Unpopular opinion: You don’t have to believe your ship is canon, ever will be canon, is endgame, or in any way deliberate on the part of the show runners to believe in it or enjoy it wholeheartedly. It’s ok to acknowledge when you are deliberately reading the show this way because it makes it more enjoyable for you. There is no shame in this. This is a completely valid way to enrich your media and fandom experience.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

I want this tattooed on me. 

Seriously, I don’t know when or why people started insisting that a ship has to be canon, will be canon, or deliberate to be worthy of enjoyment but I wish it would stop, frankly. You can love a ship where two characters are or aren’t written romantically and you can love ships where characters have literally never met in canon. Hell, one of my favorite ships in this fandom has a character that was essentially invented by the fandom! It’s all fun and worthwhile. 

If you’ll allow me to wax poetic for a minute, I personally think there’s a lot of value in admitting when you’re looking at the show through a specific lens. Like, if you’re being analytical and looking at it through a more “literary” perspective you can and should be aware of the lens you’re looking through when discussing certain tropes, themes, and elements. Like, you could legitimately look at SPN through the lens of modern American gothic (esp the first 3 season) and if your analysis starts to wind up a little….Fall of the House of Usher-y (I wonder how obscure a reference that’s gonna be) and it makes people a little uncomfortable with the implications… well that’s a valid reading. A reading that emphasizes destiel isn’t better or more correct than a reading that says everyone on SPN is doomed Greek-tragedy style. Basically, I really think the text can lend itself to all kinds of discussions about which characters fulfill which tropes in different genres (and I would adore getting into these conversations with people. Seriously. Give them to me any day of the week). 

I mean, generally, if you’re looking for destiel subtext you will find it. Same with sastiel or wincest or wincestiel or whatever. And there isn’t any shame in admitting you’re looking for it. There isn’t any shame in acknowledging it, either. What there is a bit of shame in, imo is giving people shit for reading things through that specific lens or claiming that your interpretation is the only right one. 

Okay, mini rant over! I agree. There is no shame in using ships to enjoy a show and there is no shame in admitting you’re only interested for certain ships. 

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