Pretty Qing angst

[dangermousie]

(stolen from ockoala)

BBJX just dropped their second official MV. It's an angsty one and I like it much better than the previous 'cutesy' one that bored me to death.

Still, tbh, I am not really feeling it (except for that last shot in the rain - now that is what I am talking about). Mainly because of Nicky Wu. Sorry, Nicky fans. But with that hair and mustache, he's the opposite of attractive. Plus, it just highlights that he's kinda short. Oh well. WTF didn't they cast Yuan Hong instead. /bitter

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Agree with you that Nicky Wu is normally hot in real life, but in the Qing hairstyle, Kevin Cheng (the 8th prince) beats him hands-down in the looks department any day. He he, it also seems that the younger the actor is, the taller he is. I think Nicky and Kevin are both 40+ now, but they both look so short next to their younger co-actors.

I wonder if you might be (way) more interested in watching BBJX if you could read the novel that it's adapted from. I read the book and kind of had to stop because the angst was getting to me (and - spoiler! - the heroine literally dies from too much angst; does that beat the K-drama terminal illness trope or what?), but angst seems to be your kind of thing. :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Maybe. But I don't read Chinese so....:(

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I saw the whole cast pictures from Ockoala's blog and all I could think was that Nicky's head is really small and flat at the top, plus his ears stick out. I'M SORRY, NICKY.

I actually kind of (okay, really) want to watch BBJX. That angsty love story thing is hitting the spot, and coming off Gong, I'd be really interested in watching something set in the exact same time period, with the same basic story; time-travelling girl gets caught between 4th Prince and 8th Prince. It's kind of like how I eat up different adaptations of P&P; there's something fascinating about the same story acted by different people and directed by a different person - the tone and feel is totally different.

But UGH the ending, Mousie. I'd be watching it, Hawk-nosed Russian General!Nicky Wu and all, if it wasn't for that stupid ending. I watched the 13 minute trailer yesterday and right at the end, 4th Prince receives a report that says "Maertai Ruo Xi passed away" and he's all MOAN MOPE (the scene's in the MV above too, at 1:33). So yes, they're going with the novel ending, which means I'm outta here. I mean, I'm supposed to root for her being paired with this cold-hearted jerk who wasn't man enough to ditch his pride and admit he loved her/go see her before she died? No, thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

In his (the emperor's/4th prince's) defense, he didn't know the protagonist was dying, and didn't get her letter (asking him to meet her one last time) in time. So ... it's technically not his fault? If he'd gotten her letter in time, it's likely he would've caved in and gone to see her, as the novel's ending indicates that he's still very much in love with her.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

Even taking that into account, he still married her off to 14th Prince in the first place, so... I'm not feeling too sorry for him. Realistically, I know people in that period aren't going to be operating on ~*~feelings~*~ and sacrificing everything for love is idealistic and impractical (plus he's the emperor!), but the romantic in me still flails at it.

[(Anonymous)]

Warning: Spoilers galore below!

If I remember correctly, it was actually the 13th prince who suggested that to the emperor, that the protagonist (RuoXi - I'm going to use RX from now on) be married off to the 14th prince. The reason he suggested that was because he, the 13th prince (who's basically RX's BFF for the entire length of the novel), saw how unhappy RX was in the palace, and he also knew that RX only had platonic feelings for the 14th prince, so the emperor needn't feel jealous by marrying her off to someone she only felt friendly, but not romantically, towards. Plus, the 14th prince and RX were lifelong friends, so he would treat RX well and let her have her way in everything and not pressure her into anything (e.g. sexy relationships).

At that point in the novel, RX and the emperor/4th prince had sort of reached a point of no return. They still loved each other deeply, but RX knew that historically, the emperor would do all sorts of mean things to his brothers, and she felt that she couldn't just idly stand by and watch those things happen, since she cared about almost all of the princes. Plus, by then she had miscarried her and the emperor's baby, the emperor had steamed her friend to death (presumably for trying to harm RX and/or the emperor, under the 9th prince's orders, who the friend was in love with - I haven't read this part of the novel yet, so just going off of what other, more knowledgeable people have told me), and RX also knew she only had a few years left to live anyway. (Remember what I said about angst literally killing her? Yeah ...) Basically, she wanted out of the palace, and the 14th prince was her meal ticket.

