How's the pandemic going?

[darkemeralds]

So far so good here, at least in terms of not catching the virus. But we're all going a bit nuts in our respective homes.

To pass the time, I've been through The Untamed several times and will probably make at least one further foray--that's just how rich and complex the story is. For variety, I've also absorbed Guardian, a modern-setting fantasy involving an upper world rather like ours, and an underworld where dwell alien beings who wield dark energy. The title refers to the job of the lead character, Zhao Yunlan, in investigating and stopping incursions by underworld beings into upper world. It's kind of a police procedural with magical objects, snake-people, cat-people, twins...and epic love between our Chief and a mild-mannered university professor whose True Nature hides behind his dorky round glasses. Oh, and genuinely terrible special effects. But loads of charm.

The charismatic star of Guardian has gone on to play the lead in Detective L, basically Sherlock in Shanghai in 1930, with a tweed-clad female Watson and some great costumes and sets. So now I'm watching that.

Last night, in I think it was episode 7, a character uttered a sentence exactly word for word from my Mandarin Chinese 1 super-basic language lessons: 我不明白你说什么。Or, in Pinyin, Wǒ bù míngbái nǐ shuō shénme, which means "I don't understand what you're saying."

But I DID! It was so cool!

I hope everyone's staying safe and healthy.

Comments

[tabaqui]

Heee! Yeah, they are very odd.
But omg, so pretty! Everyone is so pretty, all the colors and the gorgeous clothing, the scenery! It's beautiful.

[darkemeralds]

The actor playing Lan Wangji aka Lan Zhan has the most compelling damn face I've ever seen. He's remarkable. You think Wei Wuxian is the main protagonist, and he is, but very quickly I found myself just watching for Lan Zhan to come on the scene.

Then, if you should happen to sort of fall into the fandom, you're exposed to pictures of these beautiful young men in modern dress with modern hair (and makeup, so much makeup) and it's a moment of weird cognitive dissonance as the face slots into place in your mind without the dramatic waist-length hair and silk robes surrounding it, and you recognize them.

I'm really having way too much fun in this fandom now. There's some excellent fic, too, by some of the old Big Names in fandom.

[tabaqui]

Neeeeeeeeeat!
I haven't seen quite enough of the show yet to make me delve into fic, but I'm sure that'll be coming along soon....

:D

While watching, i was struck by the fact that China is so super-censorious when it comes to homoerotic/homosexual content (they recently blocked AO3 across the country because of slash fiction), but the stuff I've seen coming out of their movie industry is so...homoerotic. Or at least is so bordering on it as to be ridiculous.

[darkemeralds]

It's hard to avoid the conclusion of "the return of the repressed," isn't it? China, as I understand it, has a serious oversupply of men, owing to single-child policies and female infanticide/abortion. Then they outlaw homosexuality (which was an open part of ancient Chinese culture, according to some of my scattered reading). How would you not develop a powerful homoeroticism in art in those circumstances.

The end result, as several Western commentators have noticed, is like the queerbaiting that generated slash fandom in the late 20th and early 21st centuries here, but on freakin' steroids.

As far as Chinese censors are concerned, there seems to be no limit to the longing looks, tender embraces, endearments, exchange of tokens, hand-touching, tears, and self-sacrifice between two people of the same gender, as long as they don't actually get naked (except in bathing situations) or kiss.

In other words, the rules are specific and harsh, but somebody is definitely adhering to the letter of the law while exploiting every last loophole in it, and the censors are letting it by.

After all, even in the Chinese censorship office, ten percent of the censors must be queer themselves, right?

[tabaqui]

HA. Yes. On the one hand, it makes for some interesting and intriguing viewing.

On the other hand....it makes me sad.