![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficOkay, I was thinking of the comic industry and all the vast changes they've made to, more or less, facilitate shipping, or at least UST. Catwoman and Batman are fucking. Peter Parker, Clark Kent, and even fucking Barry Allen are single now. Kory is a... well, there isn't a nice word for it. Yet, for all these changes, I don't think the comic industry really gets shipping.
Now, how to define shipping? I'd say it's basically an elaborate form of dramatic irony. We, the audience, know (or think we know, Dinah/Ollie shippers) that two characters would be perfect for each other. The characters do not know this, or are unable to act on it if they do. So we watch, hoping for this tension to be resolved even as it becomes more and more suspenseful.
The bigger irony is that serialistic storytelling tends to suck at this, because of the Moonlighting Problem. That's a whole 'nother article, but basically, there's a school of thought that Moonlighting went downhill when David and Maddie slept together, so couples should never get together ever. It's a misnomer--they didn't spend much time as a couple before Maddie went and married someone else; also, the characters virtually never interacted through the end of the series and the appeal of Moonlighting was David and Maddie sparring. But whatever. Storytellers are really eager to capture the "first blush" of love and unable or unwilling to go past that, to the point of just swapping out partners over and over again. You even see this in movies: characters get together at the end, then in the sequel they've broken up and have to get together all over again.
Now, in a perfect world, storytellers would realize that just because two people sleep together doesn't mean they have a perfect relationship. You'd think people living in Hollywood would know this. Ideally, you're still dealing with two flawed characters who have issues to work through both as individuals and as a couple, providing grist for years of storytelling. That's not counting exterior forces that can act on them. There's a reason not all OTP fanfics are first-time fics. There's something to be said about capturing a moment in a relationship, showing a relationship react to an obstacle, and so on. And if the writers want to retell Spider-Man/Blonde Date 2, they can do it via new characters. It's funny how we're living in an age of "mythologies" and arc-based storytelling, yet we still use the reset button when it comes to relationships, leading to interminable "romances" like Jack/Kate/Sawyer on Lost. Would people really have tuned out if Kate just got together with Jack and they started dealing with being on a fucking mystery island?
This was about comics, right? Anyway, correct me if I'm super-wrong, but manga is much bigger than comics in the US, especially with women, and I'm willing to bet they do shipping better than superhero comics. Manga readers: Here is where you can say "Yes, totally." Just for instance, when I heard that Catwoman 1 ended with Batman and Catwoman sleeping together, I thought that might actually be good. A change in dynamic like Batman/Catwoman being official would be exactly the point of a reboot. Then I see the pages and the scene goes something like this.
Batman confronts Catwoman about a crime she's committed. Catwoman hits on him. Batman resists her. Then Catwoman kinda--jumps him. As in, date-rape jumps him. And he, can't believe I'm saying this, gives in or whatever. Don't, don't yell at me, I'm just reporting the facts. So we have the same dynamic as before--Batman wants to be with Catwoman, but can't because she's a criminal, only now he gives into her advances, which ironically takes away the tension that is the point of shipping, and yet also is without the satisfaction of an OTP getting together. They're not lovers, they're fuckbuddies.
It'd be like if you took the classic Clark/Lois/Superman triangle--Clark wants to be with Lois, but can't because she doesn't know he's Superman--and just said that he's fucking Lois as Superman. That takes away the tension of the UST much more than them being in the relationship. In a relationship, at least we have the irony of the world's greatest investigative reporter having the biggest story of her career and not being able to tell anyone. Plus the fluff of them being happy together, the rapport, et al et al.
It makes me wonder--if superhero comics are representing a particular male power fantasy, maybe shipping represents a particular female power fantasy? Just to prolong this post even more, what's the point of a rom-com? Well, I'd argue it's threefold. First, introduce a female protagonist
(note: I do have thoughts about the range of critically-acclaimed "rom-coms" like 50/50, 500 Days of Summer, 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up that have a male protagonist and how they compare to the more traditional female-led rom-coms that do tend to suck, Katherine Heigl. I'm giving this parenthesis its own paragraph)
The female protagonist is an idealized stand-in for the female audience--smart, pretty, funny, with a relatable flaw. In What's Your Number?, Anna Faris was meant to have the flaw of getting too worked up by a stupid article in a women's magazine, but I'm not sure that made its way all the way to the screen. And keep in mind, male protagonists are idealized stand-ins for the male audience all the time. Even Seth Rogen tends to be way wittier than any guy in real life, and able to get together with really hot women, natch.
