#but i very much doubt we will

[honouredsnakeprincess]

There are models for the proposed terraforming of Mars which involve the use of lichens and similar organisms to transform the soil and atmosphere. There's something fascinating about entire strains of living things reproducing and dying for the sake of humanity's own propagation. This is the reduction of entire species of life to a sort of instrumentalism, and there is a horror to that.

There is a (primarily but not exclusively american) cultural cohort who I will call for the purposes of this list the astro-futurists. They are strong proponents of space colonization, frequently for the purposes of building humanity's resilience against supposed "x-risks", such as asteroid strikes or sapient computers that we are unable to control. Even if Earth dies, humanity will live on on martian soil and around the stars of Alpha Centauri!

There is a certain type of high school 'nihilist' who has no philosophical groundings for his works, but has a primitive understanding of Darwinism, and so concludes that the purpose of all life is to reproduce. In the most base sense, he is correct; all extant life is shaped by the need to pass on its genetic material. Most people would say this is reductive, however, and they are correct too.

The lichen would not be the first thing humanity has bent to specific purposes like that. Billions of chickens are kept in factory farms for the sake of meat and egg production, and so their lives are similarly reduced to a singular purpose in the service of humanity. In the reductive eyes of the high schooler, who views procreation as the highest virtue of life, humanity has done these chickens a great favour! While disease and predators might threaten populations of junglefowl in the wild, the structure of the farm protects the chickens from predators, and judicious cullings ensure that some part of the population will always be resilient against disease. Even as humanity kills the chickens for their meat, we ensure that there will always be another chicken.

The chicken is, therefore, the immortal junglefowl. Bar a vast reorganization of human civilization, the domestic chicken will last as long as humanity does. The genes which distinguish them from their wild relatives will propagate forever, just as the lichens humanity plants in the martian soil will have a monopoly on that soil, free of the rival strains of lichen which populate the earth. No one, however, looks at a factory farm and says "How charitable of humanity to make these birds immortal!" Why is this?

The most existentially concerned of the astro-futurists might consider the cultural and social development of space travel, like their more idealistic peers, but ultimately their prerogative is the survival of humanity against any threat which might render Earth uninhabitable. Some have criticized these efforts as a new form of colonialism to further enrich the global north, and note that the countries most capable of creating space colonies are those mostly strongly integrated into the capitalist system. The first flag on Mars will in all likelihood be that of the United States, or that of whichever ascendant capitalist power who succeeds them.

There are two problems with the existential programme of the astro-futurists, beyond the ways in which it unduly advantages the global north. The first is that Mars, and indeed much of space, is a terrible home for humans. Those who live there will suffer from radiation, and poisonous dust, and will likely reside in cramped underground dwellings. The lower gravity will cause their bones and flesh to atrophy, and should they have children on Mars, there is a good chance their young will never return to the home of their parents, lest Earth's gravity crush their feeble lungs and hearts. These lives will be bold and novel, entirely distinct from those of all humans before them, but they may not be enviable.

The second problem is that, even assuming that Mars somehow becomes wholly self-sufficient of Earth, in the event that Earth is destroyed, Mars will not save humanity. A narrow slice of the cultures of the global north will be salvaged by the Martians, perhaps. English will still be spoken, but the hundreds of languages of Africa will likely perish. Recorded music will survive, but the little regional songs no one thought to record will not. This is the survival of humans, not of humanity.

The notion of 'memes' is sometimes attributed to Richard Dawkins, a man with a complicated legacy not worth discussing. I have heard rumour that the idea originates from somewhere else, however. If one takes the traditional formation of memes to be true, then astro-futurism can be considered a sort of meme or collection there, as can its more existentially-concerned strains. If we settle Mars to survive the loss of Earth, then perhaps humanity will die and this meme will continue to propagate. What remains will become another example of the instrumentalization of life, with a vast complexity of experiences reduced, ultimately, to the ability to serve the propagation of others.

