This review may contain spoilers
THE DELIBERATIONS OVER FATE & KNOWLEDGE
As a theme-digger, let me detect for you some less obvious layers of meaning in the C-drama „Miss the Dragon.” There is more to discover & savour than meets the eye.
THE VALUE OF SCIENCE
Our times call for a redefinition of the value of the ‘certified’ facts & interpretations. The centre of the evil in this drama is a large rotunda library, run by the Heavens, calling for awe. At its centre, the Immortal of Fate is an individual of refined appearance & pleasing demeanour, responsible for attaining, storing & distributing the bulk of ‘received’ scholarly literature, but can indulge in providing evaluation or interpretation…
His visitors accept the library with utmost reverence. Qing Qing’s attitude is the opposite: she detests the written word, even though she knows that her negligence in education will deprive her of immortality. Being given “The Book of Reincarnation”, which would spare her suffering, she puts it back. Both idolatry of books & total disrespect prove wrong.
While the cunning Immortal of Fate makes a deliberate abuse of authority in source selection, the inexperienced Dragon King clings to the worst possible references out of his lack of the ability to judge their relevance or intention of authors. He follows a “bad book” & a brothel show, which almost ruin his budding relationship with Liu Ying.
PROFESSIONALISM & ETHICAL ATTITUDE
The position, independence, perception by superiors/colleagues/clients, amount of leisure determine our ethical attitude. Likewise backwards: our morality decides if our work will serve or disrupt the community.
We see it at play from the first episode, when the Immortal of Fate encourages the Dragon King to steal the Ancient Golden Armour. He does not use the imperative ‘steal’ – just toys with the hero’s anxiety & ambition. The Dragon King has already been burdened with an unjust accusation (the misappropriation of the Stone of Nuwa), leading to the Heaven’s thunderous wrath. As a recidivist, he will be doomed…
Each time we meet the Immortal of Fate, this smooth operator takes a step towards mischief. He makes grand use of Qing Qing’s obsession with appearance (her own & the handsome librarian’s) to confront her with the merciless Lord of Luofeng Pavillion, by advising her to pull at his most tender strings.
The heavenly library has a second enterprise profile, a very nasty one: a commission-house for all sorts of shady magical artefacts, poisons pushed as medicines, harmful headbands etc. To get these, a client must offer the most precious piece of their body, being even informed that the business is illegal.
The Immortal of Fate’s corruption has a form of a vicious cycle: he is armoured with unearned authority, with no surveillance from above or objection from beneath. But he is not free from unearned disregard, too: for Qing Qing he is not a suzerain but a plain librarian. Such occurrences even raise the Immortal’s contempt towards his working environment and make him indulge in exploiting the naivety of his client. He knows he can venture offering her a crucial book because she is likely to turn it down. He goes as far as to delete pages from the record on Lord of Luofeng Pavillion. He spends his entire life in the library or at courts, having no pastime, craving for none. While privately visiting the Dragon King at the pool, he is still ‘at work,’ scheming.
Lord of Luofeng Pavillion has a profession that collides with his inborn personality but corresponds to his current embittered state of mind. He feeds people Lethe (memory poison he had also taken willingly) and guides them into oblivion, genuinely believing that this is the right path away from suffering. A crack appears when Qing Qing twits her spontaneity into his ear, pleading for mercy, rekindling buried memories & instincts. Each twit enlivens the past and finally pries the cold heart open. However, Lord’s two unhealed traits guide him back dangerously close to his professional failure & private misery: the susceptibility to evil authority & the inability to communicate effectively.
Various hilarious but serious observations may be drawn from the interaction between the Dragon King & other professionals: the Immortal of Fire & the Immortal of Rain. Worth following is the insight into Ayu’s tortured state of mind, as she tries to extricate herself from the post of Goddess of Rain, imposed on her by circumstances. Facing the imminent revelation of her incompetence, ‘the loss of face,’ Ayu pleads guilty. Not to Heavens, but to common folk. Having repeatedly suffered violence at work as a merchant, she still has deep respect for her imperfect community.
