Why I Ship MariBat & Why I Don’t Think It Makes Me A Bad Person (An Almost Essay)
I want to start this post with a disclaimer: I do not speak on behalf of all MariBat fans and am in no way trying to. I just feel like as someone who is a part of the Miraculous fandom as a whole, I sometimes feel like I have to justify why I like MariBat. All I’m trying to do here to explain my personal reasons for liking it and not in any way hate on anyone who doesn’t.
1. How I Got Into The Fandom & Why I Stayed
I can’t really tell you the exact place it started. I think I was just looking through MLB fanfiction on AO3 and Tumblr and slowly started noticing Damian Wayne popping up more and more. I actually had to Google who he was and that’s when I found out that apparently there were a lot more Robins than Dick Grayson. MariBat fanfiction actually made me fall in love with Batman and maybe the DCU as a whole. I recently binged the entire New-52 animated movies to learn about Damian Wayne and trust me as soon as comic books stores reopen, I’ll be there. I just found I was really fascinated by the BatFam and really liked the possibilities that stemmed from having them interact with Marinette. From a Miraculous standpoint, the scope of MLB’s story is still pretty small and at this point still pretty much limited to just the city of Paris even if season three expanded it a bit. So having DC x MLB crossovers adds in this really cool aspect of other superheroes and widens the possibilities.
2. Why Salt Doesn’t Bother Me
Oh, boy am I hesitant to go there but I can’t ignore the biggest complaint I see against MariBat shippers. So again, not here to speak on behalf of all salt-lovers, but here’s why I like to read salt or why I don’t get personally offended by people who write salt. As someone who deals with anxiety, I find myself using salt as an outlet sometimes. I see salt kind of like an exaggerated portrayal of things that people like me find to be frustrating. So let me give a specific example. When Alya doesn’t believe Marinette’s claims about Lila lying, as someone who struggled with similar situations between friends, I found reading stories where Lila’s bullying of Marinette was blatantly obvious and seeing how her classmates react to it to be a form of relief since the show has yet to resolve the tension in the class and have Marinette be believed. Do I actually think her classmates are as bad as some stories portray them? No! However, the differences are so apparent that I have no trouble setting apart canon-behavior and how the author writes the character. FanFiction is FanFiction. Any character can be turned into a monster and any monster can be written in a better light in FanFiction. People do it all the time. My love for the source material doesn’t change because I read salt, okay? It’s just a matter of knowing what’s canon and what’s fanfiction;.
3. Adrien In The MariBat Fandom
If there’s one argument I can’t really fault the anti-MariBat people for having, it’s this one. Sexual assault and harassment are serious topics and I can in no way fault people for being upset when they feel it’s being portrayed in the wrong manner. I guess I just want to reiterate my previous points that just because a character is portrayed a certain way in a fanfic doesn’t mean that character is also like that in canon and salt often deals with exaggerated (I don’t know if that’s the right word for it) or amplified behavior. I don’t think Cat Noir’s flirting in canon is actually harrassment and any stories I’ve read that portray him in that light have all illustrated the problem being more serious that, such as him not stopping when Ladybug says no (which she doesn’t in canon) or him pushing for dates after being repeatedly refused. Just because that’s a version of Adrien in a fanfic doesn’t mean the readers see canon Adrien to be like that. Personally, I love Adrien. I ship Adrienette as well. I can just separate the different ways he’s portrayed in stories. [Gotham City is a dark place and the BatFam, especially Damian has a dark backstory so there has to be some OOC writing to meld that with the bright, happy place of MLB’s Paris. For example, some stories do this by describing the mental strain the people of Paris might have to deal with in order to avoid being akumatized which I also find to be an interesting concept in MLB fanfiction.] Lastly, I would just like to point out that not every MariBat fanfic makes him out to be evil. There are just as many that show Adrien being a supportive friend. Again, it comes down to how the writer portrays him and whether you read that story is up to you.
~ My Point Or The Bottom Line ~
What you ship or don’t ship is your choice and doesn’t have any bearing on if you’re a “true fan”. Again, if you don’t like MariBat, that’s okay! I just hope you can say the same to the people who do! MariBat has made my life a lot bearable these last few months and I love interacting with the other people with me in this fandom. I also love Adrienette (actually Lukanette too and MariGami and a lot more) and the Miraculous fandom as a whole and I really don’t want my love of MariBat to isolate me. I see myself becoming more and more invested in the Batman fandom too so I don’t want to have to always defend my personal ships when everybody has the right to like what they like. Okay? I’m all for friendly discussions but I don’t want to be shamed for what I like. No matter what you ship (As long as it’s legal), you are welcome on my blog and to be my friend! Thank you to anyone who read any of this essay! Man, this is long!
