It's also a reaction to the sexually immature or sexually neutered narratives that most genre (at least in the past) put forward - sex fic, that is. Because, really, what's more natural when faced with characters that fancy each other silly than to put them in bed together. If most interpersonal encounters in genre storytelling weren't so entirely contrived to keep characters apart, people would be less interested in seeing people shag.
Yes! The X-Files surely are the best and worst example in this context, but you hit the nail on the head when it comes to the Stargate franchise.
Of course, on the other (more authorial) hand, this is why I have nothing but contempt for writers sneering at shippers and their passionate desires.
The writers purposefully don't give us sizzling romance between the actual lead characters with chemistry precisely because they want to keep up whatever they call it--tension, romantic and otherwise, integrity, focus; what they really want to do is have us wishin' and hopin' for an indefinite time because it keeps us, fanciers of different pairings, watching. All of us. Forget storylines and plots and characterisation; ratings are where it's at.
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Date: 2008-02-20 11:00 am (UTC)Yes! The X-Files surely are the best and worst example in this context, but you hit the nail on the head when it comes to the Stargate franchise.
Of course, on the other (more authorial) hand, this is why I have nothing but contempt for writers sneering at shippers and their passionate desires.
The writers purposefully don't give us sizzling romance between the actual lead characters with chemistry precisely because they want to keep up whatever they call it--tension, romantic and otherwise, integrity, focus; what they really want to do is have us wishin' and hopin' for an indefinite time because it keeps us, fanciers of different pairings, watching. All of us. Forget storylines and plots and characterisation; ratings are where it's at.