You know how much I wonder the same thing. I love character and character interactions in shows.
For some shows, I'm all about seeing a OTP. Jane Austen is my favorite author, and the theme of her books was ALL about the romance. But I read mysteries too where it's all about what happened and how the characters react or develop, or other stories.
And some shows I'll think two people are cute together or not cute together, but if there's other side characters or issues that are intriguing enough, I'll be happy to follow the writers down that path as well.
And I'm probably skewed by my own "gen" perspective of SG-1 as much as ship/slash people are skewed by theirs. But it's true, I can see similar themes in fandoms I don't even follow. The names change, but the issues remain the same.
I like watching and discussing all aspects of the meta and relationships (And I mean that in the broadest sense of parent/child; sibling; friend; teammate/coworker; lover; enemy, etc.) To me focusing on just one pairing is too limiting.
I do think the tunnel vision feeds on itself. Someone likes a pairing in a show, meets other people who like that pairing. They compare notes, squee over moments, create fanfic, etc, and some people take that to the next level...as there is a spectrum in every kind of fanatic activity. (people watch a game, people wear the team colors, people know every statistic, people paint their bodies). In show fandom, it goes into looking for more of the pairing they like, and for some people, can go into viewing everything from the perspective of how it relates to that pairing.
Love Teal'c/Sam, but this episode is about Jack? Then that colors the perception of the show. And then that reaction influences the perception either in agreement or in reaction to it among other fans in all parts of the spectrum.
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For some shows, I'm all about seeing a OTP. Jane Austen is my favorite author, and the theme of her books was ALL about the romance. But I read mysteries too where it's all about what happened and how the characters react or develop, or other stories.
And some shows I'll think two people are cute together or not cute together, but if there's other side characters or issues that are intriguing enough, I'll be happy to follow the writers down that path as well.
And I'm probably skewed by my own "gen" perspective of SG-1 as much as ship/slash people are skewed by theirs. But it's true, I can see similar themes in fandoms I don't even follow. The names change, but the issues remain the same.
I like watching and discussing all aspects of the meta and relationships (And I mean that in the broadest sense of parent/child; sibling; friend; teammate/coworker; lover; enemy, etc.) To me focusing on just one pairing is too limiting.
I do think the tunnel vision feeds on itself. Someone likes a pairing in a show, meets other people who like that pairing. They compare notes, squee over moments, create fanfic, etc, and some people take that to the next level...as there is a spectrum in every kind of fanatic activity. (people watch a game, people wear the team colors, people know every statistic, people paint their bodies). In show fandom, it goes into looking for more of the pairing they like, and for some people, can go into viewing everything from the perspective of how it relates to that pairing.
Love Teal'c/Sam, but this episode is about Jack? Then that colors the perception of the show. And then that reaction influences the perception either in agreement or in reaction to it among other fans in all parts of the spectrum.