[moraymiso]

// bsd ch 119

akutagawa’s line in that one panel where he asks atsushi “who the hell are you?” might genuinely be him losing his memories or something sure

but i think it’s more likely he’s gonna turn around later and be like “i asked who you were because you were sitting there sulking and crying for fyodor’s mercy like a damsel in distress. and that is NOT the atsushi i fight with”

like maybe i’m just coping but that seems right up his alley. to practically slap some sense into atsushi mid-breakdown over his dead friends

[edwinisms]

you ever think about how edwin got like. no warning, no time time to process, nothing, when he reappeared on earth faced with the fact that virtually everyone he knew in life is dead. his parents? probably died in the 1950s or so (at best) almost forty years prior to edwin’s return. if any of his classmates were still around, they’d have been elderly, possibly senile, and in a few years they’d all be gone– except, of course, edwin. nothing looks the same, cars look like spaceships, there actually are spaceships, he can no longer see the stars, and everyone he knew is dead.

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

Cnetizens: Send this to a friend who doesn't reply my messages

OP: Sorry, I actually replied by teleportation

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

Wei Wuxian and Narrative Agency – Part One

For Xiantober Day One: Genius… albeit stretching the prompt so it refers to MXTX and MDZS itself, but at the end of the day it’s still about WWX – so no harm done!

(Part Two | Part Three | Full version on AO3)

The narrative is a very active player in MDZS’ story. How it presents information, what it chooses to show and omit, often reflects important facets of its themes and characters – Nie Huaisang, for instance, is so good at hiding behind his mask that not even the narrative can hold him accountable; the present day’s storyline as a murder mystery and the slow reveal of information about the past both prompt the reader to think critically about the truth of events, when the importance of thinking critically is an important theme; and the dangers not thinking critically (and instead basing conclusions on rumours without much evidence) are shown by tricking unquestioning readers into the very same trap the cultivation world falls into, as the information given by the title, summary and in-universe rumours – which contradicts how we see actually Wei Wuxian act – turns out to be false.

But nowhere do I love this trait more than in its treatment of Wei Wuxian – and, more specifically, in its way of emphasising his agency. We’re not just told how much his active choices define his character, and we’re not just shown this in-universe through his personality, worldview and the events he causes. I’d argue that this aspect goes a step further, and shapes the structure of the out-of-universe narrative as well.

There are two main ways this happens: one, in how the aspects of Wei Wuxian’s life that are shown and hidden directly tell us what’s important about his character (which is good writing but isn’t necessarily tied to this shaping of the narrative), which is what we’ll explore today; and two, how what’s shown and hidden reflects what Wei Wuxian himself prefers to dwell on, resulting in the narrative respecting his own thoughts and feelings on matters (which very much is tied to it). We’ll explore this at a later date.

But as for now – let’s explore my favourite aspect of MDZS.

(Here, narrative agency will be considered the ability of a character to meaningfully influence their events and the story they’re in.)

Tragedy, Circumstance, Choice

If we simply look at Wei Wuxian’s backstory in a vacuum, it seems almost typically tragic. His  parents died in circumstances beyond his control, he was left alone as a child with nobody to care for him, he was forced to grow up fending for himself on the streets, he was faced with abuse when he finally was taken in… as with all typical woobies, everything simply happened to him, and none of it was good. It’s just another example of the lack of agency being used for sympathy points, right?

…Except there’s one problem with that idea. We don’t actually see any of this.

It would’ve been easy to start the flashbacks during these times. We’re telling the story of Wei Wuxian in (largely) chronological order, and these are likely important experiences for him! But instead of starting in his street days, or evenat the moment Jiang Fengmian took him in*, we start at the lectures in the Cloud Recesses. That’s not even something mentioned in, and therefore something that’s able to disprove, the rumours at the start of the novel. So why is this the case? 

Well, there are multiple reasons – the main one being that MDZS is also Lan Wangji’s (and Wangxian’s) story, and having the flashbacks open with their first meeting is very satisfying. But I want to focus on something else.