Second, introduce a dreamy guy who is, remember this?, perfect for the girl. So, Chris Evans, but also quirky and accepting and not being a bitch about Anna Faris sleeping with a bunch of guys. Yeah, I watched What's Your Number?, what. Third, get them together, with them overcoming whatever obstacles, internal or external, keep them apart. Wait, Bridesmaids did the same thing too and feminists liked that movie, I should've used it as an example. Sympathetic heroine, overcoming flaw, perfect guy. It's a fantasy, it's id-candy. You're a girl, you're awesome, your friends are probably awesome, and you get a cute guy.
And even if they're not the target audience, men can enjoy these stories, just like women can enjoy the most stupidly testosterone-driven action movie. It's just that sometimes these stories suck so bad that there's nothing outside the id-candy aspect of them. Bridesmaids is funny even if you take away the romance, and Terminator 2 would be a good movie even if you took away Arnold. But Something Borrowed? Clash of the Titans? But so many movies are geared toward guys that Sturgeon's Law takes over and that 10% of good stuff takes you pretty far, whereas chick flicks are in such a ghetto that... I think it's just Downton Abbey. That's the ten percent there. That's why everyone's talking about that. Who wants to talk about Playboy Club?
ETA: I should note that there are some genre shows with big fandoms that are going in the direction of having established relationships. Doctor Who committed firmly to Amy/Rory after one season and since then it's derived tension from stories--gasp--other than attractive people deciding whether or not they should have sex. Nikita has Michael and Nikita together, and it actually works for me. Even if I like Nikita/Alex, Mikita has a good rapport, they treat each other with respect, in all aspects it's a good relationship. I know I'm not getting Nikita/Alex, so it's kinda like getting a nice cheeseburger when you want a hot dog. Sure, you want a hot dog, but the cheeseburger isn't bad. It's much less painless than FBI Agent Bland McWhathisface from season one. LotS had Richard/Kahlan, and I'm sure they have more fans than "casual sex" Bat/Cat. Even Spock and Uhura got together in the latest Star Trek movie, and they didn't even show the UST part. Unless you want to argue that the movie was a Kirk/Spock love story. Debatable.
I think comics should take a cue from these stories, and even the "bromance" genre of shows. If Sherlock and Watson are together as partners, can't we apply the same principle to romantic relationships? In Sherlock BBC, John and Sherlock basically "got together" by the end of the first episode, but as a "couple" they still have issues. So why can a committed emotional relationship only work with men and not with a couple?
Now, how to define shipping? I'd say it's basically an elaborate form of dramatic irony. We, the audience, know (or think we know, Dinah/Ollie shippers) that two characters would be perfect for each other. The characters do not know this, or are unable to act on it if they do. So we watch, hoping for this tension to be resolved even as it becomes more and more suspenseful.
The bigger irony is that serialistic storytelling tends to suck at this, because of the Moonlighting Problem. That's a whole 'nother article, but basically, there's a school of thought that Moonlighting went downhill when David and Maddie slept together, so couples should never get together ever. It's a misnomer--they didn't spend much time as a couple before Maddie went and married someone else; also, the characters virtually never interacted through the end of the series and the appeal of Moonlighting was David and Maddie sparring. But whatever. Storytellers are really eager to capture the "first blush" of love and unable or unwilling to go past that, to the point of just swapping out partners over and over again. You even see this in movies: characters get together at the end, then in the sequel they've broken up and have to get together all over again.
Now, in a perfect world, storytellers would realize that just because two people sleep together doesn't mean they have a perfect relationship. You'd think people living in Hollywood would know this. Ideally, you're still dealing with two flawed characters who have issues to work through both as individuals and as a couple, providing grist for years of storytelling. That's not counting exterior forces that can act on them. There's a reason not all OTP fanfics are first-time fics. There's something to be said about capturing a moment in a relationship, showing a relationship react to an obstacle, and so on. And if the writers want to retell Spider-Man/Blonde Date 2, they can do it via new characters. It's funny how we're living in an age of "mythologies" and arc-based storytelling, yet we still use the reset button when it comes to relationships, leading to interminable "romances" like Jack/Kate/Sawyer on Lost. Would people really have tuned out if Kate just got together with Jack and they started dealing with being on a fucking mystery island?
This was about comics, right? Anyway, correct me if I'm super-wrong, but manga is much bigger than comics in the US, especially with women, and I'm willing to bet they do shipping better than superhero comics. Manga readers: Here is where you can say "Yes, totally." Just for instance, when I heard that Catwoman 1 ended with Batman and Catwoman sleeping together, I thought that might actually be good. A change in dynamic like Batman/Catwoman being official would be exactly the point of a reboot. Then I see the pages and the scene goes something like this.
