09-11-2014, 10:21 AM
It’s certainly an interesting topic.
As I am ceaselessly regurgitating, I am not a romantic, and find romantic plotlines generally predictable, cheap, shallow, dull…any number of charming things. Exceptions being Evgeny Onegin by Pushkin, which of course is not so much romantic as a horrific cock-up of romance. Ditto Tale of Two Cities.
I find friendships or even the antagonistic rivalry of two people far more interesting.
That said, if the people themselves are interesting, then I will happily read/contemplate ANY variations on their relationship, up to and including the romantic.
Case in point – Penny and Sheldon. I find their interplay on the show endlessly fascinating, the odd clash of the ascetic and the hedonist, the Dionysian and Apollonian (in fact everything I waffled on about here http://www.shennyhq.com/#!philosophical/ce68) and I would be content to watch this platonically continue for countless seasons.
I am one of those who thinks that for artistic and comedic purposes it is better to have Sheldon remain solitary and asexual. Which is not to say he couldn’t have amusing “flings” on his own terms, with a variety of characters even, but not to the extent that it warps his OWN character, and dictates ALL his future plots and paths.
As we frequently mention, the speculation about Sheldon has gone from “When will he win the Nobel prize/go mad/poison Pasadena” etc, to merely “When will he have sex”, which is a dismal and vulgar diminishment of his character’s potential. This has come solely through his permanent attachment to a single figure, whose avowed purpose is to marry and bed the fucker, in whatever order. Who does NOT encourage his eccentricities, dismisses his passions, complains constantly about his lack of attention, and yet will not let him go. Making every episode they’re together akin to watching a bird struggle in an oil slick. There is SO MUCH MISERY to be bogged down in.
IF they must put Sheldon in a romantic relationship, so a certain segment of women in the audience can pretend to be dating Jim Parsons, then it must be with someone who doesn’t alter his essential nature, or wish to.
To be clear, I don’t think sex itself is antithetical to Sheldon’s character, but I think conventional romance, of the kind repeatedly expected by Amy, IS.
Most of all, and my greatest problem with the S/A relationship is its TEPIDITY. It is half-arsed, indifferent, glacial and tortuous. It is also joyless, which is my second major problem with it. Barring one (deeply cherished by certain fans) game of counterfactuals, one session of FWF (which he also filmed with Wheaton and Penny) and one meme experiment back when they were still (rightly) friends, their time together is depicted as an arduous slog, with Amy unhappy, and Sheldon checking his watch, metaphorically.
Sheldon is above all a creature of extremes. He is passionate, volatile, highly emotional (whatever he says about it). IF he has to be in a relationship, his very nature dictates that he would fall in love equally passionately, ridiculously, excessively.
I find his indifference to Amy offensive and unnatural, as it were. Not that I can blame him. In her current state she doesn’t inspire anything other than apathy in me either.
How the fuck did I get onto this…Ah yes. SO, bearing all this in mind, when asked WHO Sheldon should be put with (put with because they’re not real) who won’t disrupt his intrinsic nature, then I’d say Penny, obviously.
She baffles him, baits and antagonises him, but she also challenges him (yet doesn’t demand that he change), and unfailingly looks after him when he’s ill, is his bridge to reality, and, I hesitate to use the word because it makes me squirm, but is tender towards him in way no other character is. They haven’t decided to make them in love with each other, but if they DID wish to, it would have been easy to push them in that direction, preferably around the third season. They could still do it now. Give me a full season and I could write the damn thing myself. Most of us here could.
So, yes, hypothetically I “ship” Penny and Sheldon, in that I think she’s the best possible choice for his character (AND for hers, but that’s a whole different topic) whilst maintaining that Sheldon should be single on the show itself.
However, on your topic of multi-shipping, I am also not adverse to Sheldon/Leonard, Sheldon/Wheaton or Sheldon/Winkle. The latter two because of reasons very similar to Sheldon/Penny, but minus the “tenderness”, and Shelnard because, quite frankly, they appear to be in a relationship already. It might not be particularly HEALTHY, but it’s realistic. Although Leonard would have to drop the whole being ASHAMED of Sheldon and occasionally stabbing him in the back shtick if I were to “ship” it with any heart. Also he’d obviously have to change his sexual orientation. And Wheaton would have to lose his wife, and Anne is quite lovely. So.
