#centuries rewrites

[miss0atae]

The classic fairy tale rewriting with San and Vee’s love story in Century of Love (Ep 7 – 8) :

[gif by benzatthanim] @benzatthanin

I have to admit I was inspired by this post from @mikuni14 post about the classic fairy tale rewriting idea (thanks again for the inspiration!). Quick disclaimer before starting: I know that the screenwriters and the original writer of the book were not really inspired by classic fairy tale. I just feel like the series has so many characteristics that you can find in classic fairy tale and I’ll show it to you here.

So what is a fairy tale? If I had to summarize, I would say it’s a short story where the main characters (San and Vee) must face ordeals and fights against their enemies (Evil Uncle, Rich Man who wants to live and Doppelganger of Vad / Wat). To be able to reach their goal, they will have the help of sidekicks (Tao, Tee and San’s family). Heroes from fairy tales are usually inexperienced at the beginning of the story (San is stuck in the past and full of nostalgia). They must find their way to understand the meaning of their life (In Century of Love I would say it's "what is true love?"). The classic fairy tale follows a narrative outline:

[gif by pharawee] @pharawee

1. The initial situation:

San fell in love with Vad / Watt, but she was killed by her fiancé, so he used the help of the five-colored stone of the goddess Nuwa to be able to stay alive and young until he finds the reincarnation of his love.

[gif by sanvees] @sanvees

2. The disruptive element that modifies the initial situation:

Vad / Watt wasn't reincarnated as a woman, but could be a young man named Vee whose personality is quite different from Vad / Watt. San has trouble accepting the situation even if everything seems to prove Vee is the one he was looking for.

3. Adventures that advance the action and the ordeals that the hero must go through:

San and Vee get to know each other and slowly fall in love. San is starting to accept Vee could be his new love. He also has to stop living in his past. Vee has a criminal past and a sick grandma that he wants to take care of. Several people came in between the two lovers: a childhood friend (possible reincarnation of Vad / Watt previous fiancé), villains who wants to steal the stone, jealousy and loss of self-confidence.

4. The element of resolution

5. The final situation.

Still waiting for these events to happen.

[gif by jimmysea] @jimmysea

Century of Love also presents some recurring characteristics of fairy tales. Fairy tales belong to the world of wonder and imagination. If Century of Love is happening in a world that looks like ours, it still contained fantastic elements such as supernatural characters and magical artifacts. In the story, San is near immortal so he can be the same as what he was when he first met Vad / Wat, so her reincarnation can recognize him. It’s possible because he got the power of the five-colored stone, a powerful and magical artifact given by a goddess. Usually fairy tales were written for various reasons: examining the human condition or talking about modern issues. In Century of Love, San was stuck for a long time in the past and felt out of place with the modern time. I think he took “waiting for his lover” literally. Many other people made a really good take on why San was acting this way before meeting Vee and I can just advise you to read them. The story is more complex than what it seemed at first. To name but a few, you could read this post, this post or this post. It may feels like it’s just to work well with the character, but in fact, any of us can risk being stuck in the past for various reasons: tragic events, holding on to things or people, mental health issues, fear of change, blaming ourselves… Just like fairy tale, Century of Love has an educational value and is trying to provide the viewers some kind of life advice.

I would even say that after watching the last episode, I felt like Century of Love could be compared to a rewriting story of the famous fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast”.

So in Beauty and the Beast the story is more or less about a young girl called "the beauty" who sacrifices herself to save her father, sentenced to death for picking a rose in the domain of a terrible monster. Against all expectations, the Beast spares Beauty and allows her to live in his castle. She realizes that, behind the features of the animal, a man is suffering as he is the victim of a spell. He is a generous being who only asks to love and be loved in return.

So now, let’s see how Century of Love changed the story to… a young man called “Vee” agrees to marry a cranky meanie grandpa with a young face, San, to save his grandma. His goal at first is to find the powerful artifact San possessed to cure her. Against all expectations, San is nicer than what he seems to be and allows Vee to live in his house with his family. Vee realizes that behind the sternness of San, a man is suffering, victim of the power of the five-colored stone. He is a generous being who only asks to love and be loved in return.

Doesn't it work well?! Put new Vad / Watt or Suchat as the villain Gaston (only present in Disney version of the Beauty and the Beast) and San family as the supporting characters living in the house of the “beast” and you'll get the story wrapped with all its important characters.

Beauty and The Beast is a tale that teaches people to distinguish moral ugliness from physical ugliness. The true foundation of a solid love is kindness. Compassion and esteem can create love and you shouldn't judge someone by his look only or his past. Those are also the “life advice” that Century of Love is teaching us through the love story of Vee and San. It is more powerful than just thinking you need to be with the reincarnation of your past lover. San loves Vee for Vee. Now, I just hope Vee will see that he also deserves to be loved. His acts of true love is what made San overcome his habits of staying in the past.

