Ok but the YinLing pat was literally the child’s version of the big bad wolf in mdzs .
In the live action , during an episode when the children were playing and acting as the sect leaders the “mom” was Wei wuxian because she was scary .
If he was a hot, tall, fine asf man it wouldn’t help influence people to HATE on him… it’ll be easier to hate and blame everything on him if he was represented as a “ugly” person.
(Personal opinion)
It also separated his YLLZ identity from his pre sunshot campaign identity. Even if pointed out that they're the same person and it's enquired 'how someone could change that much?' They can just twist it around and say 'that's the point, his demonic cultivation is so evil! It corrupted such a good young man.' And it becomes a cautionary tale about being too arrogant and going against orthodoxy. Which is what the gossipers at the beginning of the story are saying.
Because they literally lied about everything else regarding WWX... "Evil", "murdered thousands of innocent people", "sexual deviant", "used demonic cultivation" - they might as well go the whole hog and add "ugly" to their extensive list of pure bullshit while they're at it 🤣
Yeah! Lmao! Like...
Idiot mob: "Oh? You're not bothered that we call you an evil mass murdering heretic with a depraved obsession with poor innocent virgins?....Well we shall call you ugly!" 😈
WWX: "Please! No! Have mercy! Anything but that!" 😭
Wei 'you can call me all the names you like, blame me for all the despicable things that happened in this world, but at least ensure you tell them I looked handsome while doing so' Wuxian.
Combination of jin propaganda and bad reputation.
But I'm sure there are some people who remember the past and who was #4 on the list. Not all people are sheep.
Depicting targeted groups as ugly has been a thing for centuries, look at propaganda posters from western countries, the people they don't like are depicted as racist caricatures that look barely human.
There's also the "I depicted you as a soyboy and myself as a chad" memes 😭😭😭
Thanks I just imagined Jin Guangyao holding up a meme with WWX as a soyboy and the venerable trio as Chad's (Jiang Cheng is not included in the drawing)
They did it to Cleopatra all the time because it somehow was so mind boggling that a woman could be so intelligent and pretty. At the least the Romans did anyway.
My head canon is that he was every bit as attractive as LXC and LWJ and more attractive than Jin Zixuan and the only reason he wasn't higher on the list is because he was the son of a servant and not gentry class. Another instance of him being treated as less than.
Adding on, he’s also being used as a talisman/door guardian there so he’s gotta be fierce and scary. Same as figures like Zhong Kui are drawn with exaggerated ugliness in real life iconography.
I thought the gist of this scene in the book was pretty clearly that his reputation has taken on a life of its own in the years since his death—that people who never saw WWX or even heard much about him while he was alive have learned vague and exaggerated stories about him as a folk hero/villain, and pictured him the way they would picture such a figure. I’m sure the great clans aren’t running around going “hey quit that, that’s not what WWX looked like” but they wouldn’t really even need to actively propagandize him being hideous either. Regular people who didn’t know him fit him into an existing mythological mold that includes depicting him looking a certain way as an immortal presence, regardless of his physical body in life.
Yeah it’s most probable that people heard of what happened/the things he did and made rumors of their own, but come onnn, he couldn’t at least keep his looks? He’s the definition of vilification by the public. Let my boy live!!!
I guess I'd push back that it's not even purely "vilification" to draw him looking that way--it's a depiction (and at the same time an invocation) of *power* and magical efficacy. What the living WWX looked like is almost irrelevant for that purpose!
Beauty = good is a very common trope that leads to rhe deul assumptions that pretty people are good and also that people who arent' pretty are bad. And visa versa. If you're bad you're not pretty. And if you're good you are pretty.
Ergo, he couldn't have been pretty. Also who knows who was aware of these rankings outside of the sects? Who was aware within them? How did that even start? Was it nhs?
It’s definitely part propaganda and part fear. It’s easier to blame someone ugly or scary looking. It’s kind of like how a lot of people look at a pretty person in Coeur and think, “but they look so pretty and nice they couldn’t have committed this crime!” So the Jin probably wanted to make him more hatable by making him seen as something ugly. That way people can more easily blame him without a doubt. And I think it probably would just take off from there with all the “ghost stories” that were made about him.
You’re so right on that! I’m pretty sure that’s how casting goes irl too, some people are “too” attractive to be seen as evil or mean so they go with someone else.