But in essence, yes, I agree that it’s unfathomable to ship two opposite types of relationship involving the one person. S/P & S/W are both of the “sparring opposites” type, S/A at its’ original and best was “two weirdos against the world” but in the last two years has oscillated oddly between “wise woman/clueless man” and “needy submissive/oblivious dominant” and it is VERY much a ‘normal’ woman suffering with a man from another planet. They are not on the same wavelength at all.
I’ve noticed that a vast amount of S/P fanfiction revolves around the concept of Penny “noticing” Sheldon for the first time, and then what that recognition entails. Often sex to be honest, because 80% of fanfiction seems to involve it somehow, but the CRITICAL moment in these fics is the recognition. The bridge between two worlds.
S/A fanfiction, I’ve been informed (and please correct me) apparently revolves around Sheldon doing something Sheldonlike, Amy dumping him and having a great life, and then Sheldon tries really hard to get her back. So, self-affirmation for the Amy character? (Or even revenge fantasy?)
These are obviously vastly different concepts; Recognition of the Other VS Affirmation of the Self.
They’re both valid and interesting concepts in themselves, but when applied to “shipping” necessitate a wildly fluctuating view of Sheldon’s character, if you wish to switch between them. In the S/A case Sheldon is made to change for the glorification of Amy, whilst in the S/P scenario he is appreciated for himself.
Obviously, being a Sheldon fan I’m in favour of the latter. An S/A shipper might see it all differently (in fact I’m sure they would), but their viewpoint is just as biased as mine. If not possibly more so, given that AFF is a popular self-insert character and thus many seem to feel directly involved in the S/A relationship on a highly personal level. I deeply admire Sheldon, and identify with his outsiderhood and pursuit of truth, but in no sense am I living vicariously through his fictional existence, and expecting it to validate my own. At least I HOPE not!
Holy mother of god how much have I blethered on here…
I should probably stop now.
As I am ceaselessly regurgitating, I am not a romantic, and find romantic plotlines generally predictable, cheap, shallow, dull…any number of charming things. Exceptions being Evgeny Onegin by Pushkin, which of course is not so much romantic as a horrific cock-up of romance. Ditto Tale of Two Cities.
I find friendships or even the antagonistic rivalry of two people far more interesting.
That said, if the people themselves are interesting, then I will happily read/contemplate ANY variations on their relationship, up to and including the romantic.
Case in point – Penny and Sheldon. I find their interplay on the show endlessly fascinating, the odd clash of the ascetic and the hedonist, the Dionysian and Apollonian (in fact everything I waffled on about here http://www.shennyhq.com/#!philosophical/ce68) and I would be content to watch this platonically continue for countless seasons.
I am one of those who thinks that for artistic and comedic purposes it is better to have Sheldon remain solitary and asexual. Which is not to say he couldn’t have amusing “flings” on his own terms, with a variety of characters even, but not to the extent that it warps his OWN character, and dictates ALL his future plots and paths.
As we frequently mention, the speculation about Sheldon has gone from “When will he win the Nobel prize/go mad/poison Pasadena” etc, to merely “When will he have sex”, which is a dismal and vulgar diminishment of his character’s potential. This has come solely through his permanent attachment to a single figure, whose avowed purpose is to marry and bed the fucker, in whatever order. Who does NOT encourage his eccentricities, dismisses his passions, complains constantly about his lack of attention, and yet will not let him go. Making every episode they’re together akin to watching a bird struggle in an oil slick. There is SO MUCH MISERY to be bogged down in.
IF they must put Sheldon in a romantic relationship, so a certain segment of women in the audience can pretend to be dating Jim Parsons, then it must be with someone who doesn’t alter his essential nature, or wish to.
To be clear, I don’t think sex itself is antithetical to Sheldon’s character, but I think conventional romance, of the kind repeatedly expected by Amy, IS.
