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lloydfrontera · 6 months

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hi i kinda got into webtoon tged recently do you know where to read the novel? if it's translated to english? can you spoil me differences between the webtoon and novel? and parts to look forward to? Thanks

of course! you can find the translation on the Yonder app! it's on daily pass or pay for read but it's really good, i recommend it a lot! here's the link to the first chapter!

and sure! i do nothing but that and talk about llojavi in this blog <3

the tone is completely different to start with. the webnovel has its funny moments yes, but it balances its lighthearted moments with the serious ones much better than the webcomic. the dramatic moments are allowed to be dramatic, the characters are allowed to have serious conversations with each other, there's a lot more quiet and earnest scenes and overall it's just a way more heartfelt story than the webcomic would lead you to believe.

from the very first chapter you can see the difference between the systems in the novel and webcomic. whereas in the first the system is very basic and dry with no personality at all, the webcomic has basically turned it into a character with some hints of it being involved in an overarching plot that doesn't exist in the novel. which i would be exited about if the storyboard artist hadn't admitted he just made the change cause he wanted to make the first scene of the plot funny :))) so now i'm just. bracing myself lol

the banter! lloyd and javier have so much more banter in the webnovel that the webcomic refuses to adapt! you can tell they genuinely like each other and find the other funny, as much as they would like to deny it. they're also a lot more,,, idk, sweet with each other?? like. they're still asshole best friends, but they express their concern about each other more openly and you can actually see their friendship grow through the plot.

there's a lot more attention to the relationship between lloyd and arcos and marbella. you see their thoughts about each other and they get a lot more scenes together. this is one of strongest parts of the story and in the webcomic it is majorly underutilized. also the webcomic downplayed hard the relationship between lloyd and julian which is a shame, because julian is the one member of the frontera family lloyd had absolutely no issue calling his own. he just went 'my little brother now <3'. and julian like the sweetheart he is was immediately down for it which is also not shown properly in the webtoon :/

the jokes are less mean and actually funny lol ok no but fr the humor is way less mean-spirited that in the webcomic, much of the humor is between the interactions of the characters and their banter rather than just constantly making fun of lloyd. also. no ugly faces.

the bone dragon battle. just. all of it. if nothing else please read the bone dragon battle in the webnovel. it is so good and the webcomic just completely destroyed it. actually made me give up on trying to like it lol

this has turned less into the differences and more me complaining about the webcomic i am so sorry-

there's a lot more homoerotism in the novel. like. genuinely. several key scenes from the novel were changed in the webtoon for apparently no other reason than??? making javier and lloyd be less close to each other than they are in the novel?? even from a non-shipper perspective it is weird. if there's nothing actually going on in the novel why would you bother making their relationship more distant in the adaptation?? idk i just thought it was worth mentioning.

also lloyd's character is much mellow and complex in the novel. he's still very money oriented and self-interested, but his actions are much more tinted with this undercurrent of kindness and responsibility that the webcomic very often chooses to downplay in order to make scenes "funnier"

there's an actual attempt to built a relationship between alicia and lloyd based on respect rather than. whatever the webcomic has going on ://

mmmhh as for parts to look forward,,, oh this is hard i love so many parts of the novel it's difficult to choose! probably my favorite is the bone dragon battle, but there's also the 'father's waiting' mini-arc, the conversation between lloyd and javier right after the mastodon incident, the reveal during the first trip to hell, the trip to seoul and ofc the battle in hell and the aftermath. won't reveal to much but like. all of it is worth it i promise.

honestly if you don't mind spoilers you can probably just scroll down my blog and find lots of moments i love about the novel! i talk about it,,, all the time akjshdkja

anyway happy reading!

#hey i got an ask #anonymous #tged #the greatest estate developer #again. i'm sorry i can't give you a free version of the translation but! keep an eye out for updates on that front!#sunflower and i are working on a little project which isn't ready yet but. it is on progress :]

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adamwatchesmovies · 2 years

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Dracula (1931)

Every time I see Dracula, I find something new about it to like. Yes, certain aspects of the film are dated. That’s inevitable in a film from the 1930’s. Despite its age, this picture has a certain something-something that could never be duplicated and that makes it great.

