On The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi
Aug. 22nd, 2019 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotA couple days ago the sister and I finished watching the cdrama Chen Qing Ling/The Untamed (an adaptation of the danmei (BL) novel Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation). This was after we'd watched the first season of the donghua of MDZS and then read the translated novel last autumn, so I'm coming at this story from all sides. So! have a bunch of disorganized thoughts about it.
Overall I really enjoy the story and characters of MDZS, and the main pairing is definitely an OTP of mine; I get sulky at any thought of them broken up. Neither of them quite grab me in a favorite character way but I love both Wei Wuxian for his trickster-with-a-heart-of-gold nature and Lan Wangji for his completely stoic absolute devotion. And I love a lot of the rest of the cast too (though it could definitely do with more ladies), especially Wen Ning (bestest zombie general ever! <3) and the next-generation cultivators.
And the drama's casting is fantastic, almost everyone looks about exactly as I'd picture them. The one exception being Lan Wangji, and to Wang Yibou's credit he pretty much won me over by the end. He doesn't quite have the look -- though that's as much an issue with styling as anything; it was working against the actor rather than with him, I feel (ditto for Lan Xichen). But Wen Ning, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, all looked their parts perfectly. Also Wen Qing who was just gorgeous, and Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui were such cute little baby cultivators. And for such a young cast the performances were solid -- while I don't think there was anyone as noticeably talented as say Zhu Yilong, there wasn't anyone awful either; it got melodramatic as hell but they all went for it so very sincerely. Wei Wuxian especially -- Xiao Zhan not only has the perfect appearance for the part but he does justice to all of WWX's moods, from cocky trickster to heartbroken kid to the older and wiser man. He's also beautiful though I struggle with how he looks all of fifteen most of the time (he's twenty-seven, which I believe exactly never, just, how?!)
As for how the characters are written -- the drama kind of softens everyone, in part, I suspect, due to Chinese censorship and decency standards -- bad guys have to be bad and good guys have to be good. For some of the characters this was to their advantage. In particular Jin Zixuan, who in the book and the donghua is such a dick that I never fully came around to him. While as in the show he's much more Mr. Darcy -- arrogant but he clearly has a thing for Jiang Yanli and has no idea what to do about it, and the actor channels that adorably. Which of course makes his end all the more tragic.
Also Jiang Cheng is so much squishier and likable in the drama. He's such a mess but you can't help but feel for him (and his actor really sells it -- he's so young but he just throws his whole heart and soul into his crying, aww...)
--Meng Yao might have also been more sympathetic, I have no idea; I hated him so much in the book that I pretty much wanted to punch him from the moment he appeared on screen. I could tell that the actor is objectively good-looking but it couldn't get me over my feelings for the character (and yeah, I'm often a villain fan, but Jin Guangyao just pushes all the wrong buttons for me for some reason. Possibly because I'm so sad for Lan Xichen, who hitched his Lan-horse of loyalty to the wrong wagon, poor thing.)
But I also feel like Wei Wuxian loses his edge a bit, the way his story plays out in the drama. By making Meng Yao more directly responsible for what happens, it mitigates the worst of Wei Wuxian's sins, but it also undercuts his genius and skills. E.g. in the novel, when Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun are killed, no one takes control of Wen Ning; WWX just loses control. Likewise having the Wens be practicing some kind of demonic cultivation makes WWX using it against them seem more justified, but it also makes WWX developing the demononic techniques seem less special. In the book it's clear that all the evil-summoning talismans and things were WWX's own inventions, as is the stygian tiger seal; the show mentions this but it doesn't seem like such a big deal when the Wens are already raising zombie armies and playing with magic ores and whatnot.
WWX's personality in the novel and in the donghua adaptation seem sharper; in the show he plays the prankster sometimes but it's more obviously an act? He mostly wears his heart on his sleeve. While as in the other versions he often comes across like he doesn't care -- either about other people or about what they think, which makes it that much more affecting, the times when it becomes clear how deeply he does care. And his genius is also more emphasized (the opening of the novel, when he figures out the deal with the wish-granting goddess, is flubbed in both the drama and the donghua but it's such good deducting!)
