yknow, not to be old man yelling at cloud or anything, but do yall remember the ship war?
I hope everyone who ever participated in that knows how stupid it was. Like I hope you all look back at it and realize how damaging it was to the fan experience, and how much it may have even affected the show’s very existence.
I don’t exempt myself from my own behavior, I know I participated in it actively. But I was also a teenager at the time, being influenced by adults at least 10-20 years older than I was, being told I was doing the right thing, and even being shamed for expressing my concern with the severity of how things began to escalate.
It’s taken years of rewatching this show to deprogram my brain and watch it like a normal person. to tell myself I’m allowed to like the scenes where the other ship kisses. To tell myself I don’t have to justify every single abhorrent action my favorite character makes - after all, that’s why he became my favorite in the first place, because the way he walks on the line of good and bad is what fascinated me in the first place.
If this show ever comes back again, and I hope it does, I pray we don’t get a repeat of that. There’s a big difference between lighthearted rivalry and opposing forces. One is a game. The other is not.
And most of all, and maybe the most controversially of all, I hope that those involved in the show who were aware it was all happening does not encourage it again. It would have meant the world for someone, anyone to just make some sort of statement of “it does not matter who you ship. You are a fan nonetheless. Now stop fighting and enjoy the show.” You don’t even need to tell us what’s intentional and what isn’t, what’s just an acting choice and what’s actually on the page, that “this was always the plan” or “this was never the plan”. Just say “thanks for enjoying the show.” And be done with it.
Art being subjective shouldn’t be a controversial take, and people should be allowed to like what they like in peace, without someone’s unwarranted opinion, and most of all without fear.
yousharknotpass
titsay
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