Based on the 1924 stage play adaptation by Hamilton Deana and John L. Balderson, itself based on the novel by Bram Stoker, the titular Count Dracula (played by the immortal Bela Lugosi) is -unknown to the solicitor who visits his derelict Transylvanian castle - a vampire. Aided by the ensorcelled Renfield (Dwight Frye), Dracula travels to London, where he sets his eyes on Mina Seward (Helen Chandler). With the help of Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), Mina's fiancé John Harker and father (Herbert Bunston) prepare to battle the creature of the night.

Laugh if you must at the rubber bats. It’s the best they could do at the time (but they do look a little silly). Whether you watch the original version or the one with Philip Glass’ excellent 1998 score (my preferred version), Dracula will grab you soon enough. The whole thing feels like a strange dream of mist and otherworldly horrors. It's all because of Bela Lugosi’s performance. The way he moves, the way he looks at his future victims, his speech pattern, all make him oddly charismatic but undoubtedly dangerous. Without saying anything, you believe him to be hundreds of years old, lost in this new city, and elated to see so many unsuspecting victims. After all, who would believe that a vampire is prowling the streets of a modern city like London? As soon as you see Lugosi, you’re hooked. His performance is unforgettable. It’s like he’s using his supernatural abilities on you.

Some of the filming conventions of the time make Dracula an odd watch. The pacing is slow, except when it moves very quickly. Bizarrely, I think it helps sell the crazy premise to an audience that might otherwise look at it with a raised eyebrow. There’s no comic relief to downplay the supernatural aspect or horror. It just "is"; a film like no other. And yet, its influence is undeniable. When you hear the word "vampire", you think of this Count Dracula. There would be no horror film genre without this film, which makes the fact that it was considered a gamble at the time doubly strange.

I do wish that some of the sub-plots (such as the fate of Mina’s friend Lucy, played by Frances Dade) were explored further and the ending was less abrupt. It’s forgivable, particularly when you consider the film's other strengths: a memorable (and delightfully loony) performance by Dwight Frye, grand sets that perfectly capture the feel of Stoker’s novel, and some stylish bits of direction. The first scenes in Dracula’s castle are so good they're worth the price of admission alone. Plus, at a brisk 75 minutes, it's oh so watchable.

As a picture stuck between the silent era and the Universal Monster film craze, Dracula is an oddity, a creature that doesn’t really belong, that almost feels like it’s intruding on our world… sort of like the Count himself. For the iconic performances and the historic value, it’s a must-see. Maybe you'll need to watch it more than once to call it a favorite, but you won't hesitate to put in the work for that to happen. (1998 Philip Glass Score version on Blu-ray, May 26, 2017)

#Dracula #movies #films #movie Reviews #Film Reviews #Horror Movies #Horror Films #Tod Browning #Karl Freund #Garrett Fort #Bram Stoker #Bela Lugosi #David Manners #Helen Chandler #Dwight Frye #Edward Van Sloan #1931 movies #1931 films #Universal Monsters

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ikusayu-no-hana · 1 year

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guden thought dump

(pronouns will vary, it's not deep I prommy)

the OP is so so so hot everyone is x100 more beautiful somehow . FANS. truly whats hotter than women dancing w fans. actual fav op after kiden's.

ok so im v bad at parsing lyrics in songs of any language by solely hearing them but im p sure they mention Ishiyama - the temple at which it is said murasaki shikibu wrote out the entire tale.

i've heard that ayana has a background in ballet?? norimune could high kick me any day of the week

being bi really amplifies things

hajimeyouka ^^

well the goal here is to make the tale of genji into actual history. that would implicate and fuck up the existing imperial lineage ig.

