I have a question, did you ever read something in sonic fandom, like comic or fanfic that made you not enjoy sonamy as ship? I mean you still love it but you can't enjoy it like you used to. Did you have experience with something like that? And if you did what made you enjoy sonamy again?
I’m so sorry you opened a can of worms with this one anon…
When it comes to fanworks, I’m deeply dissatisfied with those which depict Amy as a scolded woman who is on a repentance journey looking to become someone finally worthy of love and wherein Sonic has only recently started to like her due to her new, ashamed personality.
This genre of sonamy has some of my least favorite works by far.
Note: If you’re “not woke enough for this” then you should just skip this entirely.
Works where Amy is saying things like:
“I’ve been so horrible to you Sonic no wonder you don’t like me, I should ignore my feelings to make you more comfortable”
“I know you’re never going to settle down (and god forbid I challenge you in any way) so I’ve decided that I’m done being crazy and would like to “share my love with the world” whatever that means so I hope that this, in some reverse physiological way, will make you love me. But like if you don't, that's fine too. I feel empowered in my ability to compromise myself into oblivion”
And then Sonic is saying things like:
“Heh, what do you know, little rosy’s all grown up. I gotta say, you were pretty crazy back then and actually, I was really afraid and uncomfortable this whole time. I've just been uncharacteristically a push-over about it and you’ve just been too crazy to notice.
“I’m not good at romance so thanks for shrinking yourself down for me Amy, I really appreciate the effort and in a reverse physiological way I really like you now and I think it's my turn to Man Up and make some advances”
“I’m so glad both of us have matured into people neither of us recognize.”
Uncharitable recreation aside, I understand to some extent the appeal of these works. It feels good to watch our favorite fictional characters grow up with us and a part of growing up means being filled with things like insecurity and change. It feels good to see Amy finally be accepted by Sonic. Like she has overcome something big and can finally have her reward. However, it is a very hollow acceptance. The thing she's overcome is her personality (👎) , and the reward is a well behaved sonic (👎👎).
I think, on a larger level, a lot of people see wanting romance as cringe. A lot of people see a woman pursuing a man to be cringe. As we all know, women (as objects of desire) cannot yearn for a man unless she wants to be seen as weird, male centered, and putting her own self worth down.
It reads as if the authors/ writers are trying to teach people a lesson on how a good healthy heterosexual relationship should look like. Often instead what ends up happening is a relationship where the woman puts the comfort of *her* man above her own and stunts herself emotionally to the point of losing herself.
In canon, Amy doesn't care if she “shouldn’t” pursue sonic. It's in her nature to love without a filter. Likewise, Sonic doesn’t care if their relationship is “weird”. It's in his nature to live without a filter.
I get the impression lot of these works are so insecure or ashamed of the past sonamy dynamic that they feel the need to “fix” them by trading in 2000s heteronormal dynamics for the heteronormal dynamics of say the 1800s or something. They’re too focused on making a “See! Sonamy can be healthy and normal!” type of statement to realize that there is now no space for a proper romance to blossom at all.
These fanworks are so incredibly reluctant to sit in real character-oriented conflict ( the most interesting part of any romance imo) that they whisk it all away in an effort to be seen as “right” and “as it should be.”
In my observations, a lot of heterosexual romantic works are so incredibly plagued by things such as centuries long engrained patriarchal ideas and (more recently) heterofatalism that a lot of these “fixed” sonamy attempts overcorrect and become just another flavor of unhealthy which is something these works are so clearly trying to avoid. And a flavor of unhealthy that is, in my opinion, much much more cynical and filled with misogynistic undertones than even their most “toxic” of 2000s era canonical portrayals contain.
In my opinion, sonamy and sonamy fans seem to be stuck somewhere on the spectrum of “Lol women crazy” misogyny (Fanworks where amy is seen/treated as irrational by the reader and sonic) and “women are pursued not pursuers” misogyny (Fanworks like the one described in the beginning). I think many people who write these stories think they’re going from misogyny to feminism when they’re just going from misogyny A to misogyny B.
Both of these dynamics fail to give Sonic the proper agency and emotional intelligence needed for a proper romance. Ultimately, both interpretations treat sonic as a boy who should not be expected to change, do any emotional labor, nor should express any true emotion other than comfortable happiness. And Amy is treated as a woman who must grow up and conform to the world around her (as all girls becoming socially acceptable women should do if they even dare hope to be loved).
Because of this, I feel like a lot of these fanworks lack proper tension or chemistry that is contingent on these characters as people with unique personalities and instead rely on the presumed attraction expected from Girl and Boy. Which, aside from insulting, I find very very boring.
I think, obviously, Amy is capable of self reflection and growth as a character but I find that in a lot of fanworks that are focused on this, they start from the idea of “fixing her” which is the wrong attitude for such a idealistic and hopeful character such as Amy Rose and which I believe has led to less interesting stories and a less compelling character overall. And Sonic, I think, obviously, should not be expected to change into this perfect romantic boyfriend but similarly, a lot of stories treat Sonic’s affections as him fundamentally compromising his being and becoming less authentically himself.
Notice how in romance, Sonic changing is unthinkable and Amy changing is a prerequisite.
