Snowflake Challenge #5

[kate]

In your own space, promote a canon/talk about a part of canon that you love.

Well, I'm gonna talk about MDZS, obviously. I started with the live action canon (The Untamed on Netflix, CQL in Chinese) because obviously pretty boys with long hair is my thing. I then read the book (it's based on an internet boy love novel), then watched the donghua, have had a hard time finding the manhua, but would like to read it, and listened to some of the audio novel. I've heard arguments for why any version of canon is better than any other, and they all obviously have their high and low points. I like the visuals of CQL; I like the complexity of the novel; the art of the donghua (and what I've seen of the manhua); and the verisimilitude of the audio drama to the novel. I don't like how Wei Wuxian is less morally grey in CQL, some of the terrible effects, or the fact that it's so obviously censored; I'm not in love with the sex scenes in the novel (no moral objections, they're just not my thing); the donghua seems a bit weirdly paced?; manhua and audio drama are both difficult formats for me, attention-wise.

I don't mind people having a favorite version, but there's a lot of forceful feelings about it, and objections to other people's favorite version and I just... am not here for that. I don't care what other people like, LET THEM HAVE WHAT THEY LIKE. They aren't hurting anyone. I can like what I like over here. I mean - it's like, here's this cool thing! You can enjoy it as a cake, pudding, trifle, pie, or fruit salad. Why is having more versions of something anything less than absolutely fucking fantastic? I dunno. So anyway, no matter your medium, MDZS has a hook for you!

Now the canon itself in general is amazing because of the amazing political backdrop and plot that pervades what is essentially a love story. It is angsty up to eleven and I definitely cried in multiple places. I was also angry on behalf of the characters and frustrated... it definitely tapped into all of my emotions. Add into that really great family structures and relationships, a huge cast with characters that are all pretty well-developed and interesting, and it's just really great. I'll admit it takes some wherewithal to stick with it for the first couple of episodes, especially if you do not speak Chinese and have not seen a C Drama before, but I promise it is worth it. (And oh my GOD do not let anyone convince you that you can skip the first two episodes. NO. DO NOT SKIP. You will be lost 90-95% of the time, and that's fine! Teach yourself patience and the ability to go without knowing, it will be explained later, and when you go back and watch those episodes afterwards, you will be going O_______O - but not if you skipped them the first time around.)

Once you get into it a ways, there are a TON of resources in the fandom, so you can go looking for names/titles/clans etc. and find fairly exhaustive resources, and then there are a bunch of more detailed resources around hanfu, the timeline, Chinese customs and holidays, and pretty much anything you might need to research to produce fan content. Ahem. I'm just saying.

So anyway. The Untamed. I love love love it. I would love to earn my toaster by getting people into it, but I keep running into people from old fandoms that have joined CQL/MDZS so that's kind of amazing, actually. :D

Comments

[sperrywink]

I like your pudding, pie, cake analogy! *g*

I didn't know they were all the same story- or I assume they are all telling the same story, just with different emphases? To be quite honest, I thought (for what reasons, I have no idea) that The Untamed was the fictional canon and MDZS was a C-Pop band that provided the actors in it, so MDZS was RPS? IDEK.

[paulamcg]

I'm afraid I haven't known anything... And my replies to most responses to this challenge will be like this. :) But now I know something about this canon, after reading your post, and I feel the same: it's just better that there are more versions of something fascinating!

[flo_nelja]

Haaaa, I only know the donghua and the book but I love it.
This fandom made me realize that "tragedy, but with a happy ending" was actually all what I needed.

[magpie_fngrl]

Hello!
You mentioned MDZS in the snowflake challenge's post and I had to come and read! I have been only on the periphery of fandom so haven't seen any forceful opinions, but I agree with you that there is something for everything and there's no need to compare what's better or whatnot. Each adaptation has its strengths and adds something to canon.

My interpretation of MDZS is a hybric of novel/cql, like sometimes I'll vaccilate between wwx having his own body or not.

Re: manhua, here's where I follow it (translated): https://ww2.mangakakalots.com/manga/ol917885 It has some dodgy looking ads but I've trained myself to ignore them lol. Enjoy!

[trobadora]

And oh my GOD do not let anyone convince you that you can skip the first two episodes. NO. DO NOT SKIP.

Haha, 100% agreed - those two eps were what hooked me. I would never have got through the interminable "school days at the Cloud Recesses" episodes otherwise; those are my absolute least favourite part of the drama.

[mekare]

>>here's this cool thing! You can enjoy it as a cake, pudding, trifle, pie, or fruit salad. Why is having more versions of something anything less than absolutely fucking fantastic?

Plus, which fandom can say that of its canon? This reminds me of the 'more cake' comic about creator anxiety. In essence, more cake is good!

I haven‘t watched it though after Guardian a lot of my flist fell into it. The part about being lost in the first episodes really remind me of my experience with Nirvana in Fire, another highly recommended Cdrama. Only then, it was about the first 10 episodes of the 54. They kept adding new characters without explaining! But it was SO SO worth it.