For the most part this will focus mostly on Agents of Shield. However, it applies to a lot of shows; especially recently. I shall try to not make this a rant, and at least bring it to writing at some point.
If it wasn’t obvious with the title, this post is about the “shipping” that takes place within television series; particularly lately. It happens across almost all shows, at least the ones I watch and enjoy. No, it’s not really a new thing. Going back as far as Buffy and Angel, or even Full House in the early 90’s to late 80’s. Who knows, probably even before that. But the problem is, that with the advent of social media I believe it’s going to far.
Buffy was probably one of the earliest that it began, just not to the same extent that it is now. During it’s run the internet was only really just coming into existence; very different to what we see now. So while you could see a lot of “Buffy and Angel” or even “Buffy and Spike” around websites. It didn’t really affect the show, or the audience in the same way. There wasn’t the “instant reaction” of twitter, facebook, and other social media. There was also no streaming, so a ‘live’ watching scenario couldn’t happen like it can now–albeit that most live streams worldwide are illegal streams (but that’s not the topic of this post).
The point of this post, is ask the question, has it now gone too far? Has the ability to live watch shows across the world (regardless of legality for this purpose) affected the writing and creation of the shows that we enjoy?
In my mind, it has. Bringing this back again to Agents of Shield, it started off right from the start with it’s own “ship”. The characters of Fitz and Simmons being put together so that right away the audience could have something there, tangible, that they could grab hold off if you will. Now, I don’t know whether it was deliberate on the showrunners part. But too me it feels almost like it was. Almost like it was something to distract the fans while they went on with the story. They gave them something to “ship” and it attempted to distract the audience. Or that’s how it feels to me.
As the show progressed, some of the fans turned away from this to begin the shipping of two other characters in May and Coulson (played superbly by Ming Na and Clark Gregg). This is primarily the reason I decided to write this. This “ship” annoys me. Why do the fans want them together? What’s the deal? Until the most recent episode, there wasn’t the chemistry there that made a ship dynamic. There was a friendship, and colleague, and admiration there. But from what I see, not a romantic one.
This is where I believe the shows are beginning to get tangled to far in fan and viewership. There was much more in the recent episode, deliberately done, that shows that “more” connection that was never there before. They should have kept the dynamic that they had. It’s a lot more interesting without trying to infer that they might\could be a couple.
Why do we need this in shows? Why can May and Coulson not be just great friends, and colleagues? The dynamic was already there for it. This where the “fans” go wrong. It goes to serious on this person ships with this person, or that person shouldn’t be with this person. So much so, that fights and arguments are seen fairly constantly around social media.
Stop with the pettiness of this. If you ship something, ship it. Don’t fight. Don’t put others down. Leave it. Discuss the show. It goes too far, in my opinion. To the extent that most of the “fans” of the shows that do this don’t even pay attention to the story outside of their ship. If a particular thing doesn’t happen in an episode, they call it bad. On the flipside of this, if the two characters do get some good scenes, then it’s “fantastic” even if the episode clearly falls through gaps in story.
I’m kind of picking on Agents of Shield the most here, but it does happen on other shows. Shield is just one of the worst, and one that I think the writers have somehow began to pull into the show; even subconciously.
The CW Arrow, and Flash, and Supergirl have a similar problem with this, even though it’s not as established as Shield in these shows they still follow “ships” within their episodes. The biggest of this being Arrow, and the “Olicity” partnering. Don’t get me wrong, I love Arrow. I love Stephen Amell, and most of all, love Emily Bett Rickards. But while Emily and Stephen have great chemistry, it’s not the be all and end all of the show. It’s a sub thread at best. A B storyline. You get to it eventually, but it’s not the main plot. A lot of ‘fans’ forget that. It’s actually why I think the Arrow showrunners have been affected for the show more than most, and I don’t think it’s entirely subconcious.
But it has the same effects as what I said about Agents of Shield above, and to enjoy TV shows again it really needs to stop.
So, in my own opinion, if there’s any writers who happen upon this blog. Even if you take nothing else from it. Don’t “pander” to fans for the sake of it. Write the characters. Keep the relationships ‘true’.
We’ve become such a judgemental society over the last few years. Hating on this, and hating on that. Hating people on who they choose to love, marry, what they do, etc. But what do we see out of it? Nothing.
I for one, going back to Agents of Shield, wish with every fibre of my being that they would drop this “Philinda” ship on the show. A man and woman don’t have to have a relationship where they end up together. They can share a fantastic friendship built on trust, and admiration, and support of each other. Not everything needs to be related to coupling. I know this because I have that friendship. I wouldn’t trade that for the world, and I hope it never goes away. It’s a fantastic feeling to have, and something wonderful to hold onto.
Well, I guess I’ve ranted enough for this. But that is my thoughts, and there was at least some writing mentions.
So, happy writing to any writers reading this.
NB: for info purposes only, I’m on team Angel with Buffy 😉
Dreaming Screenwriter 