out of curiosity...

[nerakrose]

in fandoms where people have faces (like for example movie fandoms, tv series fandoms and the like), how important is the attractiveness of the characters for you to ship them together?

i was thinking of this because of kitty_fic's post about OTP feels. i've not responded to that post yet, but it did get me thinking of who my OTPs are and why they're my OTPs and how many OTPs i have in a given fandom, and it made me realise that...:

in text-based fandoms (like harry potter or the volstovic cycle), i have a million OTPs. i don't think much about what the characters look like, because my imagination takes care of that, and in my imagination, everyone i ship in some capacity or other, is attractive according to my standards.

and then there are visual fandoms (like bbc sherlock) where i don't have any OTPs and don't really ship john/sherlock - not for lack of subtext (or text, as is), but because to me, john watson is not attractive and picturing him with sherlock is outright unpleasant (there's also the part where i view sherlock as an asexual character and putting him in a sexual relationship with someone puts me off). i realised that part of why i don't want to get into certain fandoms or watch the canon, is because the people in the ship are unattractive/unappealing to me. i have fewer OTPs and fewer OTP constellations in these fandoms.

obviously shipping is about more than looks, but how much do looks influence the ship you choose? are you able to get into a ship despite (or because?) one or both characters are unattractive to you?

poll! i know the questions are biased, but i didn't want to overthink how to phrase them as neutrally as possible.

[Poll #1929233][Poll #1929233]

Comments

[hollys_tree]

I pretty much agree. I can't ship John/Sherlock for the very same reason. (and Bilbo/Thorin btw) because I'm just very much NOT attracted to Martin Freeman. I think he's awesome, I think he nailed both roles perfectly, I LOVE to see him on my screen... but not in a romantic relationship in the fic I read.

And aren't the most popular pairings out there pretty much white dudes? Granted, there are more white dudes than women or other races but usually fangirls are pretty good with making impossible pairings possible. I think that part of this is what we/the media deem attractive.

[liljajune]

i've never thought about this... but generally, i tend to ship my favourite characters with someone. but i have no idea if i always find them attractive. most of time, i think? but i'm not sure if it's *always* the case.

[oanja.livejournal.com]

I don't think this is really a thing in main stream visual media. I mean are there any unattractive actors? Especially in major speaking roles?

[brighty18.livejournal.com]

Good questions!

First off, to me "attractive" is often in the proverbial eye of the proverbial beholder. So people who might be attractive to me, are not always attractive to others and visa versa.

Second, in certain fandoms (HP/LOTR, etc.) that are both text-based and visual, there is a great deal of conflation. I don't think that Tolkien ever described the majority of his characters as being especially attractive, though many were in the movies. JKR describes only a rare few as being attractive (Cho and Madame Rosemerta, who are not very major and Sirius who may have lost that beauty), but the movies show us some people (Neville, Draco, Lucius, Luna, even Snape to an extent, etc.) who were never described as good looking, but very much are in the movies. So, as you pointed out it's all about your imagination.

[huldrejenta.livejournal.com]

there's also the part where i view sherlock as an asexual character and putting him in a sexual relationship with someone puts me off

This is very much how I feel, Sherlock is in some sense above the whole relationship thing, he's got more important things on his mind;)

When I saw your questions, I thought "I don't need to find the characters attractive in order to ship them, do I..?"
But then I thought about the pairings I ship and have shipped (which aren't an enormous number, but still), and I couldn't think of a single one where I didn't find them at least reasonably attractive. So hmm, I guess that may be more important to me than I thought, even if it of course isn't enough ^ _ ^

[writcraft]

So...I know you're not talking text based canon here, but I just wanted to give a quick perspective. I'm a Snarry shipper through and through and one thing I really can't bear is fics that make Snape pretty. Snape is not attractive. He is not Prince Charming. But he is sexualised through his physicality in canon in an anti-hero sort of way, with his 'coal black' eyes and constant running of his 'long fingers' over his lips. Rowling has said before both Rickman and Tom Felton were too good looking in her view, although I have to say neither one physically resembled my head canon for Draco or Snape. The fact that he is described with a hook nose, lank greasy hair and all of that stuff, doesn't stop me from shipping him hard.

In terms of a more visual fandom, I think the same analysis still applies for me. I don't have to find a character visually appealing, it's all about whether they have a spark with the character I am shipping them with that matters. They could be conventionally attractive or not, it's all about their relationship with the other half of the 'ship' that gives me all the feels.

[phaelas.livejournal.com]

If I'm RPing characters or writing about them myself then I'd have to be attracted to at least one of the pairing, or they simply wouldn't grab my attention. If it's about reading, I might read a fic with characters I don't find personally attractive if it's just an amazing fic.

And as you said, if it's characters from a book, I really don't mind so much - I'll picture them however I like anyway!

[juke-box-dive.livejournal.com]

I'm an equal opportunity shipper. I ship Ian McKellan with Orlando Bloom (I ship that hard) and I find them both very attractive. A lot of times, it's something indefinable about that person--some magic inside them, or between them--like RDJ and Jude Law. Chemistry is sexy and so is charisma :D I often boggle at what other people find attractive or ship, and I'm sure they do the same about me.

[kitty_fic]

♥

Yeah, I pretty much have to find them attractive to care enough to ship them.

One instance that sticks out in my mind is Severus Snape. I don't find movie Severus attractive necessarily, but my 'headcanon' snape is ;D Maybe not in a traditional way - but just enough for my tastes :D

I think it's different for HP though... because it was a book canon first. I think with tv or movie-only canon it's harder to separate the character from the person you see on screen.

[incandescent.livejournal.com]

I would say that both characters have to be attractive... just not physically so. I am attracted to people mostly because of their personalities, not their looks.

Ugh, that sounds terrible and cliched. But good looking people in tv or movies annoy me. We see too many of them. It's the ones with good writing and fascinating personalities that I fall in love with and ship. (For example, I fell in love with a very unusual ship from Inception right away, and then began liking the 'attractive' ship later.)

So, yes. Attractive. I just have different criteria.

[epithalamium]

I voted 'no' to every question, except I remembered that I actually started shipping Albus/Gellert because of the actors who played them in the movie. :P

I usually draw fanart for the fandoms I'm active in, and I love book fandoms better for that because I can make anyone look whatever I want them to. There was actually a time when I tried to draw characters 'ugly' because that makes them more interesting for me. Movie/TV series fandoms, on the other hand... well, you have to make them look like a particular face, and it's more limiting.

On the other hand, one of the reasons why I can't watch Teen Wolf is because I find most of the people there blandly good-looking. They're not interesting for me at all, so I don't find them attractive. Not that I need to have all characters attractive for me to watch the show, but I feel like one of the selling points of Teen Wolf is that viewers find the actors and the actresses attractive, and it's not working for me.

I'm not making any sense at all. >.>