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Woxin: random reflections 31 to mid 33
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feliciter is trying to get this finished before she takes off on Friday, but my own watching is a lot slower, if only because I'm so unused to watching TV that a very little of it tires me immensely. Thus instead of looking at her last entry and having my worst sinking feelings confirmed, I'll put the odd stray-thought-to-date down here.
WZX is becoming an hysteric. WZX is becoming as hysterical as Shi Mai. How the mighty have fallen. Did like the line about 'Gou Jian didn't eat our king's shit, he ate our king's liver!' Not that the subtitles put it quite that way, natch.
Shi Mai needs to die in a fire, stat. Useless, I say, useless: has never done anything in his life except make trouble. (Could we have the slightest hint of an apology for failing to keep Yu Yi alive? No we could not. We can have xenophobic 'Look what you did to our king' ranting at Fan Li and by extension Wen Zhong. Grrhhh.)
Truly, why couldn't they have kept to the original Xi Shi story? I liked it; it gave both her and Fan Li scope to be things other than, as whoever said, silly Taiwanese gigglers in love. However she does have to go to Wu because historically she did (at the moment of watching she's still in unapprehended flight: spoil me and die) so I suppose she'll manage something when she actually gets there.
Say what you like, I'm relieved to have this new Gou Jian. I'm sure it won't end well; things never end well; but I trust his instincts a hell of a lot more than the old pre-defeat Gou Jian. (Observe masterly handling of Zhu Ji Ying.) That's because eps 32 and 33 did a hideous brinksmanship thing in and around the major crawling fear I've had through most of this series, which I won't even name lest someone say something to send me wibbling again, and Gou Jian just pulled us back from the edge of the brink once more when I'd thought this time for sure we'd topple over it.
Have always wondered: is Ku Cheng supposed to be a eunuch? He's the only major male character who doesn't have facial hair, he serves in the king's apartments the way eunuchs seem to do (and women), and there's something mhh soft and inner rooms about him even if he doesn't wear the court eunuch costume (which I recognize from manga: yes, everything I know about Chinese history comes from Japanese manga, aspaleaswater once said, except in my case it's true.) He wasn't supposed to go to Wu and one wonders why someone so close to the king wouldn't be included. OTOH 32 is it? mentions him leading an army to help the returned Gou Jian, and what is one to make of that?
Looking back thought: yanno, Fu Chai really believed he'd broken Gou Jian. If Fu Chai could look at the distrait man serving as his human mounting block without a cold chill going down his back, without even a hint of a feeling of Dear god what have I done? then Fu Chai deserves everything that's coming to him, the smug fat-faced oaf. He's done the unforgivable: he's failed to be an enemy worthy of Gou Jian, when Gou Jian has been a more than worthy enemy to Fu Chai. If I do write that AU, you can bet Fu Chai will be the enemy Gou Jian deserved.
feliciter is trying to get this finished before she takes off on Friday, but my own watching is a lot slower, if only because I'm so unused to watching TV that a very little of it tires me immensely. Thus instead of looking at her last entry and having my worst sinking feelings confirmed, I'll put the odd stray-thought-to-date down here. WZX is becoming an hysteric. WZX is becoming as hysterical as Shi Mai. How the mighty have fallen. Did like the line about 'Gou Jian didn't eat our king's shit, he ate our king's liver!' Not that the subtitles put it quite that way, natch.
Shi Mai needs to die in a fire, stat. Useless, I say, useless: has never done anything in his life except make trouble. (Could we have the slightest hint of an apology for failing to keep Yu Yi alive? No we could not. We can have xenophobic 'Look what you did to our king' ranting at Fan Li and by extension Wen Zhong. Grrhhh.)
Truly, why couldn't they have kept to the original Xi Shi story? I liked it; it gave both her and Fan Li scope to be things other than, as whoever said, silly Taiwanese gigglers in love. However she does have to go to Wu because historically she did (at the moment of watching she's still in unapprehended flight: spoil me and die) so I suppose she'll manage something when she actually gets there.
Say what you like, I'm relieved to have this new Gou Jian. I'm sure it won't end well; things never end well; but I trust his instincts a hell of a lot more than the old pre-defeat Gou Jian. (Observe masterly handling of Zhu Ji Ying.) That's because eps 32 and 33 did a hideous brinksmanship thing in and around the major crawling fear I've had through most of this series, which I won't even name lest someone say something to send me wibbling again, and Gou Jian just pulled us back from the edge of the brink once more when I'd thought this time for sure we'd topple over it.
