Sometimes I am baffled by the people that do not enjoy Fandom behaviour.
Let me explain.
I was talking to my friend a couple weeks ago (female, cishet) who has watched all of supernatural. Offhandedly mentioned destiel, expecting a chuckle and en eyeroll. I got a bit more than that: she went on for a while about how I was "doing too much" and that's "just weird". Okay. So I told her I'd gather a list of evidence, if you will.
That came back up today, as we were chatting over coffee when I saw the jeopardy question. She said she just didn't understand the "ship" stuff. She said she feels like it just ruins the show when you start making stuff up about it. She said "that... destiel or whatever you wanna call it, it doesn't matter what the [showrunners, cast, and writers] say, if it isn't in the show, you're making it up."
That was baffling to me. Cinematic analysis is one of my favourite things in the world. Over-thinking every line, every glance, every lighting choice. And it isn't just with supernatural, it's with everything I watch. It increases my enjoyment of the show tenfold.
And yeah, sometimes I just like to enjoy it for what it is. But sometimes, I see just a tiny microexpression and watch it from a slightly different perspective, and it renews the entire film.
Destiel is just one facet of that, albeit an epic one. It is not delusion. It is a storyline that was trampled for two decades, and not only did it come out alive, it is still getting renewed attention and acknowledgement, both by new fans and by those involved in the show.
Fanfiction is one of the most beautiful things that the internet ever brought us. And I don't just mean writers and artists; I mean headcanons, or fleeting thoughts, or an imagined quip, or thinking of a character when you see something in your day-to-day life. It's the way a story can knit itself into who you are as a human being. Writers, actors, and artists only give us a prompt. We are what make it a story. How boring life must be without your imagination.