Shipping Culture - Tumblr Posts

Being a multishipper is hard because I’ll look at a crack ship, read one unserious fic about them, and then I’ll be obsessed with the ship

People on the bird all saying that loco represents the rap line members in the video, you know because he is a rapper and Jimin is in love with Yoongi/Joon and Hobi…(insert them all) and then there is Tae and Jin too can’t forget he’s in a relationship with them too.. not JK though, never him.

then this comes out today…

https://x.com/jikooking13/status/1807264881785372911

and he walks away!! He walks away from loco 😆

he really said nope.. I’ve got a plane to catch with my baby

That speaks volumes to me, that’s so purposeful, he walks away! It’s too late, the truth untold, you have to speak your truth before it’s too late and all the other members he gets shipped with, it’s too late!!

and he flew to Tokyo with Jungkook the next day

😭

https://x.com/kmgoogiemini/status/1807196544396939565

Hey Anon, I love that Jimin chose to have a rapper-hyung figure with him in this video, and yes, i made that connection too.

(And i hope Joon, Yoongi and Hoba saw it. They know their importance in Jimin's life)

But its so obvious that there's no romantic relationship between jimin and this rapper-hyung.

Of course Loco is tickled by Jimin. Jimin is delightful.

Jimin embroils Loco in all his shenanigans, and Loco particiates willingly, because he's Jimin's good friend. But there's no question that's where it ends. Jimin doesn't doesnt even look at Loco when his dance is over, he walks away without looking back. You are absolutely right. Jimin has somewhere to be.

Jimin's relationship with his rap line hyungs is beautiful. They dote on him.

I'd LOVE to have 3 older brothers who adored me the way these guys adore Jimin. Hell, we all need some of that in our lives.

He is loved by them the way a delightful younger sibling should be loved.

Just for the record, I'm not unaware of the fact that Yoongi sometimes looks at Jimin a certain way. I'm not judging him. Give the guy a break he's only human after all.

But i don't think they're together, and i certainly dont ship them.

And that brings me neatly to the whole shipping thing...

Let me be super clear in this:

I don't ship Jimin and Jungkook.

I never have.

I'll say it again.

I do not, and never have, shipped Jimin and Junkgook.

I believe based on evidence that they are lovers, or physically intimate friends, or *insert self-defined term used by Jimin and Jungkook* and I support their relationship.

I support it - whatever it is - 150%

I delight in seeing their interactions and (admittedly) I probably spend WAY too much time thinking about the complexities of their intertwined lives.

But that's not the same as shipping. Shipping is fantasising. It's investing in an imagined relationship.

I sure as hell am not imagining this...

💜

"It's not about the CANONICAL chemistry. Canon can go fuck itself. It's about the POTENTIAL for chemistry. It's about the fact that, had things gone just a little differently, had they gotten just a little more screentime together, they would be in a serious relationship."

-- Me explaining rarepairs and crackships and stuff to my sib

“they’re just friends why are you shipping them” “you’ve never heard of bromance” “they’re not gay”

Tell that to the directors, writers and artist who barely put any energy into the supposed love interest of the show/movie. Like the two characters who aren’t supposed to be shipped and are friends only, are literally dying for each other and expressing love in subtle or niche ways only the other person would know.

Whilst the mc and love interest chemistry is drier than the fcking sun.

so uh blame the writes and directors for being lowkey (highkey) shippers

This obviously isn’t for every canon ship, since some are rlly well written. But like theirs a reason fans are shipping characters together.

Forget touching grass, go kiss somebody.

Long rant ahead, you’ve been warned 😬

For a community that relies so much on reading peoples’ body language and tells, the majority of BTS shippers seem to have a concerning lack of understanding of how actual humans living a life work.

I swear. Y’all will sit and analyze the hell out of three seconds worth of slowed-down content, but ignore any and all context, extraneous factors (aka concerns that don’t have anything to do with romance and can make someone appear upset, closed off, or just plain tired) and everything that happens after those all-important three seconds.

Looking at you, anons who I’ve seen all pressed over the fact that in the We Photobook Sketch, Jimin was initiating most of the Jikook moments. Some of y’all are insecure jikookers, some are from another ship trying to have a gotcha moment, and some are probably just new to things, but… keep in mind:

1. Content isn’t always released in chronological order.

Yes, this photoshoot behind the scenes is the most recent content released, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most recent thing that happened. @kanmom51 had a great post about this whole photoshoot, and took a guess that it happened around Sep 2021. I think that’s probably right, based on haircuts/colors and piercings. Which would mean this “distance” between JK and JM that you all think you picked up on took place BEFORE: JK getting his attendance stamps in JM’s room all day every day in late 2021, the infamous and adorable “should I come see you?” birthday vlive, and the ass-grabbing, forehead-touching, finger heart-giving, bridal-carrying Jikookery Foolishness Fest that was PTD Las Vegas.

And just because late 2021 and 2022 was a gold mine, and because I know y’all try to dismiss concert behavior as fake fanservice, it was also before: “I’ll keep holding Jiminie ✋😛🤚”, “happy birthday BRO,” the attentive giddy love sesh that was aerial yoga, and this flirty ass conversation:

So… try to orient content on the timeline before making judgments based on it. It will save you a lot of anxiety.

