#granted i don’t know how much I should be applying shakespear to mdzs

[memory-lane-and-back-again]

Yes! Wwx, is different, but I think that could be on purpose too. Of everyone we see (and I know the narrative follows wwx so this us biased) he is the only one who really interacts with women in mdzs. Like engages with them, asks their opinions, regards them beyond their mere existence.

I don’t personally look as Jiang Yanli as a role model because she was his sister. She was a woman so her expectations and responsibilities are very different: she is not pushed in cultivation the way jc and wwx are and she is encouraged instead to marry. Whilst she does show an incredible amount of care and compassion, I do not know how much of that would be assumed as expected of a woman; in the sense that showing kindness and compassion is a ‘woman’s responsibility’

It’s kind of something always taken for granted, whether it’s Yanli, Mianmian of some other unnamed jiejie brought up by the narrative: they all play an assumed role of compassion and support. Even Jiang Yanli is never shown to have her own wants as a priority; she loves Jin Zixuan but does not begrudge wwx’s involvement in it bring broken off. The one time Yzy shows compassion to save her son, it is to go to her death.

In fact the narrative has an uncanny way of punishing compassion. Wwx’s compassion towards the Wens; Mianmian is shunned for her compassion when she dares to argue in favour of the yiling patriarch; Jiang Yanli’s death when she shows compassion for wwx; xxc’s compassion towards the injured rebounds because he rescues xue yang; Jin Zixuan

What do these threads all have in common? I’d argue that it’s how unwelcome compassion, a feminine trait, is in the cultivation world. I’m running with an idea from my Othello stuff I had to learn: the military sphere is part of the masculine world and as such women like Desdemona and Emilia do not belong there—hence the tragedy ensues, in part, because of this collision in spheres in a world that is extremely segregated. Lan Xichen is known for his kindness, but we often only see his kindness enacted in politically correct ways. he turns a blind eye to two people: his brother and meng yao and even then, it is Only when he can get away with it—he does not stop lwj receiving the discipline whip and does nothing to preserve and of the good memories of Jgy after the truth comes out. I like Lan Xichen too, but the ending, unlike with jc, is far less kind to him; he loses his composure entirely, reflective almost of the arc of a tragic hero—he doesn’t die so he’s not truly a tragic hero but he does his world view is shattered and he is left woefully bereft, unwittingly having the one thing he has maintained all his life (his composure) stripped from him.

Side note: wwx’s arc upto his first death would be considered a tragic death by genre conventions so in a way mdzs does explore what happens after the tragedy ends

My point is that even though Jiang Yanli is shown to be compassionate, I do not think it would have been socially expected for Jiang Cheng to rolemodel her behaviour or look up to her in any way. (He is blacklisted for his horrific number of expectations for a woman, if memory serves correct.) Could he have? Yes. But that is a lot to ask of someone living a cushy life where to society panders and benefits towards him.

Of course there are some exceptions to this rule of femininity equalling compassion. Yzy, Wen Qing and Wang Lingjiao.

Wen Qing is reluctantly kind, for her brother’s sake, but she makes it clear that she isn’t really in a position to do this when it puts her family at risk so badly. And then she chooses to help transfer wwx’s core to jc, which is a show of compassion. Wen Qing in this regard is quite unique because she has assumed a role that requires no compassion and has to struggle through upholding it against he better judgement—in the end her kindness still gets her killed as she and Wen Ning go in place of wwx in hopes to stop the threat on the burial mound and keep wwx and their family safe.

Yu Ziyuan and Wang Lingjiao are both presented as dislikable too. We feel almost a little cathartic for the karma they experience—their lack of delicate femininity is atypical and it shows in how out of place yzy is at lotus peer, her title as Madam Yu which is atypical of a married woman, and Wang Lingjiao’s tendency to attack any woman who poses a threat (mianmian namely).

Both of them have good reasons for this cruelty. Madam Yu is trying to reassert her life after an unwanted marriage and Wang Lingjiao’s livelihood is balanced upon being beautiful enough and interesting enough to Wen Chao to remain where she is. The fact these characters are humanised to us at all, not things wwx expressly considers, highlights the significance of these fragments of motivation they are shown to uphold.

But as far as the narrative goes, they are marked as shameful outliers socially for being uncompassionate women; whilst cultivators are shown to face social retribution for too much compassion.

"Jiang cheng is just like his mother"

So he is a classist abuser who unreasonably lashes his anger out on innocent people and victimize himself to gain a upper hand in arguments and hates wwx for invalid reasons, holds him accountable for shit he didn't do, scapegoats and tortures him.

for the first time in your life ,jc stans, you're right! Congratulations!! Lol