[deadbeat-motel]

Something of a quick fix to the whole "no one in hell knows angels can't be killed" because it's such an insane thing to believe that in a thousand years, not a single soul ever thought of fighting the angels? In the show, angels are told to be such an easy kill because they never had to defend themselves and Carmilla produces angel-tipped weapons by the hundreds, to the point of having a market for her products. It's so hard to believe that not one of the sinners who owns one of these "Carmine-Crafted" weapons didn't try to fight back against an angel and succeeded.

So here's a thought:

What if only Carmilla and Zestiel, the two at the top of the sinner's hierarchy and even able to keep every overlord in check, had actually known that angels could be killed. What if the idea that angels can't be killed was propaganda they started and kept going to keep sinners from killing an angel and inciting an unwanted war with heaven?

Somewhat long post ahead.

In the show proper, Zestiel voices concern about "Heaven purging all of hell for daring an uprising" when the idea of fighting back against the angels is brought up. He seems so sure that this would lead to an entire purge if they ever attempted the idea and surely, there must be something within the 700+ years that he had spent in that realm that makes him so sure about this possible outcome.

Here's what I wrote:

In Zestiel's time, the overpopulation of hell had just begun to be a problem. There was no yearly purge like the one we're familiar with now. Instead, it was only annual visits to check in on the realm and on Lucifer himself (personally, I would like to believe these visits were to check in on him after being thrown into hell by the higher order of angels.) Sinners back then were just as murder-happy as they are now and have found out that Angels are not good at defending themselves and that they can hurt the angels with the weapons they bring themselves.

This first murder of angels caused an extreme outrage up in heaven that it started the first purge of all sinners of hell but unlike the normal exterminations, this purge wiped out more than 80% of the population. Zestiel was one of the few who had survived this initial purge and personally saw heaven's wrath when provoked. Everyone who had survived lived on and warned the newer sinners to never attack an angel.

Heaven, however, decided to start the yearly extermination a few years later and many of those surviving demons died in the many exterminations that happened after that. Leaving Zestiel as the only living demon who still remembers the first purge and why it happened. Zestiel wants to avoid having heaven's big purge again not because he cares about the sinners like him, but because he cannot let himself live through something like that again.

Carmilla fits in this as the main weapons dealer in hell, she could make sure that the production of angel-infused weaponry is contained and limited to only her and an exclusive few. She can also make sure that the weapons being used in hell are controlled by her since she's basically made a monopoly on weapons in hell. Zestiel makes her his partner in making sure to continue making sure that the sinners will never fight and win against angels.

Both these overlords work together to continue scaring off every sinner from attempting to kill an angel and even if they try to, they're able to rely on the fact that none of their weapons can even harm an angel.

-----

It's not a perfect fix (admittedly it was written hastily and does go against other parts of the worldbuilding) but it's at least a step in a clear direction and makes sense of the "No one knows angels can be hurt" aspect of worldbuilding.

[wonder-worker]

"[Elizabeth Woodville] was the only member of [Crown Prince Edward of Westminster's] original 1471 council not already on the king’s council and her name headed the list of those appointed as administrators in Wales during Edward’s minority. [She remained on the council after it was expanded in 1473 and granted significant new governing and judicial powers]."

"In 1478 Prince Richard [of Shrewsbury] married the Mowbray heiress. Like his elder brother he had a chancellor, seal, household and council to manage his estates. His council, like that of Prince Edward, comprised the queen [Elizabeth Woodville] and a group of magnates and bishops, few of whom were Woodville supporters [...] It was Elizabeth who mattered, for Richard resided with her and Rivers treated his affairs as their own."

-J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503 / Michael Hicks, Richard III and his Rivals: Magnates and their Motives in the Wars of the Roses

[alicentsultana]

When I used to be in uni, my psychology professor talked about identification, love and hate-

And I wonder, what does it mean to always be in the wrong team-

I always like the wrong and evil character, the anti-hero, always, like a plague, I don't care about the protagonist, they tend to be too much, naive, glorified, blind, coward - but not it's bad counterpart, no, this sad bad meow meow person is 10x better and complex, the good and bad, as every person is.

When we like them, it only means that we see and recognize the injustice they suffer, and more than that, we also know and accept their flaws, we accept and recognize their growth and loss of innocence.