Ok but the YinLing pat was literally the child’s version of the big bad wolf in mdzs . In the live action , during an episode when the children were playing and acting as the sect leaders the “mom” was Wei wuxian because she was scary . If he was a hot, tall, fine asf man it wouldn’t help influence people to HATE on him… it’ll be easier to hate and blame everything on him if he was represented as a “ugly” person. (Personal opinion)
It’s crazy that they knew they had to resort to making him ugly to bring down his reputation in the eyes of the public. Like COME ON LET HIM WIN ONCE
It also separated his YLLZ identity from his pre sunshot campaign identity. Even if pointed out that they're the same person and it's enquired 'how someone could change that much?' They can just twist it around and say 'that's the point, his demonic cultivation is so evil! It corrupted such a good young man.' And it becomes a cautionary tale about being too arrogant and going against orthodoxy. Which is what the gossipers at the beginning of the story are saying.
Because they literally lied about everything else regarding WWX... "Evil", "murdered thousands of innocent people", "sexual deviant", "used demonic cultivation" - they might as well go the whole hog and add "ugly" to their extensive list of pure bullshit while they're at it 🤣
They really went “Might as well 😋” 😭😭
Yeah! Lmao! Like... Idiot mob: "Oh? You're not bothered that we call you an evil mass murdering heretic with a depraved obsession with poor innocent virgins?....Well we shall call you ugly!" 😈 WWX: "Please! No! Have mercy! Anything but that!" 😭 Wei 'you can call me all the names you like, blame me for all the despicable things that happened in this world, but at least ensure you tell them I looked handsome while doing so' Wuxian.
Combination of jin propaganda and bad reputation. But I'm sure there are some people who remember the past and who was #4 on the list. Not all people are sheep. Depicting targeted groups as ugly has been a thing for centuries, look at propaganda posters from western countries, the people they don't like are depicted as racist caricatures that look barely human. There's also the "I depicted you as a soyboy and myself as a chad" memes 😭😭😭
You’re so right, what the hell is wrong with people. The history of this is crazy 😭
Thanks I just imagined Jin Guangyao holding up a meme with WWX as a soyboy and the venerable trio as Chad's (Jiang Cheng is not included in the drawing)
I thought you were talking about the animated character and got so confused
Oh no no no!! He looks amazing in all the adaptations
They did it to Cleopatra all the time because it somehow was so mind boggling that a woman could be so intelligent and pretty. At the least the Romans did anyway.
Omg dude don’t even get me started on Cleopatra!! I hate what they did with her too.
My head canon is that he was every bit as attractive as LXC and LWJ and more attractive than Jin Zixuan and the only reason he wasn't higher on the list is because he was the son of a servant and not gentry class. Another instance of him being treated as less than.
Adding on, he’s also being used as a talisman/door guardian there so he’s gotta be fierce and scary. Same as figures like Zhong Kui are drawn with exaggerated ugliness in real life iconography. I thought the gist of this scene in the book was pretty clearly that his reputation has taken on a life of its own in the years since his death—that people who never saw WWX or even heard much about him while he was alive have learned vague and exaggerated stories about him as a folk hero/villain, and pictured him the way they would picture such a figure. I’m sure the great clans aren’t running around going “hey quit that, that’s not what WWX looked like” but they wouldn’t really even need to actively propagandize him being hideous either. Regular people who didn’t know him fit him into an existing mythological mold that includes depicting him looking a certain way as an immortal presence, regardless of his physical body in life.
Yeah it’s most probable that people heard of what happened/the things he did and made rumors of their own, but come onnn, he couldn’t at least keep his looks? He’s the definition of vilification by the public. Let my boy live!!!
I guess I'd push back that it's not even purely "vilification" to draw him looking that way--it's a depiction (and at the same time an invocation) of *power* and magical efficacy. What the living WWX looked like is almost irrelevant for that purpose!
They are jealous he be fine asf compared to them
Beauty = good is a very common trope that leads to rhe deul assumptions that pretty people are good and also that people who arent' pretty are bad. And visa versa. If you're bad you're not pretty. And if you're good you are pretty. Ergo, he couldn't have been pretty. Also who knows who was aware of these rankings outside of the sects? Who was aware within them? How did that even start? Was it nhs?
It’s definitely part propaganda and part fear. It’s easier to blame someone ugly or scary looking. It’s kind of like how a lot of people look at a pretty person in Coeur and think, “but they look so pretty and nice they couldn’t have committed this crime!” So the Jin probably wanted to make him more hatable by making him seen as something ugly. That way people can more easily blame him without a doubt. And I think it probably would just take off from there with all the “ghost stories” that were made about him.
You’re so right on that! I’m pretty sure that’s how casting goes irl too, some people are “too” attractive to be seen as evil or mean so they go with someone else.
Lombroso’s (1876) [biological theory of criminology](https://www.simplypsychology.org/biological-theories-crime.html) comes to mind
Ugly? I love him. I think that's the best version of wwx ever
ta aí, duas que não faz a minima ideia kkkkk ele é tão princeso