Two kinds of cravings for fanworks involving two guys

[g_uava]

I crave fanworks of my OTP kissing and doing more. That seems typical, right? But not the case for two of my favourite ships.

The lack of outright romantic fanworks for these ships can be explained by the nature of the canon they're from, since one is K-Pop RPF and the other is an anime for kids released in the early 2000s. Outstripping straightforwardly romantic shipfics about them are more than one angsty fics involving the death of one half of the ship. So it seems that those intrigued by the relationship prefer to see one of them die and leave the other to grieve, rather than have them make out.

I had a new thought recently, that death allows the author to really have one guy wallow in his intense feelings about another guy. We get to feel closer to the character who lives at the expense of depriving a pair from achieving a greater degree of emotional and physical intimacy. The peak of the relationship is set at striving for intimacy with no hope for fulfillment.

I'll just leave these off-the-cuff thoughts here before going off to cook lunch.

Comments

[author_by_night]

(Replying both here and to your fictional_fans post.)


I actually crave something in between. My fandom used to have more of that, but lately it's been mostly pure fluff and/or smut, or fics where one either cheats or dies. I'm very much someone who just wants to see my pairing living life. I want to see their platonic relationships, and I want to see more fics where they face adversity together, without anyone having to die, almost die, or be unfaithful. Like I said, there used to be more of what I described. I'm not sure what changed. Could just be that since it's a smaller fandom, there's a smaller selection of interests?

As for why there's angst, a few thoughts.

- I know for a fact that one fic in my fandom was based on the writer's personal experience losing someone. I'm assuming their spouse or partner based on the story, but they haven't elaborated and that's their story to get into. In any case, it was therapeutic. I imagine that's it for a lot of people.

- Honestly, there's a dark curiosity. I wrote a fic where both characters died and reunited in the afterlife. I wanted to explore how other people would respond to their deaths, yet in a way that allowed them to still be together in the end. It was a very difficult fic to write, but I'm glad I wrote it.


Now, I can't speak to anime or KPop as those aren't my fandoms.

[g_uava]

Thanks for dropping by! I've replied to your comment on fictional_fans in case anyone wants to hop in on the discussion!

[adore]

The peak of the relationship is set at striving for intimacy with no hope for fulfillment.

You know what occurred to me, is that... that's what shipping is to me. I know these guys are not likely to be together in canon or IRL but that's what makes my own feelings about the ship more intense in fervour.

[g_uava]

That's an interesting take to have shipping basically substitute the experience of unrequited love, when usually shipping is seen as a replacement for the lack of romantic passion.