TaliaToo

One of my top couples!

She was also in Who Rules The world.

As usual, you and I are on the same page 😁

Just scroll up this page and look at all the different topics discussion boards. Many interesting posts there. 💕

Here is where I and some friends put our posts. I also put them on my Feed for anyone who friends me to read so they don’t have to keep checking:
https://kisskh.at/discussions/di-jia-qian-jin/126863-main-couple-scenes-clever-dialogues-and-relationship-progression

Glad you enjoyed it!

Because I know what’s coming and have mourned enough ten years ago Lolol. I have written essays on that book too lmao. The characters were beyond wonderful for a detail nut like me.

Ah, great questions! it's late here and my reply will be long (like all my XL notes. Let me get back to you on this tomorrow, my new friend!

Did you notice/get all the double entendres and sexy talk they had? :) We followed a progression of their couple scenes in a topic in the Other Discussion topics, if you're interested. Check out Couple Scenes and Clever Dialogue (or some title like that) by scrolling above.

Neither was mine! XY has already chosen. My posts about XL is always about him as a character and HIS choices. I could care less about XY's choice, heh. Xiao Liu's, maybe, but never XY's. She grew more uninteresting and less like the 300 years of being alone cunning and resourceful Xiao Liu. I read this book ten years ago and had enough of those conversations about star-crossed lovers to know/understand every side, LOL. I'm just interested in XL because he will always be my favorite character to analyze.

Heh, If we want to talk about figurative heart, then XL killed his heart figuratively for XY many times. In the end, he told her, "I cannot to take the bug out (his love) like you keep asking, but...I can kill it (his love)." He then took another one of his lives to kill this bug (and his love for her). I also believed he sacrificed one of his life to save TSJ for her.

I think he has sacrificed his figurative heart enough times for one to conclude that his love for XY was beyond what the other two dudes were able to do. Let's not mention about the three decades of heart blood he gave her. That's not even figurative territory any more LOL. In the book, at the end, after seeing what XL did, even XY's protectors were impressed by XL's love and...heart. It was therefore very ironic, that in the end, when XY cried at what XL did to her mirror, accusing him of being "heartless." She would never ever know how he destroyed his heart for her. But again, this might not be shown in the drama end, so we will see how the interpretation might change.

But I do see your point. We just differ in how we view matters of the "heart" when it came to these three men. Happy watching to you! The rest of this journey will certainly be full of angst for us and heart pain for all.

I think he killed his heart when he killed the bug (again, FOR HER as per his words in the novel), But yes, the three men here certainly see different meaning in their love for XY. But a final defense, I do think XL understood XY wanted romantic love and did his best to give her what he knew he couldn't--his final letter/words to her would reveal what he wanted for her/what she told him she wanted (which he then literally worked to give her).
We shall see whether the drama would be faithful in showing this. I think it will since it had been following the main XL story pretty closely.

HAHAHA. It's not like I knew all that when I was a kid. I was just a copycat and did a lot of "tuk-tuk-chang" walks around with my plastic sword and spear. My grandmother would tell me I was doing it all wrong, especially the feet, LOL.

But I'm a play and film fanatic because of a lot of my childhood love of storytelling. So years and years later, here I am, doing what I love, telling stories and watching other people telling stories through this craft.

Cheers! Always up for a good conversation!

Well, the title speaks for itself of what you'll be feeling LOL.

Or, if you look at it another way, cunning like a fox (clan).

But isn't what you're praising for TSJ the same thing for XL? Freaking guy gave up 3 of his nine lives to save his woman and to give her something he couldn't himself give--someone she loved who would accompany her wherever she wanted. He was the most unselfish of the three men.

Yes, Winter Begonia was his version of the famous Leslie Cheung movie Farewell My Concubine. However, I meant the director Lu Hao Jiji, though, who was responsible for the camera work. Although YZ approved final say of script and direction, you will see LHJj in the BTS being the one in charge.
But you are right in that YZ loves the play-withiin-a-play theme in his dramas. You can also see this in Scent of Time

I am guilty #hangshead. I'm writing essays #hangshead. I scare myself #hangshead. I'm trying to shake off this refusal to go start Lost You Forever, which was my obsession ten years ago and was one of the good dramas last year.

Great review!

The director has structured this drama like a play within a play. I'm sure you noticed all the weird close-ups with the characters breaking the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera, as if they were speaking a soliloquy. There are many references to Chinese opera throughout. XH loves opera, the villains quote from opera and the twirls and finger pointings are opera gestures. Even SYR's sleeved hand movements are standard opera gestures. I used to do them while playing "tuk-tuk-chang," which was kids' name for Chinese Opera back when I was a kid (many thousands months ago).

The walking of the "tuk-tuk-chang" is very specific. Old women would throw oranges at the actors if they did it wrong. I know enough to see that some of the actors' walks in the drama had been deliberate.

The camera would pan back to scenes shown like the characters were on stage. I've given this example in earlier posts, so I hope older (meaning those who had started commenting here from the beginning) viewers here would bear with my repeated examples. The staging of the Princess' abode, with her at the balcony and the two side walls looked like a stage. There were other similar scenes I saw during repeated rewatching--the curtain on top, two posts on each side as the camera went backward. I think the scene where the Duke watched XXF sleeping was similar.

Other stuff of note: The sword practice in the rain also had a few Chinese opera twirls. The orangey/peachy makeup around the eyes was a very light copy of the Chinese opera heavy exaggerated colors. Only in the rain did the drama BREAK the pattern--it became a standard C-drama romance with the actors having close contact and the FL without the makeup. Perhaps the Director was making the point that this was one of the few moments the characters were NOT acting because throughout their relationship so far, they had been acting for people and with each other. This was the moment she told him she found him good-looking and strongly showed him she liked him; this was the moment he nearly revealed his feelings for her and also saw her in a different light. Also they were in the rain, wet, and for once it wasn't the "inky rain" of the drama title. It was a cleansing rain for both of them.

I can go on for pages about this drama, LOL. But yes, while many complained about the Director's style, I understood his choices from a film-student POV. The man is very influenced by Shakespeare plays and Hitchcockian camera flair. Ooops, gotta stop. I see paragraphs ahead.... <3