The drama also has some major pacing issues. There were whole episodes that almost put me to sleep, with endless amounts of talking in circles and reactions without any real plot progression. Some of this is just cdrama pacing and some I am sure was because I knew where the story was going; it was probably more interesting when you were waiting to find out. But I feel like a lot of it could've been cut down or shot/edited to be more engaging. I think the show would've been better served by being 40 episodes, not taking out any scenes, just trimming them. A lot of the action scenes, too, were confusing and hard to follow (like, WWX and LWJ escaping Lanling Carp Tower after Jin Ling stabs WWX is just baffling, why is everyone just standing there watching, why does no one move? And at the very end, when Jiang Cheng flashes back to how he deliberately let himself get caught by the Wens to save WWX -- is it even clear there what happened? I don't think I'd have understood that bit if I hadn't read it already in the book?)
I also didn't really like all the flashbacks being told together in one chunk -- I like the present-time story more than the tragedy of the past, and while the novel can get confusing with all its flashbacks, I preferred that story being broken up. The donghua so far seems to have found a happy medium, with combining some of the flashbacks into a continuous narrative but still returning to the present.
Then, the drama's climax -- I was wondering all along how that was going to play out, given in the book the plot and final villain confrontation is hilariously, gloriously derailed by WWX making the worst-timed love confession in the history of anything and LWJ joyfully going along with it. It's total crack and I adore it.
And I can see why the drama didn't go that way -- even if it had been allowed to make the m/m romance canon, the mood of the show was different enough that it wouldn't really have been appropriate or satisfying.
But at the same time I think the climax getting played straight (eheh...) loses something. It shifts the character focus -- this is supposed to be WWX's story, but he doesn't really do much in the end; it becomes all about Meng Yao and Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang. In the novel that story is really a backdrop to WWX and LWJ finally figuring things out. WWX realizing that love is the climax of his arc; for all its elaborate plot, MDZS is a romance story.
While as The Untamed drama couldn't be that -- but it definitely did its best to imply it. The end is beautiful, I think perfect for what the series is. ...I mean, I'm a little doubtful that Lan Wangji would actually let Wei Wuxian go off for that long without him that he actually could get a change of clothes, like, how is Lan Zhan going to get anything done as Chief Cultivator when he's just spending all his time fretting about what Wei Wuxian is up to and trying (and failing) to not send out spies to keep him informed? But it showed enough. (and the myriad different ways all these danmei adaptations have walked the subtext line is worth an essay in itself...)
And while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji didn't get a kiss or even a hug -- Lan Wangji did get to hold him for a good long time! There's a lot of lovely h/c throughout; might as well call him Wei Whumpxian. LWJ and Wen Ning talking in the boat while WWX is unconscious in LWJ's arms is one of my favorite scenes in the book and the drama both, that was beautiful.
...Though I confess, all of this makes me so bitter as a Guardian fan, because WeiLan* could have had that holding! And they could've had a happy ending -- The Untamed proved that a danmei-adapted drama can get away with that much, and I'm so sad that Guardian didn't try. And that it didn't have more of a budget (or better dubbing! or anything!)
* It does crack me up that "WeiLan" could be a ship name for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji too...and they're definitely pairings cut from the same cloth, the repressed eternally devoted badass with the irreverently confident genius trouble-maker. Lan Zhan and Shen Wei would definitely have a lot to talk about/commiserate over if they went out for drinks (for the five seconds before they both fell over unconscious and their husbands came to drag their drunk asses home...)
In conclusion -- The Untamed is worth checking out if you're in the mood for Chinese fantasy featuring the world's fluffiest necromancer and melodrama and an m/m love story that hovers in subtext just a hairline under the actual text; and if you did enjoy the drama I definitely recommend both the novel and the donghua -- the former has a decent English translation that's actually finished, and the latter is lavishly and epically animated (and ongoing, so no one knows yet how far it's going to go with the relationship...)
