The Fact That These Two Scenes Were Edited Next To Each Other In The Documentary In This Exact Order

Should we go downstairs and have a glass of wine?

-Alyssa, The End of the Fucking World

Zhanyi and Tianshan, and their respective roles in the story

I’m sure that everyone remembers that 19 days originally started as a story that revolved around Jian Yi and his stoic childhood friend Zhan Zheng Xi, their comedic adventures and that lighthearted yet painful subplot of unrequited love that Jian Yi had been harbouring for years.

So then, what’s the point of introducing Tianshan and giving them no small amount of screentime? Let me play the Captain Obvious for a bit.

The answer is simple: we are meant to compare and contrast these two relationships.

In literature and other media, this technique or a trope is called “Foil”. To put it even simpler, it’s akin to a backdrop against which we are meant to view something. Television, particularly romantic comedies and dramas, often invoke a similar method by providing an “alpha couple” and “beta couple”, with an alpha couple being the main focus. The viewer is meant to compare the romance (and its obstacles) between these two pairings.

Now the peculiarity of 19 days is that with OX storytelling method, we don’t really have a fixed alpha couple anymore: the focus of the story switches between Zhanyi and Tianshan to the point where each becomes an alpha couple for the time being. In other words, they switch from alpha couple to beta couple and vice versa.

Why providing a foil is a good technique? Well for once it serves to underscore the unique traits of each character. By focusing on interactions between two different couples their personalities (habits, verbal manners, behaviours, etc) are brought forth.

With Zhanyi and Tianshan we get two dramatically different relationships with inherently different arcs, so much that, in fact, one might consider them “inversions”.

Zhanyi is a childhood friends-to-lovers kind of story. Their relationship is fairly healthy, based on mutual support that dates back to their kindergarten days. We have the steady love of Jian Yi and his deep emotional attachment to Xixi, who in turn plays the role of the knight in shining armour by always wanting to protect Jian Yi. They share common ground, and while there is/was a subplot of “defrosting” ZZX, their relationship is already going steady.

Tianshan of the other hand started off the shaky ground, with outright hostility and even some violence. Not only they had never interacted before, but they are also different as day and night, or rugs and riches. Their story is about curbing their violent tendencies, finding the good in each other and building trust (which they don’t have from the beginning, unlike Zhanyi). These are the key ideas for this relationship.

What’s more, both couples have different development patterns laid out for them. If Tianshan is about building trust from scratch, Zhanyi is apparently about losing trust and then having to rebuild it.

Why? Let’s look at the very premise of 19 days. From the very beginning, we’re told that Jian Yi disappeared on the second day of high school and had been absent for 3 years. At some point, ZZX asks him about what happened, and so Jian Yi tells him. What’s peculiar is that ZZX reaction to the story of kidnapping is that of disbelief. 

It always seemed strange to me, especially considering the fact that we have seen precedents of kidnapping before and ZZX is well aware of it. The first time, when a shady old man kidnapped Jian Yi, and right now when Jian Yi is told to stay at He Cheng’s place. Both times ZZX is aware of what’s happening, yet in the future, his reaction is similar to hearing the truth from Cassandra. Cassandra’s truth is the trope that implies that nobody believes the one telling the actual truth (named after Cassandra The Prophet from Greek mythology, who was cursed to utter accurate prophecies that no one ever believed). It seems to suggest that ZZX no longer believes Jian Yi. It may also mean that these “kidnapping” attempts had become so frequent, that ZZX doesn’t take them seriously anymore, and thinks that Jian Yi is being a boy who cries “wolves!”. Did the disappearance hurt ZZX? Undoubtedly. Did he think that Jian Yi was pulling a prank or simply pulled a disappearing act? Sure. Future-set chapters seem to be dedicated to ZZX learning to trust this new Jian Yi, and them trying to pick up their relationship from shambles, but right now Zhanyi faces the calm before the storm.

If I were to make schemes for their relationships, it would look like this:

Zhanyi: start > the fall > the rise

Tianshan: start > the rise > the fall

Zhanyi starts off steady and friendly, but then comes “the fall”, i.e. Jian Yi disappearing without a word, which pretty much shatters what they have been building so far. Their goal after his return would be to get back on track and fix everything that went wrong between them. Now, if OX truly planned Tianshan as the inverse of Zhanyi, then their story arc will be a flip of Zhanyi. They start off being enemies, then they’ll slowly build trust, and then, presumably, comes the fall. Not sure what it is yet, but possibly He Tian leaving abroad, which might set them back a bit.

Back to the point. We, as readers, are meant to find contrasts between these two types of relationships and their story arcs. There are also other significant differences that OX supposedly wants to implement. As such, one of the OX latest artworks is a visual metaphor for the intrinsically contradictory natures of these couples. 

