#because i think it creates this seriously fucked up situation where he has his yuan shen his whole life
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big big shoes to fill
#nezha reborn#new gods: nezha reborn#ao bing#art tag#this movie is about... identity...!#ok i know there's some uncertainty surrounding like the actual nature of ao bing's reincarnation#but i personally like to think it was like he was reborn as just a kid and had to grow up again#because i think it creates this seriously fucked up situation where he has his yuan shen his whole life#and obviously he doesn't have the same like. cognitive dissonance issues that li yunxiang has where lyx just talks to his nezha yuan shen#as like a separate entity/person entirely when it's like that is literally just you my guy#(and part of that is probably because for him it's like well I'm a grown man and this soul projection is a Child)#BUT ANYWAY THIS POST ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT LI YUNXIANG SORRY AS I WAS SAYING#i cant imagine how fucked it would be to grow up with this visible#palpable projection of your adult self that you're supposed to grow up to be because it's who you were in the past#this ideal You that you can see#that simultaneously Is you and is something else entirely#literally always trying to fill your own shoes and to recreate this You#not to mention never being sure if your father loves You and put in all this effort to bring You back#or if he loves and wants back this version of you that existed 3000 years ago#shit's crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#ive been stewing on this for a minute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#the past 2 weeks have been cray zee but i really wanted to make this..#also excuse to draw baby ao bing.#gonna queue this for tomoz i think
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ep30 (1/2): okay fine I'm eating my words. and crying. I am also crying
country boy with his little blade of grass hanging from his mouth <3 I love how wwx finds a source of joy in every situation he's in. he creates his own fun and happiness, and he's very good at it. and it's probably one of the reasons he hasn't succumbed to despair over the course of the many horrific things that have happened to him
it's so great to see her wedding outfit!! she looks so beautiful!!
these scenes hurt so much because you know what's coming and what wwx is going to lose. the wen scenes aren't sad like that...they're just very warm to me. maybe bc wwx thinks about LP and his siblings way more than the wens once he comes back to life. obviously he mourns them and he loved them, but it's not the depth of attachment he has with his siblings, who he grew up with and trauma-bonded with pretty strongly. also jyl helped raise him, she's as close to a mother as he got
oh he's crying here. I didn't remember
he doesn't even deny it! yeah im going to name your nephew after my crush. and what about it?
no matter how much hurt comes afterwards, I'm glad that jyl told wwx this. he deserves to know jc is capable of things like this, that he does care about him. and jyl has to tell him bc jc never would
last time eating soup together 😭😭😭😭😭
this was so kind of her...god I wish jyl had been the one to survive. idk if she's much of a politician but she has a HEART for the wens
this might be jc's funniest line
oh my god I'm so embarrassed. I kept talking about how jc never expressed concern or attentiveness to wwx's injuries and here he is asking after the stab wound. okay! I know! was wrong
this scene is heartbreaking
and then it focus on wen ning....god wwx does love wen ning so much. I don't think he sees the wens as siblings but he does love them
HE WANTED YOU TO HAVE IT 😭 this hurts so much bc wwx so rarely is able to accept kindness and love like this!! I'm just glad he took this charm from jyl, because he so often feels the need to refuse things like home and love bc he feels like they don't belong to him!! or can't!! wwx's perpetual state of limbo in his family and the world must be so tiring to him
bowing to jyl like she's a stranger 😭 and his face afterwards, he looks about to cry. obvs jyl calling after him is devastated, but jc too!
even sorrow and grief is able to break through jc's perma-scowl. god this hurts
and this scene where he's just staring at this charm thinking about everything he left behind....he's in such a low place rn
and then!!!
he starts reminiscing about jc!!! god dammit!!! I was so sure he only missed jyl and lwj!!! well fuck me, he does miss his brother I guess and he thinks about him fondly!!
