cdrama: The Romance of Red Dust
Nov. 29th, 2007 12:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmoorePlot short version: As a child, a girl named Chu Chen was taken in and renamed Hing Bi by and assassin named Du Gu Chen, who placed her in the Hidden Palace, a secret sect raising several young women like Hong Bi to be assassins in the employ of Su Yang, a government official. When grown, Hong Bi is given, in every since of the word, to Yu Sang, and quickly become both his favorite assassin and favorite bedmate. Hong Bi lives this miserable existance for some years, until a young scholar with revolutionary ideas, Li Jing, comes to the Imperial City. Fearing Li Jing has recognized the corruption he gains his power from, Su Yang sends Hong Bi to kill him. But Hong Bi has met and spoken with Li Jing several times, and instead helps him escape, and they soon fall in love, even while fleeing Du Gu Cheng and Hong Bi's fellow assassins, in the process becoming legendary heroes and, eventually, rebels who play an important part in getting the right man put on the throne. Along the way they meet many people, chiefly:
-Zhang Lie: A legendary hero known for his curly beard(It is a Very Unfortunate Beard. It's not like Lee Seo Jin's beard in Damo, where it was unfortunate just by being a beard but was actually a relatively flattering one, this beard is Unfortunate in both existance and execution.) who has been seeking the killers of his sworn sister, even while his wife patiently awaits his return. Quite frankly, this character rocked and was my favorite in the first half. He was a very complicated character, and a very charismatic one.
-Cao Yan: Bumbling and comical(but not annoyingly so) in life but deadly with his axes in battle, a loyal friend from start to finish.
-Li Shi Min: In turns kind, courteous, shrewd, brilliant, courageous, ruthless, cunning, generous and heroic, Shi Min is the only character more charismatic than Zhang Lie, and is easily the most complex character in the series(I suspect he's an actual historical figure, likely attributing to that.) He is ruthless but honorable in both his ambition and his pursuit of Hong Bi. Actually, his was often rather bastardly at times in his OTP interferer status, but they cleverly immediately followed up those scenes by reminding us that he was the world's most doting brother and was smart enough to save all their butts, even when they were on opposing sides of a battle. I freely confess that he ended up my favorite character even if I often wanted to punch him. I have now consulted wikipedia and confirmed that he was, indeed, a legendary king, namely Emperor Taizong of Zang.
-Li Ping Yang: Shi Min's flighty, tomboyish, sometimes petty but very sweet and loyal sister, she was initially in love with Li Jing and tried to win him over, but became a supporter of Li Jing and Hong Bi(even against her brother's intentions) once she realized he wouldn't love anyone else. For reasons I won't get into here, she also pretty much wins the Wuxia Heroine Angst award, largely because, as awesome as Shi Min was, her other brothers were total and complete bastards who deserved a horrible fate, far more so than what they received.
In addition to normal wuxia crack like paralysis through gangrene, blindness through leeches, bling asassins, amnesiac assassins, paralysis through needles, and dramatic scenes with noble steeds, not to mention enough romantic angst, separations and near misses to fill a few kdramas.
-Zhang Lie: A legendary hero known for his curly beard(It is a Very Unfortunate Beard. It's not like Lee Seo Jin's beard in Damo, where it was unfortunate just by being a beard but was actually a relatively flattering one, this beard is Unfortunate in both existance and execution.) who has been seeking the killers of his sworn sister, even while his wife patiently awaits his return. Quite frankly, this character rocked and was my favorite in the first half. He was a very complicated character, and a very charismatic one.
-Cao Yan: Bumbling and comical(but not annoyingly so) in life but deadly with his axes in battle, a loyal friend from start to finish.
-Li Shi Min: In turns kind, courteous, shrewd, brilliant, courageous, ruthless, cunning, generous and heroic, Shi Min is the only character more charismatic than Zhang Lie, and is easily the most complex character in the series(I suspect he's an actual historical figure, likely attributing to that.) He is ruthless but honorable in both his ambition and his pursuit of Hong Bi. Actually, his was often rather bastardly at times in his OTP interferer status, but they cleverly immediately followed up those scenes by reminding us that he was the world's most doting brother and was smart enough to save all their butts, even when they were on opposing sides of a battle. I freely confess that he ended up my favorite character even if I often wanted to punch him. I have now consulted wikipedia and confirmed that he was, indeed, a legendary king, namely Emperor Taizong of Zang.
