Virtual Imagination

Word Count: 700

Ship It though distasteful to many, gives contemporary themes the space they deserve. From the beginning of the semester, our literature has begun to lay the framework for social issues that need to be talked about – be it from a fiction lens – in order to instill a future of reform. For the first time this semester, Ship It, brings in the relatability factor through experiences audiences can embody on the basis of having lived adolescence clear of identity line analysis. Specifically, we’ve dealt with novels demanding connection based on common identity of our protagonists. We’ve dealt with gender identity with Charlotte Temple and excerpts from the Lowell Offering. Narratives from The House on Mango Street expanded on immigration, class, and Hispanic life. Similarly, If I Ever Get Out of Here tackled class and societal pressure to mask your culture in order to fit into a “Western” society.  The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Ship It are facially similar as they tackle sexual identity during adolescence but differ starkly in what breaking heterosexual normative values has to do with time period, access, and a support system open to change. 

Ship It requires a strong sense of self from readers in order to unmask identity dimension Britta Lundin intertwines through cliched narratives that don’t advance the plot. For example, Demon Heart is a medium of literary expression we haven’t seen in our course literature. Charlotte Temple had letters, Lowell Offering had magazines, If I Ever Get Out of Here had letters and music, and The Miseducation of Cameron Post had film and letters. What Ship It provides is expression through the lens of fandom that unpacks fanfiction (shipping), fan art, and the interplay of everything in between. Tumblr is Claire’s outlet – an outlet Lundin gives readers time to explore outside only knowing her handle name. There are chapters amidst perspectives from Forrest and Claire that give us a look into fanfiction – text that does advance the plot – starting from the evolution of depicting Smokey and Heart and ending with Forrest and Rico. The book as an artifact presents a fandom itself – which may be the primary reason for distaste. The potential for appreciation that readers are missing is how Ship It represents the bliss that comes from living in spaces with no boundaries. 

Claire and Demon Heart collide in a way that explores what a teenage girl’s passion for Tumblr, Comic-Con, and coming to terms with sexual identity says about societal flaws. Opportunities for further exploration of identity are left underdeveloped and masked by characterizing Claire in a distasteful light as she almost has too much autonomy – and brings harm into her life. An interesting contrast given our continual correlation between lack of autonomy and harm in previous books. Personally, this is what makes Ship It captivating for me. Adolescence as a phase of awkwardness and unsettling feelings is the contrast I needed to prior texts that dealt with whiteness – a society continually guilty of implicit bias. I was exhausted of unpacking the trauma of adolescence – based on uncontrollable circumstances – class and sexuality. This process that is exhausting because, though some of our texts are dated, these issues are just as contemporary as Ship It. 

Ship It begins to explore the journey to self-discovery, but Lundin puts readers in a disposition to come to that conclusion on their own. This journey is masked with unhealthy plot lines centered around Claire – who has the privilege of coming off as candid and always falling back on the support of her parents. We see Claire go down a road of pushing her own agenda – failing to realize the harm she is implying on others – the same harm she is taken aback by when she is victim of it. Despite these problematic narratives, I still applaud Lundin because, the point is to have a protagonist who is clearly young and figuring herself out. Claire who is so used to fighting normative values, has plunged herself into social isolation prior to going on tour. It isn’t realistic for readers to demand Lundin to fix representation in media, unpack toxic masculinity, and allow sexuality to be black and white all in the time span of this Comic-Con tour. 

-Shahum Ajmal 

Works Cited

Lundin, Britta. Ship It. Freeform Books, 2019.