Batman confronts Catwoman about a crime she's committed. Catwoman hits on him. Batman resists her. Then Catwoman kinda--jumps him. As in, date-rape jumps him. And he, can't believe I'm saying this, gives in or whatever. Don't, don't yell at me, I'm just reporting the facts. So we have the same dynamic as before--Batman wants to be with Catwoman, but can't because she's a criminal, only now he gives into her advances, which ironically takes away the tension that is the point of shipping, and yet also is without the satisfaction of an OTP getting together. They're not lovers, they're fuckbuddies.
It'd be like if you took the classic Clark/Lois/Superman triangle--Clark wants to be with Lois, but can't because she doesn't know he's Superman--and just said that he's fucking Lois as Superman. That takes away the tension of the UST much more than them being in the relationship. In a relationship, at least we have the irony of the world's greatest investigative reporter having the biggest story of her career and not being able to tell anyone. Plus the fluff of them being happy together, the rapport, et al et al.
It makes me wonder--if superhero comics are representing a particular male power fantasy, maybe shipping represents a particular female power fantasy? Just to prolong this post even more, what's the point of a rom-com? Well, I'd argue it's threefold. First, introduce a female protagonist
(note: I do have thoughts about the range of critically-acclaimed "rom-coms" like 50/50, 500 Days of Summer, 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up that have a male protagonist and how they compare to the more traditional female-led rom-coms that do tend to suck, Katherine Heigl. I'm giving this parenthesis its own paragraph)
The female protagonist is an idealized stand-in for the female audience--smart, pretty, funny, with a relatable flaw. In What's Your Number?, Anna Faris was meant to have the flaw of getting too worked up by a stupid article in a women's magazine, but I'm not sure that made its way all the way to the screen. And keep in mind, male protagonists are idealized stand-ins for the male audience all the time. Even Seth Rogen tends to be way wittier than any guy in real life, and able to get together with really hot women, natch.
Second, introduce a dreamy guy who is, remember this?, perfect for the girl. So, Chris Evans, but also quirky and accepting and not being a bitch about Anna Faris sleeping with a bunch of guys. Yeah, I watched What's Your Number?, what. Third, get them together, with them overcoming whatever obstacles, internal or external, keep them apart. Wait, Bridesmaids did the same thing too and feminists liked that movie, I should've used it as an example. Sympathetic heroine, overcoming flaw, perfect guy. It's a fantasy, it's id-candy. You're a girl, you're awesome, your friends are probably awesome, and you get a cute guy.
And even if they're not the target audience, men can enjoy these stories, just like women can enjoy the most stupidly testosterone-driven action movie. It's just that sometimes these stories suck so bad that there's nothing outside the id-candy aspect of them. Bridesmaids is funny even if you take away the romance, and Terminator 2 would be a good movie even if you took away Arnold. But Something Borrowed? Clash of the Titans? But so many movies are geared toward guys that Sturgeon's Law takes over and that 10% of good stuff takes you pretty far, whereas chick flicks are in such a ghetto that... I think it's just Downton Abbey. That's the ten percent there. That's why everyone's talking about that. Who wants to talk about Playboy Club?
ETA: I should note that there are some genre shows with big fandoms that are going in the direction of having established relationships. Doctor Who committed firmly to Amy/Rory after one season and since then it's derived tension from stories--gasp--other than attractive people deciding whether or not they should have sex. Nikita has Michael and Nikita together, and it actually works for me. Even if I like Nikita/Alex, Mikita has a good rapport, they treat each other with respect, in all aspects it's a good relationship. I know I'm not getting Nikita/Alex, so it's kinda like getting a nice cheeseburger when you want a hot dog. Sure, you want a hot dog, but the cheeseburger isn't bad. It's much less painless than FBI Agent Bland McWhathisface from season one. LotS had Richard/Kahlan, and I'm sure they have more fans than "casual sex" Bat/Cat. Even Spock and Uhura got together in the latest Star Trek movie, and they didn't even show the UST part. Unless you want to argue that the movie was a Kirk/Spock love story. Debatable.
I think comics should take a cue from these stories, and even the "bromance" genre of shows. If Sherlock and Watson are together as partners, can't we apply the same principle to romantic relationships? In Sherlock BBC, John and Sherlock basically "got together" by the end of the first episode, but as a "couple" they still have issues. So why can a committed emotional relationship only work with men and not with a couple?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 11:57 pm (UTC)Alternatively it's Ranma 1/2 where it's about two protagonists who hate each other even though they're clear OTP and they both happen to be surrounded by suitors and the story focuses on both of them and they each have VERY IMPORTANT flaws. In the case of Ranma he turns into a chick and tells his fiance how he's way hotter than her and she's...clumsy? Has anger issues? I never figured out what her flaw was supposed to be.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 11:59 pm (UTC)(S)
no subject
Date: 2011-10-11 11:49 am (UTC)Ahem.