-Li Ping Yang: Shi Min's flighty, tomboyish, sometimes petty but very sweet and loyal sister, she was initially in love with Li Jing and tried to win him over, but became a supporter of Li Jing and Hong Bi(even against her brother's intentions) once she realized he wouldn't love anyone else. For reasons I won't get into here, she also pretty much wins the Wuxia Heroine Angst award, largely because, as awesome as Shi Min was, her other brothers were total and complete bastards who deserved a horrible fate, far more so than what they received.
In addition to normal wuxia crack like paralysis through gangrene, blindness through leeches, bling asassins, amnesiac assassins, paralysis through needles, and dramatic scenes with noble steeds, not to mention enough romantic angst, separations and near misses to fill a few kdramas.
Initially, this is almost a straightup wuxia gender swap. The hero, Li Jing, is young, spunky, and clever, but has relatively poor fighting skills and often needs rescueing, while the heroine is experienced, cold, angsty and has the best kung fu around. In addition, in most wuxia, the heroine will only have one serious other suitor, usually portrayed in a positive light, while the hero has a flock of girls falling for him, no matter how exclusively he like one heroine. Here it's completely reversed. Throughout the series, the only one besides Hong Bi to show and interest in Li Jing of Ping Yang, who, despite early annoyances, is consistently portrayed as a positive, likable character throughout and eventually finds her own love. Hong Bi, meanwhile, had, that I noticed, 4 men in addition to Li Jing in love with her, ranging from pure evil to righteous and heroic.
The show also does not shy away from the darker sides of Hong Bi's life, a life where she was no more than an object that existed only for her body. Until Li Jing came along, she was allowed to have no use or purpose beyond pleasuring Su Yang and killing for him, both of which she hated. She is cold and detached with virtually no idea how to interact with people, her expresion of deep friendship with Cao Yan is little more than a shy smile and a small nod, and her plea that Zhang Lie accept her as a younger sister is akin to a child asking for a candy it's almost positive it'll be denied. She is also utterly ruthless, approaching fights purely from the mindset of an assassin, always choosing the fastest, most ruthless way to end the fight, her only concessions the lives of innocents caught in the crossfire, and her allies.
Unfortunately, as much as I liked it, the show does have several glaring flaws. First among them is that, while Wallace Huo and Shu Qi did very good jobs in their roles as Li Jing and Hong Bi, they had very little chemistry. While the scenes with their being comfortable and happy worked for me, as did their reunions and when they were separated, it took me a good eight or nine episodes to get into them as a couple because they simply didn't have a "Epic lovers" chemistry. However, I liked both the characters and the story enough to get past that and still enjoy both it and them.
The second is the villains. Typically, wuxia is stuffed full of cracktastic and fun villains, even if there are also annoying ones mixed in, often with interesting storylines and amazingly messed up relationships, romantic or otherwise. Here...well...aside from Du Gu Cheng and the other assassins, I pretty much FF-ed through them straight through. They were pretty much just evil, not very interesting, bastards who needed to die. Which would be fine if they did so, but a good chunk of time is devoted to them and their plotting.
Most important, however is that once the series reached the midway point and Li Jing became a great fighter and general, Hong Bi became less active, and was essentially reduced to a waiting heroine and often damsel in distress role, almost a complete reversal from her role in the first half. Her wardrobe, also, changes from practical fighting attire to more standard wuxia heroine dress, more attractive than practical. Watching it, of course, I realized that a large part of this was to showcase that she had become more human, and how much Li Jing had grown, but for someone who found the incredibly strong, pro-active heroine to be one of the great draws of the series, it was very frustrating. Poking around wikipedia, I see that Li Jing, too, was a historical figure, and a general of Li Shi Min's. The series itself seems to be an adaptation of their early years, with Hong Bi added in as the woman they both loved. Honestly, I wish I had known that going in, as I likely would have been a lot more generous watching the second half.