its soooo weird to see kasen being so friendly and vibing w his teammates bc usually he has a massive stick up him . he even lets ookurikara go his own separate way pursuing the shikigami (?) like???? thats a step up from the hostility theyd share n he's more trusting of kara in this honmaru.

individual fights now. norimune really is stealing the show i cant tear my eyes off herrrr.

its so cute how nansen and himetsuru call each other hime no aniki and nan-kun........ and nansen being taller than hime too. like an elegant elder sibling indulging the younger scruffier one.

hmmm so in GM the 'rainy night conversation' scene where genji and co. r dissecting what kind of woman would be the best to pursue takes place in hahakigi, literally the second chapter, and the opinions of women they put forth in the text r presented as worldly advice that spurs genji to realize that he loves fujitsubo, and in the long run, also shapes his motivations behind kidnapping wakamurasaki ("it is probably not a bad idea to take a wholly childlike, tractable wife and form her yourself as well you can"). while the entire thing does reek of misogyny its more nuanced and bealievable given that the characters justify their opinions w anecdotes (also very fucked up in their own right). guden sort of downplayed the nuance there by solely having genji, to-no-chuji et al focus on beauty and a few quick lines resembling a summary of one or two paragraphs of to-no-chujo. it serves its purpose but......i would have liked it to be a bit longer.....

OHHH MY GOD one of them says 「美しさは人を惑わせる」 / beauty leads people astray which is just like kasen saying 「美しさは兎角人を狂わせる」 / beauty tends to drive people to madness' in kiden. didnt realize my blog title could fit both sutes

*touken danshi roasting the misogynistic convo* this has so many layers bc. written by a woman -> story centred around a casanova -> adapted into a stage play for a franchise that only has male characters -> all of the roles are played by actresses

this kasen uses his hands while talking and its such an extrovert trait its throwing me off lol.

gyoukan: between the lines of the text vs honpen: main story. so gyoukan is the designated period where the people behind the roles of the characters of genji monogatari retain their original sense of self, while during honpen they completely become the characters n forget their real selves. so koshosho no kimi (one of murasaki shikubu's close friends) is the antagonistic empress mother of the tale, kokiden no nyogo.

hmmm i wonder what the mechanism that determines the turnover of gyoukan/honpen is. the touken danshi arrive in heian-kyo, and find the entire era under control of this dichotomous influence, but how did the hra even manage to pull off smth on this scale? and why even give leeway to the touken danshi to break this process by keeping the gyoukan as a loophole?

but actually id say gyoukan serves its purpose in expanding upon the finer aspects behind the work and working it into the narrative.

so murasaki shikibu's caught on to the fact that the novel's story should be destroyed to stop this historical aberration and passes the book onto koshosho no kimi's keeping and thats why shes been resisting the forced characterization even tho its honpen rn

they made rokujou no miyasudokoro an ONMYOJI

koshosho hands three books to kasen. im glad they kept this little detail bc in fact genji monogatari is divided into three parts: the first two deal with the life of Genji and the last w two of Genji's prominent descendants, niou no miya and kaoru. theres much academic contention abt how much of the later chapters murasaki shikibu herself wrote, whether there were supposed to be more chapters, all the complications added from the fact that no original text exists etc etc but sute's understandably not involving itself w all that.

how come rokujou Knows shes in a story,,,,

like what is the criteria for someone to be aware theyre an actor

norimune's so Pretty its like hes a statue in a display case made to be revered . the curves of your lips rewrite history etc

kasen literally has sparkles in his eyes when talking abt how genji is a tale of love + how his prev master was one who lived alongside love and nansen paws him and says 'you bring up your former master everytime' wwww

norimune and himetsuru whispering to each other behind norimunes fan is,. literally the peak sexy use of a fan

apparently hosokawa yuusai used to be regarded as an authority on genji .... and thats why kasen is so passionate in his explanation of it. what a nerd (affectionate)

nansen being disgusted by the fact that genjis #1 love was a woman that resembled his mother . girl it gets worse hang on tight

make way for the hottest most haunting fucking part of this sute (starts reciting th names of all 54 chapters) boy am i glad i read all the chapters guden covers

honpen time....utsusemi's chapter. really fun that they included the snippy remarks towards genjis lecherous insistence and nansen's tsukkomi to genji flattering himself. this man keeps getting more and more disgusted by genjis actions towards women its so funny

yeah they did the sex.