also he thinks about lwj and their oath and leaving him, so it's a general theme of revisiting the promises he made and the person he thought he would become vs. the things he actually ended up doing. and just...struggling with those choices
REGRETS REGRETS THEY RISE
jgy being appreciative of the staff is noteworthy, maybe? I don't think we see any other characters be particularly nice to servants, or really interact with them at all
jgy is rly in his element here. I wish I could plop him into an event planning job and remove all his murderous, vengeful rage. I do think he deserved a shot and he's still being treated horribly unfairly
wwx staring dead-eyed into the distance as his sole hope for a connection to his family is being destroyed: it's fine I guess we all must accept fate
xz's really been impressing this arc. he's capturing the grief and regret and sorrow so well
oh, according to this tranlation the 'sister' a-yuan mentions, which some ppl have theorized was a sibling he lost, is just wq
well, there goes the 'yin iron quest-era a-yuan was actually his sister who looks just like him and wears the same clothes' seriously WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST USE A BABY. IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE A REAL BABY JUST WRAP SOME BLANKETS TOGETHER AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN OBVIOUS
jzx standing up for his brother is another nice thing he does. I am inexplicably fond of him
well you know I don't approve of jgy's atrocities but REST IN PIECES YOU OLD BITCH BECAUSE GUESS WHAT HAPPENED
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contextualizing lwj’s coming to terms with his feelings subplot!
i wanna talk about the role of confucianism in this subplot because i think it’s something some western fans might not pick up on. basically, the sociopolitical climate of confucianism in his character arc, and a little bit about his interaction with the public image theme.
disclaimer: i’m not chinese but i do have a double minor in chinese and asian studies and have written a few papers on confucianism.
we’re gonna be talking about the novel bc i feel its a little more in-depth and nuanced than lwj’s “what is black, what is white” monologue in cql. namely the tension and misunderstanding in wwx’s first life and how lwj got his scars. i feel like it’s pretty well accepted that wwx made lwj reconsider his world view, so i’m just gonna expand on it. also i want to point out it's pretty unspoken in most of the text, but lwj is also affected by/used to explore the public image themes, as his image the is ideal confucian scholar.
confucianism is centered around the ideas of how to behave “good” in sociopolitical contexts. basically it boils down to a belief system on how society should be run. if everyone follows confucian beliefs, you will have an ideal society. the main text is the Analects, which you can read here. it’s been around for a few thousand years (like around 200 BCE ish), had a huge revival in the tang dynasty (618-907 CE). it was put on imperial exams, the emperor’s cabinet had confucian scholars, etc. this is just to say confucian values are important to historic society, especially upper-class scholars, which seems to be a role cultivators commonly fill in xianxia. here are some basic tenants:
being a gentleman/scholar/superior man (君子 jūn zǐ) : partly being learned in the arts, literature, music, poetry, etc., mostly behaving righteously and dutifully.
filial piety: usually described as obedience. it's not simply obeying everything elders tell you, it includes doing it with reverence and thankfulness for their sacrifices for you.
leading by example: if leaders/the government is righteous, the people will follow. lwj has his flock of juniors that are all strong cultivators and the lan sect is just generally known for being moral and good.
rites/rituals: a focus on politeness and holding proper ceremonies, sacrifices, and funerals
speech: there’s some great meta about the register he speaks in here, i just want to touch on think carefully before you speak, only speak sincerely, etc.
tldr; lwj is THE perfect gentleman (even his title contains the character suffix 君 -jūn, like lxc. which, while this character is not uncommon for cultivator titles, it wasn’t chosen carelessly either. also not to be confused with 尊 -zūn). seriously, look at almost all of book 10 and you'll see don't do/consume in excess, don't talk during meals, sit only when your mat is straight, etc.
okay, so Why is understanding his feelings for wwx so troublesome?
1.2 "They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion... Filial piety and fraternal submission! - are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"
in other words, people who are filial will never create political tension. so like, morally, wwx should be considered horrible person! he’s not only snubbed the jiang sect. he was a head disciple who undoubtedly had younger students looking up to him. and then he goes and stirs up some huge political issues! he is now a bad role model for the people below him and disrespected the people above him. lwj has an entire image to uphold, he has poured his entire life into following these rules and beliefs, and then wwx comes along. would continuing to be in wwx's life taint lwj? there are some contradicting teachings in regards to interacting with wwx:
15.4: "Do not take counsel with those who follow a different Way"
15.28: "When the multitude hates a person, you must examine them and judge for yourself. The same holds true for someone whom the multitude love."