Most of all, and my greatest problem with the S/A relationship is its TEPIDITY. It is half-arsed, indifferent, glacial and tortuous. It is also joyless, which is my second major problem with it. Barring one (deeply cherished by certain fans) game of counterfactuals, one session of FWF (which he also filmed with Wheaton and Penny) and one meme experiment back when they were still (rightly) friends, their time together is depicted as an arduous slog, with Amy unhappy, and Sheldon checking his watch, metaphorically.
Sheldon is above all a creature of extremes. He is passionate, volatile, highly emotional (whatever he says about it). IF he has to be in a relationship, his very nature dictates that he would fall in love equally passionately, ridiculously, excessively.
I find his indifference to Amy offensive and unnatural, as it were. Not that I can blame him. In her current state she doesn’t inspire anything other than apathy in me either.
How the fuck did I get onto this…Ah yes. SO, bearing all this in mind, when asked WHO Sheldon should be put with (put with because they’re not real) who won’t disrupt his intrinsic nature, then I’d say Penny, obviously.
She baffles him, baits and antagonises him, but she also challenges him (yet doesn’t demand that he change), and unfailingly looks after him when he’s ill, is his bridge to reality, and, I hesitate to use the word because it makes me squirm, but is tender towards him in way no other character is. They haven’t decided to make them in love with each other, but if they DID wish to, it would have been easy to push them in that direction, preferably around the third season. They could still do it now. Give me a full season and I could write the damn thing myself. Most of us here could.
So, yes, hypothetically I “ship” Penny and Sheldon, in that I think she’s the best possible choice for his character (AND for hers, but that’s a whole different topic) whilst maintaining that Sheldon should be single on the show itself.
However, on your topic of multi-shipping, I am also not adverse to Sheldon/Leonard, Sheldon/Wheaton or Sheldon/Winkle. The latter two because of reasons very similar to Sheldon/Penny, but minus the “tenderness”, and Shelnard because, quite frankly, they appear to be in a relationship already. It might not be particularly HEALTHY, but it’s realistic. Although Leonard would have to drop the whole being ASHAMED of Sheldon and occasionally stabbing him in the back shtick if I were to “ship” it with any heart. Also he’d obviously have to change his sexual orientation. And Wheaton would have to lose his wife, and Anne is quite lovely. So.
But in essence, yes, I agree that it’s unfathomable to ship two opposite types of relationship involving the one person. S/P & S/W are both of the “sparring opposites” type, S/A at its’ original and best was “two weirdos against the world” but in the last two years has oscillated oddly between “wise woman/clueless man” and “needy submissive/oblivious dominant” and it is VERY much a ‘normal’ woman suffering with a man from another planet. They are not on the same wavelength at all.
I’ve noticed that a vast amount of S/P fanfiction revolves around the concept of Penny “noticing” Sheldon for the first time, and then what that recognition entails. Often sex to be honest, because 80% of fanfiction seems to involve it somehow, but the CRITICAL moment in these fics is the recognition. The bridge between two worlds.
S/A fanfiction, I’ve been informed (and please correct me) apparently revolves around Sheldon doing something Sheldonlike, Amy dumping him and having a great life, and then Sheldon tries really hard to get her back. So, self-affirmation for the Amy character? (Or even revenge fantasy?)
These are obviously vastly different concepts; Recognition of the Other VS Affirmation of the Self.
They’re both valid and interesting concepts in themselves, but when applied to “shipping” necessitate a wildly fluctuating view of Sheldon’s character, if you wish to switch between them. In the S/A case Sheldon is made to change for the glorification of Amy, whilst in the S/P scenario he is appreciated for himself.
Obviously, being a Sheldon fan I’m in favour of the latter. An S/A shipper might see it all differently (in fact I’m sure they would), but their viewpoint is just as biased as mine. If not possibly more so, given that AFF is a popular self-insert character and thus many seem to feel directly involved in the S/A relationship on a highly personal level. I deeply admire Sheldon, and identify with his outsiderhood and pursuit of truth, but in no sense am I living vicariously through his fictional existence, and expecting it to validate my own. At least I HOPE not!
Holy mother of god how much have I blethered on here…
I should probably stop now.
"WHERE THE HELL'S MY PARACHUTE?"