Can I just take a moment to talk about something that's been bothering me for a while?
Okay, I’m gonna start by saying this. I understand that this is tumblr and that 90% of the people on here (mainly fandom blogs…some hipster blogs too) will literally ship a piece of dog turd with a mouse given the proper set up….or if it’s around 3 AM. And okay, cool…whatever floats your boat, I guess? I mean tumblr has no shame about incest shipping fictional characters (and sometimes real people which….well that’s another post for another day), personally I don’t care who you ship, what yaoi/yuri fan art you do, or what fanfiction you write….I just don’t care because it’s not my place to regulate that sort of shit because that’s not my problem. And granted that’s under normal circumstances. However, there are a few ships and such that have gotten under my skin and such and I will proceed to explain.
I notice that within popular culture today, that the old gods from various panthenons are being used and given more exposure than they were previously and after their desertion from their respectful cultures with the introduction of Christ and Christianity. The ones that I’m going to use for this example are Thor and Loki, from Marvel’s Avengers. Please keep in mind that I am also talking about other gods/goddesses from other cultures as well, Thor and Loki are just vassals (I’m using that term with the definition of subject, not inferior. Just in case you were confused) that I can use to explain my concern more eloquently.Â
Now, while it’s seems “fun” to ship them with various characters (e.g. Loki/Natasha, Thor/Jane, Loki/Tony, etc) it can also be very disrespectful because there are people who do worship these gods! And it’s especially ill-mannered when people ship Loki and Thor together because if one were to read the Prose or Poetic Edda of Nordic Mythology, one would understand how rude it is to put them together in that sort of a context. Now like I said, I’m using Loki and Thor as examples, but I have seen this in other mythologies as well (specifically when I was scrolling the Anubis tag earlier). It seems as though people think it’s okay to do this just because these religions aren’t as mainstream as Christianity, Judaism or Islam, and I’m here to say that “no, it is NOT OKAY to do these things”. It’s making a mockery of these religions and these entities that people believe to be real, just as people believe Christ to be real. After all, if people were to start shipping Judas and Christ together in a homosexual relationship and have fan art and fanfiction, I’m sure people would be in an outrage over it because it’s such a big religion with huge followers and because Christians would find it disrespectful. And after all, there are people who “ship” Christ and Mary Magdalene and there are various Christian leaders and the like who are very…pissed because of it. That’s what’s happening with these religions, Nordic, Egyptian, Celtic, etc. they are being disrespected and mocked because they aren’t a competitor to one of the 3-4 major religions and people can get away with…well, blasphemy. And please don’t play the “but they’re fictional characters card” because while yes, they may be fictional characters to you, to someone else on tumblr they’re their patron god or part of the pantheon with which they worship and they consider them real. Sure, you may think it’s cute to do such a thing by shipping them with other gods/goddesses and stuff, but it’s hurtful to people who believe them to be real, and it hurts them to see their religions and faiths be made fun of.Â
Okay, that’s all I have to say. And I’m pretty sure no one will listen to me or take this to heart because, hey it’s tumblr. But I felt that it needed to be said because it is (to me, at least) an important issue that no one really talks about.