Once a Stranger

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng’s (Lack of) Brotherhood

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 14:02:31 GMT

(repost of something I wrote on tumblr in April 2020 for archiving purpose)

In fanfiction, it is extremely frequent to see Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng refer to one another as “brother”, either in dialogue, or described as such through the narrative. This always struck me as hitting the wrong note, because in the actual narrative of Mo Dao Zu Shi there is not a single instance where the word “brother” is used to refer to one another, not even once.

Yet it is obvious why fanfics go there. It does fittingly describe the nature of their relationship. Wei Wuxian was brought back to Yunmeng by Jiang Fengmian to be raised by him in a way that looks much more like an adoption than anything. It is probable that the main reason that he didn’t formally adopt Wei Wuxian was because Yu Ziyuan would never have stood by it. Despite her opposition and her worry that Wei Wuxian might usurp Jiang Cheng’s place as heir to the sect, it is obvious that Wei Wuxian wasn’t treated as a servant (as the son of a servant) or as a simple disciple. He was part of the family unit in more ways than not, and they grew up close and their relationship displayed a kind of intimacy and rivalry that is typical of brotherhood.

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Xavier and Magneto contrast

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 16:30:01 GMT

an old post on tumblr that's my most popular post there, for archiving purpose:

I think one of the most interesting thing about the way Xavier and Magneto contrast is how you can root their difference of attitude from their background.

Like, Xavier comes from a very privileged background and is idealist and optimistic, and Erik is has lived through the Shoah and is cynical and pessimistic. But there’s much more to it than that.

Xavier lived in a dysfunctional family, in which he felt very out of place. He found respite in school - an institutional environment. He saw first hand in Cain how people can turn from victims into abusers because of that abuse. His concept of evil - and of how to fix it - is very personalised. It’s something individuals do, because they’re wrong headed. It’s also something that’s rooted in unbridled force, and in lack of self-control; so Xavier tends to stress the importance of self-control a lot in the way he sets up the school, and he picked Scott - the one who absolutely needed to be in control of his power at all times - as leader.

Erik grew up in a very loving and functional family unit. He has a very solid sense of self and ego despite everything else he’s lived. The evil he’s suffered is institutionalised. It’s not something done by individuals, it’s done on large scale by society as a whole, fostered by indifference, and orchestrated by the use of excessive control. There’s no simple appeal or polite request that can stop it. Only violence was able to counter it. So he’s not interested in fixing it, only in uprooting it.

(from razielangelofsecret)

I feel there’s another side to this.

Charles has always had the benefit of his powers. Not matter how many times he can pledge he won’t use them on someone, we’ve seen he doesn’t always keep his word. He’s had the benefit of foresight through mind reading. He has multiple different view points depending on who is around him.

Erik has only ever seen through one view. The view of the oppressed. The view of the mutant. The view of the downtrodden. He doesn’t see any other way because he has grown up with the one way. He doesn’t think about the people who are putting him down as individuals. He doesn’t sympathize with human beings because he isn’t, was not, and will never be the same as them in his eyes. He has one view, and one method to fix it.

Charles is a man who would use diplomacy to open doors.

Erik is a man who would rip the door from it’s hinges.

Yeah, I think their powers also inform them to a great deal. The power that Xavier has means constant awareness. It’s both a potentially overwhelming burden and, as you say, a constant advantage. The constant knowledge that help is a thought away. It also forces him to consider different point of views - literally that’s what his power is - to see people in their individual personhood. And, of course, it’s a constant temptation (again, the importance of self control).

And Xavier had his power since a very early age, and grew up hiding that fact, knowing that he had to hide that fact in fear of repercussions. And in comics, Xavier kept the fact that he himself was a mutant hidden - even as he was presenting himself as a mutant rights advocate and expert - for a ridiculously long time, and was only outed by Cassandra Nova pretending to be himself.

It’s not like Xavier only embodies the idea of passing, because he’s also (most often) disabled in a very visible way; but it’s something that is a much larger element of his makeover.

Erik grew up as a visible minority (by law, visible and stigmatized and soon enough segregated in ghettos); then was a visible refugee (by accent, very probably, at the least) who had to suffer from it; and only then came onto his power. And from then on Magneto spends very little time passing. And when he does, it’s very much being undercover.

There’s a lot of things in the movie about passing/being visible; to a large extent because they lean the most on the LGBT metaphor; of course.

Erik’s power is also, overwhelming, about being powerful. It’s how his character is built around, much like Xavier’s built around thinking through different point of views, communicating and being subtly manipulative. It’s also built onto his survivor’s guilt: He survived so he could be prevent the same things from happening to mutants now that he has the power to do so. He’s the man who can now rip the doors from his hinges (like he couldn’t when he was a child).

Erik’s rejection of humanity is also something that is very interesting to see in the frame of his background. Because for a lot of people, what happened during the Shoah was something that lead to deeps questions about humanity. What does it say about us that we are capable of this, and to let it happen? Does Humanism mean anything in the fact of complete orchestrate dehumanization? and so on.

And Erik was capable to deal with that by rejecting completely on humans, to the difference of mutants. Mutants are new, they provide a tabula rasa, and opportunity to build a revolutionary society where such injustice would not happen. That’s the core of Magneto as a radical figure of mutant supremacy. That’s what he says to Magda when she questions what he is: “You… are not human” – “Far more than human, I suspect. Better than human, I vow.” From the observation of factual difference to the framing this different as an ethical project funded on fundamental othering in one sentence.

So I agree he thinks he isn’t, was not, and will never be one of “them”.

OTOH, he’s perfectly capable of viewing humans as individuals (witness many of his relationships with humans). He just doesn’t do it as part of the ideological construct through which he view the world.

