#pulling Xie Qingcheng to that same raw honesty bit by bit hurt by hurt and kindness by kindness

[izartn]

Thinking about the setting of CFC again, and I know I said on my first post after reading the book that Meatbun should have just gone urban fantasy to get her kick with the more out there elements more plausibly, the scifi plot elements were the weakest on the book but...

You can tell she really wanted to go full on scifi, bc thinking about it, I think going full on 100-200 years on the future with he technology (no aliens or space travel super avaible except for like, maybe the moon or Mars) would have really aided both what she wanted to explore re:technology and the ways we use and abuse it, and her commentary on arts and fictional worlds.

Plus the pseudo superpowered He Yu and Xie Qingcheng and their resulting mental illness and infection by RN-13 would have fit better; maybe even targeting the way humanity has started to openly play with modifying genes and neuroplasticity.

Mandela as an ideology widespread and having to fight it. Making the matrix plan much more scary and plausible.

Like. The distopian sci-fi film noir of it all would have fit like a glove to what she's trying to do in the novel, and to her protags.

Come on, distopian scifi serves to amplify the worst and the best the same way historical fantasy does, and Meatbun loves to go to extremes from what we've read of her.

He Yu being raised by robot nannies that he loves until he realises/is explained they're just unfeeling programs and getting a bit of that real human connection with Xie Qingcheng? Poor wire monkey kid.

Realising "nobody" "real" cares for him would hit weirder here, if not harder. Getting a complex about having to program his own behaviour if he wants to fit and be loved by others! Pushing himself to master coding (he's a hacker in canon! Tie that even tighter to setting and plot and his emotional journey dammit), almost falling but then ruthlessly dismissing the false fantasies created by technology! In the way he does by the end of the book but hitting harder in this setting bc that unreality it's an element that's been there from the beginning.

He Yu having to deal with his hallucinations when he's on his lower moments in this version would also be even more also even more oomph, given people giving in to the technological ghosts would be something he's used to seeing. And then realising his own brain is creating that trap when he thought he was above deluding himself. Like he does in canon but you know. Tying it with the plot and setting better, which makes it hit harder.

You also just know the elite He Yu is born feom are on some hunger games almost capitol bullshit. HY deciding to study cinematography and arts in this kind of culture. Meatbun ripping apart the abuse of AI, tying in with her criticism of the lower common denominator re:fluffy simple stories.

Compare that to a Xie Chengqing even more determined that science has everything studied about human behaviour and emotions are just silly hormones that can robe one of control. At the same time rejecting the frivolous use of technology; finding unsuspecting common ground with He Yu despite it all. Mmm. His brand of condescending old fashioned machismo and general internalised homophobia (and He Yu's if we're talking about it) (although in He Yu case it could just be denial of XQC in specific though which would be hilarous/sad considering. all of the story) would be maybe more difficult to translate but honestly humanity is such a shit show that I would buy we having regressed and then progressed again on the human rights front. Anyway it's more about his unhealthy repression, controlling tendencies, and trying to be good at being human by societal standards, for his sister and master/prpfessor/adopted father. That can be explored perfectly on this setting regardless.

Maybe it's the aftermath of a conflict and that's why people are so crazy about Mandela! Collective trauma around incomprehensible loss. Human nature at his most basic need for love and companionship vs survival, like Meatbun likes.

The more I think about this the more I like it. Mmm. Did censure prevent Meatbun of going all out with the scifi? Because it really really fits.