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Fanart - Fan Xian | Joy Of Life Season 2

[dramalordess]

On Fan Xian and Haitang Duoduo

Or why their relationship matters. (I blame @guzhuangheaven, @dangermousie and @dramalordess for their beautiful gifs that won't let me rest unless I write this down.)

I'll admit that when I first saw and heard of her, I thought, "Yep, yet another overpowered shieldmaiden type character." I was glad that Joy of Life proved me wrong.

She isn't just a warrior who fights blindly without thinking, but contemplates on the stuff happening around her. While she is no political genius, being the aunt of the Beiqi emperor and having an influential position as the saintess means that she knows how to take good care of herself at the very least. Besides, she too is playing the double game of siding with the Empress Dowager while being the emperor's woman. She understands what putting on a mask feels like and her empathy for Fan Xian is quite natural.

What I liked about her is that she (and the Beiqi emperor) aren't helping Fan Xian out of the goodness of their own hearts but have an agenda of you scratch my back, I scratch yours. Eliminating each other's opponents and getting what you want is very much on the cards. She doesn't suffer fools lightly and often answers Fan Xian's bullshit with a solid kick.

At the same time, she is rather relaxed around him and doesn't pretend to be something she isn't as @rocknghorss says. Some of it can be attributed to Fan Xian's personality, people are often at ease around him and eager to spill. But part of it comes from being in a similar situation. Haitang Duoduo understands what it means to put on a mask better than most, especially when you have to do it all day, every day.

No wonder she rolls with Fan Xian's shameless court declaration of undying love for her (that scene is gold) and actually asks him to act the part in the future by spending more time with her. Like him, she takes stuff in stride without much of a hassle.

Oh and the domesticity!

People, the domesticity he shares with her is out of the world. He never does this with anyone else as an adult. Look at grocery shopping

Where she point-blank admits her love for food (god, I love her)

Or she taking him home and having lunch

In fact, this scene with her is so precious. She keeps wild plants around and leaves them to their fate, its up to them to find a way to thrive. Fan Xian is immediately reminded of what Chen Pingping says similarly about his mother. Idk y'all but echoing your dead mother's thoughts and ideals is pretty significant. Nobody else has ever said something like that to him.

He actually ploughs the earth and plants them properly! Now, you could go a few places with this metaphor but agriculture and planting is an obvious indicator of fruitfulness, fertility, the hope for a brighter future...

He even relaxes in front of her and IMO lets down part of his guard. Fan Xian has been on non-stop red alert in Beiqi but he can be a little more himself around her because he knows Duoduo won't judge him for it. She's a good listener. He even tells her the secret of his birth (probably because he knows she won't believe him. I wonder how she'll react when she will realize that it was the truth all along in Season 2). I mean seriously, he only ever relaxes like this before Wang Qinian and Fei Jie.

If we bring clothing analysis here, he is in his barest, least fancy robes here. Nobody else in Beiqi gets to see him in anything apart from Southern Qing envoy robes, because the looks and part of the intimidation, but she does.

Of course, Duoduo thinks he is pretentious and whines a bit. But look at her face.

It's an interesting expression that doesn't quite hide her fondness.

The friendly sparring on the Empress Dowager's birthday is achingly gorgeous. I mean, there's a ridiculous amount of humour there as well. But

That's quite the amount of sexual tension, yin-yang there (black and white harmony with blood red in the centre, anyone?).

She is his go-to when he wants to visit Zhuang Mohan secretly and importantly, she delivers Zhuang Mohan's entire wealth of original works, one of the most important literary legacies, in Fan Xian's hands. Leaving aside her deadpan moments at his poetry, she appreciates what a rare man he is.

Very few people around Fan Xian get to see all of his poetic, political charismatic, goofball, vulnerable, and warrior sides. But Haitang Duoduo does and more or less accepts him. She gives as good as she gets and actually understands him well. The ship ships itself at this point.