Overall I really enjoy the story and characters of MDZS, and the main pairing is definitely an OTP of mine; I get sulky at any thought of them broken up. Neither of them quite grab me in a favorite character way but I love both Wei Wuxian for his trickster-with-a-heart-of-gold nature and Lan Wangji for his completely stoic absolute devotion. And I love a lot of the rest of the cast too (though it could definitely do with more ladies), especially Wen Ning (bestest zombie general ever! <3) and the next-generation cultivators.
And the drama's casting is fantastic, almost everyone looks about exactly as I'd picture them. The one exception being Lan Wangji, and to Wang Yibou's credit he pretty much won me over by the end. He doesn't quite have the look -- though that's as much an issue with styling as anything; it was working against the actor rather than with him, I feel (ditto for Lan Xichen). But Wen Ning, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, all looked their parts perfectly. Also Wen Qing who was just gorgeous, and Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui were such cute little baby cultivators. And for such a young cast the performances were solid -- while I don't think there was anyone as noticeably talented as say Zhu Yilong, there wasn't anyone awful either; it got melodramatic as hell but they all went for it so very sincerely. Wei Wuxian especially -- Xiao Zhan not only has the perfect appearance for the part but he does justice to all of WWX's moods, from cocky trickster to heartbroken kid to the older and wiser man. He's also beautiful though I struggle with how he looks all of fifteen most of the time (he's twenty-seven, which I believe exactly never, just, how?!)
As for how the characters are written -- the drama kind of softens everyone, in part, I suspect, due to Chinese censorship and decency standards -- bad guys have to be bad and good guys have to be good. For some of the characters this was to their advantage. In particular Jin Zixuan, who in the book and the donghua is such a dick that I never fully came around to him. While as in the show he's much more Mr. Darcy -- arrogant but he clearly has a thing for Jiang Yanli and has no idea what to do about it, and the actor channels that adorably. Which of course makes his end all the more tragic.
Also Jiang Cheng is so much squishier and likable in the drama. He's such a mess but you can't help but feel for him (and his actor really sells it -- he's so young but he just throws his whole heart and soul into his crying, aww...)
--Meng Yao might have also been more sympathetic, I have no idea; I hated him so much in the book that I pretty much wanted to punch him from the moment he appeared on screen. I could tell that the actor is objectively good-looking but it couldn't get me over my feelings for the character (and yeah, I'm often a villain fan, but Jin Guangyao just pushes all the wrong buttons for me for some reason. Possibly because I'm so sad for Lan Xichen, who hitched his Lan-horse of loyalty to the wrong wagon, poor thing.)
But I also feel like Wei Wuxian loses his edge a bit, the way his story plays out in the drama. By making Meng Yao more directly responsible for what happens, it mitigates the worst of Wei Wuxian's sins, but it also undercuts his genius and skills. E.g. in the novel, when Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun are killed, no one takes control of Wen Ning; WWX just loses control. Likewise having the Wens be practicing some kind of demonic cultivation makes WWX using it against them seem more justified, but it also makes WWX developing the demononic techniques seem less special. In the book it's clear that all the evil-summoning talismans and things were WWX's own inventions, as is the stygian tiger seal; the show mentions this but it doesn't seem like such a big deal when the Wens are already raising zombie armies and playing with magic ores and whatnot.
WWX's personality in the novel and in the donghua adaptation seem sharper; in the show he plays the prankster sometimes but it's more obviously an act? He mostly wears his heart on his sleeve. While as in the other versions he often comes across like he doesn't care -- either about other people or about what they think, which makes it that much more affecting, the times when it becomes clear how deeply he does care. And his genius is also more emphasized (the opening of the novel, when he figures out the deal with the wish-granting goddess, is flubbed in both the drama and the donghua but it's such good deducting!)
