I woke up in a coughing fit this morning but I'm feeling better now.
I wanted to tell you all a story that happened to be but I can't remember whether I told you all or not. I has a morale. The morale is that, whether we like it or not, Merlin is dominated by shipping and fans of the show will seek to identify 'their own' even in RL. Especially when it comes to the stand-off between the two main ships of the show: the Fandom-Fulled Arthur/Merlin pairing and the Show-Fulled Arthur/Gwen pairing. There are naturally other ships too but they are all a minority and small in comparison to these two.
The Arthur/Merlin fans hold dominance in fandom while in RL, in my experience, Arthur/Gwen are on top. In fandom, the 'Arwen' shippers tend to view other shippers with suspicion due to the overwhelming abuse some of them got between S1 and S2, and what they view (Quite rightly IMO although I *am* biased) as unreasonable dislike of Gwen simply because she's the one who 'has Arthur'. They tend to take this as a personal attack which comes not just from a handful of overzealous Arthur/Merlin but also a few people from other ships too. So there is this feeling of "ganging up" from what I have seen in the past. As a result in fandom they tend to shut themselves off from everyone else from fear of causing shipping wars. I am told that from time to from a couple of the idiots from both camps charge at each other and start fighting.
However I have a feeling that this secretive culture has slipped into RL too despite the fact that everyone I asked in RL who do *NOT* partake in the fandom experience, view Arthur/Gwen as the only proper romantic relationship in the show. If you are a hardcore or casual fandom goer however A/G fans seem to have this defence shield they raise up whenever they encounter *anyone* new outside the fandom.
Now I shall tell you my story:
Whether you like it or not Merlin is dominated by shipping even when fans meet accidently in RL, and I have proof:
I shared my Post-Victorian lecture and seminar last year with a girl who watched a lot of the shows I watch. True Blood. Being Human. Doctor Who. She was also a fan of Smallville and liked to complain to me about how much she hated it, lol!
She also mentioned in passing that she watched Merlin too.
Then one day while we were waiting for a lecture to start I happened to mention I watch Merlin too. Guess what the first thing she said to me was?
“Arthur and Gwen?”
Those were her exact words. Arthur and Gwen. Not, ‘Me too!’ Not ‘Oh do you?’ Not anything to do with the past series. Not even “Do you like Arthur and Gwen?” She just said ‘Arthur and Gwen?’
I gave her a thumbs up. She nodded and smiled.
My point is that while this girl is a casual fandom goer from what she has told me, the fandom has still changed the manner with which she interacts with other Merlin fans. Given I was 19 at the time and a girl she quite rightly assumed that I had dealt in fandom. So that was how she related to me.
As sad as it might be, Merlin fans know their own kind and seek to identify them in the real world, especially if no one else they interact with in RL is a fan of the show. I never think to ask anyone about ships in fandom or RL anymore because I suppose I feel cushioned by the knowledge that away from the computer screen I am surrounded by Merlin fans within my own family and friends. I watch the show with my little cousins, their friends, their parents and even their friends parents and babysitters. My friend John watches the show too (one of the few childless adult male viewers I do know). My mother watches the show. Every single one of them consider Arthur and Gwen to be the only romantic relationship in the show. Why? Because as far as they are concerned, it is. You could say Merlin/Freya are also a genuine romantic relationship of the show. In fact my cousin John (That's the Trio's dad not my aforementioned ex-bf, lol) remembered those two - although granted he referred to Freya as "that girl". There is also an argument for Gwen/Lancelot, but nearly everyone I know consider Lancelot more to be an appendage of Arthur/Gwen.
From being with all of them my attitude has come to match theirs for the most part. I retain my fandom quirks as you do but otherwise the reason why fandom has lost impact on me and why I can't be bothered to sweep to the defence of my ships when someone insults them or freak out it might get ruined, is because I don't see the point. Moreover I don't think my friend really sees the point either. She just wanted to know whether I agreed with her or not.
What's my point again? That fandom changes the way some fans think and even how they interact with other fans. Because there are no set forums, threads or communities for fans of ships to talk to each other in RL.
All I will say is I wonder how my friend would have reacted if I were a Arthur/Merlin shipper. I doubt it would have put a damper on our friendship but I definitely think it would have limited what we were willing to talk about. Because fandom shippers are generally good natured and do no like to provoke fights, hence why they stick to their set areas. It's the same in RL. If you know something is a topic you disagree on (Especially if its something as trivial yet infesting as shipping) you try to stay off that particular topic.
It reminds me to a less extreme extent of the rivalry between the fans of different companions in Doctor Who a few years ago. This was especially hot between the Rose fans and the Martha fans. I was a Martha fan and hell and brimstone falls upon anyone who insults me for being so. In fact the reason my PMs are locked to friends only is because I was harassed by two Rose fans during the 2007 run. I had never encountered fandom wars before now because I was *always* a canon shipper and I had always been in the majority. It kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
I makes me wonder whether girls who had a particular companion they liked, when they met other female fans of the show, whether they too simply started the conversation by saying "Rose or Martha?" Because, let's be honest, it *is* mainly girls and women who start these fights. Most boys and men can't be bothered and really don't care about this sort of thing.
Incidentally, I prefer to talk about plots in the shows I watch over ships anyway and so did she. We haven't really talked about ships at all but rather what is going to happen in the show next. The whole ship aspect was really just a security blanket.