I mean, Alicent? Little girl being hated because she is what women in her time are suppose to be? Obedient to her father's wishes, submissive, passive... but no, vilified as the friend who wanted (I'm cackling who would want to marry him, she wouldn't want to marry no dragon in fact, she clearly is terrified of them) to marry an old and sick man, the father of her best friend, forced to birth child after child as was expected of her because of course she wants to strip her once best friend from her title of heir, yes, it is written on her face. This girl wasn't having a day of peace ever - two children when she was seventeen*, four when she wasn't even near her thirties. A girl, sold, raped, judged and denied justice.

But her good counterpart? Oh, how glorious and modern of her to lie, throw tantrums and rage around, hide behind her weak father's judgements and run away from facing her problems and faults.

Don't even get me started on others... Like Hurrem.

A girl, enslaved, probably saw her family and people die before her eyes, sold from one palace to another, denied to practice her religious beliefs, denied her own language, letters, freedom. Condemn to serve.

But you see, look how pretty she became. Let's gift her to the sultan

Who knows the things they threatened her with, she was, before being a concubine, a slave, property of the sultan, not a woman, a thing.

The inferno she had to endure before having a son, before getting her freedom and a legal marriage.

But yes, she is evil, she wants to kill a child, the child of the woman she hates, a child that won't hesitate to kill her sons.

Because it is the fraticide law. Even her own children would kill each other the moment their father died.

Even to this day, Hurrem isn't remembered as a girl - who suffered and raise up to have the best life she could fight for - she is remembered as the evil mother, playing her children to be against their brother, the wolf among sheep.

Both of them, done dirty by the narrative. Two women called monsters, when they are but two humans, two women who suffered and had to reinvent themselves in order to survive and continue. I doubt it was completely for their own selves, but for those who depended on them.

I could go on and on about so many others, but I'll just talk about this two blorbos.

[fluffypotatey]

I have been thinking about down bad Wukong and Macaque, and I don’t know. I got to get this out of my head.

When they were young Macaque had shown to be quiet (whether from shyness or being a big introvert who knows), as shown with the brotherhood. Or that he wasn’t big on relationships or expressing his feelings. Which makes me believe when Macaque was young and gotten feelings for Wukong, he hid his down badness/feelings. He would still show them but in quiet little ways that might be missed, like making sure FFM is stocked with peaches or make sure if Wukong really wants to do something if not find a way for Wukong or both of them to bail. The older Macaque, or the Macaque now, is much more open and into relationships, as well as a bit more expressive than his younger self. Meaning when his and Wukong relationship starts getting better again, he doesn’t really try to hide his down bad behavior (unless someone is there with them, but even then it’s obvious and he’s not putting a lot of effort into hiding it). Even if their relationship doesn’t improve much, he probably not going to hide his down bad behavior. He’s just going to throw a punch in their to show that they are not friends, and he still haven’t fully forgiven or moved on from Wukong killing him.

For Wukong’s down badness it’s the opposite of Macaque’s. Young Wukong was loud and proud of it. Macaque feeling hungry? Wukong go to opposite side of FFM because Macaque’s favorite food is there, and bring it to him. Macaque is feeling cold or lonely? It’s cuddle time, we’ll worry about the fact we’re doing this on a pathway later. Young Wukong would go so far to show his down bad behavior, that he will tell Macaque ‘love you’ as he leaves the room regardless of who’s in there. And that’s before kind of before he realizes he has feelings for Macaque (and probably before forming the brotherhood. (The down bad behavior also got worse during the brotherhood)). During JTTW happens Wukong has the realization that he could tone it down and still show he’s down bad/have feelings or care about/for Macaque/someone in more quiet, meaningful ways. Which makes older/current Wukong be a bit quieter and not that expressive as his younger self (it’s the exact same but he’s not going to do big grand gestures nor do it every hour of the day). When Macaque and Wukong relationship improves, Wukong would show his down bad behavior in subtler ways. Like if he’s sees Macaque sleeping in a tree, Wukong would make sure he’s comfortable and maybe lay a blanket on him. Or when Macaque gets into fights/battles Wukong would make sure he’s okay and treat any injuries he could at that moment. If his and Macaque relationship had not improved, then he would be even more subtle about it that not a lot of people would notice. Even Macaque wouldn’t have noticed if he didn’t think about their recent interaction deeply. That makes him wonder if Wukong had changed or it’s just the same old Wukong.

