I think I might need a PowerPoint to understand this post.
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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Zagorath explained the terms way better than I could.
It's relevant to note that, while shipping (focused on romantic pairing) fanfic (derivative fiction written by fans) is really popular, you see fanfics about almost everything, depending on the media. For example some give redemption to a tragic villain, showing them by a different view; some seek to fill some plot hole left by the original author of the work; some explore the afterstory; and some are simply weird.
I'll do a lazy translate and post it in the comments later maybe
Me neither. I'm not very up to date on the brain rot lingo.
This stuff was ancient back in the 2000s. Or timeless, if you prefer. Except AO3, that's relatively new. AO3 is just a website where the fans and their work congregate, though.
'Shipping' is when a group of fans of a piece of media decides they like the idea of two (or more) characters romantically involved, and have discussions, create fanart, etc, about it.
'Slash' is same-sex shipping. Usually male/male.
AO3 was gaining ground before 2016, so not sure it can be called new anymore lol.
Okay I'm too lazy to draw on the pictures so I'll translate each slide in text form. I can't believe my life has come to this lmao.
SLIDE 1: How Star Trek kickstarted the fandom culture online.
SLIDE 2: Common terms within fandom cultures. A picture of a Trekkie shown as a single individual, arrow pointing right to a Star Trek convention captioned with "part of the Star Trek fandom (collective)."
SLIDE 3: Common terms within fandom cultures, continued. Shipping: the act of shipping (characters) romantically. Occurs within practically all fandoms. Pictures of common ships (Sherlock/Watson, Eve/Villanelle, Aziraphale/Crowley, Piper/Alex). Canon vs fanon (true vs fan-made).
SLIDE 4: The famous slash phenomenon. It all begin with Star Trek: The Original Series as fans adored the dynamic between Spock and Kirk (+McCoy), leading to them creating fanart as shown in the slide. Known as Kirk "slash" Spock when tagging fanfictions depicting them in a romantic light, thus coining the term slash for homosexual male relationships.
SLIDE 5: Femslash, starting to take off more since the 90s. The lesbian counterpart to slash, not as popular however. Focus on shows with already existing queer women (like OITNB) or possibility of lesbian shipping (like The 100). Most representation comes from animated adult shows (Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy, Vi/Caitlyn, Adora/Catra, AJ/RD from MLP (not adult but it's nostalgic to me)).
SLIDE 6: So what was fanfiction again...
SLIDE 7: The wonder that is AO3. A nonprofit organisation whose goal is to preserve fan works, most commonly written fanfiction.
SLIDE 8: Here I present the most popular slash ships in Star Trek. The fanfictions counted only apply to those posted on AO3, there are more sites like fanfiction dot net and Wattpad which have more.
SLIDE 9: The popular femslash ships in Star Trek. Same principle.
I finished the PowerPoint with my personal favourite ship (hint: DS9). I lazily translated all of this and I spoke more once I presented it verbally so if anybody has any questions I'll be happy to answer lol. I stayed up until 3AM to make this and I didn't take it very seriously but it was fun! And my dad liked it. Not shipping tho.
You did share your lemon fanfics with him, right? Right???
Jokes aside I can relate to that - myself was explaining some anime stuff to my mum, not too long ago. Mostly a few references to youkai in Spirited Away, the concept of the four demographics, genres (or "why my nephew and me barely watch anime together, even if we're both into anime"), etc.
That sounds fun! Tbh I love explaining these newer terms to older fans of the same show because usually they're so "dumbfounded" but happy to be educated lmao.
Just to say: this is what AI is useful for. It can translate the whole thing to an okay standard if you want it to.
I love explaining nonsensical shit to older peeps.
I feel like an older peep, because i dont even know what this is... AO3, slash? shipping?
Also what is the reason you use ST and star trek in the same sense se instead of using 'it' and save the reader from having to guess at ST must be star trek..
Are we to assume that slash is something everyone knows what is? I love Star trek but have no idea what slash is or what shipping is, besides what you pay when you order online.
AO3 is a website for sharing fanfiction. Archive of Our Own.
Slash fiction is a subgenre of fanfiction focused on romance, because for example you might describe your fanfiction as "Kirk/Spock" (pronounced "Kirk slash Spock").
"Shipping" is the act of supporting a "ship", short for "relationship". It can be in fanfiction or just in fan discussions. It may or may not be supporting the "canon" ships, which are relationships actually shown in the original story. (Kirk/Spock is absolutely non-canon, but Picard/Crusher is a canon ship.)
Sometimes ships get given names, which might be a portmanteau of the characters' names (Castle and Beckett from the show Castle being "Casket"), or associated with a characteristic of the characters ("rocketship" is Team Rocket characters Jessie and James from Pokémon), or reference something that happened to the characters in universe (Young Justice's "Spitfire" referencing romantic advice given to Wally West that in part lead to him getting romantically involved with Artemis).
Even if you're not particularly interested in shipping, if you get involved in online communities discussing long-running series, you're bound to become familiar with it.
Thanks for the rundown.
I definitely must be old, because reading that makes my skin crawl.
This has been a thing since at least Star Trek: TOS. It's just more prominent today as online culture becomes more ubiquitous and makes it easier for more people who aren't quite as dedicated to get involved.
It's been a thing since at least 2012 because I remember hearing a group of students talk about shipping irl back then.
It's been a thing online since at least 1997-2000, because that's when I first was coming across it when I was younger, so I'm willing to bet it's been around since the dawn of the internet.
"Shipping" has been used in so much mainstream media as well, I'm surprised it wasn't a more recognized term.
I definitely must be old, because reading that makes my skin crawl.
I mean, shipping was ubiquitous online even when I first hopped on the web as a wee lad in the late 1990s.
Same here.
Why's it make your skin crawl??
No, shipping isn't something everyone knows is, especially if they're older, hence the reason I made the PowerPoint
Can you share the powerpoint anyway?
I'll try to post it in the comments
For my parents, I had to do something like that once just to come out of the closet. I'm glad things turned out fun enough for you to cite it later like that.
heck I was an active fen at one point and I did not even know many terms.