The emperor didn't actually want to let her go, and kept asking her to stay, so to help matters along, the 8th prince went to the emperor and told him all about his (the 8th prince's) (short) love story with RX, of course neglecting to mention that they broke up and the reasons for it. According to RX, the 8th prince did so to help her leave the palace sooner, but I'm sure it also didn't hurt that the 8th prince got to rub it in his brother's face that RX used to be in love with him. In any case, it pissed the emperor off majorly, because of all his brothers, he probably hated the 8th prince the most, and yet his most-loved woman and the 8th prince used to be lovers. In any case, the emperor finally consented to let RX go.

BBJX is a tragedy but also a romance. I think I'm probably the opposite of you, in that I sort of found it weird how deeply in love the emperor/4th prince was/is in love with RX and vice versa. I mean, he's the emperor! At one point in the novel, he even risks his life for her, to push her out of the way of an oncoming arrow, even though he could've died and there would've gone all of his emperor ambitions. Naturally, RX treasures the arrow and keeps it with her to the very end.

The ending is pretty bittersweet, in that it's a shame that because of a misunderstanding, RX and the emperor couldn't see each other for one last time. On the other hand, you also get to see just how much both sides continued to love each other. For example, the entire time that she's married to the 14th prince, RX basically spends her free time practicing her calligraphy, except her calligraphy is basically identical to the emperor's/4th prince's - i.e. she loves the emperor so much that even her handwriting is identical to his. In fact, the letter that she wrote to him, requesting to see him one last time, was in her/his handwriting, which freaked the 14th prince out, who she had asked to deliver the letter to his brother. The 14th prince, thinking that people would misunderstand if they saw this letter and realized just how much his concubine's handwriting resembles the emperor's, put the letter inside another envelope and addressed that envelope to the emperor. However, when the emperor received the envelope with the 14th prince's handwriting on it, he naturally thought that the 14th prince was writing yet another letter to mock him and so put the envelope/letter away. It wasn't until his spies later reported to him that RX had died that he went back to the envelope, opened it up, and saw that inside actually contained a letter from RX to him.

Phew, that was a lot of writing!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

OK, I know this is a weird thing to fixate on but the emperor had steamed her friend to death?

Note to self. Do not time travel, do not time travel, do not time travel.

Thanks for the write up but to me, while it makes Four nicer, it also makes RX even more pathetic. Seriously not my type of heroine.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I had a mental image of her being wrapped up like a pork bun and stuffed in a large, dimsum steaming basket. I'm distrubed and really, really need sleep.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

*disturbed

Hmm, sleep, definitely.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Now I am hungry.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, when someone told me that, I was like, WTF?! Never, ever time-travel ... I would likely last less than 2 seconds in that place.

I don't know if I would go so far as calling RX pathetic, but yeah, I found it weird that I didn't find her more relatable, especially since she's supposed to be a modern woman, and I am one too. Particularly her fixation on finding true love in ancient times. I kind of wanted to smack her and be like, hello!, you're in ancient times, woman, where women are but chattel. Having high expectations is just going to set you up for epic failure/let-down.

[(Anonymous)]

I forgot to add that by this point, RX had already spent some 2 decades (I haven't done the math, but I think it's more or less that amount of time) at court, and she was likely downtrodden from the perpetually toxic atmosphere, where literally a wrong move, look, or word could get you and all of your family and friends killed. It's why the title of the novel loosely translates to something like "Step by Step with Caution".

The RX at the beginning of the novel is pretty feisty, even getting into a pretty intense, physical cat-fight with one of the princesses at one point. I look forward to seeing that get portrayed onscreen, although I imagine the onscreen version will be rather tamer. Of course, it's basically downhill from there ...

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

LOL wow! Thanks for that, you've helped me understand the plot a lot better. It seems what I've read/been told had a lot of gaps in it. The reasons for their actions make quite a bit more sense and the 4th Prince looks a bit more human now; before, their motivations had frankly baffled me.

