Thanks! *cracks knuckles getting ready to type*
Below is more likeā¦a genre analysis as well as personal headcanon, because after I calmed down from my wangxian feels and yunmeng bro feels, Iām so fucking pissed about MDZSās treatment of its female characters.
First, some pre-amble: Iāve watched wuxia for as long as I can remember, and having consumed some older classics such as å°éč±éä¼ ļ¼ ē„éä¾ ä¾£ļ¼ 天é¾å
«éØ with my parents growing up, MDZSās portrayal of its female characters deeply disappoints. And this is a commentary not just on this one work, but for many works across the genre. Currently online novels are very popular, many of which have been turned to tv series. I have to say that something strange and detrimental has happened to female characters in general. If the show is a 大儳äø»å§ aka itās based on the story of one female lead, she is portrayed on the surface as a āstrong female characterā (aka sheās good at fighting, strategizing etc), BUT for some reason the male lead is still ābetterā than her in terms of martial arts, mystic arts, etc etc etc, such that when sheās in trouble, he can swoop in and save her heroically. >_> In these stories, the female lead has VERY few if not no female friends at all. Or, if she does have female friends, they either turn against her, or they get killed off, or they are related to her (sister, aunt, mother etc). Female characters are often pitted against each other, and female leads are isolated and are not given opportunities to form deep and lasting relationships with other female supporting roles.
ON THE OTHER HAND, in stories where females are supporting characters, such as MDZS, what happens is exactly what you see with Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, Qin Su, and Mian Mianās character. They get sidelined, reduced to very few personality traits and are killed off to advance male charactersā plot arch. (Yanli, sista pls, your canāt useĀ āsoupā to solve every single one of your problems).Ā There are exceptions of course, such as the show āNirvana in Fireā, but NIF isnāt really wuxia, but more like pseudo-history/political, and it is truly a rare gem.
The Untamed tv show actually tries very hard to correct some of the author MXTXās bullshit in this regard and gives female characters more screen time. But in the words of my mother (who is a A-class show binger; any wuxia show in recent years and in the past, you name it sheās seen it) āLook at Yu Ziyuan, sheās so āå害ā (scary, skilled, powerful), I have no idea why Jiang Yanli canāt cultivate; maybe she has poor health.ā
The truth is, in a family - a cultivation Sect - where both the Sect Leader and his Lady wife are strong cultivators and martial artists, there is no sensible reason why their daughter canāt cultivate/fight. Yunmeng Jiang has both male and female disciples, so itās not a matter of only passing on skills to male descendants. Yu Ziyuan herself is dubbed āPurple Spiderā - thatās a frigginā title. What people donāt understand is that in Wuxia, to have a title or a nickname, you really have to earn it. That alone should speak to Yu Ziyuanās status.
And you all saw how Yu Ziyuan reacted to Jiang Cheng always coming up second to Wei Wuxian; sheās angry as hell. She is the proverbial tiger mom, who expects a lot of out of her children. In that meal scene, Yu Ziyuan admonishes Jiang Yanli because Yanli is sitting there quietly and peeling lotus seeds for her brothers. She says something to the effect of ālook at her, still peeling lotus seeds! What else can you do? Youāre a master, not a servant!ā That really struck me because it implies that Yu Ziyuan wouldāve wanted her daughter to be less passive, more active and possibly even cultivate.
Peopleās general assumption has been āYanli chose to be a nurturerā - well, sorry friends, but thatās not how it works in traditional Chinese families, especially not in the wuxia genre. Culturally and contextually, that just isnāt plausible. If choice is involved, it is something developed in later years, when the teenage rebellion phase kick in. However, cultivators train from childhood, and if your parents want you to learn something, to train, to follow in the family footstep, you do not say no. So even if Yanli chose to be a pacifist, she wouldāve still known how to fight, she wouldāve still had a golden core - but as we see, that is not the case. She canāt fight, has no core or at best a very weak core. Especially the children of the Sect leaders, girl or boy, if you donāt know ANYTHING about cultivation, that is nothing to be proud of. It brings shame on the family. Thereās a saying in Chinese čē¶ę ē¬å„³ļ¼åļ¼- which roughly translates to tiger fathers do not have dog daughters/sons. Children are expected to live up to their parentsā reputations. So to sum up: in keeping with wuxiaĀ genreās normal tropes,Ā Jiang Yanli could not have reasonably āchosenā to be a nurturer/pacifist. She cares so much about her family, she wouldāve wanted to make her parents happy and proud.
