Subtext vs Maintext

Subtext vs Maintext

At the beginning of my fandom journey, I was a subtext shipper. I started out with Buffy and Faith (or Fuffy as their amusing portmanteau calls them) as my OTP, or one true pairing. And subtext has stayed with me as I've grown. I've been obsessed with Cara and Kahlan, Bering and Wells (and that obsession has never truly left me), Xena and Gabrielle (although truly, those two are very-nearly-almost maintext), Glinda/Elphaba, and many more.

There's just something about subtext that draws me in. Maybe it's the eyesex, the endless, endless eyesex. Non-canon pairings just somehow seem better at it. 

Witness the Eyesex

It could be the way subtext feels like a secret between the show and I. It's mine to treasure, and mine to know. I can watch it in a room with my parents, and they won't make a snide remark about me watching another one of my "gay shows". With subtext you can fill in the blanks, make a ship personal. Only you know what those characters did in the parts of the show that aren't shown on air.

Subtext also somehow seems less able to disappoint me than maintext. Maybe I feel if they don't actually make a character a lesbian or bisexual, they can't randomly murder them for no reason. 

This is not to say I don't love maintext. I love seeing myself reflected in television. What can I say, I'm a big gay narcissist who needs representation. Seeing women kiss on television makes me feel normal. It makes me feel I can be myself. And maintext lesbian and bisexual characters actually do a lot for how people see actual lesbians and bisexuals. 

I've been obsessed with plenty of maintext ships in my life. Root and Shaw, Cosima and Delphine, Tamsin and Bo, Stahma and Kenya, Nyssa and Sara, and Nomi and Amanita all have my love. But I don't always feel that delicious sense of tension with them.