I guess in the end it comes down to whether that kind of story is your thing or not; I personally get high-blood pressure just thinking about tragedies that result from coincidences/missed timing/misunderstandings. One part of me thinks it can be a beautifully tragic story with the right execution, but on the other hand I'm frustrated at the feeling that it's sad for the sake of being sad. If I wasn't a completionist, I might consider watching it up to the point where things take a downturn, because the cinematography looks gorgeous.

I think I would enjoy it more if it was based on a real story; that way, I'd at least appreciate the result of miscommunication and plain bad luck, but since it's fictional, I just want to slap some sense into either party. I still remember wallbanging Romeo and Juliet for similar reasons. I forsee it leaving me feeling empty and irritated. Unable to return to the 21st Century and dying from angst in the Qing dynasty after things didn't work out with the guy you loved is a pretty miserable way to go!

[(Anonymous)]

He he, I actually didn't intend to write all of that stuff up, it's just that once I started, I felt like I had to fill in all of the gaps. Since BBJX is originally a Chinese Internet novel, there's naturally enough little information available about it in English, and what little information there is available inevitably tends to draw comparisons between it and Gong, even though their stories are drastically different in plot and tone, although superficially both touch upon the succession battle between KangXi's sons. I don't want to get involved in the war between BBJX and Gong fans, as I'm in that rare camp of having enjoyed Gong (although my enthusiasm for it started to wane dramatically towards the end) while still looking forward to BBJX (as I'm in the mood for a smarter, more historically accurate take on the KangXi succession battle). At the very least, though, I would like others to at least give BBJX a fair chance, and if my providing a bit of information can help that process along, then so be it. Even if it involves typing my fingers to death. :)

Honestly, I have very, very, very little stomach for tragedy, angst, and all that sad and bitter stuff. It's why I took forever to get around to reading the book, and why I still haven't finished it. As for the ending, I choose to focus on the more hopeful aspects than on the tragic, bitter parts because otherwise, I'm going to get ulcers.

Romeo & Juliet is quite possibly my least favorite Shakespeare play, although Hamlet's bouts of self-pity were also pretty damn annoying. BBJX fortunately doesn't have any of that "oh, she's dead, I'm going to kill myself now - oh, he's dead, I'm going to kill myself now" rage-inducing fabricated angst, and no prolonged bouts of self-pity either. Most of the angst comes from the heroine's foreknowledge of history. She knows that her hands are tied with regards to history, that what will come will still come regardless of how she feels about it, but because she's close friends with most of the princes (or at least the most important ones), she feels pained that she can't do anything to prevent or lessen their demise. It also doesn't help that the downfall of her friends comes at the hands of her lover, the 4th prince. She's stuck between a rock and a hard place.

So, to be precise, the protagonist doesn't die from the angst of mistakenly believing that the 4th prince no longer loves her. Rather, it's pent-up angst (like, 20 years in the making) helplessly watching from the sidelines as blood brothers tear each apart. Fun stuff.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

See, this didn't seem to be my type of thing anyway, even if they picked a hottie, but NW is nail in coffin.

With that ending, they could have cast some sort of a Vic Zhou-Takeshi Kaneshiro hybrid and I still wouldn't touch it.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

Don't you usually love the angst? But I guess there's such a thing as the wrong type of it; angst is all good if there's a reason for it, e.g. the characters are trying to achieve something and the angsting is part of the obstacles they need to overcome to reach it. I need some meaning, something that tells me there was a point to it and I didn't just waste the last 20+ hours of my life rooting for a romance that I knew was doomed anyway. That kind of thing just leaves you feeling empty. It's too Romeo and Juliet-ish, and it just makes me want to stab someone when I see characters like 4th Prince, who essentially screws things because his communication skills suck.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. Pointless angst just annoys me.

[(Anonymous)]

Just to let you know. This is not an official MV but a fan made one.

In regards to the novel and plot.... Well, BBJX is not everyone's cup of tea, but I certainly don't find it the same as Romeo and Juliet. There's certainly no 13 year olds running around wallowing in their own silly, eye-rolling inducing angst. lol.

I find the relationships in the novel fairly complex and it's hard to explain everything in a few words. I also wouldn't say 4th prince's communications skills suck. In fact his relationship with Ruoxi is probably the most forthcoming and honest one in the entire story.

The drama will also have a slightly altered ending. Ruoxi will return to present time when she dies.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

And yay re: ending. That removes my biggest problem.