South Asian (she/hers), Largely media and music focused. Media analyst by trade. This blog is a mix of whatever my messy mind latches on to.

This is a really interesting question! So I'll be honest, I personally am not a fan of RPF but I don't think people who are fans of it are wrong for it. I do think it's important to keep boundaries and remember that if you are into RPF, you are writing and reading about real people. I think what's happened in the past decade or so with social media is that the boundaries have become a lot more blurred and people forget that whoever they are writing about is a real person with a life of their own that isn't going to cater to what fanfiction one may dream up about them. I think as long as people are mindful about the fact that they are writing and reading about real people and respect boundaries, then me or anyone else not liking RPF is irrelevant.

I'm not sure if everything surrounding Baby Reindeer had anything to do with RPF directly but I do believe it really shines a light not only on how easy it is for people to forget that the people we see onscreen are real people but also how easy social media has made it to build a parasocial relationship with someone and/or treat real people like fictional characters that you have the right to make assumptions and theories about.

But I swear, I could write a whole essay based on this show and all the layers to it. Layers that, quite frankly, I'm not sure are always obvious. Even to me, as someone who is not only trained in this but is prone to ruminating on art and media, it feels like there is so much to unpack beyond the general discussions that have been had. And there really has been so many great discussions where I've felt like I've been validated but also been provided insight into an aspect of the show that I didn't have insight into previously. The late 80s-early 90s Scottish elements just as an example. Because of course, that was very intentional and adds yet another layer to the story.