15.36 "When it comes to being Good, defer to no one, not even your teacher."
this is part of the reason lwj had so much trouble accepting his feelings. he didn’t know how to handle this situation, making him appear distant during/directly after sunshot. if he judges wwx's intentions to be pure, it's then not wrong to be friendly with him. but wwx still is morally wrong by society's standards. now, lwj has to not only figure out his feelings, but also reconcile this with how he still thinks wwx is Not a bad person, despite everything. what if he does get "tainted" by wwx? will it hurt the reputation of his sect? that would be un-filial, right? he spent his whole life memorizing rules that are probably extremely similar to sections in the Analects, and now these mixed messages (coupled with the relatable gay panic) are overwhelming.
onto the next! there’s something unspoken in the scene where wwx discovers why lwj has the whip scars. as other posts have mentioned, lwj taking wwx back to the burial mounds and nursing him is high treason. however, this action is also extremely un-filial. also his entire image is built around being a perfect gentleman, if this were to get out to the public he would lose absolutely everything. he would be just as irreparable as wwx.
“I was worried if those from another sect found you first, WangJi would be considered your accomplice. The best scenario was his name being forever tainted, and the worst was his life being taken away right then. Thus, along with Uncle, we chose thirty three seniors who had always thought highly of WangJi... ”
there’s no way lwj didn’t know what would happen if he did this. obviously as lxc says, if this got out, he would lose basically his entire face. and even though lxc didn’t mention this, it would definitely lose a lot of face for the lan sect as well since lwj is so prominent. the decision about what elders to bring is also notable.
“...As if he knew all along he would be discovered by us, he said that there was nothing to explain, that this was it. Growing up, he had never talked back to Uncle, not even once. But for you, not only did WangJi talk back to him, he even met with his sword the cultivators from the Gusu Lan sect...”
so yeah, he obviously knew they would come for him and what the consequences would be. and he still talked back! that’s already not a good look for the lan sect. but attacking them? totally unforgivable! lwj gives up how he was raised and the importance of filial piety, what he has held on to until this major plot event. since it's basically the biggest "fuck you" to his uncle and his clan, this was not a decision he made lightly. lwj shows them he cares more about wwx and His Own ideas of right and wrong than the sect’s or society’s.
Wei WuXian dug his hands into his hair, “...I-I didn’t know... I really...”
when was the last time wwx was at a loss for words? wwx spends a few paragraphs after this lamenting how he hurt lwj, but he's not unaware of the gravity of what lwj did. it's an underlying assumption from being raised in the culture. i would argue his first instinct is "oh god he gave up what for me?" since those lamenting paragraphs are after lxc finishes speaking.
"But he said... that he could not say with certainty whether what you did was right or wrong..."
this is something thrown around a lot in the Analects, that not even confucius can say for sure what is right or wrong. what better way to show lwj is still a perfect confucian than have him paraphrase confucius himself?
“...WangJi was a model for the disciples when he was young, and a prominent cultivator when he grew up. In his whole life he had been honest and righteous and immaculate--you were the only mistake he made!”
here’s the confirmation that the world and even his family thinks of him as a perfect gentleman, the top tier of society, and it was all thrown away for wwx. this is just so heavy. the mistake thing? thats not only because lwj is fraternizing with an enemy. lxc and the rest of the sect who knew are terrified this will forever corrupt lwj personally, not just publicly. lwj was so devoted to believing this was the right thing to do he offered up everything he had. the gravity of this decision is insane. it’s very obvious that he loves wwx, it’s just that he struggles a lot internally to accept everything that is happening.
as for helping wwx leave after the massacre, is this gentleman-ly of lwj? was it actually in-line with his image? is it more honorable to save someone who is dying, at the cost of your own health, than to look away? isn't looking away a form of resentment? i wasn't able to find a specific passage about bystander-ness, but personally i think it qualifies as "bad intentions." there is also this passage for what it's worth, originally it was about government suppression:
12.19: "...What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?" Confucius replied, "...why should you use killing at all?..."
lwj is always more actions than words, and he was not fucking around. his core beliefs really haven't changed, and remain very strong throughout his life. he is still righteous enough to accept his punishment, graceful enough to search for wwx's body since there was no one else to do the funeral rites (10.22/10.15), caring enough to take in a-yuan, upright enough to still spend his years going where the chaos is.
just with this one action, the audience knows he has come to terms with realizing that authority isn't always just, and neither is the public opinion/opinion of other gentlemen. he has reconciled. this is him standing for what he believes is right. this is his devotion. this is his own choice. just. poetic cinema...
