Well ... yes I am. No one is forcing you, but if you click "Back to Proof" right now, you'd be missing out on a lot. What's following is an email I received from a guy called ThatZekeGuy. Yes, he's a Shipper, but as he says, a "qualified" one! He's a buddy of MASHEO Greg's, so he couldn't be too insane, could he?!

You never can tell anymore. Read what ThatZekeGuy has to say about the Noromo / Shipper debate.

From: "Jeff" (schemmj@cfu.net)
To: sillywly@acr.net.au
Subject: no gag-worthy sigs here!
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 19:03:07 -0500
 
 
Hi there and hello Brianna!

My name is Jeff (nickname: ThatZekeGuy) and Greg Lawson of MASHEO said that I should email you and I figured "what the heck". It was Greg and mine's snappy banter over the whole shipper-noromo thing that was one of the inspirations for his page. (I found most of those .wavs for him!) I have seen the whole series but for 2 eps, albeit out of order.

*** Um, this was supposed to be alot shorter - "Hi, how are you? What do you want to know?" and all that, but I kinda got going, so read on if you like or skim it or learn from this and never ask other Noromo web-site masters to have their friends mail you again :) ******

Yes, I am a guy (confirmed) and I am also a shipper. But I think I am a qualified shipper. Greg and I have tried to categorize the whole fan base. I used those discussions to form my own spectrum, shown below. The following interpretations however, are strictly my own opinions.

Shippers    ----------------    Don't Know/Don't Care    -----------------    NoRomos

As with politics, you have your far right and far left. The far left consists of Extreme Shippers, the people who think that M&S are deeply in love and refer to the M/S Romance and will devote pages and pages to analyzing it. This drives me nuts. It's impossible to deeply analyze what might be implied by a character when something is not written for the character. They analyze things to death when they don't know what the writer may have intended! [And for the record, the all hailed Uber-Vince is NOT a shipper (I have quotes on this!) - He says they have a deep platonic love and enjoys dealing with their relationship more than the other writers.] So this breed of shipper thinks the two are madly in romantic love and are already expressing it. They also tend to be more concerned with this romantic focus than the actual point of the show (i.e. a cop drama with supernatural / paranormal / extraterrestrial emphasis).

Farther along to the right is the Domestic Shipper, that believes the two are in love and should get romantically involved RIGHT NOW. I think this is your stock shipper. They tend to defend their opinions, and are big are analyzing it, but aren't as googily-eyed about it as their above counterparts.

Then we get to a bizarre category - the Noromo Shipper , which is probably what I am (but more on that later). This is the type who enjoy the shippy moments of the show and are willing to analyze those shippy moments. They think that the two love each other, but at this point its more platonic than romantic, although it could very easily become romantic at some point. In fact, they want it to happen, but only AFTER the "quest" aspect of the show is resolved. Going into a relationship too much at this point in the series would change the focus a bit too much for anyone's liking. But they'll take the shippy moments for what they could be - a hint at future things to come, NOT as a promise, and they'll also take the stand that they enhance the show rather than detracting from it.

Now we slide into the category of indifference, the Don't Know/Don't Care (but usually with a slant). These folks watch the show when they can, enjoy it, don't analyze it, and then get on with their lives. I think most have an opinion one way or another, but these folks are casual viewers and aren't going to go to extremes to defend their positions. (I have a sneaking suspicion that more casual viewers are shipper-bent, but I think that human nature and I could be wrong and usually am. Ask Greg.)

Then we go to the Shipper Noromo, who, like the Noromo Shipper, would like to see the two get together at the end (or wouldn't be bothered by it very much). They tend to be more forceful about their stance on the whole "AFTER the quest" thing and are more concerned with the plot of the MoTW and the Conspiracy eps than what shippiness is going on.

From there it's off to the Domestic NoRomo, who is pretty much the mirror of the Domestic Shipper, except no romance, has no place there, don't even want to talk about it. Shippy moments are moments of either bad writing or a natural extension of circumstance or the platonic relationship. No romantic feelings exist there and they never should. They are willing to analyze the series to back this up and are willing to defend their points.