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't get "bad" by any means(especially if you're just watching it for the romance, of which there is plenty, and I know several on the f-list who would consider watching it would want to watch it mostly for that, and not be let down) it's just that, from the wuxia adventure and super strong and awesome heroine standpoint, it gets frustrating.
Also of note is that there's virtually no magic whatsoever, and really it's pretty conservative even on the wirefu front, often trying for a more realistic approach. While this reduces the amount of wuxia crack to be found, it also probably makes it more accessible, esp. to newer viewers.
This one won't go down as a favorite wuxia, but it was good, and, like Return of the Condor Heroes(also good but not a favorite) probably a good intro wuxia.
The show also does not shy away from the darker sides of Hong Bi's life, a life where she was no more than an object that existed only for her body. Until Li Jing came along, she was allowed to have no use or purpose beyond pleasuring Su Yang and killing for him, both of which she hated. She is cold and detached with virtually no idea how to interact with people, her expresion of deep friendship with Cao Yan is little more than a shy smile and a small nod, and her plea that Zhang Lie accept her as a younger sister is akin to a child asking for a candy it's almost positive it'll be denied. She is also utterly ruthless, approaching fights purely from the mindset of an assassin, always choosing the fastest, most ruthless way to end the fight, her only concessions the lives of innocents caught in the crossfire, and her allies.
Unfortunately, as much as I liked it, the show does have several glaring flaws. First among them is that, while Wallace Huo and Shu Qi did very good jobs in their roles as Li Jing and Hong Bi, they had very little chemistry. While the scenes with their being comfortable and happy worked for me, as did their reunions and when they were separated, it took me a good eight or nine episodes to get into them as a couple because they simply didn't have a "Epic lovers" chemistry. However, I liked both the characters and the story enough to get past that and still enjoy both it and them.
The second is the villains. Typically, wuxia is stuffed full of cracktastic and fun villains, even if there are also annoying ones mixed in, often with interesting storylines and amazingly messed up relationships, romantic or otherwise. Here...well...aside from Du Gu Cheng and the other assassins, I pretty much FF-ed through them straight through. They were pretty much just evil, not very interesting, bastards who needed to die. Which would be fine if they did so, but a good chunk of time is devoted to them and their plotting.
Most important, however is that once the series reached the midway point and Li Jing became a great fighter and general, Hong Bi became less active, and was essentially reduced to a waiting heroine and often damsel in distress role, almost a complete reversal from her role in the first half. Her wardrobe, also, changes from practical fighting attire to more standard wuxia heroine dress, more attractive than practical. Watching it, of course, I realized that a large part of this was to showcase that she had become more human, and how much Li Jing had grown, but for someone who found the incredibly strong, pro-active heroine to be one of the great draws of the series, it was very frustrating. Poking around wikipedia, I see that Li Jing, too, was a historical figure, and a general of Li Shi Min's. The series itself seems to be an adaptation of their early years, with Hong Bi added in as the woman they both loved. Honestly, I wish I had known that going in, as I likely would have been a lot more generous watching the second half.
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't get "bad" by any means(especially if you're just watching it for the romance, of which there is plenty, and I know several on the f-list who would consider watching it would want to watch it mostly for that, and not be let down) it's just that, from the wuxia adventure and super strong and awesome heroine standpoint, it gets frustrating.
Also of note is that there's virtually no magic whatsoever, and really it's pretty conservative even on the wirefu front, often trying for a more realistic approach. While this reduces the amount of wuxia crack to be found, it also probably makes it more accessible, esp. to newer viewers.
This one won't go down as a favorite wuxia, but it was good, and, like Return of the Condor Heroes(also good but not a favorite) probably a good intro wuxia.
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Date: 2007-11-29 07:37 pm (UTC)This is a new twist on the whole blindness cliche. I am impressed.
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Date: 2007-11-29 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 07:44 pm (UTC)