the poem that earns utsusemi her name in genji monogatari (just gonna shorten that to GM from now on) is: 'underneath this tree, where the molting cicada shed her empty shell / my longing still goes to her, for all i know her to be' referring to the kimono she leaves behind while escaping him. but the poem kasen recites is 'just as drops of dew settle on cicada wings, concealed in this tree / secretly, oh secretly, these sleeves are wet with my tears' which is actually utsusemi's own reply to genjis aforementioned poem in GM.

RARE kasen boke moment. at least he realized he shouldnt make utsusemi accept genjis advances for the sake of distorting GM's plot bc that would be against her wishes. consent > tentatively correcting history. rare W there. genji could never.

interesting moral conflict here...norimune and choumou would rather cut down petty things like consent for the greater good of protecting history.

ookurikara went on a solo mission to confront genji while the rest (all 5 of them) go witness utsusemis chapter. so their plan mutsve been to break apart the story by either distorting the women's part of the story, or killing genji himself. what kind of insane confidence did kasen have to let kara go on his own to kill genji lol. also whats with the uneven team distribution....

ookurikara smack cam😔😔

genji cant die bc it isnt his time to die, as per GM. so he has infinite revival and plot protection to back him up

ironic that genji calls kara dekuningyou/ wooden puppet as an insult for a hollow and manipulated being bc at the end of the day isnt he also supposed to be bound by the story thats woven around him? yeah hes gained sentience now, but originally he existed inside the fourth wall, just like originally touken danshi used to be metal. but then again, this role-reversal has been brought about precisely so that his story will be recorded as reality, as his own actions, and that would make him better than sword puppets who will always be invisible and obedient toward the saniwa.

kasen: thank you for your hard work, i appreciate it ^^

kara: im not ur errand boy

kasen: ya thats why i expressed my gratitude (classist nod)

no one perfectly knows what the creator intended save for the creator themself, so only murasaki shikibu can know the contents of kumogakure, and she alone will be able to kill him.

thats the 'lack' in GM which leaves the death subject to interpretation. what genjis last moments are like, who he was surrounded by, etc etc will never be known to us. but since theres no description of his death, in what manner will he die....

for the love of god theyre SOOOO. (not meant in a shippy way tbc)

rokujou's actress is so good. thats a fucking villain alright.

hmm when the characters place blame on murasaki shikibu for making them the way they are, theyre also discounting the coherence and agency of the tale that has its roots in courtly affairs

with sentience also comes the indispensable fourth wall . and the newfound denial of free will.

chilllllls when genji wraps the manuscript around kasen as the newly formed genji.

"a tWeLvE LAyErEd KiMiNo woNt SuiT yOU" BET

ughfjdhjsdhvjksnj aoi no ue's baby fjkdsnfkjsdnvjkdsbnfjbwkjfnrkjfnekfnjewbfskdfnrkfnuejfnskjfnjsefnefkjbejkfn this scene is so kfjsndjfkjdnjvkbfgjbdfvnwsedrftgybhnjkmnhbgfrdecfvgbhjbgfdsrxcgvhbjnkmjhuygtfrdtfwghdvbcehefbiuwgnuwifn 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 FUCK😭😭😭😭😭😭KASEN AS GENJI HOLDING HIS BABY 😭😭😭😭😭

BECAUSE THATS SOMETHING NO TOUKEN DANSHI WILL EVER GET TO EXPERIENCE IT MAKES ME A LITTLE INSANE

hes a father....like an Actual Biological father......

