[ SECRET POST #6071 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6071 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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[The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock]



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[The Beach]
























Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 48 secrets from Secret Submission Post #868.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I think you've got it backward, OP.

If two characters have no chemistry, of course most people won't find them hot together, because people find it hot when characters have chemistry. That's what makes a pairing hot to a lot of people.

Do they in essence end up in the same thing ("no chemistry = this pairing isn't hot to me")? Sure, for the opposite reason of what you think.

Ofc there are edge cases where people ship two characters they find hot that have never interacted or only briefly met - but people then imagine there is chemistry between them were they to ever meet or interact seriously; you rarely find people shipping characters that have canon prolonged, dry, boring interactions with no romantic potential at all.

[(Anonymous)]

This is how it is for me. Characters having chemistry together can make them hot together even if I don't find them hot individually (or it can make me start finding them hot individually when I didn't before).

But watch out, someone will come in and say shipping characters who have boring or little to no interaction is common and cite Clint/Coulson or Matt/Mello or one of the other one or two famous cases where it has happened, as if that makes it an everyday occurrence and not seriously just those four times out of all of fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

Yep, this. Chemistry is what makes two characters hot together for me. They can both be uggos but if they've got that chemistry? Then damn, that's hot.

That actually applies to one of my current ships, in fact. I don't find either one of them hot on their own but when you put them together, they're smoking and it's all because of their chemistry.

OP of the secret

[(Anonymous)]

Really? Because 9 times out of ten I always see people talking about how hot they find the two characters to start with. I think most people don't realize that it's a huge component, but I do tend to notice it's always what THEY THEMSELVES find hot. And then of course the two characters "have chemistry." The chemistry is that the ship-liker likes both of them.

[(Anonymous)]

I think that really, really depends on the fandom. Like, the biggest ship in my own fandom is between a conventionally attractive guy and an older, fairly plain-looking guy. There's another possible ship between two equally hot guys and while that one is also popular, it's nowhere near the level of popularity of the first ship.

The two villains are also often shipped together and while one of them is hot, the other one is very much not. That's one ship that's 100% about the chemistry and the fact that they ooze "oh they FAWKIN" vibes every time they're on screen together.

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, I'm gonna disagree with you. Yes, there are people who ship a pairing because the two have a great chemistry. But a large part of the fandom picks their ships based on the tropes they enjoy. Be it "friends to lovers", "opposites attract", "hero/villain" or just "two hot guys fucking", they'll find two characters that fit the best and proceed to ship with vigor, regardless of whether they have anything going on for them or if they even interact meaningfully at all.

The OP is absolutely correct, but they've missed a crucial component. The "chemistry" in this case doesn't actually mean chemistry between the characters, but how well the characters mesh with the trope. People find pairings hot because they find the trope hot. So when two characters embody a trope that doesn't appeal to them, they'll see it as the characters having no chemistry since it's not going the way they're interested in.

Which is why shipping characters who have canon prolonged, dry, boring interactions with no romantic potential at all is incredibly common and you'll see it in pretty much every fandom. Hell, my own current main otp is one such pairing and I ship them with burning because the idea of them together is scratching an itch for me.

[(Anonymous)]

Nah, it often does boil down to "I personally don't find this hot." Some people don't like certain pairings despite their interactions in the story or at least potential, and that's fine. But I rarely hear a good reason for why the pair apparently has no chemistry, even when the story makes a damn good case for it. Sometimes it's just all about what appeals to you. What repels me about a certain ship might be hot as fuck (pun intended) for someone else, and what I found amazing about a pair might have turned off another person.