ive posted this before but this is my take on RPF
For me the shipping is just memes, a meta commentary, but actual facts matter. My take on Sincaraz: It's a tricky balance of KNOWING the truth and then using their interactions for something that gives us entertainment. We know there's nothing going on. But we are having fun with our make-believe.
As children, we knew the dolls and action figures we played with weren't actually loving or dying or living, but we play-acted because it is a human desire to create stories. It just so happens we are now creating a story for actual living people. They aren't dolls, so there is a strange care involved that we do not confuse the two.
I think for the most part, shippers have a meta understanding of their dolls (Sincaraz) not being real, and when it comes to it, the real Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are fully realized humans with whom we aren't intimate. This and that are two different things, and it might be strange, but it's akin to making dolls of the two and then having them play-act.
For example, a comment from Carlos turns into shippers having Doll Carlos saying that he wants to meet Doll Jannik in the final. It's just us in the corner creating a story, which -- again -- is an innate human desire. For me, the Real Carlos and the Real Jannik are untouchable. I cannot actually play with them. Carlos said what he said, and he meant whatever he meant. And I am fine with that. In fact, I love it. I love that the truth of their being is inaccessible to me, other than the fact that they seem like two nice men who play good fucking tennis. We learn bits and pieces about them that we incorporate in our play, but at the end of the day, this and that are two different things. However you choose to react to shippers having fun while actually knowing truth -- that they don't actually know what is true about Jannik and Carlos -- is up to you.
You can choose to write about what Real Carlos actually meant, ensure the translation is accurate, and the delineation is important to remind us that we (the shippers) are just playing. I value this ability to relive a childhood game, which might be a sign of arrested development.
I like to play make-believe, but I know to put away Doll Carlos and Doll Jannik when it is appropriate. Humans entertain themselves through many avenues. Art, puzzles, movies, music, gambling, drugs, sex, learning, bird-watching, fishing, reading, dancing, writing, climbing dangerous heights, seeing which frog can jump the highest, and -- yes -- shipping real people. Just like nuances exist in everything I mentioned prior, then, so too do they exist here.
For me, it is not so straightforward as people twisting Carlos and Jannik's relationship. It's seeing a bowl of fruits and painting this:
INTENTIONALLY for fun, knowing all the while what the bowl of fruits really looks like. I try to be careful in acknowledging that, but if you start believing your painting of the fruit is real, then that might be harmful for you.
You cannot actually eat the painting. The bowl of fruits is not flat like you portrayed. You were just playing.
Humans love play, so I think shipping whomever or whatever is sacrosanct. Perhaps other people get involved, and we make friends to play with online. Others might view our friend group as strange: They are delusional! Playing with dolls! When Jannik and Carlos are not dolls!
We know. It's just play. I can't control the reactions to how I find entertainment, but I will keep this child part of me intact for now with the adult realization of when to STOP PLAYING, put away the Sincaraz dolls, and live my real life that has nothing to do with the play I just did.
It does not carry over because it is not real. Just like a movie isn't real. And when I'm done watching I don't live my life thinking that is what actually happened. But I'm gonna put on my Nicole Kidman for a moment and say that for the two hours I was watching, the movie WAS real. For now, in our make-believe world, Doll Carlos said his goal is to play Doll Jannik in the Final. We play by saying they held hands when WE KNOW the Real Carlos and Real Jannik were just in the middle of dapping when the photo was taken. But we're having fun playing. Anyway,
TLDR; Carlos and Jannik are rivals then lovers soon to be engaged. Thanks for coming to my TumblrTalk.
P.S. if either of Sincaraz ever discover my fanfic and take offense or are weirded out, I simply have this to say: 1) None of what I wrote is true and I don't believe anything I wrote is true; it was simply a creative exercise. 2) Would you like me to take the fics down? If so, I will. 3) I'm a huge fan! Keep up the awesome tennis.
