Shipper or Noromo?

I'm an X-files fan and I'm a shipper. What on earth is a shipper? That's the first thing most people will ask, when they hear the word for the first time. So did I actually, I didn't know shippers existed, until the day I got my Internet connection and got introduced to the world of shippers and Noromo's.

Shippers? Noromo's? Help! Can somebody please explain me what all these weird words mean? They're not in my English dictionary! Luckily there were more than enough kind people to explain to me, what exactly shippers (and Noromo's) were. Let me give you a short introduction to the shipper world!

I'll start with the shippers, since I am one myself. The origin of the word is actually very simple, shipper comes from relationship. Why? Because shippers believe strongly (in the case of the X-files) that the show's main characters, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully should get together, because they are deeply in love.

They're not exactly happy that the show's creator, Chris Carter, still didn't give them what they want. For some one kiss is enough, but some want more. Declarations of love, marriage, who knows even a child (nothing's impossible in the world of a shipper!). Some shippers want them to get together right now (after all they are waiting 7 years already!) , others don't want them to get together until the end of the show, the so-called fini-shippers.

So a shipper is a shipper? Not exactly, recently I found out there are other X-files shippers than Mulder/Scully shippers too. The David/Gillian-shippers. They do not only think that Mulder and Scully in the series should be a couple, they also believe that David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson would make a perfect couple.

But there's more. A lot of shippers are not only X-files shippers. There are lots of other shows, lots of other couples who are made for each other. A few examples: Mulder/Scully, Jack/Sam, Harm/Mac, Buffy/Angel, Janeway/Chakotay, Doug/Carol, Monica/Chandler and the list could go on for hours. Every show has its favorite couple and every show has its shippers. Basically you could say that shippers are the people who look at a show from the romantic side, they believe in true love and romance.

In the world of shippers there's one other difference that can be made. The shippers that write fanfic and the ones who don't. Okay, wait a minute here, fanfic what is that? Fanfic is short for fanfiction, stories written by fans, giving the show the ending they want. For shippers this opens whole new options and trust me, there are more stories out there than you can imagine.

On to Noromo's. Noromo's watch the X-files for a whole different reason (maybe even the reason the show was made for in the first place). What is a Noromo? Noromo stands for no romance, their main reason for watching the show is not the romance between the main characters. They probably couldn't care less if the main characters did or did not get together. They like the show because of the mystery and the cases.

To make it even more confusing there are also Noromo's who write fanfic, but the stories they write are completely different from the stories a shipper writes. If these stories even include romance at all, they are a nightmare for shippers, because they most certainly do not include Mulder/Scully-romance (or Harm/Mac, Buffy/Angel etc.)!
But you know what? It doesn't really matter who you are, what you do or what you write. Shipper or noromo, in the end we are all fans, we just watch the shows for our own reasons! And after all, the world would be a boring place when everybody would be the same, wouldn't it?

Tanja
Feedback to voet@tanja-myrna.demon.nl or through shipperworld@threelittlewords.co.uk