We have so many well known movies and books and shows that are just rpf, like:

Shakespeare in love

Our flag means death

Velvet goldmine

Anastasia

The great escape

The sound of music

Dante's inferno, purgatorio, and paradiso

Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter

Hamilton

Any time Cleopatra shows up in anything

Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar

And that's barely scratching the surface!

Every single piece of media that's "based on a true story" or falls under "fictionalized biography" is rpf. You've read, watched, and enjoyed it whether you want to admit it or not.

Shipping irl people is nothing new. Whether you write about it or post about it or not, everyone's done it at some point, even you, and you'll do it again. Can you honestly tell me you've never wondered if two of your friends had feelings for each other or thought they'd make a cute couple? Or read about historical figures and thought the same? How is that moraly different?

Yes there is a problem when people make it their whole personality and become obsessed to the point of harassing the people and their families, but that isn't exclusive to rpf and you can engage with rfp without doing that.

I don't consider the characters in my fics equal to the people they are based on because in my fics they aren't real life people, they are characters. The closest they could ever be are vague imitations of the real people they're based on. Like a painting or a statue of a historical figure, they are them in name and appearance only.