anyway that's it for my first meta post! i would love to hear your thoughts, feelings, opinions, discussions, other meta ideas, whatever! thank u for reading! <3
#its My post and i get to pick the subplot#i have...brainworms#wwx and lwj are foils in the public image theme change my mind#mdzs#mdzs meta#lan wangji#mo dao zu shi#stfu#meta
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Mobbing Around: CucumberPlane AU~
yup, here I am again, back with my AU’s~ This time for one of my favorite pairings of Scum Villain CucumberPlane (I just love this disaster duo)
Here is first thing first; Shen Yuan and Airplane are not Shen Qingqiu or Shang Qinghua respectively.
But the both do have relations to both in certain ways-
Shen Yuan was transmigrated in this world into the body of a dying Shen Yi, the first of the street kids in Yue Qi and Shen Jiu’s group. He was the one who taught Yue Qi all his survival tips and in the beginnings of Shen Jiu’s life was the one who would sing nightmares away and provide a hug when needed. It’s also thanks to Shen Yi that the two have more power in the arsenal, because of course you know the minute Shen Yuan knew this was a cultivation world, he tried and see everything that would work in cultivating (which was surprisingly a lot, thanks to how PIDW is set up, his mish-mash of styles were perfect.) It’s like this for a few years, these years on the streets hardening Shen Yi in a way, the world undeniably real to him in every pain he feels, the grief that hits him, and even in the little pleasures he finds day by day... But of course it doesn’t last... After all, the extra’s did mention that Yue Qi and Xiao Jiu were the last of their group for a reason. It happens when a group of slave traders come through town, making nice with the lord there, showing off their pretties and then getting out with their pay... but with so little stock left, they of course of to bulk it up before they leave.
And who would miss a few kids from the streets? (Shen Yi did what he could, buying time to make sure the others would at least get away, unknowing that he himself would be the price paid to buy those precious seconds)
Now for Airplane, who was born one Shang Huanmu (hopefully means Pleased Desire but if not i’m blaming PIDW’s naming sense) Who is one of the numerous half-brothers of this world’s future Shang Qinghua. Shang Huanmu was a child that should have died in the womb, but thanks to transmigration, he in the end lives! Airplane’s father can be thought of as the Jin Guangshan of Scum Villain, a power hungry womanizer who only thinks of himself and the pleasures in life, just this one is actually able to legally have more wives. Now, if Airplane had been born as Shang Qinghua, as one of the sons of the Legal First Wife, he wouldn’t have to concern himself with harem politics and treachery, especially after his mother ensured he could escape it permanently by giving him the chance to be a big renown sect’s disciple... But like I said, Shang Huanmu does not have that safety net. He and his mother are stuck deep in the poisonous words dipped in rouge and perfume, where one wrong word, where one misstep, where one simple look could get them flogged, booted out of the clan, or even death if they are not careful.
Airplane gets a very different second childhood (but with a mother, a parent who actually loves and supports him, despite all his eccentrics and quirks? It goes a long way for his shallow heart). (EDIT: found out Huanmu can also mean 360 degree cinema screen, which only makes me want to keep it even more.)
Now, can you guess how they meet? :3 The head of the Shang Household decides they need more sex slaves hmm, ehem, I mean servants, of course, look, there are even a few boys here even! (not to say just how many woman there are) Shen Yi Just happens to be one of these poor souls stuck here. For a while, he just gets shuffled around for a time, no set place yet as he is still new and they’re not sure what to do with him yet.
Until one day, Shen Yi gains the favor of one of the many wives, her son one day seeming to favor him, so thus making him their personal servant.
(I’m thinking Airplane hears Shen Yuan singing a fan song under his breath, joins in with him, and suddenly both are like ‘I’m not alone’)
Now that that is set up, here are a few other things to note-
Mama Shang is a certified bad ass who loves her babies (yes, Shen Yuan is her baby now) and will fuck up anyone who thinks of hurting them (how else do you think they’ve survived for so long? and give me more awesome woman in SV!!)
In public, Shen Yi is the dutiful, grateful servant while Shang Huanmu is the careless weird master (in private they are just disaster best friends, with Shen Yuan being the huffy commanding one.)