ok but that doesnt happen in GM like in no shape or form do they share a happy-married-couple-cradling-their-child moment like that but also i am not complaining

youve got to fucking wonder when aoi says "resembling hikaru-gimi, how beautiful you are!" to her baby is it resembling kasen. Like does she mean the abstract concept of beauty that is general rather than particular or does it have purple hair blue eyes etc. sorry

ach whys sanchoumou spouting nikkaris battle lines. and norimune's saying kogarasumaru's and hime's doing hasebe's

actually i really like this. the government's actually outdone itself . using the power of anecdotes of swords and attaching them to unrelated swords to make them stronger...well ofc the expected end result is for mkzk and to sort out the number he's done on the timeline, but this is still! so! delightfully fucked up!! the end result of increased power takes precedence over individual stories!!! the ichimonji themselves dont seem to mind the fact they might just be an experimental citadel after all .

does that mean that kasen having gracia as master wouldve made him stronger than if he was regular old kasen w tadaoki ..? and ookurikara being stronger without the date attachment ..? but they still do retain their original characteristics. except that kasen is not as intense. <-idk if thats just the way kaichan interprets him or it's intentional writing

hello ms murasaki shikibu finally. fitting that the author takes the role of she who is forever out of genjis reach, and the person playing genji is an avid GM fan thats willing to doom history as we know it to save the author. get you a man like that etc etc<- NOT.

its so very sad that genji has to find a replacement for fujitsubo in a child of all places.

'Because it's from zuka and the cast is all female, the harshness is alleviated, and because it's a female cast, the hellishness of the women who live the story as reality stands out' <- someone i follow on twt said this and its so so true

ive read a bit of murasaki shikibus diary + the context of it and the reason why people were so dissuasive of murasaki was bc she was keen on pursuing the chinese texts and those were, as a rule, male territory. while men concerned themselves w chinese characters, women wrote in kana, and . that is why the big fabric of script they use in guden has only kana on it !! bc its a tale by a women for women. 'The Tale of Genji’s readership too has been naturalized female, at times discussed as if women were the exclusive audience of the tale, not least because by Murasaki’s time in the Heian period fictional tales had long been identified as a generic category for women.' (x)

lmfaoo suetsumuhana's actress-courtier saying she didnt like sei shonagon's makura no soushi as much as shikibu's GM (<- context is that shonagon served the empress teishi and was the literary jewel of her entourage while shikibu was empress soshi's. shikibu had some not-so-polite words to say abt shonagon in her diary w)

rattles cage DEATH OF THE AUTHOR DEATH OF THE AUTHORRR

perhaps soshi asking shikibu abt why she decided to write a tale of 'man and woman' is the only instance she was asked abt her intentions behind it

i like shikibus answer actually. it doesnt advocate for separatism of the 'man' and 'woman' binary, but shelters the motivations and flaws of characters under the umbrella of simply 'people'. ofc the book is a criticism of male whims and ofc guden does take it that way, but the motivations and fates of all characters cannot be put solely in the neat category of 'due to gender', bc in the end even the characters and ofc shikibu herself realize that this is how the wider society has molded them to be. so, it is 'a tale of people'

thatd mean touken danshi are outsiders with no relation or stakes in the tale, they are neither women who have loved/endured affairs, nor are they men that whimsically toy around in love. they are there to voice (ours, the audience's) morality.

so the logic used by th Nobody is: waka and poems are permissible bc they r expressions of the heart, but not prose that contains fiction, which is why writers like izumi shikibu and sei shonagon will be spared while murasaki shikibu will fall into hell. all out of respect for buddhist precepts. (mental note to translate shiotsuki shu's blog entry soon)

and making the lie that is GM into reality/truth will absolve shikibu of her sins

just realized...didn't Ishiyama temple become a sort of tourist spot for allegedly being the spot where GM was completed? Ironic how such a 'heretical' piece of work could come into being in the house of god.