This was longer than I was expecting. Hope you enjoy reading it, or the ideas.

i did enjoy reading it, thank you anon 🥰💖💖

also, this is just me, but i like to think that Macky isn’t aware of how obvious he is showing it. he is more open to the idea of relationships (mostly platonic ones thanks to MK), but actually identifying that what he is doing is him showing affection? he would probably blame it on trying to stay civil. maybe he is more aware that his feelings never truly faded away, but Macoddle is unaware of how down bad his condition is

meanwhile, Wukong wasn’t aware in the past but now is fully aware of it. or at least recognizes what his behavior means quickly. and he doesn’t want to fuck it up. he wants them to make this new acquaintanceship/ally-ship work. so he takes note quietly and shows it subtly in a way he hopes respects Macorís’ boundaries

[ganondoodle]

Hi! Big fan of your work and I love evil Rauru, now I'm curious what would Mineru & Sonias' role be in this rewrite? Like "Dam, my husbands a fuckin madman..."

Hi!! thank you!!

so .... as of now mineru basically doesnt exist (im sorry) and sonia only has a little somewhat appearance

theres no time travel in my rewrite (both the first one and new one) and with the new version that works with villain rauru there are no flashbacks aside possibly some illusions rauru shows you to tell you just how great it was before bad bad ganondorf showed up (so .. kinda like in canon but with the direct contrast of him telling you a verrrrrryyyy one sided perspecitve vs what you later learn)

so i considered having rauru mention that he had a beautiful perfect wife back in the day and ganondorf murdered her for her stone (unsure yet if hes telling more or less the truth or if its another lie ... i dont want to make him too one note evil either bc whats the point then) and perhaps, before the final confrontation, the true end fight against rauru have her appear

it being on the great plateau where he builds his castle towards the end of your quest- which is sort of a dungeon- and just before you are going into the final room you might encounter sonia ....... s puppet really, like an apparition rauru made of her as part of his plan to revive his old glorious kingdom but not able to literally revive the dead, her greeting you and asking if youd like an audience with king rauru- but in an unsettling way, robotic, always smiling and super nice, oblivious to what you had to fight through just to get here (or alternatively .. she greets you at the start and begins to lead you in until zelda tries to talk to her about what raurus doing thinking she might just be real, but since its just a magic trick of rauru she turns on you and throws you into the dungeon, quite literally, as soon as its clear you/zelda intent to stop him)

i feel a little bad about it but as of now i dont know how to make use of them, i want to keep the past as much of a mystery as i can while still have it all make sense, i want it to be about saving the world as you know it, which is different from the past, very different, but not different in a bad way, and the idea of there being only light with no shadow being bad bc a balance is needed

[annabelle--cane]

NOOOOO I just spent a few hours writing up an answer to an ask and I tried to save it as a draft and it disappeared ;-; why does god hate me

[bonefall]

i absolutely ADORE the concept of hollyleaf being fallenleaves through time travel shenanigans but i’m having a trouble understanding how, would you mind explaining it in more detail?

Sure! Here's the old fragments if they'd be illuminating, but here, the plot beats of Hollyleaf's Century so far!

Sol is the God of Autumn, of change, of rules, and of games.

His previous vessel was Harry. Right now he's more interested in Hollyleaf.

Story opens up with the cave-in. Hollyleaf is going to be crushed.

So, instead, Sol changes the time around them. Holly does not know this, but he has dragged her over 100 years into the past.

She's found by a cat named Broken Shadow.

Broken Shadow nurses her back to health and adopts her, introducing her to the Shadow Family, teaching her the language, and introducing her to society, as a parent does.

The Lake Cats find her name strange, Hollyleaf, and start calling her Hollyleaf Shadow, but she insists instead it is Holly Leaves.

"Ah, we see we see :)"

The Lake at this point was almost completely forested, Holly used to think the Ancient Oak was special but... now she wonders if that's how big all trees are supposed to be.

There are three societies around the Lake. The Shadow Family belongs to the Tiger Kinship, there's also a Lion Kinship and a Leopard Kinship.

These groups largely interact peacefully.

then everything changed when the Victorians attacked lmao

Environmental destruction I'm still working out, you know what, I'm gonna mark this

(MIDDLE SECTION IS STILL UNDER A LOT OF CONSTRUCTION, THIS SECTION IS THE MOST SUBJECT TO CHANGE, I HAVE NOT WORKED OUT THE POLITICS YET)

First things first; the Lake is shrinking. The Leopard Kinship becomes aggressive as they have less fishing territory.

Why? The river beyond what-is-now RiverClan territory is being forcefully tamed, straightened to flow fast through the town and for conversion into farmland.

This makes the water flow faster and spend less time in the Lake, both making the river itself more dangerous and shrinking the Lake.

The quarry is set up what is now ThunderClan's camp. It's likely a sandstone quarry specifically.

Slurry was dumped into the river between what-is-now ThunderClan and WindClan territory. This is before that gorge dried up.

Lake is slowly poisoned. Dust from the quarry degrades the nearby forest.

When the logging begins, Holly Leaves gains authority. Using the power vested in her by Sol, she starts leading attacks to bring all cats under her power so they can fight the humans.

