joiedecombat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
joiedecombat) wrote2010-10-19 07:51 pm
joiedecombat) wrote2010-10-19 07:51 pm
shipping meme, day twenty-two: inuyasha, sesshoumaru/rin
Day 22 - A pairing you hate and no one else understands why?
I don't think I actually have a pairing that I dislike and no one knows why. For one thing, whatever a thing is you're bound to find someone, somewhere on the internet who hates it. And besides that, usually shipping canon and generally not actively disliking many pairings means that all the pairings I do actively dislike, I have some pretty obvious reasons for not liking them.
So this is basically just a session of me complaining about a pairing I don't like. Sorry about that. Also I finally got around to finishing Final Act just recently, so that may also have had some bearing on my choice for today's answer.
Okay, if Rin were about ten years older, I would be all over Sesshoumaru/Rin like white on rice. Their dynamic has some of the things I love in my pairings, namely an emotionally stunted jerkface forced to confront and deal with emotions that he didn't know he had and has no idea how to handle, with a side order of obsessive protectiveness and devotion.
But I'm sure everyone can see the problem with the pairing just from the screencap above: she's like six years old.
Actually, the age difference isn't even the main problem, although it's part of it. Sesshoumaru is going to live a good long time, but the real issue here is that he is Rin's self-appointed guardian, and she worships the ground he walks on, and that's just a bad basis on which to form a romantic relationship. It would never be possible for it to be anything resembling an equal pairing, and while I like certain kinds of unequal pairings, I don't like het pairings in which the inequality favors the guy. I just don't.
This is further compounded by general fandom idiocy, because a lot of the Sesshoumaru/Rin fandom (or at least the loudest part of it) seems to think not just that they have the potential for a romance sometime in the future when Rin grows up, but that Sesshoumaru has romantic intentions toward Rin in the series, which is just kind of inherently skeevy (to say nothing of being flagrantly out of character; see above re: "emotionally stunted jerkface"). They also feel the need to validate their pet ship by denying the significance of Sesshoumaru's interaction with and feelings towards Kagura, which is both uncool and kind of dumb when the text states in as many words that it's because of Kagura that Sesshoumaru finally felt compassion for someone else and thus was able to start using his healing sword as a weapon. Plus: one of the most beautiful moments in the manga.
(This is not to say that the Sesshoumaru/Kagura fandom isn't also frequently pretty dumb about their pet pairing, but I don't tend to see them denying that Rin is important to Sesshoumaru, just that his feelings for her aren't romantic.)
The series admittedly takes a step in the right direction in the very end by having Rin stop actually following Sesshoumaru around in favor of living in a human village, where he drops in every so often to bring her presents and presumably freak the ever-living hell out of the local livestock. But since the series promptly ends while she's still only like nine years old and does nothing to suggest that there's specific romantic potential there, I still don't see any potential in it. Sesshoumaru clearly values Rin; he gives her consideration and allows her liberties that basically nobody else gets from him, and he's protective of her to the point of obsessiveness, but that just makes him the overprotective father figure from hell and I'm satisfied with that. I honestly don't get where so many other people are reading potential romance into it.
Day 01 - What is your current favorite ship?
Day 02 - What was your very first ship?
Day 03 - A pairing that needs to happen now?
Day 04 - The pairing with the most chemistry?
Day 05 - The pairing with the least chemistry?
Day 06 - The best kiss?
Day 07 - The most heartbreaking scene?
Day 08 - The pairing with the most baggage?
Day 09 - The most believable relationship?
Day 10 - Why aren't these two married in real life?
Day 11 - What is your dream pairing?
Day 12 - Who had the best wedding?
Day 13 - What is your favorite television pairing?
Day 14 - What is your favorite book pairing?
Day 15 - What is your favorite real life pairing?
Day 16 - What is the absolute worst pairing?
Day 17 - A pairing you thought would never work out, but did?
Day 18 - What is the cutest pairing?
Day 19 - A pairing you've rooted for since the beginning?
Day 20 - The "can't stand the sexual tension anymore" pairing?
Day 21 - A pairing you like and no one else understands why?
Day 22 - A pairing you hate and no one else understands why?
Day 23 - A crazy love triangle/quadrilateral that worked out great?
Day 24 - A crazy love triangle/quadrilateral that worked out badly?
Day 25 - A pairing that was/would-be adorable, but could never work out?
Day 26 - A pairing that you hated and ended up loving?
Day 27 - A pairing that you loved and ended up hating?