really good stuff in this paper

seeing how protests only arose from the 12th century on and there arent any surviving records of such criticism from the time shikibu wrote , im inclined to think that maybe the unnamed man that confronts shikibu is literally some rando guy from the latter centuries that got picked up by the HRA, from when the availability of printed books led to GM being way more accessible . bc come to think of it - its highly unlikely shikibu would Not know a courtier, the only class that was in the know abt GM. but then again, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so maybe putting that 'nobody' there as a placeholder male aristocrat is so he can serve as vehicle for the problems that arise when fiction is come across by those who were unintended as target readers in the first place, in this case, men.

also its sort of ironic how the guy (the nobody) is overly concerned with the metaphysical fate of shikibu while the flow of history has proved agin and again that she remained not only an author that was respected and idealized, but also a historian that was treated as a valuable source on heian noble etiquette. typical patriarchal delusion stemming from misplaced concern.

well either way, whether all this is true or not, its p clear that there have been exaggerations and unproved myths surrounding shikibu and GM all along, whether be for or against, so should another lie really make any difference in the grand scheme of things?

'....aren't we also a big lie? what a sinful existence are touken danshi' norimunes fucking line deliveryyyy

i bet real genji made quick work of koremitsu during gyoukan to appear in front of genji!kasen as koremitsu himself lol

ah the ave maria from kiden

when the fuck did they discover they can travel to diff chapters by flipping pages ???????? itd be funny if kasen just realised that spur of the moment

fitting that empress soshi mentions chuang tzu's 'butterfly who dreams' analogy to describe their situation bc historically, she was so interested in chinese lit that she studied it under shikibu's guidance

wait so this has strayed far enough from reality that the intention has transformed this genji monogatari re-enactment into a genji kuyo? oh this FUCKS

norimune's old man laughter >>>>> mkzk's old man laughter

'the only actual person here is that man playing genji?!' theyre in platos cave. theyre all in platos cave. we were all in platos cave until now. we were all butterflies dreaming we're humans.

its the fact that everything was truly black and white until now history was history and GM was a story that was well liked until some guy came along, threw everything into chaos, managed to mix up actual existences with falsified ones, gave rise to incoherence in the story due to the existence of multiple genjis at the same time, with the sole hope that in the future some people would dig up his bones and recognize GM as a true story, but the only way to stop this contradiction is itself a contradiction: killing the main genji in kumogakure would indeed lift the altered existence of heian-kyo, but it would also accomplish his death which was what he hoped for in the first place. is this really then a plot with no holes?

good lord but that is quite a nose on suetsumuhana. it looks like...something else entirely. not gonna say what

wakey wakey @ ookurikara. congrats to date masamune for appearing in three difftypes of stage adaptations

ive said it already but its so striking how different the types of scenes we're shown of kasen as genji and kara as genji are. kasen's always romancing and getting the best scenes while kara isnt shown romancing at all

norimune is a beaut x100

GOD himes fight sequence w all the wings flapping sfx and the twirling is so elegant ..... what was that HRA formation tho lol they were just being goofy

did i mention norimune is so mesmerizing everytime she's onstage . the sex appeal is off the charts like genuinely

i keep forgetting its a woman in ookurikaras role bc she looks so cool.

I will literally never get tired of the sute trope of having kasen's fight sequences the last w dramatic music precluding his appearance onstage and him spreading his arms wide and going ware koso wa nosada ga hitofuri, kasen kanesada nari! and then wrecking shit up (god there r so many similarities between this fight and kidens hissatsu fight)

shut upppp shut up the kuyou spotlight circling the kikyou spotlight as he realizes his true story >!>!!>I!UH@*#$%^&*(struggles to breathe

final form genji looks like hes stepped out a wuxia novel. jun wu vibes fr

yayyy final fight

i think so far in the entire play norimune's had her stomach slashed in the same place thrice

i like how they include little waltz (?) dance steps into hime's fight choreo

CHILLS as norimune says theyre not the ones who'll kill genji and then all the women walk on stage

