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 Iâm 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:Â
the aftermath of the fall of Lotus Pier
Wei Wuxian buying food / Jiang Chengâs capture
Wen liberation at Qiongqi Dao, closely followed by
wangxian parting at Qiongqi Dao
wangxian flight from Jinlintai
Guanyin Temple
I donât think I can offer a Single Coherent Rain Theory, but hereâs a wild stab at a Unifying Umbrella Theory:
Iâve seen interviews with the CQL cast members that reference the Qiongqi Dao rain scene--apparently, Xiao Zhan, Meng Ziyi, and Yu Bin all spent the previous day being soaked and miserable, and when Wang Yibo was due to show up the next day, they were all excited (Wang Yibo included) for him to come share the sogginess.Â
And then the next day, the directors looked at each other and agreed that âthe character of Lan Wangji couldnât get wet,â which is how we get that lovely shot of Lan Wangji carrying a positively luminous umbrella.Â
(Xiao Zhan, reportedly, was not amused)
Lan Wangji, as a character, is one that exists slightly above and beyond all the others--he has an otherworldly quality, a superhuman aura, an untouchable presence. He walks through battlefields wearing white and remains unstained. His sword is named for his virtue: éżć°Â Bichen, âto avoid worldly dust.â
And then thereâs the confrontation at Qiongqi Dao, and at the end of it, after Wei Wuxian has already gone, Lan Wangji lets the umbrella fall from his fingertips and turns his face up to the rain.
In Wen Qingâs character song, we see the usage of éŁéšÂ fengyu / âwind and rainâ as a figurative reference to the worldly conflicts of the show; to a certain extent, rain can take on a similar metaphorical valence as ć° chen / âdust,â which accumulates on people as they become more and more tangled in human affairs. As a result, Lan Wangji deliberately setting aside the umbrella, letting himself become soaked by the rain, becomes a wordless statement, a symbolic manifesto.
(If Wei Ying will be drenched by the rain, then he will too--)
When Jiang Cheng tears through the doors of Guanyin Temple in episode 47, we get this absolutely stunning shot:
This umbrella is the one that most closely evokes the one Lan Wangji carries in episode 27--it has the same white-paper, ink-splash aesthetic except this time, there is blood running in streaks and dribbles down its formerly-unstained surface.Â
And Jiang Cheng ignores it. Jiang Cheng walks through the rain, letting it soak into his fine robes.
Because what is an umbrella? An accessory, a tool--most importantly, I should think, it is a shield. A buffer, a barrier between yourself and the rain, between the conflicts and worldly dust of a petty mortal world and the spiritual self, capable of impartiality and transcendence.
And Jiang Cheng has been mired in this vicious, bloody world since the fall of Lotus Pier over sixteen years ago. Jiang Cheng has no more need of an umbrella, of shielding--he waded into the dirty, gory mess of battlefields sixteen years ago and never emerged (there once was a war, and in many ways, Jiang Cheng is still fighting it). He has never had the luxury of remaining aloof, untouched, unstained; Jiang Cheng has had his hands full since he was nineteen and a new sect leader. With a sword in one hand and a whip in another, he doesnât have the time or space for the luxury of an umbrella.
There is so much contrast and resonance between these two moments, calling back to each other across twenty episodes. Two of the most important people in Wei Wuxianâs life must cross through a storm to get to him. In episode 27, Lan Wangji doesnât quite get there in time, and itâs not until episode 42 (fleeing Jinlintai, in the rain) that Lan Wangji gets to be as thoroughly soaked as Wei Wuxian is, that the two of them are truly in it together.
In episode 47, well, Jiang Cheng has always been there--from the three of them in episode 16, breaking the news of the fall of Lotus Pier to Jiang Yanli in the pouring rain, somewhere in a forgotten forest, to the reveal in episode 50 that it had been Jiang Cheng who had distracted those Wen soldiers all those years ago in the rain. Jiang Cheng has been there from the beginning, without umbrella or shield.
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