Both boys learn degrees of her badassery, Shang Huanmu going more mental manipulative route with plenty of tricks and traps, while Shen Yi takes the fighting approach with the mental strategist route. This also gives the public a more Master-Bodyguard servant relationship to view...
Shen Yuan and Airplane find out in mid-early of their friendship who they were in a past life, but seeing as neither know they are in PIDW, Shen Yuan just bitches at him occasionally about it, even teasing him as well.
The reason why they don’t know is because they are much more focused on surviving their environment around them, the sects that are mentioned are the ones either a) close by to the Shang Family or b) something more ‘fitting’ for their stations in life. (besides, a lot of stories have similar names for clans, I know about two that have a Jiang clan. not to mention Jin clan and others)
So yeah, Cucumber-bro and Airplane-bro grow up close, bitch and complaining, and crying to each other (laughing and smiling and clinging tight in the night, worried an assassin would be right there to take one of them away.)
Both men are mentally older, wearier, and jaded here, both seek comfort in the other, both trust each other greatly... but both are still as dense as rocks when it comes to the realization that they have been in love with each other for years now.
(Shen Yuan has no idea why he wants to vomit everytime he hears about possible marriage matches for Airplane; probably just the thought of someone actually marrying him that gets him, even if he isn’t that bad to look at...)
(Airplane smiles like normal, but his eyes are like they were made of ice the moment someone offers to buy/take Shen Yi off his hands; no way is someone going to take his bro from him, even as the thought of separating from Shen Yuan fills his soul with a chilling fear. Probably just the thought of what could happen to his friend getting to him, what with how pretty the other is...)
If there is a system in this world, I want it to be as ridiculous as possible; Like, the Good Deed System, where you have to perform good deeds from simple ones to world saving quests, or even a Side Quest System, a system that makes sure that those little details actually get met. Maybe even a Karma System, where what comes around goes around and all that (basically, I want these two boys to be in the dark about where they actually are for as long as possible :D But Systems are so much fun to mess with~)
Now, this AU can actually Branch out:
In number one, Mama Shang sees an opportunity for her boys, since the first wife is sending one of her sons to the prestigious Cang Qiong Moutain Sect, she joins in with a group of other wives to try and get their own children sent, which the Shang Head allows, because hey, if more of his blood get in, more face for his family! This is when both boys find out that they are in PIDW, which makes Shen Yi glare at one certain shrinking author, who pales at all the realizations. But this is their best chance at a new life, to become cultivators and escape their harsh family and all it’s tricks and traps. Both of them take the digging holes seriously (even as Shen Yuan bitches about it to Airplane all the while) because again, best shot they have. And to their relief, they even manage to get in!... at different peaks that is... (why yes, I noticed that certain Peaks don’t have Peak Lords :) shame they have no named Lords at all... :) oh, how could this ever be fixed?)
In this number we have these two boys and their mother leave the family (how they do so is unclear for now), learning under a random, maybe renown cultivator and Mama Shang, who become rouge cultivators themselves, their own ideas helping to improve and create entirely new paths of cultivation. In this path, they will eventually find out what world they are eventually, but decide to just stay as rouges here, with adventure and mystery all around them, making allies and accidently derailing canon all along the way as they do so :3 (it would be such a sweet freedom for these two disasters to enjoy, and with Mama Shang with them to be badass as well.)
Now, this one kinda branches off from number 2 in an interesting way :D You see, both these disasters have a great charisma, just aimed in different ways that could get many different types of people. They also, have different moral systems, things that would get people all around them, while Shang Huanmu and Shen Yi really couldn’t care less or have different takes on, despite all the years they have lived in this world. They end up getting... a lot of followers, people who would love to either be a disciple, little brother/sister, even servant at times... Slowly, ever so sudden, there is a big group of rouge cultivators at night hunts, Airplane figuring out the best way to settle supplies and money, while Shen Yuan easily makes nice with all these people, or if needed threaten them harshly. Soon, the two find themselves in a situation of; the only reason we aren’t a sect is that we haven’t gotten a place to settle down/Emperor’s approval...
Yeah, as you can see, I really like this idea XD
#Scum Villain#Scum Villain's Self Saving System#SVSS#CucumberPlane#Shang Qinghua#Shen Yuan#Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky
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