COMMUNICATION INEFFICIENCY
Many C-dramas involve motives of amnesia to prevent a character from communicating with others, revealing crucial facts, sharing emotions. Here we have the motives of reincarnation and Lethe drink. Interestingly, Liu Ying’s every reincarnation involves a different pattern of selective, incomplete forgetting. Every lifespan leaves an imprint on her itinerary soul. Her friends are obliged each time to adhere to a different range of secrecy. Of course, with Qing Qing around, Liu Ying & her later selves quickly pick up the essence of her accumulative past. Also the Dragon King’s yearning for outspokenness allows her to peek into it.
We do not doubt that Xue Qian Xun has grown ready to confess surprisingly soon, but his sincerity is handicapped by the half-forgotten hurt, years spent at the heartless truth-pruning office. Qing Qing yearns for any sign of appreciation from him, yet her obsession with his perception of her face & intellect makes her deaf to his appraisal. His introverted attitude, enhanced by the gravity of his post, gives priority to silent musing (the content of thought). Her extroverted manner, enhanced by the habit of constant nervous pleading for herself, gives priority to chaotic vocalisation (the form of thought). That stalemate of form & content, of the willingness & inability to give & receive, can only be broken by a thunderous interference.
Worth noting is Liu Ying’s maturing openness, as she learns to refuse to reciprocate men’s favour, gently but decisively. In two lifetimes she let circumstances impose marriage, but as general Chen Yue she informs Lu Zheng about her feelings to another man, without causing excessive suffering. Then, as a small girl, she is ready to assert her worldview, aware that her sincerity puts her future at the cultivators’ sect & her immortality at stake.
CONTROL OVER FATE
When Ayu decides not to drink Lethe and vows to gain control over her fate, we might expect her to become what she wants. But it is her father and uncle who channel her fate at her rebirth as Chen Yue. Being strong and skilled in martial arts still has nothing to do with freedom of choice. The fourth incarnation gets close to it, but the heroine is made to die on the day of gaining maturity. It may mean that life is too brutal to grant full independence even to the fourfold refined personalities.
The Dragon King & his beloved remain smitten by the tides & ebbs of fate. The strongest character, the only truly friendly counsellor, eager to lend useful objects and give a helpful hand, is Xue Qian Xun, who manages to adjust the frantic torrents of fate for himself & others, but even he falls victim to the poisonous spell by the Immortal of Fate.
OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN
This serious drawback is present in all C-dramas known to me, alas. Male characters have the responsibility to provide a background for female. Here, we have a man-pillow, a walking purse, a face-canvas for drawing ridiculous patterns; even emperors are objectified as spouses or sources of admiration & promotion. Only the Immortal of Fate is the independent one who exploits, but he dies violently shortly after revealing his aim.
GLITCHES & FLAWS
The greatest flaw of this C-drama results from its greatest merit. The engagement of Deng Wei was a priceless acquisition, but placing him in a role other than the main proved disruptive. Unintentionally, this cautious placement did injustice to the rest of the cast, who are all professional, devoted & expressive to the extent required by their roles. Deng Wei is not an actor, he is a wizard.
Another flaw of this series is the amount & final affirmation of sadism. We see many facets of cruelty, the most disturbing instance being the pervert atrocity of Dongluo’s Crown Prince, rightfully punished. But in the final fight against the Immortal of Fate, the Dragon King chooses to indulge in a similar type & intensity of cruelty. This time we are forced to believe this excess is justifiable.
Preoccupied with his beloved’s affairs throughout the series, without a wider scope of concern for the world, the Dragon King turns into a rebel eager to sacrifice himself in a desperate assault against the unjust Heaven. Not the change itself but its abruptness is unconvincing and leaves enough space for doubt whether it was the hero’s deliberate act or just the ill-considered result of a momentary surge of despair, worth his regret.
One more flaw connected with psychological portrayal is how cold Liu Ying & her next selves can be. She forgets her newborn child, wandering & musing about her feelings. The child never reappears, though minor persons like Marble do. We never get to see the emperor she marries or learn about her struggle to develop a bond. Although she gets 60, we see her preserve a youthful appearance – no trace of emotional wear. Her coldness towards ‘brother’ Lu Zheng is also conspicuous.
APPEAL
Qing Qing went a long & painful way to respect her face. C-drama is this one spark of hope left to preserve dignity, creativity, modesty, true development, faith in humanity & more, to avoid the Western ‘aesthetics.’ One of the greatest threats is the indulgence in unnecessary plastic surgery & tweakments as breach of authenticity, as interference in actors’ & actresses’ integrity.
Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.
THE VALUE OF SCIENCE
Our times call for a redefinition of the value of the ‘certified’ facts & interpretations. The centre of the evil in this drama is a large rotunda library, run by the Heavens, calling for awe. At its centre, the Immortal of Fate is an individual of refined appearance & pleasing demeanour, responsible for attaining, storing & distributing the bulk of ‘received’ scholarly literature, but can indulge in providing evaluation or interpretation…
His visitors accept the library with utmost reverence. Qing Qing’s attitude is the opposite: she detests the written word, even though she knows that her negligence in education will deprive her of immortality. Being given “The Book of Reincarnation”, which would spare her suffering, she puts it back. Both idolatry of books & total disrespect prove wrong.
While the cunning Immortal of Fate makes a deliberate abuse of authority in source selection, the inexperienced Dragon King clings to the worst possible references out of his lack of the ability to judge their relevance or intention of authors. He follows a “bad book” & a brothel show, which almost ruin his budding relationship with Liu Ying.
PROFESSIONALISM & ETHICAL ATTITUDE
The position, independence, perception by superiors/colleagues/clients, amount of leisure determine our ethical attitude. Likewise backwards: our morality decides if our work will serve or disrupt the community.
We see it at play from the first episode, when the Immortal of Fate encourages the Dragon King to steal the Ancient Golden Armour. He does not use the imperative ‘steal’ – just toys with the hero’s anxiety & ambition. The Dragon King has already been burdened with an unjust accusation (the misappropriation of the Stone of Nuwa), leading to the Heaven’s thunderous wrath. As a recidivist, he will be doomed…
Each time we meet the Immortal of Fate, this smooth operator takes a step towards mischief. He makes grand use of Qing Qing’s obsession with appearance (her own & the handsome librarian’s) to confront her with the merciless Lord of Luofeng Pavillion, by advising her to pull at his most tender strings.
The heavenly library has a second enterprise profile, a very nasty one: a commission-house for all sorts of shady magical artefacts, poisons pushed as medicines, harmful headbands etc. To get these, a client must offer the most precious piece of their body, being even informed that the business is illegal.
The Immortal of Fate’s corruption has a form of a vicious cycle: he is armoured with unearned authority, with no surveillance from above or objection from beneath. But he is not free from unearned disregard, too: for Qing Qing he is not a suzerain but a plain librarian. Such occurrences even raise the Immortal’s contempt towards his working environment and make him indulge in exploiting the naivety of his client. He knows he can venture offering her a crucial book because she is likely to turn it down. He goes as far as to delete pages from the record on Lord of Luofeng Pavillion. He spends his entire life in the library or at courts, having no pastime, craving for none. While privately visiting the Dragon King at the pool, he is still ‘at work,’ scheming.
Lord of Luofeng Pavillion has a profession that collides with his inborn personality but corresponds to his current embittered state of mind. He feeds people Lethe (memory poison he had also taken willingly) and guides them into oblivion, genuinely believing that this is the right path away from suffering. A crack appears when Qing Qing twits her spontaneity into his ear, pleading for mercy, rekindling buried memories & instincts. Each twit enlivens the past and finally pries the cold heart open. However, Lord’s two unhealed traits guide him back dangerously close to his professional failure & private misery: the susceptibility to evil authority & the inability to communicate effectively.
Various hilarious but serious observations may be drawn from the interaction between the Dragon King & other professionals: the Immortal of Fire & the Immortal of Rain. Worth following is the insight into Ayu’s tortured state of mind, as she tries to extricate herself from the post of Goddess of Rain, imposed on her by circumstances. Facing the imminent revelation of her incompetence, ‘the loss of face,’ Ayu pleads guilty. Not to Heavens, but to common folk. Having repeatedly suffered violence at work as a merchant, she still has deep respect for her imperfect community.
COMMUNICATION INEFFICIENCY
Many C-dramas involve motives of amnesia to prevent a character from communicating with others, revealing crucial facts, sharing emotions. Here we have the motives of reincarnation and Lethe drink. Interestingly, Liu Ying’s every reincarnation involves a different pattern of selective, incomplete forgetting. Every lifespan leaves an imprint on her itinerary soul. Her friends are obliged each time to adhere to a different range of secrecy. Of course, with Qing Qing around, Liu Ying & her later selves quickly pick up the essence of her accumulative past. Also the Dragon King’s yearning for outspokenness allows her to peek into it.
