FANDOM FLAMES: Rarepair shipping, the loneliest game

In past Fandom Flames, I’ve made reference to rarepairs, and how shipping one, or two, or twenty, can make you feel out of touch with modern-day fandom. Of course, the rarepair has always been there in fandom; dating back to the days when we all loved Harry Potter, people openly wondered all the way back in 2005 if we should be giving ships like Severus Snape/Lucius Malfoy the time of day. There’s an essay, “Slash is where you find it,” archived back in 2001, which argues that watching things with slash goggles on is more enjoyable than with them off and that in turn, doing that opens your eyes up to things you couldn’t have possibly imagined. Still, there are a few consequences to the freedom of truly not giving a crap of what’s popular brings. For one, if you’re a fan creator, your works, no matter how beautiful or poetic, will get ignored over the more popular ships. I’ve experienced this personally: I’ve seen maybe ten or twenty notes tops on Tumblr for gifsets of ships unknown to most and reviled by the few who recognize it. A friend of mine recently posted a beautiful fic for a rare-rarepair…
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