Although we know a lot of *this* is just for show. Tropes play out. Sonic will discover Amy is now more attractive and his "can't settle down” mentality will give way to lust or responsibility. Amy’s new maturity will still break occasionally when she hugs him too tightly and clings too closely. And the lovers, the writer/artist, and us the reader will all act as if, through these little breaks, we can still recognize the pair of hedgehogs they’ve become.
Also, I’ve read stories where the author/artist dips their toe into this genre with various levels of tact/ talent and it's possible to do so in a way that doesn’t become too horribly cynical as I’ve described and is actually explored in worthwhile ways. I myself like to dip into this genre with the intention of subverting it from time to time. That’s basically the origins of my old comic Shooting Star Lover. And the thesis for my Hanahaki AU.
When I really think about it, it’s not really the fanworks themselves that make me upset. it’s what they represent and how they influence the culture at large. Sometimes I can’t help but feel that there are many people out there who truly see these story beats as ideal depictions of maturity and I feel like the bar is in hell for proper emotional intelligence. It doesn’t help that it seems like a certain writer for the games/ comics seems to be a huge fan of this genre of Sonamy…
And what I do to make myself enjoy Sonamy again is to start drawing what I’d like to see and rewatching/ rereading my favorite fanworks. I get so fed up when I see something that seems so obvious to myself but is virtually completely nonexistent online so it fuels me to try and bring something new or interesting to the fandom. It also gives me a better understanding of creating and the thought process behind making fanart and so it makes me more sympathetic to every creator out there- even if I don’t really like their work.
Lately it’s also been really refreshing to reread my favorite fanworks of other ships that I like. Bakudeku from My hero Academia and Reaclair from I’m in love with the villainess are my current go-tos. I also recommend watching a new series or starting a new book or going to a new place as a palette cleanser.
I try to remind myself that life is too short and the world is too shitty to dwell on all the things I don’t like so I try to spend my time actually making things and engaging with the stuff I do like/ stuff that inspires me.
Tldr:
My Problem:
I don't like when Amy is written to be ashamed of herself and I don’t like when Sonic is coddled by the author/artist, especially when it's treated as some new, moral way of loving.
Same! I genuinely hate it so much, and the fact that there is so many sonamy works like this makes me really mad. Most sonamy shippers unfortunately do not understand sonamy at all.
what made amy a realistic good character is that she is not perfect
she doesnt need to be a perfect girl to be a good character! she can be too emotional, aggressive, hyperactive, irrational, too focused on her desires and all that and it does not make her a bad person. This makes her very real and very down to earth compared to some other characters
this does not mean that Sonic, who rarely fits any human standards of reality, is a bad unwritten character, not at all, he actually has a different case, this means that Amy is much closer to people not only at the level of the fact that she lives in a human city, but also that it is much easier to communicate with her because she is the most "human"
Amy is also a kind of personification of freedom, if Sonic by freedom means that no one has the right to dictate how others should live, Amy in turn adopts this philosophy from Sonic and lives by it! no one can or should tell her how to live, how to behave, she chooses what to do, she knows what is best for her
this is also one of the reasons why Amy's love for Sonic is important
because Sonic is the one who basically influences the lives of others and how they look at the world in the future
Amy has always been a kind of hooligan with an interesting character and Sonic, instead of teaching her how to live "correctly", because that's not what he needs from others, he appeared in her life and his very image and what he does inspired Amy to become who she is
Sonic does not feel uncomfortable with Amy, Sonic is not afraid of her, he does not consider her a pain in the ass, he loves her in his own way, just like his other friends! Sonic is not the type to just ignore what he doesn't like or feel some kind of disgust from Amy because he doesn't feel uncomfortable with her
what i mean is that sonic accepts amy as she is, even if it irritates him sometimes, even if it's not what he would do because it's important to sonic that others find their own way
Decided to do more of my Shadowsugar children propaganda. I wanted to point out the many similarities of Candy Apple and Black Sapphire, as well as include some connection between them and Shadow Milk and Eternal Sugar I don't think anyone's pointed out yet. You can see more similarities between CAC and ESC in the last theory I did linked HERE and my @tanoshiboo who did a way better job connecting them than I did. Ill link their Shadowsugar theories below.
💬 16 🔁 106 ❤️ 744 · For Shadowsugar theory enjoyers, here's literally (almost) every single Shadowsugar theory in detail . Have fun
This is also partially inspired by THECOOKIELICKER on Twitter with their own theory on Black Sapphire being a shadowsugar child linked below.
Inspired by The Garden Of Eden by Rivière and common philosophy (Aristotle, Leibniz, Socrates, Plato) believing that happiness and knowledge need each other one way or another
Jayviks on twitter truly believe that homophobia is the only form of oppression in the world lol.
“Meljay is an interracial poc x poc couple, their representation is important considering that poc x poc couples are rarely represented. Not to mention that Mel herself is important representation for black women herself, because black women and people are (obviously) oppressed. Even if they’re a straight couple they are oppressed for their race. Your ship being gay doesn’t give you an excuse to be racist towards Mel. Intersectionality is important.”
“You are homophobic and you think that straight people are oppressed.”
“I am literally a queer black woman trying to explain why my representation is also important. Now can you respond to my point about racism instead of dodging it?”
“You’re a homophobe who harasses queer people for no reason.” *Proceeds to go giggle with their friend who just called a black person a watermelon eating monkey last week and never apologized*
gamechangershow
pixelskylines
snowghoul
izzy806
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yousharknotpass