This period doesn’t have to be shown, because what happens to Wei Wuxian, especially out of his control, isn’t what’s important about his character.

We’re not even at Lotus Pier here, where Wei Wuxian certainly has more agency than he would’ve had as a young child, but where the harm caused by Madame Yu is still completely out of his control. Here, he has agency! Though there are consequences, he is free to act, and what happens to him is a result of those actions and not of circumstance. Yes, he gets punished more than others who also take those same actions (due to classism); yes, it’s not his choice to be picked on by Lan Qiren in class (yet look how he responds, twisting the situation to his advantage and ending up tricking Lan Qiren into letting him leave, which is what he wanted to do. He is not at all helpless here!); yes, these choices have been influenced by his learned mindset from Madame Yu that punishment is arbitrary and will happen anyway, so you may as well do what you want regardless. But there is cause-and-effect here. It’s not circumstantial tragedy.

Therefore, instead of our first impression of past!Wei Wuxian being that of an unfortunate woobie, it’s of someone who has the freedom, ability and will to choose and act (and that’s after these initial tragic events have taken place). This is compounded by the fact that before we see any of his backstory, we get a similar impression of him in the present day.

If the purpose of his tragic past was to earn him sympathy points, to make us pity him due to how much he was influenced by events out of his control, this would’ve been a terrible way of going about it… and it’s this that betrays the true reason for its existence. Because now, the flashbacks instead show us how little these tragedies define who he is! From the very start, Wei Wuxian isn’t someone defined by circumstances out of his control, but rather by who he is as a person and by what choices he makes in the present day (which is both a mindset in-universe, and a nice little out-of-universe detail that lines up! Because out-of-universe, this means he’s not defined by sympathy points from a backstory, but rather by his great character writing… aka, by who he is as a person and what choices he makes). And this refusal to be defined by tragedy is a conscious choice on his part, too – but we’ll explore that more later. 

The important thing is that this idea of Wei Wuxian isn’t because of what exists in his past, it’s because of what parts of his past are shown to us (as well as what he chooses to do, with agency, in the present). 

Now, if this relationship between what’s displayed and what’s omitted was just a one-time thing, I might’ve considered it a cool detail or a nice way to establish a character, but not something the narrative is actively focusing on. But it’s a pattern that continues throughout the flashbacks. What, arguably, are the two other most important times in Wei Wuxian’s life where he doesn’t have enough agency to meaningfully influence his circumstances? His three months in the Burial Mounds (before escaping – he managed to assume some control of the circumstances but not enough to substantially reduce his suffering in his time there), and his loss and death during the First Siege. And we’re not shown either of them! We skip to when Wei Wuxian has emerged from the Burial Mounds and is torturing the Wens, or we skip to the present day – both times he has agency once more, because, again, what he’s like without it doesn’t matter enough to be shown. 

Furthermore, I’d argue this does actually contrast the other tragic events we see in Wei Wuxian’s later life. Things do go horribly wrong, but it’s either due to choices he knows the consequences of (see: rescuing the Wen Remnants in the first place), or instances where he still has some ability to act in the situation and influence it within the limitations. If he’d had no ability to influence circumstances at Qiongqi path, he would have died in the ambush; if he’d been unable to do that at Nightless City, he would’ve died then, too (of course Lan Wangji helped him escape as well). The attention drawn to him losing control of his actions in both instances is very interesting, but intentional or not, it’s still his actions influencing the plot. And that influence happens to be detrimental. The very ability to act and influence, at a base level,  is not taken away (though, of course, that doesn’t make these events any less tragic).

So, so far, the narrative seems to be telling us that the ability to act and choose is key to Wei Wuxian’s character. And it’s doing it through omitting his moments without agency in favour of instead showing us his moments with it. 

