anti-shipping crowd strongly support crossover fics, which to me are far more speculative and canon-breaking than a story about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hooking up. I don't want to start psychoanalyzing anyone, but I can't help wondering whether the objection isn't to the speculation as much as it is to the romance.
That makes even less sense to me, though. It's not like Friendship Is Magic has ever pretended ponies don't fall in love. We've seen Rarity chase after Prince Blueblood, the Cakes having children, Spike crushing on Rarity, and the royal wedding. So why say romantic relationships are out of bounds for other characters? Even if you really do just hate the speculation that, say, Lyra and Bon Bon are a couple because they're often seen together, is that really an argument against all shipping?
I'd love to see a rational argument, rather than the usual snarky comments. Why should any subject be declared off limits, regardless of the quality of stories it produces?
This is a strange question to ask. I would have asked, "Why the obsession with shipping?" Two years ago, no one would have guessed that an online forum dominated by men ages 15-35 would have any romance in it.
I would guess opposition to shipping is from people who are sick of it. It also doesn't help that it's usually done so poorly, especially within the Mane 6.
330154 there's definitely more bad than good with shipping, but I think that's true of any type of story. I can understand being against clop. I just don't get why some people are so against any mention of romantic relationships when the show doesn't try to pretend that ponies are never more than friends.