Reflection and Analysis

Star Wars - Headland and Shippers (7/4/24)

I want to preface what I will say: there is nothing wrong with shipping. Adding to this preface, when I talk about shippers for this reflection I mean the rabid shippers.

You know, the ones I'm talking about -- the ones who stan everything they like at the toxic level.

And there is no getting around the fact this type of fan is the bane of fandom. Not only is their behavior toxic in nature, but they also make the rest of the fandom look bad.

Which, yes, yes.

I know there are people who will say, "But they're not harming anyone, so why should you or any of us care about their behavior?"

Well, because their behavior is harming fandom.

I mean, can we please not ignore the fact these are fans for whom one of the toxic behaviors is try and cyberbully other members of fandom.

More specifically, when we talk about shipping, this type of fan likes jumping all over, "Let people ship what they want to ship," claiming this means nobody is allowed to discuss the ship they stan in a negative light only to turn around and be hypocrites, telling others what they're allowed to ship or not.

We're talking about a fan, or group of fans, that hold what is or isn't canon as a form of moral superiority over others. If their ship does become canon, for example, they use this to claim their ship is the morally superior one and that everything else should go away. If their ship doesn't become canon they either argue that the original creator made a horrible mistake because they know better than the original creator, or they insist that the ship is canon even if it isn't.

This is what the takeover of our favorite fandom is really about because the fandom we loved didn't cater specifically to them. It didn't, for example, canonize the ships they felt should become canon, nor did it give the women who are unapologetic about the female gaze getting what they want why hypocritically constantly telling men they need to apologize for the male gaze because "How dare they sexualize women!" while claiming, "it's different because we never got it before and they did" which bloody ignores the long history of the Harlequin romance which is marketed specifically around the female gaze.

Well, Kennedy and her lackey Headland have now admitted part of their marketing strategy, which is purposefully targeting this demographic of the fandom because they mistakenly think this part of the fandom is the majority of the females who actively participate in fandom when they are actually a minority. Sure, I know this group likes to claim they are the majority because everyone they know thinks like them, but that's because they surround themselves with people who think like them, not because they are actually a majority of any sort.

Enter Reylo, the individuals who ship Kylo Ren and Rey.

I've long suspected the reason Finn and Poe got love interests in the second movie tied into removing them as potential love rivals, but with the reveal from Headland that she purposefully pulled in elements of Reylo into The Acolyte for the "good twin" and the Sith master looking for a student.

Which, uh--

We're talking about a fan base that actively stalked the actor and actress who played Kylo Ren and Rey to the point they were harassing Driver's actual wife. We're talking about individuals who actively harassed Black writers who shipped Rey with Finn for being racist simply because this broke up the two ships Reylo wanted to become canon. We're talking a fanbase that holds anybody critical of the sequel trilogy like myself can't be a fan of Star Wars let alone the sequel trilogy.