Let’s see if this is echoed in the text itself before we go further – because even with this pattern, nothing would end up mattering if Wei Wuxian’s agency wasn’t actually that important to the story itself. But thankfully it is, and that first impression we get of Wei Wuxian in the Cloud Recesses turns out to very much be accurate! Though there are defining circumstances out of his control that occur, such as the massacre of Lotus Pier, the majority of the important events of his life are due to his own choices. He didn’t happen to be forced to cease traditional cultivation and solely use guidao, didn’t happen to lose his Golden Core in a fight with Wen Zhuliu or due to some force in the Burial Mounds, it was his own choice to give it and his spiritual powers away. He didn’t tragically happen to get targeted by the cultivation world, it was a result of him acting on his morals and protecting the Wen remnants (a choice which he was fully aware of the implications of). He isn’t a protagonist to whom things simply occur, and that activeness and agency is my favourite thing about him. 

That’s not to say that the times Wei Wuxian doesn’t have agency, or feels like he doesn’t have any, don’t exist at all, either – but they are rare enough to have attention directly drawn to them in his internal narration:

Or else what could he do? He could do nothing. He was powerless. Lotus Pier had been destroyed, both Jiang FengMian and Madam Yu were gone, and Jiang Cheng had disappeared as well. He was the only one left, alone, with not even a sword in his hands. He didn’t know anything, he couldn’t do anything! For the first time, he discovered how little his power was. In front of something as large as the QishanWen Sect, it was the same as a mantis trying to stop a chariot. - Chapter 59, EXR translation

(And even in this circumstance, note that he still does force himself to act – to carry on searching for Jiang Cheng, to place his faith in Wen Ning – and does accomplish his goal (albeit with the help of others)! So even in dire situations, he isn’t simply passive. This is actually also the case with his time in the Burial Mounds, almost certainly the First Siege, and even his days on the streets as well (Chapter 20: he did actively fight with dogs to get food despite their danger and his growing fear of them, rather than just waiting and hoping to somehow receive some more). He can’t influence or immediately influence his circumstances, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.)

Overall, although they do influence him, Wei Wuxian is very much who he is in spite of his circumstances, not because of them. We’re shown the importance of his agency both in-universe by the major impacts his choices have on himself and the plot, as well as by narrative presentation – important periods where he lacks the ability to meaningfully influence anything are often mentioned but not directly shown, which suggests that such moments and circumstances aren’t as important to understanding Wei Wuxian’s character as moments where he does have this agency are. And I’d argue this works very well. Depending on the version of the story you consume, you may end up having different interpretations as to how much circumstances were at play nearer the end of his life – but nobody comes out of MDZS thinking about Wei Wuxian, the poor bearer of yet another generically tragic backstory.

(Part Two | Part Three | Full version on AO3)

—

*We are shown this moment in more detail in Chapter 23… but even then, it’s through the framing of Wei Wuxian remembering Jiang Yanli’s narration, not through a flashback proper or even him remembering the experience itself!

[deoidesign]

quick traditional piece for fun ^^

[fisheito]

the leash isn't even anchored to anything

[dariusaurs]

i think dinostar is such an interesting ship right now even if i've kind of turned away from it after this season. the problem is that it's complicated, and fandoms historically don't like nuanced situations or takes. i don't think it's fair to say darius is putting brooklynn on a pedestal, since from his perspective, she hasn't done anything wrong, and kenji has been framed as this unfair partner to her. it does feel like his feelings are very immature and more of an infatuation right now ("if he loved you half as much.."/"unless?"), especially when you compare them to kenji's own feelings for brooklynn - his girlfriend who he's loved for 6 years - but that isn't a horrible thing, it's just different. i do completely understand if people dislike the ship right now, and even criticize darius' way of handling the accidental confession, but i just think people have been way too harsh on all three of them without being willing to see that all of their perspectives are different

[saints-who-never-existed]

Still thinking about Fitzjames and Gore and envy today, and there's one incredibly simple wee throwaway line from the script that's driving me wild with all the heavy lifting it's doing -

"Fitzjames sees: One of Gore's cuffs is smudged with grease."

It's from the scene where Gore is making his report to Franklin on Erebus' bent rudder. We don't even really see it realised on screen but, by God, doesn't it just say so much?

