#that's the devil talking
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Crime and Punishment in Mo Dao Zu Shi
So I've finally finished the essay I've been threatening to write for more than a year. A hearty thank you to @paradife-loft for early editing eyes and a coherence check, and @neuxue for further editing as well as last minute bonus translation.
First of all, a big ol’ disclaimer: I am working from a translated text where I do not have access to the original language. That generates a gap where potentially a great deal can be lost or altered in translation; hence, I’m going to avoid as much as possible attempting to do a close reading or lean too hard on language or word choice in my assessment of the novel, speaking in broader strokes.
Additionally, I am coming at this from a perspective where I am predisposed to feel sympathy for villains/antagonists in a story, and I recognize that potentially creates a bias in my assessment. That being said, I think it’s a fair reading at the very least, if not an authoritative one. This essay will include spoilers for the entirety of the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) novel, as well as The Untamed (CQL), and minor spoilers in footnotes and a brief additional section for MXTX's other novels.
I will be touching on CQL in an appendix at the end, though to a lesser degree because analyzing visual media is less of my strong point. Nonetheless I think it is relevant that, despite the alteration of story details to arguably make the morality of the story more black/white, certain thematic resonances remain.
All that being said, my point here is: MXTX (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu) as an author, and MDZS in particular, is at best skeptical of punitive justice; to put it more bluntly, the concept of characters “getting what they deserve” is, if not directly repudiated, then certainly not the point. To put it even more bluntly, MDZS doesn’t want to punish its villains, it just kills them, which (importantly) isn’t the same thing.
[READ THE REST, IT'S LONG AND HEAVILY FOOTNOTED]
#mdzs#the untamed#i'm actually moderately proud of this one! that doesn't happen often#making me go 'hmm maybe i should go back to more essay writing'#that's the devil talking#sometimes i write things#lise does meta#the sad queer cultivators show
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maybe i need a second mistsplitter
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you know how bad could war thunder be? i should give it another shot
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You sleep on your back like you're in a fucking casket of course you can't move and you're seeing demons
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R-resist. To play- to play the same games you've already... already played WAY MORE THAN ONCE!
#dragon's stupid thoughts#that's the devil talking#nngghh pmd ost my beloved#i want to play blue again#not the remake. the ORIGINAL#the story how I got the game is funny tho#was buying a second hand pmd time game#but as I opened it#i saw#that it was pmd blue instead!!!#cashier said blue is more worth than time so that's cool but now I have an incorrect ds case lmao
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me, actively reading 5 books currently: i should reread rote
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"Revered Elder,
I have begun the process of working through the information promised by my wife (and how strange to be using that descriptor– I remember how resistant I was to the idea every time we had previously discussed it! Her mortality helps immensely, as much as that she is genuinely interesting to speak with.) and have come to the terrifying conclusion that I have somewhat understated my case."
#writeblr#writing#creative writing#rainbows fade#snippets#ari's writing updates#some part of me wants to write an entire book in that style and tone#that's the devil talking#I do love aileen though. they're great.
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Wanting to post ur political opinion on tumblr before going 'no ppl will read this in the worst faith possible'
#if u want to share ur opinion online#that's the devil talking#it is I#it's mostly about mainstream media portraying the wars going on and how it uses them as propaganda#smarter people have made better posts about it
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That writer mood when you're about to fall asleep but a good line pops into your head so you just have to brave your phone's screen brightness to write it down.
#hits the spot every time#a voice in your head will tell you you'll just remember it#that's the devil talking#write it down
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I could go for a little snack right now
#When you're in the store and decide -not- to buy a little snack because you won't actually feel like having it?#that's the devil talking#where's my little snack :/
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not me looking at WIPs i started in like 2019 and thinking “maybe i’ll finish THIS for soma week...”
#that's the devil talking#that's the equivalent of opening a tomb of a cursed pharaoh#like that bitch is DEAD. just LEAVE IT
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hello what is Twelve Years
hi thank you for indulging me <3
anyway so Twelve Years is a fanfiction i started writing uh. i think last year. based on the series Unwind by Neal Shusterman! the funny thing here is i've never read Unwind directly but my friend infodumped to me about it and essentially read it to me over call and so it's a fixation by association.
(for those who don't know about Unwind--the tl;dr is that it's a commentary on bodily autonomy as a concept taken to its logical extreme. it's a universe where anyone between the ages of 13 and 18 can be legally killed at any time if their parents (or the local government) just decides to do so. there's more to it than that and it is SO so deeply fucked up but it's an interesting universe.)
the basic gist is that it's like... a prequel to Femurs and Feelings, the collab thing i mention sometimes that this same friend and i started writing like. three-four years ago good fucking god time has flown-
BUT YEAH i started writing Twelve Years for myself b/c i wanted to have a handle on the backstory of one of the main protags in Femurs and Feelings, and then i went "wait a minute this kinda fucks" and shared it elsewhere.
so in terms of Plot, Twelve Years isn't super intense or intricate--it's essentially a recap of the twelve years the character addison ward has spent on the run, learning to survive and fending for themself and going through a Lot Of Shit.
it's not all bad, though, and there are some light moments! because i don't like to write stories that are just all angst with nothing good ever happening. however, it's a sad and shitty situation and addison is going through a lot, to put it lightly.
i might. go back to trying to work on this soon. probably not but Maybe.
#talk to the bunnykitty#bat time all the time#while answering this i had the thought 'let's rewrite what we already have and fix it up'#that's the devil talking
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Your dishes don't need to soak babygirl. Wash them now.
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me: I want my art to be loose and dynamic and have lots of texture
me making art: nnnnnghh how about I keep rendering
#if you've been painting for a while and think you have to keep rendering no#that's the devil talking#unless your dreamed art style is overrendered hyperrealism (which. valid) you do not need to keep rendering#*slaps you with newspaper* stop it. stop. go take a walk
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[grabbing myself by the shoulders and shaking] you do NOT need a $90 gengar plushie
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Every time I think about not brushing my teeth out of laziness I think of that "that's the devil talking" post and I go and brush them. It's had such a positive impact on my hygiene its not even funny.
#i am not nor have i ever been religious#its just like a nice way to remind myself “hey#this isnt the best option. and taking it will harm you“#that's the devil talking
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