To oppose her and the humans, 3 heroes appeal to the other seasonal gods. That's Jay's Wing, his twin Dove's Wing, and Lion's Roar.

(Insert political drama I'm still teasing out)

The important thing about this drama is that it MUST go back to Holly Leaves being obsessed with control and punishment, dedication to her code of ethics that don't matter to this society, devolving the tense alliance of the Three Kinships into infighting.

This infighting eventually leads to Jay's Wing's death, drowning in the lake in some sort of gambit.

His god, Rock, is in absolute despair over this.

Dove's Wing is distraught. Lion's Roar is enraged. Holly Leaves' power dissipates.

They insult her by calling her Folly Leaves. "Great job saving us all, Folly Leaves."

The Lake is destroyed, the forest is gone, except a tiny patch where Jay's Wing was buried. Humans pass right by it, like they can't even see it.

There's nothing left.

Holly keeps trying to demand they stay, trying to force them to remain... and Dove Wing probably has to put her down, to save the survivors.

(AND NOW WE'RE BACK TO SOLID GROUND)

After this, Dove Wing renames herself to Half Moon. A broken half of a pair, to signify how she will never be whole again.

Half Moon goes on to found the tribe, and Folly Leaves is alone.

"At least I still have my god"

"I'm bored now Holly lmao have fun byee"

Sol kicks her spirit out of her own body, and returns to the future, expecting her to fade away over the course of the following century. He leaves her for dead, essentially.

Alone, in despair, and overwhelmed by guilt, Hollyleaf can only imagine her family for comfort.

Over the decades, she begins to forget her own name. Hollyleaf, Holly Leaves, Folly Leaves, Fallen Leaves... she can't remember which one was correct. Are any of them right?

She watches the Lake wither, to the point where even the humans can't live there.

And then... she watches it recover too. Slowly becoming the home of her childhood.

The whole time, she's waiting for her family to come home.

One day, with no warning, a young Squirrelpaw, Brambleclaw, and Crowfoot tumble into her hole.

She remembers an old story her mother taught her once, of a StarClan Warrior who passed on a prophecy that reunited them after they had been scattered.

"When the great storm brews, meet together where the dusk begins and the sun drowns."

She begins to remember things. And she remembers, SOL NEEDS TO BLEED.

Years later she FINALLY gets her chance. She sees her own body guiding a couple of apprentices into the tunnels, and leaps out of the shadows, catching her neck in her teeth.

Sol can't believe she's STILL HERE he expected her to DIE

TIME LOOP COMPLETE, Fallen Leaves has her body back.

After this, she declares that her name is Fallenleaf!

...probably because she doesn't remember it was actually Hollyleaf and she guessed wrong. But it stuck.

And that is the story of Hollyleaf's Century... so far, and how Fallen Leaves IS Hollyleaf through Time Travel Shenanigans.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

every new doctor to their future/past self

[hunxi-after-hours]

hey, big fan of your blog! read some of your qianqiu metas, and was thinking lately about the presentation of the statist consolidation of power and framing of political unification as an unproblematic moral good in a lot of the wuxia/xianxia I've engaged with. having grown up with these genres, I know that censorship and sociopolitical circumstances are big influences on the message that gets put out. (1/3)

but also as an anti-authoritarian looking to art and literature for countercultural inspiration, I guess I've found a lot of wuxia lacking in a vision for a radical future. this certainly isn't to say that art needs to be radical to have value, or that wuxia spaces haven't created avenues of self-expression and joy for oppressed groups in an airtight society where there are dire risks attached to political activity. (2/3)

wuxia/xianxia are my favorite genres, but many aspects of its narratives seem to uphold structures of oppression (i.e. ableism, colorism, xenophobia, misogyny, etc). but hey, 嫌货人才是买货人, no such thing as perfect, best thing to do, I suppose, is to engage with art with a critical eye. thanks for your time! (3/3)

an anon after my own heart, hello! you're definitely getting at certain themes, assumptions, and values that in a way were built in to the wuxia genre as it has evolved today. whether you’re reading classic authors like 金庸 Jin Yong or remixers like 梦溪石 Meng Xishi, I’ve definitely noticed that wuxia as a genre has, well, complicated relationships with the structures of oppression that you brought up

(I'm leaving xianxia out of the discussion atm as I’m less familiar with it as a whole, but also I don't think it has the same concerns of nationalism and historicism that wuxia does)

in many ways, the modern wuxia genre is a heavily compensatory genre, which I mean specifically in a “hey, compensating much?” kind of way. it took me a very long time to realize and process this, diaspora kid that I am, but so much of contemporary Chinese culture is still profoundly affected by the events of the past 200-250 years. I mean, when you think about it, the imperial dynastic system wasn’t all that long ago; in many ways, Chinese society is still reeling from the century of humiliation, the breakneck industrialization, the mass deaths of the 20th century in war and famine and revolution and government abuse (there is also the matter of the government deliberately evoking public memory of past atrocities to fan nationalistic sentiment for its convenience, which not only keeps historical national humiliations top-of-mind but also disrupts processes of collective memory and collective grieving).