Have always wondered: is Ku Cheng supposed to be a eunuch? He's the only major male character who doesn't have facial hair, he serves in the king's apartments the way eunuchs seem to do (and women), and there's something mhh soft and inner rooms about him even if he doesn't wear the court eunuch costume (which I recognize from manga: yes, everything I know about Chinese history comes from Japanese manga, as
paleaswater once said, except in my case it's true.) He wasn't supposed to go to Wu and one wonders why someone so close to the king wouldn't be included. OTOH 32 is it? mentions him leading an army to help the returned Gou Jian, and what is one to make of that?Looking back thought: yanno, Fu Chai really believed he'd broken Gou Jian. If Fu Chai could look at the distrait man serving as his human mounting block without a cold chill going down his back, without even a hint of a feeling of Dear god what have I done? then Fu Chai deserves everything that's coming to him, the smug fat-faced oaf. He's done the unforgivable: he's failed to be an enemy worthy of Gou Jian, when Gou Jian has been a more than worthy enemy to Fu Chai. If I do write that AU, you can bet Fu Chai will be the enemy Gou Jian deserved.
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Much nostalgia. It'd been eons since I watched period drama.... :(
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Everyone who regularly watched Chinese period drama growing up has admiring things to say about how *this* one is sooo much better and more intelligent and slashier than the stuff they're used to.
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WZX is becoming an hysteric...as hysterical as Shi Mai
His ranting now reminds me of nothing so much as the mother-in-law nagging her son to divorce a daughter-in-law (whom she disapproved of from the start) for a multitude of imagined sins - quite fitting for the way he's been presented in the last few eps but hardly appropriate for an elder statesman. (OTOH never thought Shi Mai was much of a statesman from ep 1, but his recent behaviour is not even fitting for a friend of the family.)
trust his instincts a hell of a lot more than the old pre-defeat Gou Jian
I think he's gotten wiser and sadder, so he's definitely making much more astute and considered decisions - but somehow there's more of a calculated gamble (for instance in ep 36, the conclusion of a subplot that initially seemed irrelevant) than in the pre-Wu days when he seemed to do things a lot more by instinct and belief. This Gou Jian is the one I remember from Moral Ed.
is Ku Cheng supposed to be a eunuch?
I'm hoping this is not too much of a spoiler, but he does grow a mustache.
can't remember the army bit - must rewatch. thought his job was mainly to get someone military to do same.
If Fu Chai could look at the distrait man serving as his human mounting block without a cold chill going down his back, without even a hint of a feeling of Dear god what have I done? then Fu Chai deserves everything that's coming to him
With interest.
If I do write that AU
Yes please do it do it! *_*
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I'll wait to see which way this lands, but my gut reaction is, given where Gou Jian's instincts and beliefs got not only him but his people as well, calculation couldn't possibly be worse.
Granted I haven't had Moral Ed Gou Jian dinned into my ears, so there's a whole level of subtext missing from my view. But dammit I *like* the guy who can say 'I screwed up bad and you people suffered for it'. It's a more deeply held expression of the feelings behind the pre-battle speech; it's 羞愧呀 曾經有過的狂妄 put into sober kingly terms; it's the morality and responsibility that's missing from anything that Wu produces, for sure. Rare and refreshing.
thought his job was mainly to get someone military to do same.
That makes more sense. An army leader Ku Cheng is not.
Yes please do it do it! *_*
If I can manage to drag any of this into the left brain where the words are. I tell myself the story as I'm waiting to fall asleep at night, and even though I'm quite awake and can remember other things I plot then, the details of my AU musings are gone in the morning. 'OK, I know Gou Jian was talking to Ya Yu but what were they talking about?' I have a sinking feeling the story depends on turning Fu Chai into a royal Fan Li, which may be no worse a fannish sin than turning him into a raping seme (followed by Fan Li's Healing Cock) but which is equally as self-indulgent.
