#wei wuxian meat riders pls don’t attack me

[lryghe]

MDZS thoughts; wangxian

Out of all the MXTX couples, I think Wangxian is definitely the most polarising,  especially when you consider how like-minded Hualian are, and how mutually ridiculous Bingqiu are. It’s interesting to think about, because even through character design, Bingqiu’s christmas tree themed robes and Hualian’s red and white complimentary robes, Wangxian falls outside of that, their black and white robes always being a direct contrast to each other in the most basic form. But after deeper consideration, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are shown to be incredibly similar in the ways that draw them together (with of course, some fundamental differences). This post will contain spoilers, but why would you be on Tumblr if you didn't want to get spoiled?

I think a good place to start this would be with ‘righteousness’, because it pretty much explains the other points I had planned to make anyway (e.g. loyalty, isolation, duty). It’s a running bit throughout MDZS that Wei Wuxian is just a depraved evil demonic cultivator, but that’s the beauty of the statement, because it contrasts his actual, very noble personality. The way in which he presents his righteousness is where the majority of the problem arises though, because Wei Wuxian is a true and staunch defender of people he deems less fortunate, and those people also happen to be the ones which everyone else is venting their hatred at. His defence of the Wen’s was truly admirable, but even through his friendship with MianMian, or his obsession with being friends with Lan Wangji, his dedication to doing what he believes is right is unmoving. And this drives people away from him, casting him aside as a traitor and eventually leading to his own demise, but he stays true to what he believes is right, which is protecting those who need it. 

Lan Wangji is much of the same type of person. Lan Wangji has always been (and I quote) ‘righteous, perfect, and void of worldly desires’, the very pillar of how everyone else should act. He not only holds everyone around him to impossibly high standards, but lives by them himself, which drives a wedge between him and everyone around him. People are uncomfortable with the staunch and unyielding standards of righteousness that he holds people to, which leads to them pushing him up as this impossible standard that they should be trying to emulate but they just end up saying ‘really, who can be like Hanguang-jun, he’s always been perfect!’. ‘It’s lonely at the top’ is something that is so perfectly applicable here, because Lan Wangji’s desire to uphold the standards of righteousness to protect those who cant protect themselves divides him from the general populace, placing him firmly as unreachable, above all the rest. 

Both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian’s unyielding righteousness and nobility is one of their greatest strengths and a very admirable character trait to have, but it also ends up being their greatest tragedy, because it isolates them from all that they love or could love. It even pushes them away from each other, because Lan Wangji is trying so desperately to pull Wei Wuxian to his side and make him adhere to the only way he can understand others (through his impossible standards), but Wei Wuxian is unmoving in his defence of the Wen’s, helping them when no one else will. Unstoppable force meets immovable object? 

Of course, there are so many differences between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian but really, those are all pretty surface level. Wei Wuxian’s mind works a million miles per hour, thinking of countless solutions and strategies, whereas Lan Wangji adheres to the traditional problem solving solutions. Wei Wuxian is loud and vibrant, and Lan Wangji is stoic and cold. Wei Wuxian wears black, and Lan Wangji wears white. Simple observations can tell you how they differ, because they obviously aren't the same and it would be weird if they were. These differences are important to consider, but their similarities are crucial to the development of their relationship too.

Words: 671

Reading time: 2 mins

[lryghe]

MXTX thoughts; 3rd person limited

I’ve had some decently relevant thoughts regarding MXTX and her use of 3rd person limited, and I wanted to touch on them quickly because it’s rather interesting to think about. I think I’ll be doing a few separate posts surrounding an analysis of MXTX and her use of style and the common conventions she employs, mostly because I’m a loser who likes analysis and this is my archive, I can do what I want. Preface, yes, this post will contain spoilers for all 3 of MXTX’s works, but probably only minor ones. 

