#this mainly my silly little thing of transing every piece of media i like

[bl-bracket]

umm so I'm really bad at noticing allegories and stuff like that like they could probably spell it out for me and my oblivious brain would just skim over it so um can i maybe get more about woh being a trans allegory? like i think i can see what you're thinking of but i want to be sure

Okay so like you have to understand that I binged Word of Honor in a few days while sick and had this idea then and even then it's not fully flushed out at all so this is not a complete thought nor is it a good one probably.

(And also being trans myself means I read trans subtext into everything lol)

But like ZZS having that very rigid way of dressing in Window of Heaven and then once he leaves he has his hair down and all these different outfits except when he's taken back as a prisoner they make him wear his old uniform and do his hair the way he used to. And also how Four Seasons Manor is apparently known for their ability to disguise themselves and change appearance. And like then WKX has like so much gender. He refers to himself as Gu Xiang's father but Chengling's mother. And his relationship with women is like an essay in and of itself. Oh! And there's like that saying that they bring up several times about how a clingy man wins over a tough woman's heart or something and how that's supposed to be Wei Ning and Gu Xiang, but also WKX and ZZS (with ZZS being the woman in the saying) and also with Chengling asking ZZS to be his master. And then also in the Ghost Valley how the male ghosts have more out there presentations while the female ghosts present like regular women. But also how women seem to have much more agency in the Ghost Valley compared to elsewhere. And then Scorpion King's whole deal and with the top 4 assassins he has.

Anyways there's probably more but that's all I have off the top of my head right now.

Given enough time, a rewatch or two, and some academic bullshitting, I could probably put together a more cohesive thing about how like the Ghost Valley represents gender nonconformity and like the Five Lakes Alliance and Window of Heaven and all of that represent an enforcement of traditional gender roles.