Snow Eagle Lord (2023)

Snow Eagle Lord: tra wuxia, xianxia e cultivation world

Ho appena finito Snow Eagle Lord e credo di aver capito perché questo drama divide così tanto il pubblico.
Molti lo classificano come wuxia/fantasy pieno di combattimenti “stile videogioco”, e in parte è vero: ci sono livelli, breakthrough, schermate con i rank raggiunti, prove, energia spirituale e continui avanzamenti di coltivazione.
Ma secondo me guardarlo solo così significa perdere completamente il suo vero valore.
Questo drama, più che un semplice xianxia romantico o un wuxia storico, mi è sembrato quasi un “manuale narrativo” dei concetti di coltivazione.
Per chi è alle prime armi con gli xianxia può essere confuso, soprattutto per le traduzioni italiane spesso molto letterali:
“ho sfondato” → “ho raggiunto un nuovo stadio di coltivazione”
“vero significato” → capire davvero l’essenza di una forza o di un potere, andando oltre la semplice tecnica
“regno Saint” → livello spirituale molto elevato della coltivazione, oltre i normali limiti umani
“semidio” → stadio quasi divino della coltivazione, ma non ancora vera immortalità
ecc…
Ma dietro queste parole apparentemente strane c’è tutto un linguaggio spirituale e filosofico tipico della cultura cultivation cinese.
.
Qui la coltivazione non è solo diventare più forti.
Parla di:
✨ comprensione delle leggi cosmiche
✨ evoluzione spirituale
✨ controllo del Qi
✨ sacrificio
✨ attaccamento e desiderio
✨ bloodline ancestrali
✨ prove interiori
✨ crescita mentale oltre che fisica
.
Persino molti combattimenti hanno senso solo se si capisce COSA il personaggio sta comprendendo o superando interiormente in quel momento.
Per questo credo sia un drama molto interessante da guardare soprattutto per chi sta iniziando a conoscere il mondo xianxia e vuole capire meglio:
i livelli di coltivazione
i breakthrough → “superamento di livello” oppure “rottura del limite”
il concetto di “True Meaning” → “comprensione profonda” oppure “vera essenza del potere”
le stirpi antiche
i reami spirituali
la differenza tra via ortodossa e via demoniaca
la filosofia dietro la coltivazione
Probabilmente per il pubblico cinese risulta persino troppo “semplice” o game-like, mentre per noi occidentali rischia di sembrare troppo tecnico e pieno di termini difficili.
Eppure proprio per questo può diventare una porta molto utile per iniziare a comprendere davvero la logica interna degli xianxia

Leggi di Più

Smart Demons + Stupid Humans = Extraordinary Mess

Watched this to see Xu Kai act but just like in a previous series of his; his and everyone else's acting was great but the story itself was a hot mess. Wish he or whomever chooses for him, chose better. The only reason this even got a 6.5 and not lower was because of the literally only 3 pros. Otherwise, it was like the mighty morphin power rangers and mortal kombat took LSD and spit this out.

Pros: Leads chemistry, the actors hard work which included great fight scenes, and costumes (except for the Halloween store costume lion for Uncle Tang), and good OSTs. No other pros.

Cons: Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for smart antagonists but not when the protagonists are so ridiculously idiotic. Just about everyone was led by the nose by the demons the ENTIRE show. Even when our ML told them otherwise, the Elders still chose to believe evil people. The amount of times the good guys failed to understand something very simple made you want to run your face into the wall. The entire series made a ton of no sense because the bad guys were running the show while the good guys were just walking around like zombies and talking in circles.

Did just about everyone really deserve to die; KYY's death in the last episode was pointless and meaningless. Some really did die as heroes but what made much of it senseless is that if they put two and two together sooner and made it 4 instead of 7, they could have made things happen sooner and survived. It made me feel like whoever the writer was, had no clue how to write a novel or one that's understandable or cohesive. Ji Rong staying alive and even her death at the hands of probably the show’s stupidest character, made me feel like I lost brain cells. DXY warned his brother and the two elders something was fishy about her from nearly the beginning and yet both uncles died because of her.

The sets and CGI looked very cheap. The words chucked up on the screen each time a new magic trick was used was eye roll worthy. Welcome to the 90s and not in a good way! Situ Hong's ruthlessness was completely ignored and his death and that of the weird random cultivator that at first clung to XY was completely pathetic. Both were sucked dry for big bad demon God that most of the time sounded like an alien cat that sucked in a helium balloon. We were all expecting a fight between him and XY but yeah, why bother?

Demon Ao Lan turned himself into a psychedelic Venus flytrap to try and kill XY in the last episode and it had me laughing. Little Shop of Horrors that was filmed in the 1970s had better CGI than this mess. I shed a tear for Shifu sacrificing himself at the end as out of all the guardians, he was the only one that infiltrated the demon clan and didn't do too poorly. Yes, happy ending for leads and the maybe 3 other living people but what did I watch for 40 episodes?

Would I recommend? No way. Even if you are a fan of the leads or anyone else, please find something else. Leads chemistry is not enough to hold this thing together.

Leggi di Più