I’ve mentioned this before in my ‘SVSSS thoughts; perspective’ post minorly, but for those who don’t know what exactly third person limited is, I’ll give a brief explanation. Third person perspective is what majority of works are written in. It uses no personal pronouns (e.g., no I or you, ‘she’ turned her head) and focuses on the outwards world, giving insight into not only the main subjects thoughts, but also the characters around them. Third person can also give insight into things happening in different places at different times much easier than first or second person, simply because it's so omniscient (3rd person is often categorised into 3rd person omniscient and limited). Third person limited however is focused on this same type of pronoun ([character name] turned their head) but only unlocks the thoughts and emotions of one character.  

That’s what MXTX is doing with literally every single one of her works, most notably in SVSSS. Shen Qingqiu is a particularly dense narrator, and only gains insight into other people's inner worlds periodically, while Wei Wuxian also suffers the same fate in MDZS, both able to acknowledge other people's perspectives but only through their own eyes, which tilts the perspective of characters. TGCF also does this, but it’s far more subtle than MXTX’s previous works because of a few different things, such as Xie Lian’s overall character being intuitive (and empathetic) towards other people to an incredible degree, and the storyline focusing a lot more on past events than the others did.  

MXTX’s use of 3rd person limited is really subtle in places though, and it's interwoven into the story in such a genius way because although the narrators are unreliable because of this perspective, a whole and complete storyline is achieved no matter what. It’s a favourite of mine to discuss because it alters a lot of the general themes and basic characterisation. SVSSS would definitely be a tragedy from anyone else's eyes (for example, Luo Binghe or Yue Qingyuan), and MDZS is just in general a giant mess of characterisation in the first place but would be so much easier to understand without Wei Wuxian’s self-sacrificial eyes not acknowledging that other people have feelings when he continues to do things for them at his own risk.  

I’ve noticed I don’t mention TGCF that often and I wanted to rectify that in this post because TGCF is, in general, a vastly different type of story than MDZS and SVSSS. While MDZS also has a non-linear storyline, TGCF takes that to an entirely new (very confusing) level, switching through books to different stages of history. And so, the 3rd person limited isn’t that obvious as her other works but it’s definitely still there! The best example of this is whenever Xie Lian meets a new character, and the very first thing he does is categorise whether they are Handsome or Not, which is indisputably my favourite thing about him. 

In conclusion, I like the way MXTX writes things. I feel sick just thinking about how well she writes. It drives me crazy. Next post will be about MXTX and themes/conventions! 

Words: 612 

Reading time: 3 mins 

[lryghe]

MDZS thoughts; adaptation and change

I may be leaning too much into my literature class roots, but I could (and may end up) writing an essay on how the live action version of MDZS ‘The Untamed’ drastically altered just sooo much to do with everything, including characterisation and my personal favourite to rant about; themes and concepts (if you’ve seen ANY of my other posts, you’ll know I talk a lot about this). I’ll have to remind myself to write ‘show’ or ‘live action’ instead of ‘film’ because my literature class has been studying change through adaption of Jane Austen novels into films and that’s really what boosted me to write this. As a preface, yes, this post will contain spoilers from both the original novel AND the live action show, and if anyone has made a post like this before, please link it to me because I would love to see someone talk about it! 

To begin with, the characterisation is both parts my favourite and my worst enemy in the show. The live action completely changed like, everything to do with Wei Wuxian and his character arc. Both the novel and the show provide an introduction to his character based off his flirtatious ways, charismatic personality, and insane talents, but the more the show goes on the more it delves away from the original Wei Wuxian in the novel, who deals with tremendous amounts of guilt and shame for his actions, while carefully trying to keep up his balancing act, before finally just giving up and having his corpses eat him or whatever. It’s such a stupid thing to nitpick I know, but it's so important to the themes of MDZS (which is something I'll talk about later). Because there's a distinct lack of disgust Wei Wuxian feels towards himself for the atrocities he commits, his character deviates from someone who is working towards self-acceptance and penance for his actions, to an upright genius who has never done any wrong, a victim in everyone else's scheming. But that in itself is doing a disservice to him, because he did bad things, he and everyone in the cultivation world acknowledges this, but he worked past that! He died for his sins, he came back 13 years later and actively fixed his behaviours, took responsibility for his actions, and learned to live with himself. Wei Wuxian’s character development is incredibly important, and to make him some type of sacrificial lamb who has always been the victim eliminates half the premise of the novel. That’s not to say that I don’t like Xiao Zhan’s interpretation or acting though! I definitely think he’s incredible and did so good as Wei Wuxian, but the live action is so messy compared to the novel, so much so that it’s quite difficult to get to the core of the story. 