Day 28 - A pairing that you will never understand?
Day 29 - What ship had the best proposal?
Day 30 - Your favorite ship forever and ever and ever?
I don't think I actually have a pairing that I dislike and no one knows why. For one thing, whatever a thing is you're bound to find someone, somewhere on the internet who hates it. And besides that, usually shipping canon and generally not actively disliking many pairings means that all the pairings I do actively dislike, I have some pretty obvious reasons for not liking them.
So this is basically just a session of me complaining about a pairing I don't like. Sorry about that. Also I finally got around to finishing Final Act just recently, so that may also have had some bearing on my choice for today's answer.
Okay, if Rin were about ten years older, I would be all over Sesshoumaru/Rin like white on rice. Their dynamic has some of the things I love in my pairings, namely an emotionally stunted jerkface forced to confront and deal with emotions that he didn't know he had and has no idea how to handle, with a side order of obsessive protectiveness and devotion.
But I'm sure everyone can see the problem with the pairing just from the screencap above: she's like six years old.
Actually, the age difference isn't even the main problem, although it's part of it. Sesshoumaru is going to live a good long time, but the real issue here is that he is Rin's self-appointed guardian, and she worships the ground he walks on, and that's just a bad basis on which to form a romantic relationship. It would never be possible for it to be anything resembling an equal pairing, and while I like certain kinds of unequal pairings, I don't like het pairings in which the inequality favors the guy. I just don't.
This is further compounded by general fandom idiocy, because a lot of the Sesshoumaru/Rin fandom (or at least the loudest part of it) seems to think not just that they have the potential for a romance sometime in the future when Rin grows up, but that Sesshoumaru has romantic intentions toward Rin in the series, which is just kind of inherently skeevy (to say nothing of being flagrantly out of character; see above re: "emotionally stunted jerkface"). They also feel the need to validate their pet ship by denying the significance of Sesshoumaru's interaction with and feelings towards Kagura, which is both uncool and kind of dumb when the text states in as many words that it's because of Kagura that Sesshoumaru finally felt compassion for someone else and thus was able to start using his healing sword as a weapon. Plus: one of the most beautiful moments in the manga.
(This is not to say that the Sesshoumaru/Kagura fandom isn't also frequently pretty dumb about their pet pairing, but I don't tend to see them denying that Rin is important to Sesshoumaru, just that his feelings for her aren't romantic.)
The series admittedly takes a step in the right direction in the very end by having Rin stop actually following Sesshoumaru around in favor of living in a human village, where he drops in every so often to bring her presents and presumably freak the ever-living hell out of the local livestock. But since the series promptly ends while she's still only like nine years old and does nothing to suggest that there's specific romantic potential there, I still don't see any potential in it. Sesshoumaru clearly values Rin; he gives her consideration and allows her liberties that basically nobody else gets from him, and he's protective of her to the point of obsessiveness, but that just makes him the overprotective father figure from hell and I'm satisfied with that. I honestly don't get where so many other people are reading potential romance into it.
Day 02 - What was your very first ship?
Day 03 - A pairing that needs to happen now?
Day 04 - The pairing with the most chemistry?
Day 05 - The pairing with the least chemistry?
Day 06 - The best kiss?
Day 07 - The most heartbreaking scene?
Day 08 - The pairing with the most baggage?
Day 09 - The most believable relationship?
Day 10 - Why aren't these two married in real life?
Day 11 - What is your dream pairing?
Day 12 - Who had the best wedding?
Day 13 - What is your favorite television pairing?
Day 14 - What is your favorite book pairing?
Day 15 - What is your favorite real life pairing?
Day 16 - What is the absolute worst pairing?
Day 17 - A pairing you thought would never work out, but did?
Day 18 - What is the cutest pairing?
Day 19 - A pairing you've rooted for since the beginning?
Day 20 - The "can't stand the sexual tension anymore" pairing?
Day 21 - A pairing you like and no one else understands why?
Day 22 - A pairing you hate and no one else understands why?
Day 23 - A crazy love triangle/quadrilateral that worked out great?
Day 24 - A crazy love triangle/quadrilateral that worked out badly?
Day 25 - A pairing that was/would-be adorable, but could never work out?
Day 26 - A pairing that you hated and ended up loving?
Day 27 - A pairing that you loved and ended up hating?
Day 28 - A pairing that you will never understand?
Day 29 - What ship had the best proposal?
Day 30 - Your favorite ship forever and ever and ever?