[dramalordess]

 Love Between Fairy And Devil 苍兰诀  |  supporting characters lineup

[dramalordess]

AITA for getting upset my girlfriend didn’t like the house I built for her

I (30,000+ M) made my girlfriend (1,500+ F) an exact replica of her home because I knew she was homesick and she didn’t even appreciate it? I lovingly handcrafted everything single piece to look like her old home but she got so upset at me when I showed it to her?? She says she’s been “kidnapped” by me and wants to go home but she was definitely gonna go to the fairy guillotine if I hadn’t taken her away and the fairy realm sucks shit so I don’t know what she’s missing about it. I can protect her better than any of those losers in shuiyuntian so she’d never get hurt, I don’t know why she’s so upset?!

tldr: am I the asshole for getting upset my girlfriend didn’t like the exact replica of her home I built after taking her away to my kingdom for her safety?

[dramalordess]

FINISHED! 

last arc of love between fairy and devil in a nutshell:

dongfang qingcang and tai su’s conversation under his Feelings Tree was amazing. everything bounced off but him being forgotten by her and ughhhh

i love that dongfang qingcang’s hamster ball of rage transformed into a power of love inferno. the visual callbacks to the first ep? amazing.

im also glad that chidi woman’s arc wasn’t the final big bad, and how it wrapped up was really bittersweet in a good way

changheng going full divorcee and getting his eat pray love on in the mortal realm? love to see it

A+ that they didnt try to shoehorn in danyin and changheng in the last minute. i was expecting that since he died for her in the mortal realm but was pleasantly surprised that sometimes a dramatic self-sacrifice to an immortal chaotic evil force can be Platonic

shangque upgrading his fashion game in memory of his beloved moon supreme during that 500 year gap by adding color block panels, i respect it

i wish we had ooooooooone more ep to sort of settle into the happily ever after but im very glad we got what we got

definitely in my top cdramas, i havent been this happy with a drama since love and redemption 

[dramalordess]

BONUS:

Love Between Fairy and Devil  苍兰诀  |  smooch collection

[dramalordess]

When a low-ranked fairy accidentally resurrects a powerful demon, their fates become cosmically entangled as the world is thrown into turmoil. 

Love Between Fairy and Devil  苍兰诀 (2022)” Wang Hedi as Dongfang Qincang | Yu Shuxin as Xiao Lanhua Dir. Yi Zheng Rating: 10/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[dramalordess]

YU SHUXIN & WANG HEDI as Xiao Lanhua & Dongfang Qingcang LOVE BETWEEN FAIRY AND DEVIL 苍兰诀dir. Yi Zheng (2022) — If you want to destroy Tai Sui completely, what will happen? Why are you feigning ignorance and refusing to reunite with Dongfang Qingcang? You’ll die, won’t you? Yes, I’ll die. You and Dongfang Qingcang love each other. You would rather lie to him, than let him suffer any more.

[dramalordess]

Love Between Fairy and Devil  苍兰诀  |  episode 32

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《苍兰诀》 Love Between Fairy and Devil (2022) Ep. 1

[dramalordess]

General Ling, if it were you, who would you save first? I would naturally save my fiancée first. If I save the orphan first, my fiance may get caught by grass in the water. She may be washed away by the current. If that young man cared for his fiancée he wouldn’t let anything happen to his loved one.

Love Like the Galaxy

[dramalordess]

in today’s news, i subbed park jaechan’s zipping interview where he’s in a fantastically happy baby mood

(with very minor assistance from google to search korean slang terms!! y’all, all these years of watching k-dramas is paying off)

[dramalordess]

We set up key colors for each of the characters […] For example, Jaeyoung has yellow, red, and orange; those sort of warmer colors and lighting that are incorporated in the framing of his scenes and spaces. And on the other hand, for Sangwoo, he has cold and stiff colors like white, blue, and black in his framing and spaces. So like in Sangwoo’s room, blue light is constantly coming in through his window, and we included a white desk lamp for lighting design. As for Jaeyoung, in his studio he has a pink neon light and orange stand lamps.

When the two of them have some sort of emotional exchange and fall for each other, the other person’s colors and lights will permeate into their individual framings. For example, in episode 4, the moment that Jaeyoung sees Sangwoo with wet hair, there’s a slight blue light coming in from behind him. And on the other side, there’s an orange streetlamp light coming in through the window behind Sangwoo. And in the scene where they call each other in episode 6, Jaeyoung’s taking the call in a bar; there’s blue light that casts on his face. That bar space originally had red lighting, but our lighting director changed it all to blue. On the other hand, for Sangwoo, he’s next to his window with the streetlight, and orange light casts on his face.

