the love YaoLiu share is on equal footing, but could not bridge the chasm that divides them due to their respective loyalties...liddi:
Yes!
while Jing has placed Xiao Yao high up on a pedestal, hoping that she would deign to come down and accept him in his servile position.
I thought about XY being up high for her own reasons and I thought about TSJ descending to the lower / more servile and accessible position of the valley vis-a-vis XY and taking on the role of YSQ, but I hadn't thought about how, from TSJ's perspective, XY was also raised up and put on a pedestal. Nice insight.
Have we seen the bird-shaped kite in the drama? I can't remember.
If there was, I don't remember it.
From what I remember, the drama didn't include a lot of XY-related bird moments.
Like: (1) XY reuniting with her childhood demon bird mount / companion; (2) XY nearly being assassinated by Xin Yue when she rode a demon bird mount at a party hosted by one of CX's consorts (and being saved partly by Left Ear, partly by the archery skills that XL taught her, and partly by XL sending word to CX); (3) the involvement of the seagull demoness in Xin Yue's second attempt to assassinate XY; and (4) XY reuniting with Lie Yang (and A Bi).
It also makes me think of other compromises she has made, because she could no longer have the one she truly wanted to accompany her for the entirety of her lifetime.
Exactly!
This is what I see... does it make sense or am I hallucinating?
Something tells me we might not be looking at the same image.
Totally agree. In the novel, the merman was gazing coldly into the distance, away from the mermaid - symbolising Xiang Liu resolutely turning his back to her while she held her hand out in supplication to him to turn around and take her hand. In the modified crystal globe, Xiang Liu added a man who took her hand while the merman remained resolutely looking away. The man represented Jing, whom Xiang Liu ensured would be able to be Xiao Yao's companion in life when he could not. It was never meant to be Fangfeng Bei, a persona whom he had irrevocably killed so that Xiao Yao would no longer cling on to hopes of being with him.
Yes, yes, yes!
Please let me know if you ever do come across a model of the ice crystal globe.
Lol, will do. ^^
More concept art...
An interesting note... the emblem of the Guifang clan is of the eye of a snake while the clan token is of a two-headed snake... similar to the drama-added Lamp of Time. Considering Xiang Liu's mysterious ties to the clan... is this merely a telling coincidence?
@AH Does it make you feel a little better that one of the artwork of Jing protecting Xiao Yao's body in the Plum Forest has a totally unrelated caption as well? The accompanying caption is from when Xiao Yao, shocked to see Fangfeng Bei in Chenrong manor, had him follow her into the garden, berating him for being in the den of the enemy. I wish we had the artwork of that scene...
Acks! Is this better?
Ah, okay. Yeah. I guess with XL he basically has white robes, white hair and pale skin that can sort of all form one light-coloured shape like that. And with this art style and both of them wearing robes with big, long, flow-y sleeves underwater they could both look like that.
Thanks for pinpointing them!
@AH Does it make you feel a little better that one of the artwork of Jing protecting Xiao Yao's body in the Plum Forest has a totally unrelated caption as well? The accompanying caption is from when Xiao Yao, shocked to see Fangfeng Bei in Chenrong manor, had him follow her into the garden, berating him for being in the den of the enemy.
Bizarre choices.
But good that it goes both ways, I suppose.
I wish we had the artwork of that scene...
Can't have too much FFB ^^
The only explanation I can think of is that they connected the scenes like dominoes, since they are somewhat linked, but it’s still weird.blabla100:
You are far more charitable than me. The thought that came to my mind was that a lot of artwork did not make it into the final version of the artbook, but the proof reader failed to catch the glaring mistakes between the artwork and the accompanying captions. Case in point - there were actually 2 pictures of the Plum Forest scene - one as the fires were raging, and another where the fires had died down. The 1st one had the incongruous caption relating to Fangfeng Bei and Xiao Yao in the garden of Chenrong manor. Only the 2nd picture had a fitting caption.
An interesting point to note is that the layout of the actual artbook is different from what was originally advertised - in terms of arrangement and contents. In the original advertisement, many of the artwork took up two pages, but was compressed into 1 page in the final version. The weaponry and personal effects were also more detailed and given more prominence. In some ways, I am disappointed that they did not retain the layout as originally advertised (and I am certain i purchased the official version as it was bought directly from the publisher), which I felt was far better presented. As such, it would appear that the book was revamped before the final publication, which might explain the glaring mistakes.
I really like how a new theories emerges from the mixed up captions under the illustrations... In this sense, this novel is the most fertile field for all kinds of points of view and theories... 😃🤌MountainPine:
It is indeed a testament to the novel that it still manages to provoke discussions and analysis 13 years after its initial publication.
And for some reason I like the world in the illustrations even more than in the series...
The illustrations are breathtaking indeed. In her interview with Scholar Speaks back in 2019 after the publication of LYF revised edition, Tong Hua said this:
Q: Many of your works have been adapted into dramas. What do you think these drama should retain?
A: My greatest hope is that the characters and their emotions are retained. Novels are two-dimensional while dramas are three dimensional. As such, when a novel is adapted into a drama, changes are inevitable. Some changes are due to funding requirements. One can be unrestrained with the descriptions in the novels, but such scenes cannot be filmed in reality. Such changes are understandable. However, I personally hope to retain the integrity of the character and their emotions. Although the plot or scenes may change, if the character's integrity can be upheld throughout, then the adaptation is a good one in my eyes.