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comics stuff

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 16:09:47 GMT

First! Did I ever got around to plugging comics_reviews_etc and comicsmod? Comics_reviews_etc, modded by the lovely bethbethbeth is a community for discussions and reviews of comics issues for people craving meta and discussions (where has all the meta gone?); and comicsmod is a comics anon meme. They both look pretty neat!!

Second, short meta/rant I wrote on tumblr about the events regarding Daken at the end of Remender's Uncanny X-Force
( spoilers for UXF's final )

And third, I wrote a review for the first six issues of All New X-Men over on comics_reviews_etc

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Journey into Mystery: Whose victory?

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 01:36:49 GMT

Another meta on tumblr I'm reblogging, about the ending of Journey into Mystery from a meta perspective:

( spoilers, duh. )

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tumblr x-men meta repost

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:42:59 GMT

So an Anon dropped this in my Ask Box:

( My answer )

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stuff I wrote on tumblr

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:35:02 GMT

and it was the closest thing to meta I wrote in years so I thought I might as well repost it here:

cleromancy asked: this isn't an assumption so much as something you've explicitly stated, but you're really into fucked up/self destructive relationship dynamics, romantically and otherwise; i'm actually pretty interested in your thoughts on why that appeals to you in fiction, also your thoughts on jealousy/possessiveness of the self-destructive type? :D

Why it appeals to me… oh boy, you’re in for a novel.

I think there are three big axis that make me mainly intrigued by fucked up relationships: power, self-destruction & deconstruction/liminality.

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miscelleanous

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:44:12 GMT

- I kind of don't know where to post my fannish thoughts anymore. Tumblr? Communities? Rpg.net? My journal? Crossposting the same thing to all of them as if they were all that good or important? >_> Perhaps I should meta about this for metamarchofmonth.

- Fucking asshole on rpg.net saying they were glad spoilers for A song of ice and fire: Tyrion killed that "lying bitch".FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.

- I have a new haircut. I should get my hair cut more often. At least every six months instead of year. Bet I'd save money on hair care products.

- Did I ever mention my new cooking plates? I have them. Yay food that i cook! I was so sick of microwave fare.

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if you miss metafandom

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:14:22 GMT

trobadora and sholio are doing a poll to gauge interest in a Meta Month of March fandom event!

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Do not go gentle

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:22:31 GMT

Lately it feels like more and more people are leaving LJ. It's been getting to me a lot. I really hate this. I hate people saying they're leaving and deleting their journals, I hate realising that people have just vanished out and not updated their journals for months or years, too. It feels like most of the life out of LJ (or DW for that matter) has been extinguished, I don't think I see enthusiasm much anymore elsewhere than in kink memes and other forms of anonymous memes (which frankly, I was never very fond of). I think a big part of it is, fandom has spread itself in other places, across different dimensions. Tumblr is great for fanart, gifs and more stream of consciousness squeeing (despite how much I hate the tumblr interface as well as the way people socialize on it and that is A WHOLE FUCKING LOT, and the more I use tumblr - I made an account a couple of months ago - the more I hate it :p); more in depth text based meta, reviews etc. are on various blogs, I guess. Fics are more simple to post on archives. Recs are handled via delicious (yes, despite the last debacle). And - what I miss most - the networking and befriending people based upon fandom, I guess maybe it's happening elsewhere too, on facebook or twitter or somewhere else I don't know about. But, and it's funny, that was one thing I used to criticise LJ for - the way it was mixing a whole lot of different things in the same place, the way it made us have to jungle all those things at the same time, the intersection of those spheres - which was sometimes unwieldy - but in retrospect feels like it was very productive in social interaction. Conversations bouncing from one journal to another, filled with ideas and joy and depth and silliness and resonance - when's the last I've seen that?

These days it doesn't feel like we get much into great conversations anymore. I dunno, maybe it happens elsewhere that what I pay attention to. I've been through a lot of fandoms - maybe too many - and at the same time I've always refused to follow the bandwagon of the next Big Fandom everyone else was following unless I was, you know, genuinely interesting in that big fandom (and most often I wasn't so much, instead I was more into skipping to another media/genre altogether!), which doesn't help keeping ties. And the biggest problem, I've really sucked about keeping my journal lively either, and I've deeply sucked at keeping lively conversation with others on their journals as well. Oh, I've done a lot of perfunctionary updating, so to speak, quick, shallow comments; and silly memes and I've tried to keep talking about fannish stuff - but... I haven't put in it a lot of myself into it. Big part of that was just depression, and not knowing how to deal with situation in life. I don't want to talk about this much. I don't like talking about it. It feels too shameful, and too vulnerable, and too embarrassing all at the same time. And as far as commenting, I have felt way too out of my depth as well as too numb often enough to have anything to say to people. And I always try to escape spirals of self loathing the same way, with avoidance and escapism; which hasn't ended very profitable for social interaction.

But I still treasure all those things. The friendships I have here - brittle and narrow though some of them may be - and the potential for fannish interactions. I depend on it so much. Maybe that is where I err wrong. Of course, things fall apart. Of course, people drift apart - that's not even a specifically fannish thing. Of course, people jump into the newest thing, and sometimes the newest thing isn't the newest fandom, or the newest kind of fanwork exchange, or the newest meme - sometimes it's the newest platform. What do you gonna do. Heh, it's not like I'm unlikely to jump onto the newest thing when it is to my taste, either.

Not sure where I am going with that. I guess I'd just like to have a reason to be hopeful about fannish networking, here or elsewhere, in a way that isn't just about clinging after past glories. Tell me there is some?

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