#wwx
censorship be damned - this is one of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen in my life
You mentioned in a previous ask about the line between romantic and platonic, or whether it's a false dichotomy. I've actually been wondering/maybe obsessing about this #theasexuallife and was wondering if you had any recommended reading on that? Also obligatory Untamed question, what do you think of the scene where LWJ puts down his umbrella and puts his face to the rain? ~A long time lurker who only discovered CQL from looking up Classical Chinese on tumblr and loving your blog that much
(that is such a chaotic-academic way of getting into CQL and you are so valid for it, anon)
A gifset went by not too long ago, beneath which I tried (and mostly failed) to get my thoughts and feelings about various umbrella scenes in CQL out in words. The thing is, from a production standpoint, rain scenes are more work-intensive for logistical reasons (rain towers, rain curtains, controlling levels of costume/wig dryness, water-proofing cameras and camera equipment, make-up reapplication between takes, etc), so I’m generally inclined to read the setting of particular scenes in the rain as deliberately significant from a symbolic/narrative perspective since the directors went to such trouble to get a rain scene in the first place.
A list of rain scenes off the top of my head in the show:
- the aftermath of the fall of Lotus Pier
- Wei Wuxian buying food / Jiang Cheng’s capture
- Wen liberation at Qiongqi Dao, closely followed by
- wangxian parting at Qiongqi Dao
- wangxian flight from Jinlintai
- Guanyin Temple
I don’t think I can offer a Single Coherent Rain Theory, but here’s a wild stab at a Unifying Umbrella Theory:
#what about episode 16 you ask?#let me bullshit you as only I know how#the difference in the umbrellas to start with#lan wangji’s and jiang cheng’s are after all very similar#and if you think of them as shields#as a buffer between the worldly conflicts and one’s spiritual self#as tools used to preserve impartiality and transcendence#it shouldn’t be a surprise they’re smiliar#but wei wuxian’s umbrella in episode sixteen is nothing like theirs is it?#it’s old and it’s drab and it’s flimsy#a second-hand umbrella like everything else wei wuxian has ever called his own#it can’t even hide him from the guards#impartiality and transcendence is not to be wei wuxian’s path#and any attempt is only a shabby imitation
hey @baoshan-sanren what have I ever done to you???
(aside from hurl LYB at your face for which I am unapologetic–)
#in episode 16 he WAS being shielded though#by jiang cheng#we just didn’t know it yet
I am being beset from ALL SIDES but ESPECIALLY by @aiyexayen