On the topic of acting, I do quite like Lan Wangji’s live action interpretation, because dear lord, physical cues make it sooo much easier to like him (respectfully though, I am Lan Wangji’s biggest fan). In the novel it’s REALLY hard to move on from the fact that he has no outward reactions or anything to say that isn't ‘Wei Ying!’, but the drama did an incredible job of portraying how complex he actually is. Seeing his minute facial expressions in the drama was so important to his growth as a character, and the illustration of his growth and maturity is only emphasised through the live action (especially when they had the screentime to give him individual scenes with his brother to highlight the fact he’s not just a love interest for Wei Wuxian, he’s his Own Individual Character who is so cool!). 

All of MXTX’s works stick to a central theme; redemption. Just think about it for a second. MDZS follows Wei Wuxian and his works towards forgiving himself for his actions as the Yiling Patriarch while also acknowledging that he was doing what he could to protect those he cared about (and very occasionally, himself), Lan Wangji silently standing by him in solidarity. In TGCF, Xie Lian strives over the course of 800 years to forgive himself and finds solace in Hua Cheng and his unconditional love and devotion. In Scum Villain, Shen Qingqiu’s very existence is defined by the grave (read: pickle pot) fate had begun to bury him in upon his transmigration, spending years attempting to reach salvation after the sins the original Shen Qingqiu had committed, eventually realising that he owed it to Luo Binghe to be better, to stay by his side, to help him find peace with his past actions. And unfortunately, this theme isn’t portrayed very well in the live action. The show places far more emphasis on how Wei Wuxian was always right regardless, meaning there was no need for the guilt and repentance. Of course, he deserves the world, and I would pluck the stars out of the sky should he ask (Lan Wangji Momenta), but it doesn’t erase the fact that this is a vital point to his character! He isn’t supposed to be invulnerable and have an instant happy ending! He and Lan Wangji work like dogs, unravelling decades worth of lies, solving a couple murders, ridding the world of a few serial killers, and so on and so forth before any type of safety is given, any type of redemption is reached. 

Which brings me to another key theme in MDZS specifically. The idea of hard work. “Oh, but lryghe, this is such a reach, what are you even talking about?” LET ME COOK! Please! Nothing in MDZS comes easily, ever, which is great writing on MXTX’s part because who wants a novel where everything goes right every single time, and nothing is ever difficult? Things just so happen to work out for every other one of MXTX’s protagonists, but in MDZS everyone suffers for like, a really long time. I’d say about 15 years specifically (counting the war and its aftermath). Similarly to the novel, the live action delves into the idea of hard work and suffering as part of a process to achieve what you want. All characters are actively working towards what they want, they all have clear motivations, and they struggle, horrifically so in places. This is my third favourite thing about the live action, how it actually managed to bring something salvageable to the table in terms of themes and key ideas. Good for them! 

My all-time favourite thing in terms of the live action adaptation is the physicality of it. The characters are right there, and the acting clearly explains their motivations in places. The costumes are incredible visual cues to their thoughts, which is something we don’t see in the MDZS novel since its all from Wei Wuxian’s perspective. I do have to say though, some characterisation moments does in fact piss me off astronomically. Why did Jiang Cheng have to have some type of tragic romance with Wen Qing? Why was Jin Guangyao the one pulling the strings to kill Yanli? I appreciate CQL so much because of this physicality but it could do without some of it I do think. 

I ended up writing an essay. I’m sorry. If only my literature teacher could see me now... Mrs [redacted because what if I get sued?!], please give me an even higher grade on my next assessment, I deserve it. Also, this one isn’t as well thought out as it could have been, you’ll have to forgive me. I am in fact someone who spends too much time writing these thoughts instead of, oh I don’t know, focusing on my classes. 

Words: 1271 

Reading time: 4 mins