Nirvana in Fire and misc.
Jul. 16th, 2020 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lisbei Starting with the maze that is mydramalist.com: basically, once you have an account you can give your own rating, which will show up both on your list page: mydramalist.com/dramalist/gwenniecall as well as the show description page, but only for you. If you're browsing without an account, or not having rated the show, you will see what all the other viewers rated it.
For example, on my list page I gave The Romance of Tiger and Rose a 5/10 (THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID) while if you go to the show description page mydramalist.com/38907-the-third-princess-from-the-rumors you will find that it has an overall rating of 8.7/10.
People can only see your personal rating if they go to your list page - which is a good thing - there are some rabid actor fans which will unleash the hounds on you if you dare criticize their idol.
Ok, back to Nirvana in Fire.
First of all, call me a snob, but I'd have preferred it if they'd have just translated the Chinese title: The Langya List makes sense to me, more than Nirvana in Fire!
I've also just realised that an English- DUBBED version exists - I don't know if I dare, lol! Although it's ironic, and I don't know if you were aware of this, but most c-dramas are dubbed anyway. Basically, 99% of them are in Mandarin, not all of the actors speak Mandarin with the kind of accent that is expected in a drama of this kind (think heavy regional accents), also the sets are apparently noisy or something so they rely on ADR all the time? IDK. In some of the most recent shows, actors are starting to be allowed to do their own dialogue, but it's a very gradual thing. Though I don't know if NiF was dubbed.
ANYWAY - I love the Count of Monte Cristo-ish storyline, I love the characters, and I also love how the revelation of the real villain of the piece is kind of gradual - I also wonder if you agree with me on who the real villain is, haha!
For example, on my list page I gave The Romance of Tiger and Rose a 5/10 (THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID) while if you go to the show description page mydramalist.com/38907-the-third-princess-from-the-rumors you will find that it has an overall rating of 8.7/10.
People can only see your personal rating if they go to your list page - which is a good thing - there are some rabid actor fans which will unleash the hounds on you if you dare criticize their idol.
Ok, back to Nirvana in Fire.
First of all, call me a snob, but I'd have preferred it if they'd have just translated the Chinese title: The Langya List makes sense to me, more than Nirvana in Fire!
I've also just realised that an English- DUBBED version exists - I don't know if I dare, lol! Although it's ironic, and I don't know if you were aware of this, but most c-dramas are dubbed anyway. Basically, 99% of them are in Mandarin, not all of the actors speak Mandarin with the kind of accent that is expected in a drama of this kind (think heavy regional accents), also the sets are apparently noisy or something so they rely on ADR all the time? IDK. In some of the most recent shows, actors are starting to be allowed to do their own dialogue, but it's a very gradual thing. Though I don't know if NiF was dubbed.
ANYWAY - I love the Count of Monte Cristo-ish storyline, I love the characters, and I also love how the revelation of the real villain of the piece is kind of gradual - I also wonder if you agree with me on who the real villain is, haha!
no subject
Date: 2020-07-16 12:31 pm (UTC)"Nirvana in Fire" is undeniably an impenetrable title, but I appreciate that it contains a fire reference, given the importance of fire imagery in the storyline. I read somewhere on Tumblr that it's actually a reference to a Chinese poem, in which a phoenix incinerates itself, suffering unspeakable agonies in order for its rebirth to restore order to the world - I can see how that would make thematic sense, but it requires a level of erudition that I imagine 100% of the audience don't have.
Assuming "the Langya Lists" was rejected as too dull, what would have been a better title? "How to Win Friends and Influence People"? "I Know What You Did At Meiling?" "All My Sons"?
I'm pretty sure I agree with you about who the ultimate baddie is, but now that I've seen some other shows with similar baddies, I have an even greater appreciation for the subtlety and range of the actor's performance.
to say that having now seen various other shows with similar baddies
no subject
Date: 2020-07-16 06:05 pm (UTC)OMG, the dubbed version! When I went back to the site where I found this gem listed, it wasn't up any longer, or "not available in my country" (boo! hiss!) - I wanted to watch the trainwreck too. Also, I'm having Vietnam-style flashbacks to when I still watched anime which had been dubbed into English.
I'd never heard the Chinese poem origin - it would have been nice to know that, though I don't know why it was deemed more approachable than The Langya List, which has alliteration at least!
I honestly don't know if it's a common Chinese expression, but I've come across it in two c-dramas to date - some variant on 'being close to the Emperor is like living with a tiger' and it's so true.
It always struck me that he was so quick to turn on Jingyan for like . . . breathing . . . while he seemed completely prepared to forgive Prince Yu for raising an army against him. IMO always, but I feel that he went to that prison cell expecting abject apologies and pleas for forgiveness, while not realising how completely traumatised Yu had been by what happened to his older brother, 12 years ago. Don't get me wrong, Prince Yu= utter scumbag, but man, way to fuck up your kids.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-17 03:09 pm (UTC)One of the things that makes these historical dramas so emotionally resonant is that everyone's related to everyone else, so it isn't just political and national loyalty that's in play, it's family ties as well (it also makes me think that Jingting's disability, however much everyone may claim it's the result of a childhood illness, probably really comes down to in-breeding). When the Emperor, at his end, starts pleading with Lin Shu "I carried you on my horse, I flew kites with you..." it's just, ugh! Yes, yes, you did, but you also had your son and your best friend and your nephew killed, and accepted your sister and your wife as collateral damage, and you would have killed more sons given half a chance... And Prince Yu is a scumbag, but he also has qualities that make you think he could have been a different person, a better person, under different circumstances. And he does understand the Emperor best - killing himself for revenge was, in a very twisted way, a stroke of geni
no subject
Date: 2020-07-18 10:41 am (UTC)OMG YES. This bit! How Lin Shu didn't just punch his face in I don't know. What I like though is that by then we know enough to cry bullshit, but it's built up so gradually through the series. Like Marquis Yan, for example - at first, all we know is that he's pretty much an absentee dad, and we feel sorry for Yujin that his father's such an asshole. Then when we finally get to know what the Emperor did to Marquis Yan, it's such a revelation of no, the Emperor isn't a wise and kindly old man - he's a monster who betrayed the very men who made him - and like you said, immediately turned on the people who were closest to him.
It's like Mei Changsu said - he found it easy to believe the Prince was a traitor because he was already jealous of his own son (!!), because he felt people liked his son more than him. Poor Prince Qi was just too honorable and idealistic to see it, until it was too late.
I've started watching another series which is similar in some aspects (intricate palace drama) and different in others (no weird disease caused by fireworms? which causes one guy to turn into a whole other person and the other to become some kind of apeman) - it's called Royal Nirvana. I think I'm dropping it though - even the non-spoiler reviews call it soul-crushing, and I need to find something more positive!