There's a huge problem with modern entertainment having no sense of good and evil, beauty and ugliness. Lots of nihilism and relativism, artists just wallowing in the mud...not good for the soul!

Not saying you need to make everything a moral lesson or anything like that, but if you're going to depict evil or ugliness, you have to believe that good and beauty are real, otherwise what are you even doing?
A trend I see a lot nowaways is random, senseless, and extreme violence. People's heads getting blown up, horrible injuries , and there's always a "realistic" reaction to it by other characters. It's hard to watch, and is almost always rooted in pointless shock
Compare this to something like the violence done by masters like the Coen brothers, in which the violence is used to make you keenly aware of the evil committed by those who do it. The violence makes you sit up and take note, rather than make your eyes glaze over
I just watched a scene in a "comedy" show in which a mother accidentally shoots her own son, the scene ends with them horrified at what they've done as the son bleeds out. What is the viewer supposed to take from this?
I watch media like this and am reminded of Mel Gibson's (another master of depiciting violence) intention to "entertain, educate, elevate." You have to be saying SOMETHING, taking a stand. And do to that, you have to believe in good and evil

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MDZS is laden with buddhist references. As a South Asian person, and history buff, it is so interesting to see how Buddhism, which originated from India, migrated, flourished & changed in the context of China. Here's some research (🙏🏼 @starkjeon for CN insight + citations)

1. LWJ’s sword Bichen ‘is likely an abbreviation for the term 躲避红尘 (duǒ bì hóng chén), which can be translated as such: 躲避: shunning or hiding away from 红尘 (worldly affairs; which is a buddhist teaching.) (
https://t.co/zF65W3roJe) (abbrev. TWX)

2. Sandu (三 毒), Jiang Cheng’s sword, refers to the three poisons (triviṣa) in Buddhism; desire (kāma-taṇhā), delusion (bhava-taṇhā) and hatred (vibhava-taṇhā).

These 3 poisons represent the roots of craving (tanha) and are the cause of Dukkha (suffering, pain) and thus result in rebirth.

Interesting that MXTX used this name for one of the characters who suffers, arguably, the worst of these three emotions.

3. The Qian kun purse “乾坤袋 (qián kūn dài) – can be called “Heaven and Earth” Pouch. In Buddhism, Maitreya (मैत्रेय) owns this to store items. It was believed that there was a mythical space inside the bag that could absorb the world.” (TWX)