Emotionally, the two of them are dyeing one another [with their own colors].

— Semantic Error director Kim Soojung, on using color/lighting in scenes in order to communicate character emotion (x)

—–

Edit: I wrote a thing

[dramalordess]

[semantic error] seoham vs jaechan’s cuteness, ft the long-suffering director’s “cuteness ban” — an interview collection

aka

no one:

seoham: jaechannie is so cute, have you seen how cute he is—

T/N: the term consistently used throughout is 귀여워 하다 which ive variously translated as “cute” “affection” “fond”. 귀여움 금지령  might be more accurately translated as “being fond of jaechan ban” but it doesn’t have the same ring lol. It’s hard to convey exactly, but as you can see from context, it’s a ban on seoham not on jaechan 😂 귀여워 하다 transliterated is “to find cute”. It is translated by the 3 dictionaries Naver offers as “love; make a pet of; be affectionate to (esp younger person or animal)”. “love, adore, dote on” “ love, pet, fondle, make a pet, hold ((a person)) dear, be attached to, treat ((a person)) with love[affection]”

220210 N-interview part 2

Q: what was something about the acting that you found difficult?

Jaechan: Sangwoo’s way of speaking is very direct and lacks emotion. So I had to practice a lot to show his emotions through his facial expression.

Seoham: you’ve(?) talked a lot about jaeyoung’s coolness/charisma. That’s not really my style so I had to really think about what it meant to be “cool”. Also Jaeyoung’s emotions change throughout the series. He gets to like Sangwoo after initially harassing him, and because this couldn’t be filmed sequentially I had to keep thinking about his changing feelings and it wasn’t easy to act. And also Jaechan is a particularly cute person so it was hard to act like I was bullying him. The director said “look, I know Jaechan is cute but you’ve got to stop treating him so affectionately”

Q: so there was a “cuteness ban” because you had to immerse in your characters?

Jaechan: hyung would hang out with me (& indulge my antics) and then say with a very serious face “you are not cute” and start his acting

Seoham: it’s not like he was necessarily trying to be cute but more like he was trying to make the other person laugh? that kinda thing

220226 spotv interview

Park Seoham says that Park Jaechan is a “person who is cuteness personified”. 

“Jaechan himself is really just a cute person. So it makes you want to dote on him. So in scenes where I was meant to be bullying him, it appeared that I was actually being fond of him. Also, while filming, it we ended up jumping around between dynamics a lot for various reasons - from being angry to affectionate to love - so it was hard to act out the wildly changing feelings.”

“Eventually, the director told me, ‘come to a cafe,’ so I went there, and they were like ‘you’re being too fond of Jaechan. stop.’ and implemented the ‘Jaechan cuteness ban’. But Jaechan (didn’t pick up on this issue ‘눈치없이’ and) kept being as cute as always. So I eventually ended up going through this mantra before filming: ‘you are not cute. you are not cute at all’.” (he says 주문을 걸었다 which is so funny lol it’s like trying to make yourself believe something, literally ‘casting a spell on yourself’)

220304 sports chosun interview part 2

Seoham: If Jaechan acted cute on purpose then I don’t think I would’ve found him cute, but when he naturally has aegyo when he’s just sitting there grumpily (뚱하게). That’s what I found so cute. And after the ‘cuteness ban’ I’d look at Jaechan standing in front of me doing aegyo, and even while I was saying “you’re not cute!” I’d find myself starting to smile. 

(this interview is rly sweet - it’s where seoham talks about jaechan supporting him & taking him to meet his parents around lunar new year. i might do a full translation later (lmk if one alr exists))

220307 Cine-21 interview

Q: director, please explain the “ban on cuteness” in detail from your perspective

Director: I implemented the ban many times ^^; because the two are so close and seoham is very fond of jaechan/thinks jaechan is very cute, that fondness was in his eyes from the early episodes. so I laid down the ban many times like “stop looking at him with such a soft expression.” “please stop going near him and touching him”

Seoham: But I think it was unfair. When I got the ban I said to jaechan “you really are not cute at all”. And then he did aegyo in front of me like he was saying “not even if I do this?”