Stephen Teo, in Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition, tracks the origins of wuxia as a genre, and from the beginning wuxia has been bound up with anxieties over masculinity and national agency, which in literature can often be one and the same. Teo, in tracing early forerunners of wuxia and the historical context of its emergence, notes that "[i]ntellectuals initially regarded the warrior tradition in the genre as one of the elements that could provide a positive counterweight to China's image as the 'sick man of Asia'" (Teo 37).

Given the repeated incursions and invasions onto Chinese soil and China’s status as a semicolony for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, it’s almost too obvious how the wuxia genre provides a balm for those exact anxieties: the martial warrior tradition (the 武 wu in 武侠 wuxia, if you will) directly addresses fears regarding the emasculation of Chinese men; the historical settings of wuxia novels often set during or against a backdrop of past imperial Chinese glories; the featuring of military triumphs over “foreign barbarians” who sought to invade or occupy imperial land, or even better — the protagonist, raised among the “wolfish barbarians,” is uniquely positioned to combine the “raw, savage strength” of “barbarian” culture with the “cultured civility” of Han Chinese culture; the strong emphasis on tradition(al aesthetics) and traditional Confucian ethics of morality and righteousness as contrast and counterpoint to the rapid modernization and Westernization of 20th/21st century Chinese culture... you get the idea

Teo’s book surveys the wuxia genre over the past century, particularly through film, and he discusses how wuxia in the 21st century begins “to manifest as made-in-China historicist blockbusters mixing the epic form with wuxia" — which is to say, wuxia has increasingly become intertwined with the genres of period dramas and historical epics:

"Having been grafted onto the period epic, wuxia becomes a showcase of Chinese history, seeking to be universally accepted while at the same time locating itself within the historicist confines of the nation-state." (168)

wuxia’s increasing hybridization/conflation with historical epics (particularly in Zhang Yimou’s 2002 film 《英雄》 Hero, John Woo’s 2008 - 2009 《赤壁》 Red Cliff duology) increasingly politicizes the genre, and that politicization thereby links wuxia to national issues of structural oppression, like the ones you mentioned: the statist consolidation of power and framing of political unification as an unproblematic moral good, ableism, colorism, xenophobia, misogyny... any one of these could carry a research paper on their own, and I don’t presume to be able to solve or explain away any of them in a tumblr post, but I do think there are many ways in which the wuxia genre’s (often uncritical) support of structures of oppression are directly linked to the origins of wuxia as a genre that was in many ways wish-fulfillment for a 20th/21st century Chinese culture wracked with political turmoil, economic disaster, and cultural uncertainties

I particularly like Teo’s discussion here:

"...The grand historicist self-fashioning of the genre in a film like Hero and its offshoots Curse of the Golden Flower, The Banquet, The Warlords [...and] Red Cliff demonstrate the kind of nationalistic self-aggrandisement that critics find so disturbing, particularly so when the nature of the regime is authoritarian and autocratic, ever ready to invoke militaristic power as the means to their end of a unitary nation state.

“However, if we see the wuxia genre as a mirror of the nation, it shows China in perpetual crisis, torn apart by internal strife and the urge to cohere as a unitary state." (186)

the framing of political unification as an unproblematic moral good is something I find particularly interesting, because a lot of that has to do with Chinese history. the famous opening line of 《三国演义》 / Romance of the Three Kingdoms references this directly: 天下大势，分久必合，合久必分 / “All great movements under heaven [follow this rule]: that which has fallen apart for a long time must come together, and that which has been together for a long time must fall apart.” The entire cyclical narrative of imperial China has been this: a dynasty rises, a dynasty falls, the land fractures into squabbling kingdoms, out of which a single dynasty eventually rises, to eventually fall, to eventually fracture again. and so, a dynasty’s collapse and the subsequent societal fracturing into warring territories is naturally paired with the crisis and violence that ensues with the fall of a state. simply put, there just isn’t a period of Chinese history (or if there is, I don’t know of it) where political fragmentation has not been associated with civil unrest; therefore political unification must be an unproblematic good as it eliminates domestic warfare and returns order to the central plains. handily, this supports the current regime’s nationalistic and authoritarian agenda, and so we see this particular moral value reflected in much of wuxia fiction

