Inspired By [x]

Inspired by [x]

Dean: What'd you mean we look the type?

Owner of the Pierpont Inn in "Playthings:" *sweating, shrugging, not sure how to say "looks like you be fuckin ur bro, idk, sorry"*

Dean:

HIS FACE I JUST--

Of course, I loved this scene simply for giving us yet another "they're mistaken for a gay couple" moment (I think it's been five of those now?), but this one was extra delicious.

1) Sam getting stuttery and awkward while he and Dean refuse to make eye contact 2) the above moment where Dean asks the innkeeper why she thought that and then Dean seems to like... be sifting through his memories, questioning the way he behaves in public with Sam, wondering if it's extremely obvious to everyone they meet. It's the emphasis on we, you know? He's not asking "why did you think I was gay," he's far more concerned with "why did you think we're gay together," and he's having a full-on crisis about it. The weft of Dean’s denial is woven so tight it’s making his face pinched lmao.

AND THEN HE CAN'T LET IT GO.

Dean has to go and ask Sam "Of course, the most troubling question is why do these people assume we're gay?" like he's testing the waters, seeing if Sam thinks about the two of them like that, how it makes Sam feel. It was A Lot woof.

As always, sorry to be making the observations everyone who saw it back in the day already knows, but I am LIVING for this rn, very much enjoying my first watch.

The Paternal Trifecta | Dean Winchester [x.] [Sam version]

— @whoopsitswincest (OP tags too good to lose)

Okay hear me out

THIS dean -

- with THIS Sam

so.

Just throwing some thoughts on the pile.

Are we using 'problematic ship' as longhand for proship? Because if we are, or if anyone in these threads is, please know that's not what proship stands for. Proship is just 'pro', as if 'for', shipping. As in, 'in support of shipping'. It's another version of Ship And Let Ship. You enjoy your thing and let other people enjoy theirs.

I don't know if this is a fandom-generation thing, but as far as I've ever seen and known and used the term from back in early 2000s, 'shipping' has always been a way to refer to pairing characters sexually or romantically (neither of which has ever excluded general interest/fascination/exploration of other themes involving the pair, for the record. All of that can be explored within the scope of sex and romance. But if they're explored exclusive of it, it wouldn't quite be considered shipping to me). If that's evolved over time, then so be it, but taking everything the previous posters said into account, I have to wonder if it could also be a response to the anti movement, where reasonable people are (subconsciously or otherwise) distancing themselves from the traditional meaning of the word so as to avoid the ire of the roving anti brigade.

Regarding the point that antis have started using 'shipping' to mean 'want to see in canon', that tracks with what I've been noticing lately. In SPN fandom, there's this bizarre need among hellers to insist to all and sundry (despite lack of actual evidence) that their ship is canon, and demand confirmation from involved parties (actors, writers, etc.) that it is so (despite repeated denials from all but one, who's a known attention-seeking shit-stirrer) as if their ship is somehow invalidated or disallowed if it's not, which explains why they're so rabid about it. They seem not to understand that shipping has nothing to do with canon (although you can ship canon relationships, of course). It's purely a fanonical venture and that's fine. That's good. It's allowed. It's expected. It's been done since the very beginning of fandom, and you hold no moral superiority over another based on whether your ship goes canon or not.

I guess that's the bit that mystifies me the most. We're all in here watching our dumb little shows for our dumb little blorbos. They often have weird, extreme, gross or, yes, problematic themes or behaviours exemplified within them. That's what makes them interesting, for crying out loud. We like them anyway, antis included.

So quit trying to make it a morality contest.

Although I mean, let's be honest, you lost the first time you told someone to be less alive about it.

i think what’s generally more acceptable now isn’t shipping problematic ships. it’s shipping “problematic” ships the way an anti would, meaning you are only meant to focus on how abusive, horrible, unhealthy something is. you are not allowed to have empathy for the characters or discuss the LOVE involved at all to the point where a lot of complex relationships get flattened and shipping gets reduced to "analyzing the abuse”, making it so that no one’s allowed to find beauty in dark content at all.