So people ask why, in a plot where the characters seem to perform heteronormativity, my ships are almost always the supposed "non-canonical gay ship".
It must be because almost no one really knows how to write a truly "good straight couple".
The characters just look at each other for an incredibly short amount of screen time and, after several exchanges of sensual looks and cheesy dialogues or bad and unoriginal pick-up lines and touches, decide they're going to have crazy sex? Really? And they stay together forever? And maybe have a "happy family"? Blah, rubbish.
Most of these couples barely have any development. Sometimes the female character is clearly there to be paired with the guy, and that's all there is to it, so ridiculous!!
It makes me sick how some writers treat female characters. Some seem to think woman only serve to be physically and sexually available to the male character, to bear him children. The highest title some can achieve in the plot is being the male character's "girlfriend" or "wife," or the "mother" of his children. It's disgusting! Is this the canonical ship they want me to like? Is it because I don't like it that I'm called "crazy"?
Some, especially men, seem to think it's "okay" for a male/female relationship to be like this in the plot and accuse those with a "non-canonical gay ship" of ruining male friendships. Of course, because for them it's "okay" for the female character to be just a figurant/supporting character/sex object, while the male character's most prominent emotional connection is a "assexual bromance". Don't you find this logic strange?
Meanwhile, the characters I ship, that supposed "non-canonical gay ship", have incredible development on their own. They could totally work as "standalone characters" if someone decided to make a spin-off about these character. But they also have excellent joint development together, plots that intertwine and make us hold our breath and root for them both to be okay! And they still have a relationship of trust and loyalty to each other, and they look at each other as if were impossible to live without each other. They seem capable of doing anything for each other.
And, yes, they fight and have disagreements, but this is overcome by a plot that brings the best most moving dialogue, because, deep down, they only want the best for each other and just have different ways of imagining and demonstrating it.
And so they look at each other as if they would kill and die for each other. And even though the plot gives them a heteronormative romance and even a family, sometimes, all of this still seems overshadowed by the relationship they have with each other like "friends", because they look seem unsure of what to do if the one of them go away!
And if one of them leave the other, they can be bewildered; they seem to act as if it were the worst thing that could happen to them, as if the absence of the other were unbearable and would break them forever. And, for some reason, they don't seem to feel the same way about their corresponding heteronormative partner, nor about their family (if they have one). It's as if their "best friend" is EVERYTHING to them, and nothing else matters.
And, in the midst of all this, the heteronormative relationship seems to only exist to try to "perform an heteronormativity standart" because the "best friends'" relationship is already so strong, and people are "talking about it," that the writers are afraid of losing their conservative audience. But, at the same time, they keep queerbaiting, because they also don't want to lose the audience that ships that "best friends forever." Which leads to even more intense and meaningful dialogue and scenes, full of implicit and subtext messages between these characters.
And, fuck off, calling this "friendship"?? Really? Okay.
But, I will shipp it as a romantic couple. Because that's all I expect from a romantic couple when I need look for one: someone to trust with your life, someone who will miss you immensely if you leave, someone to trust with your soul and your secrets, someone to be by your side when you need it most, someone loyal, trustworthy, and who cares about you. Someone who isn't with you for your looks or how fuckable you are, but someone with whom you share a sentimental bond and a big and strong history together.
I don't want a couple who just has crazy sex and decides to procreate like animals, the maleXfemale type who is there just to be a couple. Fuck it off, if that's the heteronormative couple you want me to buy, it's not happening.
I'll ship those "best friends" who have the most intense relationship ever and who look at each other as if there's nothing in the world they wouldn't do for each other! Because they've shared moments of happiness and sadness together, because they've seen the best and worst of each other (and still stayed together), because they've had their ups and downs in their relationship (but always come back to each other), because they've been together through pain and misery, because they didn't abandon each other when things were really bad, because their presence in each other's lives made each other's lives a little better, even when they were facing the worst of things, and they understand each other deeply (in a way no one else can), they can connect intelligibly, as if they could read each other's minds, as if all it took was a look or less.
And therefore, that's why they seem unbeatable together, and I wish them happiness so much.
And, okay, I keep shipping this even when it seems like only one of them knows that love the other, even if it's not reciprocated. You can see that at least one of them loves the other madly and wanted something more, even if it wasn't entirely reciprocated (or it's mutual/reciprocal, but it feels like there's something in the way [impossible love? Even better! Even more shippable]). So yes, in the end, these are the characters I'll ship, the ones I'll want to see kiss, have crazy sex, try to start a family together (maybe?), and be happy!
Why? Because they have a long history of feelings and development within the plot!
Sorry, but it's not my fault if the heteronormative couples in the plot are so boring that my mind wanders to the "non-canonical couple" who seems to have a much better emotional/sentimental bond and development/story together that I want to root/ship for. Blame the writers.