not to simply brush aside ableism, colorism, xenophobia, and misogyny all with a wave of a hand, but I do think that much of this has to do with contemporary Chinese society’s current attitudes towards these issues. when a society privileges pale complexions in its beauty standards (see: the triptych of 白富美, the omnipresence of beauty products that advertise skin tone lightening, the entire entertainment/idol industry), colorism is a natural (and shitty) result. government-spurred nationalism, historical racism, and Han chauvinism all contribute to the rampant xenophobia of much of Chinese media, especially when it comes to depictions of non-Chinese Asia (Central Asia, Japan, SE Asia in particular). when wuxia needs a faceless enemy, it reaches for the barbarians on the border. ableism and misogyny are issues that contemporary Chinese society struggle with now; the issue of ableism in particular feels stifled in the cutthroat nature of the current job market (the flipside of China’s massive labor force is the knowledge that every person is fundamentally replaceable), and the depths to which cultural misogyny runs in China is growing steadily more and more evident as the gender gap widens

and when it comes to fiction, when it comes to literature, widespread change often doesn’t occur until there is a societal call for it. I’m thinking of the U.S. science fiction and fantasy scene, which went through its own reckoning with diversity and genre-reified prejudice over the past decade and a half. and now we have brilliantly diverse authors and searingly postcolonial works, queer characters on the regular, Tor Books itself advertising to us soft sad queer freaks on tumblr. the journey wasn’t easy though, nor is the journey remotely close to over, but the fact remains — there was, in a sense, a collective cultural awakening about the ways in which more classic SF/F often utilized and reified racism, prejudice, misogyny, ableism; and subsequently, there was a conscious effort towards holding the genre(s) and its creators accountable, towards writing and supporting and amplifying voices previously shunned and silenced

and, well, to be fully honest, I don’t think that cultural moment has arrived yet for wuxia. this is not to say that there are no wuxia creators out there trying to decolonize the genre, but that we haven’t reached the turning point where decolonizing the genre and examining its history of misogyny, xenophobia, ableism, and colorism is expected, accepted, even celebrated, and I don’t think we’ll get there until contemporary Chinese society goes through a cultural reckoning with these same issues

I also think it’s worth mentioning that whatever that collective cultural awakening/reckoning looks like, it must be and will be distinctively Chinese. Chinese culture maintains different moral values from Western (Euroamerican) culture; contemporary China faces different social issues and political problems than contemporary Euroamerica. whatever this journey looks like, I don’t think it will look like or should look the same as what the U.S. went through/is going through. decolonizing/deimperializing East Asia is inherently different from decolonizing/deimperializing the West, so I would like to stop short of making prescriptive statements on what that cultural turning point should look like

that being said: if anyone’s run into some good postcolonial wuxia lately, I’d be VERY interested to hear more about it

[snazum]

ah fuck it i'm asking to the void but, does anyone know how many hours/days the events of HLVRAI span over? I might have to rewatch the series for this info ToT I do know they mention going to bed at the end of streams, so 4 days? fuck man i'm rambling cause i can

[elcoco005]

How I would rewrite MC (in a better way)

Magnificent Century is a frustrating show because it has so much potential, yet the writing can be so dumb at times.

I actually have a google doc called "Magnificent Century rewritten correctly" in like 3-4 seasons. Basically I improved & kept the best plot points, so no unrealistic murder plot with Sadika for example. It's more historically accurate, the characters are still flawed but don't act like immature and sociopathic brats half the time (like sending poison left and right & burning others' face as if that would just be left unpunished), the unbalanced power dynamics between slaves & dynasty members are more explored & Nigar would still be the best.

Also the harem would be shown way way more horribly than in the show, like Sadika character wouldn't be a spy just a normal harem girl coping with rape by the Sultan, exploring the idea of consent within a harem where all women are slave, even if Suleyman and other dynasty members never see it that way.

I would also like to keep the historical harem rules, especially the one concubine one son because it would 1/ Make Mahidevran more sympathetic since all her actions would be for her son's future and not out of misplaced possessiveness for Suleyman 2/make it more significant when Hurrem goes back into the Sultan's bed

I would also explore how Mahidevran & Hurrem both telling their sons they're the true heir & future Sultan create tension between the two brothers, just to show how the empire dynamic messes up even something as pure as Mehmet & Mustafa relationship.

Ibrahim and Hatice would still be wed thought, it's historically inaccurate but it's just too smart story wise to have them together, especially since I would explore Ibrahim potential feelings for Suleyman & how, since he can't have Suley, he unconsciously goes for the closest thing : his sister. Also I would leave some cues about how bad a match Ibrahim is for Hatice, because even if Ibrahim has a soft spot for her, he doesn't truly love her and she's obsessed. It's unhealthy.