2. Learn the difference between focus and coldness.

Not always, but in general, JK seems to (I’m gonna use an ADHD term because I have it and I strongly suspect he does too but obviously I don’t know for sure don’t come at me) hyperfocus on things, particularly when it’s something like a work photoshoot where there are likely a lot of staff around and there’s a job to get done. Yes, he can goof off at work with the best of them, but for stuff like this (which had a stricter, more professional vibe than say, filming a Run BTS ep), he’s almost always the more reserved one, while Jimin seems to have an easier time shifting between his silly, flirty side and his fierce professional model side. The man can turn it off and on like a light switch, while JK seems to have a harder time shifting his attention and coming in and out of “work mode” (also an ADHD thing, just saying). So yeah, we see JM making eyes at JK in between shots, we see him turning toward JK while JK keeps his gaze on the camera. To me, this does not read as JK being disinterested in JM. It reads as “I have a job to do and I need to stay in the zone or I’ll look dumb as hell in these photos and I’m too pretty for that.” Just my take 🤷‍♀️ Which brings me to…

3. Context is everything.

My spouse and I have been together for nearly 10 years. We still have moments where we are over-the-moon into each other, and we also have moments where work takes priority, where we aren’t as attentive as we should be, where one of us wants attention and the other is focusing on something else (not saying that’s necessarily what was going on during the photoshoot, but it’s possible and a much more reasonable conclusion than JK suddenly falling out of love and JM not noticing). If someone were to make a short video recording us on any given day, our interactions might vary. We might look super close; we might look a little distant. Because real humans in real relationships have normal fluctuations like that. If assorted, curated clips from a 7 minute video (think about that — that shoot probably lasted 4-5 hours at least, and they showed us 7 minutes) are your basis for deciding whether a couple is broken up or still together, you’re basing a whole lot on very little. Which is why I say…

Go Kiss Somebody

Like, not without their permission, but you know what I mean. Go experience falling in love, go connect with someone else and see how every little facial twitch you or they make is not evidence of the deterioration of your whole relationship. When shippers try to make a ship sink or sail based on the micro-expressions on someone’s face during a zoomed-in, slow-mo, three second clip, they reveal that most likely, they’ve only ever experienced romantic relationships in the context of novels, fanfic, tv shows and movies. In other words — stories. Because in a love story, every little detail truly IS about the romantic plot line, otherwise the editors would have cut that superfluous stuff out, because they’ve got a story to tell. But real relationships aren’t like that. Real relationships aren’t streamlined love stories with rising action and a climax and a resolution; they’re real people living meandering lives that happen to include immense love. And that’s the difference. Shit, that’s a whole other post…

my brain doesn't bloody FUCKING STOP. EVER. i just- i just wish i could focus on cute little saussure without losing my mind over the punkrock gay with the green highlighter mohawk and the white studded belt leaning over the desk of the straight leftist filmbro ally who i originally thought was a lesbian from behind because of his rings and endless black wardrobe and getting all giggly and homosexual with each other. bUT ABSOLUTELY NOT, GOD FORBID I FUCKING FOCUS ON CLASS. OF COURSE I NEED TO SHIP PEOPLE I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT. OR!!!! HAVE MY EVERY THOUGHT BE ASSAULTED BY LITERALLY EVERY CHARACTER I EVER LAYED MY EYES ON. ANDERPERRY CLERVENSTEIN DRARRY MERTHUR WOLFSTAR DORLENE FUCK IT HAVE IT ALL YOU DERANGED PIECE OF SHIT, WHO NEEDS LINGUISTICS????

Actors should not have to cater to fan spaces. It shouldn’t have to be said, but I’ll put it out there for those who need to hear it.

I am the biggest shipping fanatic there ever was (and yes, I absolutely love Saurondriel), but it’s important to know that when something becomes solely fandom, created and cultivated by fans, and thus not entirely aligning with canonical content, it is not always understood or appreciated by the actors portraying our favorite characters/pairings. And that’s OKAY!

I won’t disregard or dismiss the disappointment that this ideal may bring to some, as I have very much had to come to my own with it, too. It can feel like a gut punch to find out these actors don’t support or share the same thoughts about a particular pairing, but they are not inclined to do so!

Their job is acting, and oftentimes actors have very little to do with all else beyond that. They are also very heavily policed by companies to keep a sharp image for promotional purposes. So, they typically establish some set of boundaries with fans.

No, this does not mean they hate us, nor does it mean they shun all who ship their character with another. I can promise you they are not whispering in the writers’ ears out of spite, lol.

It’s necessary to remember it is we who have built these communities around personal canons and contexts, and fandom spaces may seem like a completely foreign concept to some actors. Especially newer actors.

Is it fun when they do interact and entertain our musings? Definitely, and I appreciate all the actors who make an effort of that. But, that is not the expectation, and we should not let that ruin the fun.

Don’t allow cast/actor outlooks to shape or sway your mind! For your own sake, but theirs as well.

This is our thing—not theirs.