In other genres, such as historical dramas, yes, daughters are kept demure, passive and virtuous (but never uneducated) so they will make suitable wives in the future. But in Wuxia, that is not the case and has never been the case. If anything, in Wuxia, men and women enjoy more equality than in any other genre.
Sword: Part of the reason why Jiang Yanli carries a swordā¦ well I think logistically, thatās more for visual effects and symmetry of the scene than anything else. I donāt think the sword is part of the novel or the donghua, only the live action. Weāve certainly never seen her use it. But i have my own hc regarding this sword. (see below).
Health: Iām not sure about the book, but the show does imply that Jiang Yanli is not of the greatest health [disclaimer: i have an educational background in biomedical sciences, iām not just pulling ideas out of thin air]. We first see her fall ill at Cloud Recesses, and Wen Qing goes to tend to her. Yanli says itās because the weather has been rainy. While it is true that cultivation allows cultivators to have greater health, even just a regular person doesnāt fall ill just because itās raining. Secondly, when they were searching for wwx and lwj, Jiang Cheng has to help her hike around Cloud Recesses. Iām sorry, but what average healthy teenager with no co-morbidities has trouble hiking? Your 65 year old grandpa with congestive heart failure has shortness of breath upon exertion, but not a healthy 18 year old, cultivation or no cultivation. And after Lotus Pierās tragedy, Jiang Yanli falls ill again, which I suppose you can attribute to stress, heartbreak and being soaked by the rain. Overall, I suspect the show tries to explain/imply her lack of cultivation on her health.Ā
And finally, the headcanon:
My person headcanon for Yanli is that she doesnāt cultivate, not because she doesnāt want to or was never taught, but because she canāt due to medical complications. Especially because she has a sword, I think once upon a time when she was very little, her parents did what any cultivator parents would do which was prepared her for cultivation. I hc that once upon a time, before Jiang Cheng was even born, Jiang Yanli was a cultivator, and even had a golden core.
Her sword (in my private mind) is named Wuyun äŗč (five skandhas/aggregates) stemming from the fact that her younger brotherās sword is Sandu äøęÆ (three poisons). Sandu and Wuwen are related concepts in Buddhism.Ā
[The three poisons (of ignorance, attachment, and aversion) are the primary causes that keep sentient beings trapped in reincarnation cycle. The five aggregates of clinging are the five material and mental factors that take part in the rise of craving and clinging. Suffering arises when one identifies with or clings to the aggregates. This suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to aggregates.]
(Better explanations can be found on wiki lol, I apologize to all theology majors out there, this is not my forte!!!).Ā Ā As siblings, it makes poetic/literary sense for their swords to have similar theological stems. (I also hc that WWXās sword shouldāve been sidi å諦, a related buddism term for āfour noble truthsā except heās a disaster boi and named his sword āWhateverā, which tbh, is the essence of buddism LMAO)
But because Yanli is presented to have such poor health, in my hc she is born with a congenital condition, specifically a congenital heart defect (a VSD is what I prefer but iām really stretching science and medicine here haha). The defect is small when she was a baby but as she grows, the defect grows proportionally such that it is no longer sustainable for life. In modern day, without surgical intervention, Jiang Yanli canāt possibly live, but since this is the magical land of cultivation, the healers does a very advanced and dangerous technique that harnesses the spiritual energy of Yanliās small golden core to repair the damage on her heart. The consequence however is that her entire golden core is consumed in the process and her āspiritual rootā ä»č is exhausted. She will live, but she will never be able to cultivate again. Any attempts of cultivation will be endangering her life. I think the healers wouldāve warned her against and scared her with things likeĀ āyou donāt want to be the reason your parents loses a daughter.āĀ
Okay, Iām done. Thank you for letting me vent. I kind of wrote a little bit of what i think happened to Yanliās ability to cultivate in narration in the reblog of this post. I Ā may or may not be planning a yanli-centric and wen qing-centric ficā¦ but weāll see. haha .
theartofmadeline
blakekathryn
andulkaphoto
vaporwave
kianamaiart
