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Some thoughts about viewer experience

I came late to Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, and I found a division of opinion. But my own opinion is not at all divided. I am blown away by this passionate, perfect drama. It’s great to see the many positive reviews. I can’t get enough of the screenplay’s densely packed excellence. It’s got everything from that comfiest of tropes, The World Is Your Wingman, to a transporting love story, and a moving touch with life transitions. It stretches the idol drama genre with its deep contemplation of theme and character. With no antagonist nor any catastrophes to get in the way, the drama is able to bring out the tender uncertainties of falling in love. I’m grateful for this drama’s emotional rewards, compelling mood, and romantic intensity.

But since I began my the journey despite the critics, I was curious: What’s up with the negativity? And I have some thoughts.

First, there are ways Wu Lei’s brand of celebrity is unique, so there may be more people with conflicting opinions about his projects. Second, this drama has a lot more going on than just romance, including not only large themes but also a complex, symbolically charged male lead. And those elements aren’t to everyone’s taste. And third, Chinese TV uses innuendo, while Western media is all about show and tell. So the drama’s strategies in adapting a web novel about a sexual relationship for Chinese TV may have frustrated viewers, if they aren’t into reading between the lines.

First, let’s look at the longevity and variety of Wu Lei’s career. Because he started working as a kid, his fans range in age and interests. Older fans remember the “Nation's Little Brother” as a child actor. Fans who came along later first saw him as a teen action hero. A still younger group met him as the badass elite cavalry commander, the relatable comeback athlete, and the vengeful Han dynasty general. And some fans may have taken a shortcut to Amidst a Snowstorm of Love directly from one of his films - a Netflix coming of age movie with some LGBTQ+ content, or his arthouse role as the iconic Mulian. Wu Lei owns his own independent studio, and his fans aren’t given marching orders through a fan association like the ones the larger studios run. His projects can’t possibly please all the fans, all the time. So fans who decided to try the drama just for Wu Lei may be one group of disappointed voices.

Second, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love is not a typical cdrama romance. It’s got some big themes. That’s a particular flavor of romance. And I think romance fans may have gotten their wires crossed about what to expect.

The themes are centered on male lead Lin Yiyang. Female lead Yin Guo has an arc, too — she comes into her own in multiple ways. But Yin Guo as a character is not super packed with meaning. In contrast, Lin Yiyang carries a lot of symbolic weight. For the nation, he’s a returning top level talent — a symbol of reversing “brain drain.” As a snooker player, he’s that badass who comes out of retirement, to the dismay of those who expect to beat him. As an individual, he’s an orphan and a loner. And he’s in exile, holding up a makeshift community, and facing trials to reach home. As the brothers who come for him show, his absence is a wound in their community. Clearly, these qualities aren’t just tacked onto his character to give him a reason to brood. They’re way more substantial than the typical CEO’s childhood trauma.

That’s already a good amount of depth. In addition, the drama creators may be drawing on neurodiversity to construct Lin Yiyang’s character. In youth flashbacks, he’s impulsive and emotionally dysregulated. He says, "I used to talk mean” and that he misread others’ reactions. It may work to say adult Lin Yiyang is following these masking rules: (1) Don’t do anything without thinking it through first; (2) Don’t talk, but if you have to talk, keep it short; (3) Build relationships with acts of service. (For example, he seems to have tutored everyone's kid, helped in everyone's restaurant, and coached entire billiards rooms full of appreciative Finns.)

Further, like some neurodiverse people, Lin Yiyang isn’t always in control of how he comes across. I’m thinking of the moment when he meets Yin Guo for the first time. He puts out seductive signals, but I read them as unintentional. On the one hand, it’s not an understatement to say he exudes a sexual aura. But on the other hand, he seems to be trying to avoid coming on to Yin Guo. It’s her brother who reads the room and forcibly connects them on WeChat. And apart from Lin Yiyang’s awkward approach in the bar to show her his ID cards, he makes efforts to give Yin Guo physical space. In early episodes, he takes the front seat in the taxi, sits across the aisle in the subway, and leaves the restaurant chair next to her empty. So the way I make sense of Lin Yiyang’s fixed stare is this: His attraction to her has short-circuited his ability to mask.

So here’s this disability-inflected character and these layers of symbolism. And then there’s the drama’s reputation as best-romance-ever. But romance fans like different things. I’m a romance fan, and I adore big themes and a multi-layered male lead. I like romance for the sake of romance, sure, but for me it doesn’t compare with a drama like Amidst a Snowstorm of Love. However, for other romance fans, big themes are beside the point. And they like their green flag to smile and be bashful. They really don't want him to lock his deadly serious gaze onto the eyes of his object of desire. So Amidst a Snowstorm of Love is not their idea of best-romance-ever. I say again, some wires may have gotten crossed.

Third, some viewers may prefer shows that explain clearly what happens in intimate relationships. With this drama, those viewers are naturally going to be disappointed. Chinese TV censorship works in multiple ways, including self censorship to meet official requirements and to avoid viewer complaints. There’s no way the drama can adapt a web novel that's open about a sexual relationship without using implication and creative innuendo.

I do enjoy reading between the lines. Partly, I like being given artful raw material to head canon about the characters. And another part is I get a kick from the double talk, because it’s like being in on a secret. That innocent pizza? That Titanic reference? Hey drama creators, I see what you did there.

So I had fun figuring out what was going on with the scenes of Yin Guo gradually opening up to Public Displays of Affection. My top head canon is that these scenes are code for the couple going further with physical intimacy. I think it may also be a practical choice for the drama to substitute PDA negotiations for all the things the web novel characters do that would not fly with the censors. I did read the web novel, and there’s not one bit of PDA anywhere in sight. The web novel couple, naturally enough, prefer to make out in private, on beds. In addition, the push and pull of the drama’s PDA persuasion scenes is absent from the novel — the web novel couple take their time, and they make a mutual decision.

That unrushed intimacy from the web novel — I think the drama captures it in the many small moments in which Lin Yiyang consciously chooses to follow Yin Guo’s lead. While the drama can’t show some relationship details, it does catch the quality of how Yin Guo and Lin Yiyang are together.

Overall, I think the drama does a wonderful job of conveying the spirit of the web novel in a medium with very different rules. I admire the drama’s creative ways of getting around the constraints. Even though I’d like to see the deleted scenes, the drama as it exists gives me everything I need to construct a satisfying narrative. (It was after finishing the drama that I read the web novel, and I found out I did get ahead of the characters, but not by a lot. By the way, I recommend the web novel as well as the drama.) However, not all viewers want to decipher visual cues and references to construct their own narrative. Possibly, there are more fans who feel this way on English language forums.

While the reactions of English-speaking fans have been mixed, extremely high Chinese viewership and multiple awards prove this drama was a success with its intended audience, And the reasons for its popularity are undeniable In addition to being superbly written and directed, and featuring amazing acting by everyone involved, it takes chances to push the idol drama envelope. My experience of this drama is undiluted joy and appreciation. It's an incredibly beautiful and romantic drama, and it deserves all the praise it has received, and more.

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