Got to the whole ‘Republic secret super-soldier project’ in and Oh I could ramble on about the implications of THAT! But as soon as the General told me about a project so secret it had no oversight, just a pile of money and a desired end? I was thinking “welp, no way that’s gonna go wrong.” You don’t need the Force or a Jedi Master’s Wisdom to know that is a BAD IDEA!
Refugees being used as test subjects was not the first thing I thought of for Ways To Go Wrong but unsurprising.
The recruiter saying they were all volunteers? That they were willing?!? I need a dialogue option to cry bs or at least disparage his definition of ‘consent’. Damnit swtor that’s not how it works and you know it!
Those refugees did not consent to this. Maybe recruiter dude was straight up lying to PC’s face. Maybe the folks were ‘willing’ in the same way recruited teens for the US military are ‘willing’ (i.e. no fucking clue what they’re signing up for cause recruiters are lying liars who lie). Maybe a combination of the above? But don’t tell me every single refugee was giving full and informed consent to be guinea pigs for an experimental super soldier project!!!
If you're arguing Jedi are cold and emotionless and/or are elites and steal children...where are you getting those arguments? Where specifically are you getting the words cold, emotionless, elites and child-stealer? Which arguments do those come from? And why are you using those specific arguments to justify a genocide?
Yes the Jedi are fictional. But arguing that a Jewish-coded religious group is ‘elitist’ and/or child-stealers has a long history of real-world antisemitism. Christians have long spread and believed the lie that ‘Jewish people steal children’ and have used it to justify all manner of atrocities from murder and dismemberment of young women to torture to multiple genocides! The use of ‘elites’ is a buzzword for antisemitism, the belief that Jewish people are the architects of our exploitive society.
Yes the Jedi are fictional, but arguing that an East-Asian coded culture is cold and emotionless has a long history of real world racism. The white western world has long used such a stereotype – along with the idea that our emotions (or at least expressing them in white western stereotypical ways) are what makes us human – as a way of justifying all manner of atrocities and exploitation.
If you want to dig into Shmi’s decision to give Qui Gon Jinn and Anakin himself permission to get Jedi training? Sure! We can do that!Or George Lucas’ creative decision of ‘Jedi training has to start very young’. I've got some beef there too. You wanna dig into the stereotypes of stoicism, especially as a masculine norm and its harmful effects? Sure, I’m up for some good ole toxic masculinity criticism.
But if you’re regurgitating the arguments real-life fascists have used to justify real-life genocide? STOP! Examine your internalization of these anti-Asian and antisemitic arguments. Why are you making these arguments? What do you want the other person to realize and why?
Obviously if you are arguing that genocide is right then stfu and gtfo
Finished watching The Untamed and have to rant about it, especially to anyone tired of GRRM taking forever to finish the Winds of Winter or burned out after season eight. The Untamed /Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation has all joys of GoM/ASOIAF (fight scenes, back-stabbing, political drama, an overwhelming evil that threatens the world, medievalism inspired by history, fantasy, character deconstructions, incest, zombies, tragedy …okay it doesn’t have dragons per se but it does have a dragon turtle) It also straight up does everything better. Everything:
The Opening: Much like Indiana Jones movies are praised for having more action in the first five minutes than most action movies have in two hours, this opens up right in the middle of the most climatic, action-packed and heart-breaking scene of the whole show. Then the show jumps back and forth, leading up to the inevitable and then shows where you go from there. So, we start out with an inevitable horror – this person WILL die, that person WILL betray, etc. that not only can’t be prevented but that everyone is inevitably spiraling towards. At the same time, it opens in the middle so we’ve got the tension of ‘what will come in the aftermath of this’. Best of both.
Villains: We’ve got both the intrinsically evil and otherworldly threat and the very human people who have chosen evil. But unlike ASOIAF, there’s an interplay between the two in The Untamed. The Others are fundamentally outsiders with Caster alone assisting them by making sacrifices. Meanwhile in The Untamed, said intrinsic and otherworldly evil is very much intertwined with BOTH the villains AND the heroes. It’s power most covet and brings out their worst traits, it is a force our protagonist must struggle with both inwardly and outwardly.
Also the villains and heroes are very much distorted reflections of each other in a way that's very intriguing – especially Wei Wuxian and Xue Yang who are very similar in personality. Had things been different they could have BEEN each other in a way Jon Snow and Ramsey Snow really couldn’t. There’s also a depth to both. You can see why Wei Wuxian and Xue Yang walked the paths they did even if Xue Yang turned out so fucked up. While I can see why Jon Snow made his choices…we aren’t shown why Ramsey Snow became the way he was. He’s the cliché ‘well he was just born nasty’ that can be boring in a villain – especially one contrasted with the protagonist.
Characterization: Everyone! Xichen WISHES he had his head chopped off like Ned Stark. Wei Wuxian shows even rapidly moving waters can run deep (and hey if you wanna see someone get literally, repeatedly damned for doing the right thing…). Madame Yu is like Catalyn Stark if the latter was badass and went out like a boss (and also despite everything gave half a damn about Jon Snow). Jiang Cheng is a contradictory fit whose relationship with Wei Wuxian makes Jon Snow and Robb Stark’s relationship bland as store-bought white bread. I see your Robb Stark and Theon Greyjoy and raise you Xichen and Meng Yao. In general MXTX’s characters are deeper, richer, more real and satisfying than GRRM’s.
Fantasy: This is a Xanxia fantasy so there’s a lot more overt magic – not just magical creatures but most of the protagonists and antagonists have magic. And magic swords! Personalized magic swords almost like a blend of Valyrian Steel and lightsabers except these swords allow the wielder to fly so as much as I love my glowy swoosh swords these ones might win out on cool points.
Historical: … from what I've been told Xanxia fantasies are typically set in the real world so The Untamed is set in our China – just our China if cultivation were a real way to obtain magic and immortality. So, there’s A LOT of references to real historical medieval stuff here. And a lot of medieval horror. You got your punishments, including some augmented by magic. You've got torture, entire sects being wiped out and the horror of bride ghosts.
Backstabbery: Thinking back on it Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, for all that it’s a sack of backstabbing weasels, doesn’t have a lot of really wrenching betrayal. The closest is probably Theon going back to daddy instead of staying with his Robb, but even then that's a valid allegiance for him. Littlefinger has no reason beyond money to support Ned, we get little hints of familial betrayal (Ramsey murdering his brother) but nothing like The Untamed which has some horrible betrayals. I mean people who have been best friends/sworn blood oaths/etc. backstabbing. If MXTX wrote GoT Robert Baratheon would’ve been the one cutting Ned’s head off (which, honestly that’d have been more interesting).
It's a crying shame Game of Thrones/ASOIAF is more popular and it really shouldn’t be. Best of all The Untamed its free (on Viki) 😊
