Shipping poll

[salinea]

[Poll #1266990]

Also, what exactly would you put behind "unhealthy"? Is there some kinds of unhealthy which you are willing to ship and others which you draw the lines at (which ones, and why)? Don't hesitate to give some examples!

ETA: this is mostly due to the fact that some of the comments on this post by meganbmoore made me wonder if I was the only one.

Comments

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

Why would it be a problem to ship an unhealthy pairing? The characters are fictional. Any pairing with Snape in it has to be unhealthy. If the characters have matching neuroses, they can be unhealthy and happy.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Best in both world! XD

As I said, it's because I saw several people criticising a ship (in this case Jayne/River from Firefly) on account that it couldn't be healthy and good for her.

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

The cool thing about fandom is that people are that passionate about fictional characters.

IRL I know a lot of people who maybe don't have healthy relationships but have mutually agreeable dysfunction. Also people who seem to be fairly healthy individuals and are still struggling. Let's have fun with the fictional ones.

I told my son today that pretend guns are superior to real ones. They shoot faster, more, with greater noise and smoke and flashes of light, and not only that, but pretend guns only make people pretend dead.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

The cool thing about fandom is that people are that passionate about fictional characters.
Sometimes it's the uncool thing about fandom too!! :D

Love your gun analogy, it is very pretty!

[puella-nerdii.livejournal.com]

...but it's RIVER.

Do "River" and "healthy" even belong in the same sentence?

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

Only if "baby" or "pre-academy" is in there too.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

ROFL

good point.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

In my case, it's mostly that I can't remotely see River expressing a romantic interest in anyone given her mental state, more than any inherent squick. (Though the inherent squick does seem to be true with others inthe thread.)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

So it's more a question of lack of realism, that's what you mean?

(btw, the squick factor is what I wanted to address with the second question, but the not!shipping something/not understand a ship because it's unhealthy due to River's mental state is what I had understood)

BTW none of this is a critcism, it's just that for me dysfunctionality/unhealthiness isn't a factor so I was surprised to see several people express (I thought) disapproval along those lines.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think that, for me at least, the dysfunctionality/unhealthiness is based on how the text shows it. A D/U relationship in canon that gets written as otherwise in fic, or viewed otherwise by fans is problematic, but at the same time, taking two characters who barely interact, or who have one form of non-romantic relationship that functions and fans reinterpret it as a romantic/sexual D/U relationship is also problematic.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

or who have one form of non-romantic relationship that functions and fans reinterpret it as a romantic/sexual D/U relationship is also problematic.
By reinterpret do you mean any kind of shipping, or only those where they claim that it's the text True Meaning?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Somewhat both, but with the addendum to shipping of "where there is an underlying "it's better/more interesting this way than the way it actually is."