MatHaz
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The Deconstruction Thing
🕑 Added 2021-08-06 12:00:04 +0000 UTCI have wanted to talk about this for a while because I always see one word appear every now and then in comments, reviews, etc.
Deconstruction.
Full disclosure, I’m not a fan of it. Not the genre. I’m okay with that. I have enjoyed several works which are considered deconstructions. This is the part where I should namedrop Evangelion, but I’m going to say Nadesico because barely anyone mentions Nadesico.
Which is a shame because Nadesico is pretty cool despite lacking the same cultural impact.
But I digress. I’m not talking about the genre. I’m talking about the actual word. Deconstruction. It bugs me.
It just feels so inherently negative.
Which, I guess, makes sense because, at its core, a deconstruction is looking at something and going, “This is why this doesn’t work.”
You are free to disagree, of course. This is just my own view on the matter, and it is exactly why I am not all that comfortable with the description of Ave Xia Rem Y as a deconstruction. It makes it feel like more negative work than intended.
When writing Ave Xia Rem Y, my intention is not to poke fun at what doesn’t work in xianxia (even if I have indulged in that a few times, I’ll admit). In fact, it is the complete opposite.
To me, writing Ave Xia Rem Y is looking at the xianxia genre and going: “This is what works.”
Xianxia has a bad rep. A fair share of that is absolutely deserved, but at the same time, it’s a damn shame because xianxia has so much cool stuff going for it. The aesthetics. The insanely large worlds. The long journey from basically nothing to a grand immortal. The insane number of factions. The escalation. How the length of the stories gives the author time to explore things in a way that wouldn’t be possible in more standard works.
Xianxia is a genre with lots of untapped potential. There are just so many ways in which you can approach these types of worlds. A hero’s journey. The daily life of a cultivator in a high-ranking Sect. The adventures of a low-ranked Sect.
Hell, there is Virtuous Sons which took a look at the genre and went, “You know what this needs? Greco Roman aesthetics.”
And it is awesome.
Of course, Ave Xia Rem Y is fairly straightforward, and I’m okay with that. I made it with the intent to explore the genre and what it is. I want people to get that well…
Xianxia is cool too.
Having said all that, it’s okay if you want to think of Ave Xia Rem Y as a deconstruction. Personally, I don’t really consider it one, but that’s just me. Though I’m the writer, my view is not the only view that matters in the story, weird as it is to say that.
Comments
Kiwilord
100% agree that there seems to be that connotation with deconstruction.
Daniel Holloway
"Deconstruction" is not poking fun at something, or pointing out its flaws. A deconstruction whether of a dish or a genre is keeping the components but changing the form. It can be used to make a mocking of its subject or it can be used to celebrate it. Whether it is positive or negative depends on the artist presenting it.
Causal Chain
The modifier 'Deconstruction' comes attached with a bunch of pleasant features such as stronger internal consistency and actions having consequences. In the past, I would have also called this a deconstruction, but really, it's those additional features that I'm noticing and appreciating.
TentativeCuriosity
Ayyy fellow Virtuous Sons fans :) I’d like to write some crossover omakes between the big xianxia stories on SB one day.
Noah
Well, you definitely know what works for xianxia, as we can clearly see :)
Dan
I feel like I must be missing something because this never once felt like this was deconstruction. Rather, it's just as the title implies, a cliche xianxia harem story. Just one in which the vast majority of the flaws typical of the genre stripped away. It's cliche. No reinventing the wheel here, but at the same time there is enough care and detail put into the world that it doesn't just feel like another clone. Perhaps the most atypical ting about it is the main character, who cares more about being a good person and makes an active effort to be such. far too often in this genre the MC is some two dimensional paperclip maximizer-esque power accumulator who is only the good guy by virtue of not being as cartoonishly evil as the people he faces. I don't feel like this is deconstruction, just good character building, and it lets us have a slightly unusual perspective on the same old xianxia harem story we love. It's unquestionably Xianxia. When I think xianxia I think three things: a seemingly endless world, limitless potential for growth, and an OP MC. This story has all three in abundance. Maybe if someone were to squint real hard and tilt their head the fact that the MC is merely OP and not unique untouchable snowflake OP could be an argument in favor of deconstruction, but once again that just seems like good character building to me. The harem is on its way. This is probably the part that that most people calling this story a deconstruction would point to first. If this were a more typical xianxia harem then the MC would already be in a shallow relationship with half a dozen peerless beauties who he collected like Pokemon and who's most significant character trait is how amazing they think the MC is. Maybe that's a little too harsh, but there are a lot of garbage harem fics out there, and I say that as someone who unashamedly loves the wish fulfilment of a half decent harem story. However once again this story didn't seek to change the formula or cast down that aspect of the story, it just used superior character development (there seems to be a pattern here) to do it better. Each of the ladies are becoming well developed characters in their own right, they have lives that don't revolve around the MC, and their relationships are being given time to grow organically. Yeah, basically all of this was an overly wordy way to say I agree that this isn't a deconstruction. It just feels like that because you are just doing it better than 99% of the others out there. Thank you for sharing your story, and keep up the amazing work.
Arkeus
I think there is a reason that a lot of people talk about deconstruction reconstruction. Because ultimately if you read a genre it's because there are things in it you like, so having an author being 100% negative about it is just... not fun. A good example of Deconstruction Reconstruction is obviously Madoka, for example.
Robert Mullins
More seriously, I think your work is less a deconstruction and more a re-affirmation, as described here. https://youtu.be/pT75YHqlD9k
Robert Mullins
Great deconstruction of an authors note and use of the word deconstruction!