OX used dramatically different colour palettes and symbolism here. Where Zhanyi is light and more comedic, Tianshan is darker due to initial violence and drama. Tianshan is marked by black and has this low-key BDSM vibe running, whilst Zhanyi has this angel/priest theme, symbolizing their purity. The illustration is quite a bit representative of sexual vibes of two couples. Tianshan has a bit more physical undertones to their interaction compared to more innocent Zhanyi. It is further accentuated by the future-set specials: whereas Zhanyi share a tender indirect kiss for Xmas, He Tian openly presents Mo with condoms, etc.

I wouldn’t be surprised if – provided OX hints at sexual interaction in future-set chapters – physical intimacy affected their relationships in fundamentally different ways (again, for readers to compare and contrast). For instance, whereas for Zhanyi it would lead to solidifying their bond, for Tianshan it could bring about more complications and further pondering on the thing going on between them.

All of it is absolutely pure speculation that is based on the supposition that thematically OX created these couples as foils to one another. 

All in all, let’s celebrate the diversity. Both relationships are interesting and very fun to compare against one another. There are rises and falls to them. Sometime soon it will be Zhanyi that will plunge into a heartrending drama, and Tianshan would get the calm before the storm.

I get that message from facebook team a lot.

it had always been eddie.

it had been eddie when richie was seven years old and a small, pale boy started playing with him and bill on the playground. richie hadn't even heard the word "gay" yet, but he knew the way he felt about eddie was special.

it had been eddie when richie was eleven years old, and he made his first mixtape for eddie. there was lots of disco, lots of wham! and george michael, all the stuff richie knew his friend liked. he snuck in a few love songs, hoping eddie wouldn't notice. and if he did, well, he never mentioned it.

it had been eddie when richie was thirteen years old, and they killed a clown over summer break. even when he had forgotten all about derry, about the losers, about eddie, he could remember the heat of eddie's skin against his own, when they clung onto each other in bill's garage, when he cradled eddie's face in neibolt, when he held eddie's hand during their oath.

it had been eddie when richie was fifteen years old, and he got his first girlfriend. she was shorter than him, with short dark hair, and was a clean freak. she wore short shorts and a fanny pack, and richie knew exactly what it meant. they dated for three months before she called it off. she kissed him on the cheek and told him she hoped he figured himself out, and when he did, to call her. she was nice, pretty. but she wasn't eddie.

it had been eddie when richie was seventeen years old, and he started wearing leather jackets and got his ears pierced, while eddie started wearing oversized sweaters and overalls. the sleeves of eddie's sweaters all covered his hands, and richie was mesmerized by the way he delicately rolled them up. they were lab partners in chemistry that year. richie had never been happier about anything in his whole life.

it had been eddie when richie was twenty-one years old, and already starting to forget. he had put states between himself and derry. between himself and eddie. sometimes he would catch himself forgetting eddie's name, having to say it over and over in his head, like a prayer.

it had been eddie when richie was twenty-seven years old, and had his first sold out show. he was still writing his own jokes back then, and, while he didn't know who he was writing his jokes for, he knew there was someone out there that his script was tailored for. someone who would have laughed hysterically at every joke he told. he thought he saw him in the audience, a man with dark hair and a fanny pack, but he lost him in the crowd. he stopped writing his own jokes soon after.

it was eddie when richie was thirty-one years old, and he bought his first house. he owned multiple first aid kits, two on every floor, and, curiously, each one was stocked with an inhaler. richie had never had asthma. but he left them, as taking them out felt so inherently wrong he wanted to throw up. he bought furniture with someone else in mind, always had vanilla ice cream in stock, and kept a plethora of cleaning supplies under every sink. he felt like he was sharing the house with a ghost of someone he once knew. and he liked it.

it was eddie when richie was forty years old, and he remembered. he remembered everything. he saw his friend, silhouetted by the glow of the fish tank behind him, and everything hit him like a truck. he remembered his laugh, his hands, his warm skin, his floppy hair richie had always wanted to run his fingers through. he remembered falling in love.

it was eddie when richie was forty years old, and he lost the love of his life. he felt the claw through eddie's chest like it was his own, prayed to anyone, anything that eddie made it out all right. he clutched eddie's lifeless form to his body, hating the way the warmth of his skin was already beginning to fade. it should have been him. someone, anyone but eddie. he clung on to eddie, even as the cave began to crumble, and would have stayed there with the only man he ever loved were it not for his friends. he left his heart there with him, down in that cave under neibolt.

it was always eddie, richie thought, as he recarved his secret declaration of his love. it always has been, and always would be, eddie kaspbrak.

every few years i remember lovely complex and would reread/watch the entire series

Well I try to make a 1% of the beauty of this character who I'm falling in love

Yep that's all

Srry if my inglish it's not good

snape hate: he was already fucked up when he was 10. he fought back so it wasn’t bullying. he just decided to not seek help and rejected the only person who ever cared about him.

me: 

Dear Neil Gaiman

Thank you for a really wonderful second season believe me when I say any of my imagination could meke this so beautiful as you did, thank you for giving me joy and broke my heart in this season, I hope for the thirt to be like this one and give me the emotion as the first time.

Sincerely thank you.

I couldn’t resist.

😧😧😧 На самом деле это АУ я очень подобно расписал в паблике, но переводить это сюда не буду