On the one hand, it's clear that Fitzjames is envious of Gore.

In Fitzjames' mind, Gore is the very picture of Victorian manhood and nobility. He's everything that Fitzjames wishes he himself was, everything he feels he's only pretending and, often, feels he's failing to be. And Gore, seemingly, doesn't even have to try! So in a way it makes sense to me that Fitzjames might zero in on any perceived imperfection, even just as a comfort to himself.

But on the other hand, another far more charitable and, I think, more accurate reading of that wee line is essentially 'real recognising real'.

Fitzjames, whether he always realises it himself or not, is an excellent leader - particularly at an interpersonal level - and an eminently practical one too. He's all about getting shit done and he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty in the process. So it also makes sense to me that he would take notice of Gore having done the same - having cracked on and gotten done the job of checking Erebus 'at the knees', having gotten his own hands dirty.

I don't think I'm articulating any of this very well yet but all the layers of that relationship - loving and respecting a man as your friend, seeing yourself in him but also wanting to be him and being unspeakably envious of everything he is and everything he has, even while he loves and respects you back and looks up to you as his friend and superior officer...?

There's just so much there and every bit of it is delicious!

[kazuis-boyfriend]

“we have to vote amane guilty or else she’ll kill [insert prisoner here]!!” okay but have you considered how fucking funny it would be for any of those grown adults to lose to a 12 year old that’s not even 5 ft tall. at that point that’s on them

[wraithsoutlaws]

listen i think river is a really interesting character and reducing him to just "cop" is a huge disservice to him but i also think it's equally disingenuous to completely divorce him from that as well. i think it's important to recognize he was a cop, and that even if he wasn't actively involved with corruption he probably did harm while he was with the ncpd just by merit of being with the ncpd and upholding a violent and broken system. that should not be ignored even if he is no longer a cop at the end of his story, in fact it should be examined, it should be unpacked ESPECIALLY as someone leaving the force and trying to find new and better ways to help people and to cope with what damage the ncpd does to people and the power that it holds.

[icedb1ackcoffee]

to my fellow creatives: never stop making art. art is an act of protest.

[booasaur]

From (2022) - Kristi and Marielle

[ilynpilled]

I adore this interaction before it goes to shit because these two are truly some of the wittiest characters in these books and it is always so charming to see them interact with someone who is not only able to keep up with their snark but also indulges them

[campspawn]

yknow i know a lot of people are upset about cassandra dying which i get. BUT. i can’t fucking wait for kristen’s ‘my deity is dead i’m a cleric and i’ve killed TWO gods in rapid fire succession what am i gonna fucking do’ arc because i think it’s gonna be the best kristen arc yet

[just-some-friendly-fun]

Maybe, I sound a little nitpicky here, or some other word that I can't figure out right now to determine the current tone of my words but.

Looking through some of the fanfiction, in regards to Bi-Han, I think some baffled me in particular and it's not even that big of a deal or anything but it just scratches beneath my skin a little. Like, oh! Bi-Han cooking something for you! I can see that!-- what do you mean he's making you a complete English meal.

Unless it's something that the reader enjoys, and he's making it in favor to their taste preference, then that's sweet! But.... Where's my stuff..... Where's the chicken congee... Where is- where is all the traditional recipes he should know? I get that making eggs, bacon, and french toast are easy (sometimes) but-- there is other easy to make stuff. I'm not expecting Bi-Han to be headcanoned as some top tier chef but, him knowing some traditional home recipes should be natural thing to him, no? Maybe he learned from his mother, or some other. I think that'd be neat to think about, just simple basic home meals he's learned and makes for himself and rarely, but sometimes, for others. I think all in general, I just really want to see like some proper representation of Bi-Han, or just even Kuai Liang, maybe even Tomas adapting to some of his adoptive family's behaviors while he was raised, like some stuff like how some people can't properly apologize so in form of apology, people mainly serve a plate of fruit as an act of forgiveness rather than outright saying it, or just ANYTHING ELSE.