Relationshipping. Shipping. The phenomenon of wanting two — sometimes fictional, sometimes real life — people to stop the will-they-won’t-they rigamarole and just get together already. It’s a phenomenon that has become common within pop culture as fans watch shows, read books and follow celebrities.
Recent ships that had — or are building — an intense online following include Ted Lasso and Rebecca Welton (TedBecca) and the emerging romance rumors surrounding superstar Taylor Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce.
But where did this concept start in modern pop-culture?
For that, you need only to go back 30 years to The X-Files. A cult-classic TV show, The X-Files introduced us to Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) back in September of 1993.
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Mulder, an Oxford-educated profiler for the FBI, believes in the existence of extra-terrestrials and sasquatches and vampires and everything in between. Scully is a medical doctor and a skeptic, sent into that office in the basement to debunk “Spooky” Mulder’s work.
Their relationship was, for a very long time, one of friendship and coworkers. The characters — through the brilliant portrayal of Duchovny and Anderson — grew into a duo that cared for and respected each other, and it was refreshing in the mid-to-late 90s to have an attractive couple that didn’t have a sexual relationship.
But the build up and tension around the pairing led to a frenzy online among those that wanted the couple to become romantic partners in addition to FBI partners. Enter shipping as we know it now. Certainly, fanbases before The X-Files had ideations as to whether a couple should get together or not — Sam and Diane on Cheers is one that comes to mind — but the introduction of the internet changed things.
One of the first real usages of the term “relationshipper” or “shipper” is credited to a usenet group where X-Phile (the self-dubbed name for fans of the show) Amy Schatz introduced her fan-fiction story with, “I think that everyone, both R’shipper’s and Non R’shipper’s alike, can enjoy this story.”
The impact of the internet wasn’t just limited to fan-fiction and shipping. Fans found like-minded and kindred spirits on forums, and X-Philes are credited with some of the first collective communities and online watch-parties of sorts. Some of this is just the benefit of coming onto the scene at the right time, but it also created a perfect Venn diagram of people who were interested in the growth of the internet and what our two favorite agents were getting into each week.
The X-Files dealt with topics that were ready-made for like-minded folks on the internet. A sea monster?! A liver-eating mutant? A vast government conspiracy? There was so much to discuss.
And the powers that be among the writers and creators were paying attention. A 2015 article from Gizmodo details how writer Frank Spotnitz was “inspired” to write the episode “Piper Maru” (Season 3, Episode 15) when a fan comment mentioned that they had failed to properly address a plot point.
The X-Files has had a lasting impact on our current pop culture media landscape, more than it gets credit for. The next time you ship someone, think of the original couple: Smulder.