You can make anything sound reasonable by being selective with the details. These aren't good faith misinterpretations. It's not media illiteracy when they move the goalposts instead of admitting their theory was wrong.
All of this, oh my goodness. Like, it's a huge key component. Between being deadass tired and wanting to be a fair person—I try to be more easy on people and their ability to interpret, even if it is wrong factually. To be able to just say "Oh you just misunderstood it, you good". But, the absolute force that is interpretation is such a goober, and makes it complicated.
An interpretation is, at it's core, an explanation through understanding. So, really, it's very easy for it to be anything and everything. Two people can even agree on an interpretation, but have nuances in what they understand fully, which then creates division. There are interpretations that are shaped by relevant information, and then those that are shaped by, well, everything else. These two approaches can blend (i.e. subtext recognition), or not, and absolutely to what you said, sometimes this is simply from a place of personal selection and isolation. You can mold an interpretation to sound reasonable and analytical, but this and being wrong after the fact aren't mutually exclusive. Some people don't want to hear it, but fans are more alike in this regard than they think, even "rival" shippers. Certain individuals spend a lot of time being pissed at each other, when the other is doing something that they too will do for other ships. Cloti and Clerith alike want truths to be established, but a lot don't recognize the nature of interpretation enough, and if they did, maybe they'd go easier on each other.
From my experience, out of all types of FF7 fans, Cloti shippers/supporters generally tend to be the most "by the book, don't use opinion over fact" preachers, though admittedly still with interpretations that are a bit
extra, as long as it's congruent with the facts. (this can be complicated too) These types are more mad about HOW Clerith fans are shipping, right? However, that switch up of "listen to the devs" to "the devs are lying" can happen
real fast with proper motivation. And not gonna lie, happens a lot with homosexual ships. On one hand, I get it because it's for the good fight of representation, but on the other, there's too much other things being sacrificed unnecessarily. I also don't like hypocrisy. Funny enough for both Sora/Riku and Fang/Vanille ships—I've had conversations with Cloti fans who ship them where, conveniently, prioritizing an interpretation that conflicts with information is more acceptable than that of one that is shaped by said information. Because now, they believe their interpretation is correct, just like how Clerith fans felt this way for what they wanted to prioritize to understand the game. "Okay yeah, but THIS is different—".
Is it though?
Theory crafting bears fruit to the same goober activity. Sora/Riku fans were goobin' it up on Twitter with the same thing recently. Straight up: "Ultimania information isn't canon, but the Soriku theory is" reasoning, which ironically enough comes from a theory called "The Soriku Ultimania". And crazy how some of these were Cloti fans—"by the book" Cloti fans, mind you. What happened. It's not even a conspiracy—it's just VERY easy for people to have interpretations that aren't shaped by information or universally accepted logic—even if the result is an understanding that directly conflicts with said information. And it can
sound reasonable as an isolated, selective thing, just like how it's reasonable for Clerith fans to see Cloud and Aerith the way they do, but context gives more than what people are willing to let it give, and so what can be established as fact vs. opinion is sacrificed.
Which to be fair,
"information says that, BUT this scene shows this", could be justified—this decided by reasonable logic, hopefully. Interpretations like this can range from
actually pointing out literal contradictions—to just being no, the information isn't conflicting, and people just don't understand how it applies. Now, which one is a misinterpretation, in retrospect to fandom recognition, falls on what individual people decide is true, and people are complicated, can lie, and have motivations outside of seeking truths that are beyond their own personal wishes. On the surface, Cloti fans have it easier in this scenario because their ship happens to align with the facts, but even the more sour ones have moments (about FF7 or outside) where they misinterpret things for the sake of their own goals.
Which is why my ships have always been fanon. (Not that I'm sure if I was clearer with this one either, lol.)