Jaechan: when coming back to set after hanging out during the breaks, seoham would tell me very seriously “you are not cute” and that made me want to prove him wrong.

220311 sports w interview part 2

Director: We were rehearsing the scene in episode 6 where they’re having an argument in an alleyway, and the tension just wasn’t there. seoham was already too fond of jaechan so he couldn’t deliver the lines with appropriate bitterness. i ended up telling him to step out for a second and stopped the rehearsal. i told him that i know you’re fond of him, but those emotions just don’t work in this scene. also, the same thing happened when we were filming the second episode, where they’re in the french classroom and jaeyoung is wearing the red clothes, at the peak of his bullying of sangwoo. at this time seoham and jaechan’s friendship was blossoming. seoham needed to show that jaeyoung was enjoying tormenting sangwoo, but the look in his eyes was just too affectionate. i told him to look at sangwoo like he was a cute puppy or a cat *laughs*

220313 star news interview

“The two actors got closer as the episodes progressed. in the early episodes, there are a lot of scenes where jaeyoung is harassing sangwoo, so I had to put a lid on park seoham’s gaze. I remember often saying things like ‘stop doting on jaechan’ ‘stop looking at him so fondly’ ‘please stop looking at him with hearts in your eyes’,” said the director (Kim Sujeong). “But the actors dubbed it a ‘cuteness ban’”, she laughed.

[dramalordess]

May I have your attention please....

Semantic Error's Choi Yoona is not Straight nor Bisexual, she is a LESBIAN!!

GIFSource: sunshine1224@tistory

I saw something today and it baffled me. There's a post going around about a wrong translation and the translation basically stated that 'Choi Yoona used to like Jang Jaeyong'... I don't know where is this context of translation coming from, whether it is from one of the official international streaming sites or from who but NO. CHOI YOONA is a LESBIAN.

I tried watching the translations of maybe the questioned clip from both of the official international streaming sites and... GGooLL translated the clip not accurately and Viki's is just straight up wrong.

The clip:

Transcription of the clip:

주영 언니 새범이 Terry 그리고 신입생때 과선배랑 과CC 2달 그리고 너무 내 스타일였는대 나 그때 여자친구 있었어 못 꼬신 무용과 언니 스투어디스 언니. 내가 아는건 이정도.

Translation of the clip:

Juyeong, Saebeom, Terry, and there was that senior of the same department when he was a freshman they became the department CC (campus couple) for two months and then one from dance department, she was my style but I had a girlfriend at the time so I couldn't hit on her and after that a flight attendant. That's all as far as I know.

As you can see, except for 'Terry' which can be used or interpreted for a he/him name, can also be used as a reference for Jang Jaeyoung sexuality (bisexual) the other five(5) belong to she/her because of the designated '언니'

Below is also an excerpt from an interview with the Director, Kim Sujeong regarding Choi Yoona.

"I expressed my thoughts that when Yoona is with Jang Jaeyoung I don't want a male-female chemistry surrounding them but a more drier tone for them, and different from the original work (Choi Yoona's) lesbian set up was also removed. Seeing that (Choi Yoona's) screen time is short, setting it up will make the story longer so it was taken out but Yoona's actor (Song Jio) expressed that she felt it's a bummer (that they can't show it). Then I suggested to the actress that she can also come up with ideas (to implement that Yoona is lesbian) and she immediately threw some suggestions. I think we received amazing responses because we did it together. I am grateful for the actors."

There is not much of a lesbian representation in a kdrama or kbl so please I hope there is no more misunderstanding from now on. I pray for more Yoona's lesbian agenda to be explored on season 2 if there is a season 2 🙏🏼

[dramalordess]

It's been a while since I got onto tumblr and I can't believe my SHL crack gifset got almost 7k notes 😭 I feel famous, mom 😭😭

[dramalordess]

Semantic Error (2022) | Chu Sangwoo's POV