Fandom meta: The links between shipping and empathy/sympathy for fictional characters

[chameleon_irony]

When I learn new theories in class, often the first thing I think about is how they can be applied to fiction and fandom. "So when Anakin did this, this is what was happening in his head... If Padmé were to do that, this is how she might justify it to herself; these are the defense mechanisms she might use..." Occasionally, there's also "So this is

Comments

[chameleon_irony]

While it's difficult to get involved in a ship if you love one of them characters, but don't like the other and it can be so easy to like a ship when you love both characters, I also sometimes find it so easy to ship two characters when I don't like either of them

That's basically what the next part of my meta about shipping will be about. I have a somewhat complex theory (with formulas!) about what makes us ship all kind of pairings. Identifying/empathy and attraction or lack thereof towards characters are the main variables, with a lot of possible combinations for het, slash, OTPs, ships you're indifferent to, etc. What you're saying makes sense, in my opinion - many of my conclusions are in the same direction.