And now we must go on to the Extreme NoRomo. Whereas Extreme Shippers make far too much of what isn't there (PAGES of analysis on Pusher or Redux II comes to mind), Extreme NoRomos tend to fanatically ignore things that might actually be legitimately shippy, make the automatic assumption that any romance is evil and would ruin the show, and worse, tend to be really mean in their flames to Shippers (who should stand their ground and give back a reasoned response, sadly, some run and whine to other shippers). This type drives me as nuts as the the Extreme Shipper.

Okay, that's the spectrum. Let me know what you think about it. (For the record Brianna, I think you're firmly in the Domestic NoRomo Category - more on that later).

As for myself? I've put myself in the Noromo Shipper category, but I've have multiple attacks of Domestic Shippiness. I am a hopeless romantic about some things and it just seems right (in my opinion) for them to get to romantically once the "quest" (myth arc) of the series is resolved. I don't think doing the ending that way will wreck the 140 previous eps by "making it a love story", nor do I think the shippy moments currently wreck the focus of the show. If nothing else, they certainly don't detract from it, as you yourself said in your bit about Momento Mori "think "Memento Mori" was an fantastic episode because of the excellent acting, superb storyline, moving post-production". It was good, and it had some shippiness to it (the nature of that shippiness is open to interpretation, however). My friend Greg has enjoyed the past series of eps, and they've been pretty shippy, but it's made sense within the context of the story, so what of it. [I'm sending a copy of this to Greg, too, and if I'm misquoting him, he'll let us both know dern quick]. To assume that romance will automatically ruin it (the stance of the Extreme Noromo) is just as wrong as the stance that romance should automatically be part of it. If the writers can make it fly, more power to them, if not, they're better off leaving it alone.

I am far, far too much of a empirical person (psychology academic background) to be anything resembling an Extreme Shipper. I shake my head at the people who spend lots of time analyzing episodes for the tiniest bit of shippiness. I go by what I see on the screen and what I can interpret from that. So, from my interpretations of what I have seen on the show I think that the two were initially attracted to each other, each still thinks the other is attractive, they do love each each other, but they aren't ready to explore that option due to the conspiracy and personal issues on both of their parts. And I can point to the episodes and bit where I formed those interpretations. However, not everyone interprets things the same way. This is where Greg and I go back and forth - we both see the same thing and take different things from it. Our conclusions are different, but we both use similar processes to get there and I can respect that. Just as I respect your opinions (and your whole Shippers ... Noromos ... bit is spot-on hilarious). I can also come up with a pretty good noromo perspective because of it. (Know thy enemy and all that. ;) )

Okay, this is far, far more than what I intended to write, but I've never been called a "bloke" before and I have to admit I rather enjoyed it. Hope this gives you some insight into a reasoned shipper mind, and feedback is always welcomed. I also hope life is fine and dandy in Australia (that's where you are, isn't it? -if not, please continue and forgive my ignorance). Take care and keep up the good work.

Jeff
Shipper and general goof at large ...

P.S. My biggest shipper triumph to date has been getting Greg admit that during the Scully-in-the-car scene during The End, Scully appeared very jealous (romantically!!) of Mulder and Diana Fowley. He still won't budge on the hallway-bee scene, tho'.

Now didn't I tell you that would be a fun read?! Thanks to Jeff for letting me publish it here. What do you think? Is Jeff right? Is Jeff a psycho? Are you maybe an Extreme Noromo who just can't handle a world with sane Shippies in it? (Don't worry; I'm getting used to the idea, too.) Feel free to have a bit of a yarn with Jeff, if you like, but at this stage I'd much rather it if you emailed ME! I cannot stress this enough, people! Jeff is a very busy guy (male Shippers are rather in demand, I hear! J) so don't be shy, folks!

Oh, and if you're a male fan with an opinion about the Noromo / Shipper debate - PLEASE talk to me! You might not be as "qualified" or prolific as Jeff here, but give it a go! Come on!