Though I find the battle enactments to be lacklustre... particularly the Xuan Yuan-Gao Xin war, I think the drama has been quite successful on the whole in recreating the universe of LYF and its iconic scenes, especially the walk under the moonlight. even if they changed it to the lake rather than the ocean.
It is indeed a testament to the novel that it still manages to provoke discussions and analysis 13 years after its initial publication.
Some pleasant news on this subject.
the integrity of the character
The only thing I don't understand about all this is why Tong Hua, in her later interviews, forces us see a happy ending here instead of a tragedy. While she could have left the moral of the story up to the discretion of each individual reader (and mentally healthy people would see a tragedy here).
Are you referring to the interview where she said that the story is not a tragedy? I'm not clear on the interview timeline. Was it around the time of the drama's release? If so, given what the drama was going for, she can't exactly say anything that would contradict that. And to be fair, she didn't say it was a happy ending; rather, that it was not a tragedy. A slight distinction, but a distinction, nonetheless. Another thing is that she was very careful to write the LiuYao romance in the novel vaguely enough (and with enough holes in the Lovers' Bugs) that if you try hard enough, you can claim that it wasn't love at all. This is pretty much the novel's most successful characteristic - it allows the YaoJing ship to be sailed and docked successfully, and gives Xiao Yao enough plausible deniability to avoid accountability. Just look at us still disagreeing about whether Xiao Yao was sincere and committed to Xiang Liu and was rejected by him, etc. So, yeah, she's not going to be clear now when the vagueness is what keeps the debate going.
Isn't the plot of his "The Little Mermaid" a simplified version of LYF?
Hmm, I'm not sure. My interpretation of Anderson's The Little Mermaid is that, in part, it is a tale of the pain of unrequited love. About the yearning to be close to the loved one despite not being able to tell them that you love them, even if being close to them caused you immense pain, just like Mermaid's human legs allowed her to be close to the prince, but walking on them feels like walking on thousands of knives. The other part is a tale of self-salvation. Originally, the Mermaid can only gain an eternal soul if she gains the Prince's love; otherwise, when he marries someone else, she will die of a broken heart and dissolve into seafoam. When her sisters gave her a way to return to the sea, she refused to kill the Prince to save herself. She showed courage in love and integrity. It was this act that allowed her to become a spirit and the chance to eventually earn an immortal soul through her own good deeds. I liked that her salvation ultimately wasn't dependent on another person's love for her. With the exception of the unrequited love part, I guess, I can kinda see shades of Xiang Liu in there.
While I enjoy Disney's take on the fairy tales, the originals are darker and much richer. In one version of Cinderella (I think it was The Grimm's one), the step-sisters cut off their toes and heels to fit into the slipper. As a child, I was grossed out and disgusted. As an adult, I can see it was a caution against cutting off parts of yourself to be chosen in a relationship. Unfortunately, a lot of people do that without realising it until one day they no longer recognise who they are. One of my favourite ones is Bluebeard. The 180 that I did with this story as an adult, compared to when I read it as a child.
tbc...
AH :
I encountered Xiang Liu unexpectedly today in this video about one of the LYF sets. Specifically the stairs that he ascended when he came to save XY in ep 30 after the assassination attempt.
Once or twice I recognized those stairs from another drama, but I didn't realize I'd actually seen them in seven different dramas. 😄
This particular set was part of nearly every costume drama produced during that time. I think it has since been torn down and replaced with a new set.
HeadInTheClouds:
This particular set was part of nearly every costume drama produced during that time. I think it has since been torn down and replaced with a new set.
I read some comments that said it was torn down in December, after much use. ^^
What the drama won't give us, the fans (and AI) will :-).
The whirpool scene in all its AI glory. I have no idea why AI decided to give Xiang Liu wings, but we can't be too picky.
As a picky novel reader, this feels like a reminder that when drama creators don't include a scene from the novel, sometimes it's actually a kindness as the version of the scene that they would've included would be too different from the original for such a picky novel reader to bear. 😄
White wings do look nice with XL's all-white aesthetic though. 😊
What the drama won't give us, the fans (and AI) will :-).
The whirpool scene in all its AI glory. I have no idea why AI decided to give Xiang Liu wings, but we can't be too picky.
I saw this AI video before and also wanted to bring it here, but I didn’t dare. In fact, I really liked it. I’m glad that a well-known and authoritative member of the group did it! It’s a kind of refreshing hurricane for our minds. Maybe someone has a different vision of these moments in the novel or is generally trying to ignore them (and the series contributes a lot to this), but they exist. And in my humble opinion, the series lost a lot by excluding it. This is a significant stage in the relationship of our favorites and it significantly reveals their personalities and their love. I’m shocked again that one of the central scenes of the novel could have just been taken and thrown away... This AI video somehow shows how intense and climactic it could have been. And how obvious the love between Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao would have been if it had actually been filmed, and not ignored (by the personal decision of the author of the novel... and here I, as an artist who studied art history, remembered many moments when artists destroyed their brilliant paintings for one reason or another.)