I would also explore Valide's past way more. Have her have more conversations with Mahidevran about having to share the Sultan, having to protect her son Suleyman from his own father Selim I which would be foreshadowing for Mustafa's fate. I would love for Valide to express more often how afraid she is of Suleyman turning like his father Selim I.

I have a lot more but I'll stop for now! Tell me what you think!

[darius-1]

A Deal with the Kingpin.

I agree with TV Tropes about this. It's a huge missed opportunity to have Elektra go to Kingpin because of his affliction with her father and work for him to kill Daredevil, without even realizing the trouble she got into before it was too late. Nor does she know he was responsible for her father's death by sending a hitman called Bullseye. This event is what would've been perfect for Elektra to be another secondary antagonist.

[greendomine]

Good day my name is Meriwether Laudanum Syphilis Woodpecker Lewis and i have short ash brown hair (from my father, who i get my name from) with gray roots and brown tips that reaches my mid-forehead and muddy hazel eyes like the misissipi river and a lot of people tell me i look like Thomas Jefferson (A/N: if u don't know who he is get da hell out of here!). I'm not related to Mahlon Dickerson but I wish I was because he's a major fucking hottie. I'm a Virginian but my teeth are straight and white. I have pale white skin. I'm also a Captain, and I'm on a magic expedition called the Corps of Discovery in the Louisiana Territory where I'm in the first year (I'm thirty). I'm a hypochondriac (in case you couldn't tell) and I wear mostly black. I love my tailor and I buy all my clothes from him. For example today I was wearing a black coat with matching lace around it and a black cotton waistcoat, white breeches and black riding boots. I was wearing a black chapeau bras hat, a white cravat, black coal tar and red blush. I was walking outside Fort Mandan. It was snowing and raining so there was no sun, which I was very happy about. A lot of privates stared at me. I put up my middle finger at them.

"Hey Lewis!" shouted a voice. I looked up. It was.... William Clark!

"What's up Clark?" I asked.

"Nothing." he said shyly.

But then, I heard my inferiors call me and I had to go away.

[beemintty]

currently reading: His Dark Materials Book Two: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

quote: “…cruelties and horrors all committed in the name of the Authority, all designed to destroy the joys and the truthfulness of life.”

current thoughts: this author is known to be “church hating” and it comes out in their writing very clearly. but they make a very valid point: “The Church” uses Gods name in to validate cruelty and hatred and violence and abuse. “It’s Gods will!” What? It’s Gods will to cast out, abuse and hate people who are any different. Its Gods will to burn women at the stakes because they were different or helpful even. It’s Gods will to keep slaves. Its Gods will to colonise First Nations peoples land. It’s Gods will to go to war. It’s Gods will to strip people of their identity and soul just because they don’t love conventionally. GODS WILL TO TAKE THE LIVES OF INNOCENT PALESTINIANS BECAUSE THAT LAND BELONGS TO ISRAEL AND THEY ARE GODS PEOPLE. it’s Gods will to inflict suffering and pain and cruelty on the people of the world. Do you see how insane that sounds? The same excuse. “We can do it because it’s in the name of Jesus.” What about that says Jesus? The man who walked among sinners because he loved them? The man who healed. The man who SACRIFICED HIS LIFE SO WE COULD HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM! What about all these cruelties has God written on them? NOTHING! So stop using a kind and just God as an excuse to do horrible things!

[cannibalisam]

dark side of the moon is probably the Most Telling episode because it is 100% about sam and dean's relationship preseries (and how all that fits into the Divorce Arc we're going through at that time in the series.) ... like i already said before that dean's speech to sam in the first episode of s5 about how he can't trust him anymore was how a Woman Who Got Cheated On acts. but the throwing away of the samulet in this episode... because dean remembered (and found out) some of sam's earlier "transgressions", when he throws it away, it acts as the throwing away of a Wedding Ring. because of how much emphasis is placed on this necklace and because he threw it away IN FRONT OF SAM specifically to HURT SAM. not to mention the fact that (in later seasons) it is LITERALLY used as a "symbol to remind [dean] how [he] feels about [his] brother" i just think it's pretty obvious. so like... the fact that he throws away his wedding ring (teehee) after EVERYTHING they went through with ruby and the seals and lilith and lucifer and EVERYTHING... is because sam's heaven didn't include dean. or included him peripherally on the worst days/NIGHT of his life (the night sam went away) ... to dean that's like being "cheated on" (irt ruby) all over again. AND THAT'S WHY THIS SHOW IS INSANE. BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE IN ANY OTHER NARRATIVE.