We do not doubt that Xue Qian Xun has grown ready to confess surprisingly soon, but his sincerity is handicapped by the half-forgotten hurt, years spent at the heartless truth-pruning office. Qing Qing yearns for any sign of appreciation from him, yet her obsession with his perception of her face & intellect makes her deaf to his appraisal. His introverted attitude, enhanced by the gravity of his post, gives priority to silent musing (the content of thought). Her extroverted manner, enhanced by the habit of constant nervous pleading for herself, gives priority to chaotic vocalisation (the form of thought). That stalemate of form & content, of the willingness & inability to give & receive, can only be broken by a thunderous interference.
Worth noting is Liu Ying’s maturing openness, as she learns to refuse to reciprocate men’s favour, gently but decisively. In two lifetimes she let circumstances impose marriage, but as general Chen Yue she informs Lu Zheng about her feelings to another man, without causing excessive suffering. Then, as a small girl, she is ready to assert her worldview, aware that her sincerity puts her future at the cultivators’ sect & her immortality at stake.
CONTROL OVER FATE
When Ayu decides not to drink Lethe and vows to gain control over her fate, we might expect her to become what she wants. But it is her father and uncle who channel her fate at her rebirth as Chen Yue. Being strong and skilled in martial arts still has nothing to do with freedom of choice. The fourth incarnation gets close to it, but the heroine is made to die on the day of gaining maturity. It may mean that life is too brutal to grant full independence even to the fourfold refined personalities.
The Dragon King & his beloved remain smitten by the tides & ebbs of fate. The strongest character, the only truly friendly counsellor, eager to lend useful objects and give a helpful hand, is Xue Qian Xun, who manages to adjust the frantic torrents of fate for himself & others, but even he falls victim to the poisonous spell by the Immortal of Fate.
OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN
This serious drawback is present in all C-dramas known to me, alas. Male characters have the responsibility to provide a background for female. Here, we have a man-pillow, a walking purse, a face-canvas for drawing ridiculous patterns; even emperors are objectified as spouses or sources of admiration & promotion. Only the Immortal of Fate is the independent one who exploits, but he dies violently shortly after revealing his aim.
GLITCHES & FLAWS
The greatest flaw of this C-drama results from its greatest merit. The engagement of Deng Wei was a priceless acquisition, but placing him in a role other than the main proved disruptive. Unintentionally, this cautious placement did injustice to the rest of the cast, who are all professional, devoted & expressive to the extent required by their roles. Deng Wei is not an actor, he is a wizard.
Another flaw of this series is the amount & final affirmation of sadism. We see many facets of cruelty, the most disturbing instance being the pervert atrocity of Dongluo’s Crown Prince, rightfully punished. But in the final fight against the Immortal of Fate, the Dragon King chooses to indulge in a similar type & intensity of cruelty. This time we are forced to believe this excess is justifiable.
Preoccupied with his beloved’s affairs throughout the series, without a wider scope of concern for the world, the Dragon King turns into a rebel eager to sacrifice himself in a desperate assault against the unjust Heaven. Not the change itself but its abruptness is unconvincing and leaves enough space for doubt whether it was the hero’s deliberate act or just the ill-considered result of a momentary surge of despair, worth his regret.
One more flaw connected with psychological portrayal is how cold Liu Ying & her next selves can be. She forgets her newborn child, wandering & musing about her feelings. The child never reappears, though minor persons like Marble do. We never get to see the emperor she marries or learn about her struggle to develop a bond. Although she gets 60, we see her preserve a youthful appearance – no trace of emotional wear. Her coldness towards ‘brother’ Lu Zheng is also conspicuous.
APPEAL
Qing Qing went a long & painful way to respect her face. C-drama is this one spark of hope left to preserve dignity, creativity, modesty, true development, faith in humanity & more, to avoid the Western ‘aesthetics.’ One of the greatest threats is the indulgence in unnecessary plastic surgery & tweakments as breach of authenticity, as interference in actors’ & actresses’ integrity.
Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.
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