The drama also has some major pacing issues. There were whole episodes that almost put me to sleep, with endless amounts of talking in circles and reactions without any real plot progression. Some of this is just cdrama pacing and some I am sure was because I knew where the story was going; it was probably more interesting when you were waiting to find out. But I feel like a lot of it could've been cut down or shot/edited to be more engaging. I think the show would've been better served by being 40 episodes, not taking out any scenes, just trimming them. A lot of the action scenes, too, were confusing and hard to follow (like, WWX and LWJ escaping Lanling Carp Tower after Jin Ling stabs WWX is just baffling, why is everyone just standing there watching, why does no one move? And at the very end, when Jiang Cheng flashes back to how he deliberately let himself get caught by the Wens to save WWX -- is it even clear there what happened? I don't think I'd have understood that bit if I hadn't read it already in the book?)
I also didn't really like all the flashbacks being told together in one chunk -- I like the present-time story more than the tragedy of the past, and while the novel can get confusing with all its flashbacks, I preferred that story being broken up. The donghua so far seems to have found a happy medium, with combining some of the flashbacks into a continuous narrative but still returning to the present.
Then, the drama's climax -- I was wondering all along how that was going to play out, given in the book the plot and final villain confrontation is hilariously, gloriously derailed by WWX making the worst-timed love confession in the history of anything and LWJ joyfully going along with it. It's total crack and I adore it.
And I can see why the drama didn't go that way -- even if it had been allowed to make the m/m romance canon, the mood of the show was different enough that it wouldn't really have been appropriate or satisfying.
But at the same time I think the climax getting played straight (eheh...) loses something. It shifts the character focus -- this is supposed to be WWX's story, but he doesn't really do much in the end; it becomes all about Meng Yao and Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang. In the novel that story is really a backdrop to WWX and LWJ finally figuring things out. WWX realizing that love is the climax of his arc; for all its elaborate plot, MDZS is a romance story.
While as The Untamed drama couldn't be that -- but it definitely did its best to imply it. The end is beautiful, I think perfect for what the series is. ...I mean, I'm a little doubtful that Lan Wangji would actually let Wei Wuxian go off for that long without him that he actually could get a change of clothes, like, how is Lan Zhan going to get anything done as Chief Cultivator when he's just spending all his time fretting about what Wei Wuxian is up to and trying (and failing) to not send out spies to keep him informed? But it showed enough. (and the myriad different ways all these danmei adaptations have walked the subtext line is worth an essay in itself...)
And while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji didn't get a kiss or even a hug -- Lan Wangji did get to hold him for a good long time! There's a lot of lovely h/c throughout; might as well call him Wei Whumpxian. LWJ and Wen Ning talking in the boat while WWX is unconscious in LWJ's arms is one of my favorite scenes in the book and the drama both, that was beautiful.
...Though I confess, all of this makes me so bitter as a Guardian fan, because WeiLan* could have had that holding! And they could've had a happy ending -- The Untamed proved that a danmei-adapted drama can get away with that much, and I'm so sad that Guardian didn't try. And that it didn't have more of a budget (or better dubbing! or anything!)
* It does crack me up that "WeiLan" could be a ship name for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji too...and they're definitely pairings cut from the same cloth, the repressed eternally devoted badass with the irreverently confident genius trouble-maker. Lan Zhan and Shen Wei would definitely have a lot to talk about/commiserate over if they went out for drinks (for the five seconds before they both fell over unconscious and their husbands came to drag their drunk asses home...)
In conclusion -- The Untamed is worth checking out if you're in the mood for Chinese fantasy featuring the world's fluffiest necromancer and melodrama and an m/m love story that hovers in subtext just a hairline under the actual text; and if you did enjoy the drama I definitely recommend both the novel and the donghua -- the former has a decent English translation that's actually finished, and the latter is lavishly and epically animated (and ongoing, so no one knows yet how far it's going to go with the relationship...)
no subject
Date: 2019-08-24 01:40 am (UTC)I have to say that show really suited Zhu Yilong's strong suits in crying, looking pretty while chained up, and spitting blood though.