i think people are very entitled when it comes to fanworks. people seem so indignant, to have their ships, to keep making things, even when they are told to stop.
with the discussion around pyro and maddy and their characters, there seems to be two responses, on the side of those who push back against their statement: upset, and anger.
the upset half's argument seems to hinge on the sunk cost fallacy. i spent so much time on this art, this fic, this comic, why do i have to stop? is my love of this thing useless? won't someone think of me, and my love for this thing that makes you uncomfortable? as an autistic person, i certainly understand, and i understand the feeling of uncleanliness for liking something now 'wrong', it was the same feeling after the dream smp, but this isn't 'wrong'.
there was nothing immoral about it before this statement, and there is now. it is purely a matter of consent. previously, pyro consented to having their characters shipped, now, he doesn't. surely, we all remember consent is a cup of tea? if someone wanted tea, but changed their mind, don't give them tea. logically, there is no reason to feel as though you have been personally betrayed by these ccs, the same as if someone changed their mind about a cup of tea, it is not an insult to your personal tea-making skills.
the angry side comes from the same impulse, i think, a betrayal and vitriol. how dare these random youtubers tell Me what to do? how dare they tell Me to stop, after playing into the ship and the joke, how dare they limit my creative expression, don't they know the internet is a wild west and people will do anything on here, it is pointless to try stop people from doing what they want, so you may as well be okay with it.
this i find a little harder to be empathetic towards. i find it deeply entitled. i have seen people who would place their creative outlet and expression above actual people, with minds and lives, who would rather continue to make their ship art, to the distress of other people, who live on the planet. the idea that you would continue to violate this boundary, when told not to, is disgusting to me. it reads, to me, in the analogy of consent is a cup of tea, as 'this person wanted tea, and changed their mind, but i loved making tea, and how dare they refuse a cup of tea, i'm going to throw it at them'.
and my personal stake in this is that, i am, technically, a cc, not just in the sense that i am an artist and (less so now, but certainly in the past) writer, but that i stream and i stream, specifically, on a lore-based smp, where i play a clear, distinct character who is not me. faye asteria, the version of me on the ouasmp, is not me, but he is, like me, aroace. i would prefer if no one shipped him, romantically. if i were a bigger creator, would people be happy and feel entitled, in the same way, to ship my character and ignore my wishes? does the fact that it is tied to my irl sexuality make it less okay? i'm not inside people's heads, and i'm not popular enough for this to be real discourse, so i'll never know, but it does give me pause.
people often bring up anne rice, in this conversation of 'online free speech' and i feel a bit sick, when people bring up her former distaste for fanfiction and make this comparison, because interview with a vampire is a story, when you peel back all setting and vampirism, about her, her husband and her dead child. whatever it grew into, it began as a way for her to express her grief. how would it feel to put that hurt into the world and have someone else twist it into whatever they want.
i don't feel i need to clarify that i don't support suing fic writers or harassing them, or running people off the internet, and i, being an artist and (less so now, but very much in the past) fic writer, obviously love fanworks. but it is weird to see how entitled people feel to ccs, to their lives and their characters and the romantic relationships that they may be portrayed in, and i don't like it. i cannot ever value fantasy and fiction over the wellbeing of real, breathing, living people.
