The reason I’ve been okay with Real Person shipping for about 15 years is because I was always aware that it was the public persona not the person themselves. That shipping this actor with that one was not so different to gossip magazines and that fans didn’t actually influence the persons life. However originally this was when fandom still had the fourth wall, stuff was in password protected journals and communities.
Things have changed now and I’m uncomfortable using the terminology in a public place like twitter. Journalists literally use one tweet out of millions as evidence for stories and completely miss context. They constantly blame things on fans and use them for news when in the past it would remain hidden in a fandom.
As Dan and Phil are so internetty (shh that is a word) it feels weird and awkward to be ‘shipping’ them where they can see.
Shipping to me is passionately being invested in the relationship, reading/writing fic, discussing theories etc. All things I do with Dan and Phil but I’m careful to not do it as visibly.
The other change is that while we obviously see Dan and Phils public personas like other celebrities, they seem more real and close. This makes fandom terminology like shipping a bit different. If we feel like we know them like people and personally I find it a bit hard to say I ship them. Would I ship my sister and her husband? Whereas I would say I ship Tom Daley and DLB. There’s a range of distance there.
If you like festive cheer and decorating you should definitely watch toms vlogs from this year! They really are adorable.
FYI I’m well aware that Dan and Phil are not their public personas and I’m not really close to them
Things have changed now and I’m uncomfortable using the terminology in a public place like twitter. Journalists literally use one tweet out of millions as evidence for stories and completely miss context. They constantly blame things on fans and use them for news when in the past it would remain hidden in a fandom.
As Dan and Phil are so internetty (shh that is a word) it feels weird and awkward to be ‘shipping’ them where they can see.
Shipping to me is passionately being invested in the relationship, reading/writing fic, discussing theories etc. All things I do with Dan and Phil but I’m careful to not do it as visibly.
The other change is that while we obviously see Dan and Phils public personas like other celebrities, they seem more real and close. This makes fandom terminology like shipping a bit different. If we feel like we know them like people and personally I find it a bit hard to say I ship them. Would I ship my sister and her husband? Whereas I would say I ship Tom Daley and DLB. There’s a range of distance there.
If you like festive cheer and decorating you should definitely watch toms vlogs from this year! They really are adorable.
FYI I’m well aware that Dan and Phil are not their public personas and I’m not really close to them