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Not!spoiler: Gou Jian did conquer Wu after 20 years of woxinchangdan (and other stuff, more or less as per the series but less straightforwardly), and things did turn out OK for the people of both countries(as per the Will of Heaven wot Gou Jian keeps going on about). But as to the cost of his victory, the series does deviate a *leetle* from Received Historical Interpretation.
it's 羞愧呀 曾經有過的狂妄 put into sober kingly terms
That it is. And on rewatching choice bits in the first 6 eps, the change is even greater than I thought. Taking notes is helpful but again, so much depends on context that I just can't do it. This is a series that I would love to be able to fic for but just *can't*, unless it were a crack!AU.
the story depends on turning Fu Chai into a royal Fan Li, which may be no worse a fannish sin than turning him into a raping seme (followed by Fan Li's Healing Cock)
Both sound equally attractive! :p
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Back to that crawling anxiety of mine, which I'm now certain will happen. OK. I'm resigned. Nothing will be saved from the wreckage of Gou Jian's victory. Unless Fan Li really does go off to become a successful merchant. I can never decide if that's a happi endo or a 'the pity of it, Iago' resolution.
This is a series that I would love to be able to fic for but just *can't*, unless it were a crack!AU.
This is why I'm reluctant to fic it. It'd be crack and corrective AU, also frequently called 'out of character'.
Both sound equally attractive! :p
The latter at least exists and squicked
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http://cdmdm.uu1001.com/read.php?tid=112&fpage=5
Wahahaha -- now all of you can feel icky like me.
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and perv on Uncle Ming directly. In this respect my tastes in fanfic may be closer to western ones; I like it when new directions are explored using the series as a starting point, and in particular when obscure/uneleborated bits in the main series are fleshed out. (would love some Hao Jin/Fu Tong for instance.) But just saying that Fan Li feels rage and indignation and 心痛 when Gou Jian is mistreated -- that tells me nothing new.You could point out the Healing Sex bits which I can the read directly and feel icky along with you though. :p
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...I think.
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Hmm... well, I think on this the Chinese fans are like the Japanese fans: fanfics should be on crack/corrective AU, especially of the evil mother-in-law and unsuitable bride variety. Only the original series should be in character. But don't worry so much -- whatever you write will be quite in character, I have complete faith. (and you'll want to write it before you read Kareny's story.)
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Though those Asian fannish riffs-- they may sound weird first time round but to my mind they're quite properly indicating where a series or anime can be mapped onto familiar tropes that not only kind of fit but actually illuminate the charas back. Mother-in-law WZX and clever maid Fan Li have congruences with what's happening in the series. Really it's no different than analyzing archetypal instances in Shakespeare. And yes, I do include chibi-Hiei and mama-Kurama in this bunch.
Yaoi tropes OTOH are arbitrary by definition, and do nothing but... force the series characters into the yaoi trope role, Procrustean-like.
I serenely anticipate lots and lots of time before I read Kareny's story and no problems afetr. Specially since mine isn't yaoi/ slash/ whatever at all.
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Is what fanfic are for. One day, if I'm feeling *extremely* masochistic, I'll translate kareny's 千秋一梦 just for you. The thing about Chinese fic though is they concentrate on the m/m to the exclusion of everything else including Gou Jian/Ya Yu, which means even this brilliant abd pretty damn near perfect example still leaves me unsatisfied on some level.
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if you don't mind, and if
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Pffft. You and me together, we'd be unstoppable. We'd be like, hmm, Wen Zhong and Fan Li. Or Wu Zi Xu and Sun Wu. 8D
First to get the author's permission though!
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Always squabbling?
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oops sorry start over
Okay found the part, episode 31. Fan Li's not really being nasty, just stating a fact. Quite a throwaway line yes. Wen Zhong says, Why does Shi Mai dare present the uhh General-Slaying Sword to the King? Fan Li says Either he has some last words from the old King, or he has sufficient influence to do so. Wen Zhong cottons on, says so he has banded together a group of like-minded old-school courtiers? And Fan Li says the King left the country to you, but you let the old courtiers band together and didn't even notice it till now; I'm afraid this is the end of your time as a Yue official.
Re: oops sorry start over
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what, like one goes off into the wilderness to write a book/do business and the other gets executed?! XD
First to get the author's permission though!
Ah yes. But how does one contact her?
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Hmm. I'll try to PM her on the board, though I'm not sure how soon she'll reply since it seems like she hasn't logged in since November last year.
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I would not for the world add to the burden of any Singaporean student alive. (LRD = Lower Reaches of Dis. When lazy pampered NAmericans die we're reborn as you.) But I would love that. Or a summary, or selected passages. Or just about anything. Even knowing that delicate Chinese fic loses so much in translation, I'd like to know how they work for the native reader.
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And there in a nutshell is the difference between yer average Singaporean student and any other. The others waste their wasted time.
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You need to sign up at the board to access it though.
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http://www.tudou.com/playlist/id/476809/
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