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may the fourth be with you ❤️

i just find it very interesting how ticket to heaven frames the male and female figures in barthtanrak’s lives

i think in one of the layers, one big reason why barth despises god is because capital he reminds barth of his father. the authoritarian male figure who dictates how people should live their lives. barth yearns for freedom and love and even though his father’s gone, there’s still god looming over him and tanrak

but barth is done letting men control his life

now, female figures remind him of his mother

and he’s met with sweet memories that cause pain because of course, he misses his mother so very much. she sacrificed her own freedom to protect him, so they could be free from that oppressive man. the lighting and music in this scene speak of no resentment, just longing

his mother’s love is the only real, powerful thing that’s ever made a difference in barth’s life. no god, no prayer, no faith has ever done for him what she has

as for tanrak, his mother literally named him after the holy mother’s love. he is a symbol of her love

fitting for a boy who will choose love to be the very symbol of it

also, in episode 2 when they’re talking in this garden, barth says this

and sure enough, the next time we see tanrak there, barth goes after him

and the holy mother watches as they confess to each other, as they say they want to be together for life

This is a Jiang Yanli appreciation post and in the spirit of that, because she loves her a-xian very much, this is also a Wei Wuxian appreciation post

When you said you were wavering, is that all it is? Well... How could I feel anything more than that, Barth? Can't you just let it happen? Let it go even further?