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm

🔪⁉️

uhhhhhhh

-_-

the honpen retains its influence on them....ofc they wont be the ones to kill genji. that would be incoherent with the storyline . what do you call it when the characters drawn by a woman for women are in the end too crippled by love to kill the source of their suffering? .... someone who is until the end mean in his love....

after rewinding multiple times......yes wakamurasaki does stick the knife into herself . the thrust overlaps w kasen pushing his sword into genji + lights go off so its jus t silhouettes

its so fitting that genji dies right after wakamurasaki here since kumogakure follows right after maboroshi (the chapter in GM where wakamurasaki dies)

whats a little homoerotic cheek cupping between enemies...heh

we cannot leave heiankyo in any media without mentioning shuten douji ofc

kasen................why . how do you justify that

they let th HRA fucken run off w genjis dead body like bro. BRO I AM SHAKIGN YOU SO HARD . HIS CORPSE WAS RIGHT THERE HOW COME NOBODY THOUGHT OF HOLDING ON TO IT TO YKNOW, ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION THEY CAME HERE FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE .

AND DNA TESTING EXISTS????????????? COULDNT THE GUY'S BONES BE TESTED AND THEREFORE PROVED NOT TO BE GENJI BC HIS GENE POOL WOULD NOT MATCH THAT OF THE PREVIOUS IMPERIAL LINE OR SMTH. I DOUBT THE HRA METICULOUSLY PROGRAMMED THE STORY TO MAGICALLY ALTER THE GENETIC MAKEUP OF THE GUY

kasen says its alright bc itll be imperceptible but. no ? if GM is proved to be real it won't be the first fictional novel discovered anymore??? that's a Big thing

nyan's silliness is so refreshing after That

what. was that contradiction. why . what was the neeeed for a flimsy ending like that. just to secure their citadel's destruction? semt-san i know youre better than thisss i know you can write a complicated ending to your complicated premise but this really wasnt it

'even though you might be broken, gozen sure is carefree' lets just carry on like normal after saying that yeah

hime saw kasen stuck in platos cave slowly realizing he should turn around and said no we hold on to the illusion that everythign right in frotn of us is reality. harsh ? maybe, but it coheres. the ichimonji are after all government tools.

hell is other people hell is us . theres so much potential here for sequels of zukatousute, esp since they brought up og tousute's manba and mkzk. feels cruel to leave that honmaru hanging.

curtain call now

shu is so cute she talked abt how she was out of letter sets so she couldnt send her honmaru's nansen for his kiwame

sayato sumiki saying she'll feel #gudenloss

noooooo maomao is so close to tears ;-; but also WOW the gap moe

so ayana's voice is so much higher than what she uses for norimune... i could listen to her for hours ….. heart is taking -1000 dmg

zachouuuuuuuuuuu aaaaaaaaa. [mimes closing a book] "i believe its time to close this story." *someone from the cast whispering "kawaii!"*

all in all, i think the genji monogatari + jinbutsu storyline was pretty solid and did make for a gripping plot but the ending that the touken danshi chose troubles me to no end......ideally kara wouldve snatched genjis corpse and theyd have given him a proper cremation and theyd have pondered the same things they do after the hra take away genji

or what would also have been fun is kasen and kara realizing their altered stories were due to the government's tampering and thus letting go of genji was a conscious decision between two of them setting up for a nice kurikase / ichimonji-seifu dichotomy where they chose to remain true to themselves while the ichimonji willingly give their stories up and resign themselves to being mere tools

......plus the fact that none of them ever mentioned smth like hope to see you in another sute work! in the curtain call...........aaaa it's too sad

#randomeows #tousute

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phandompenny · 3 years

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FFN Phic Recs

I’ve been archiving some of my favourites on FFN and have come to suspect that we’ve forgotten our past, because buried among all that dubious self insert phic are some gems! I am happy to bring a few of them to you today, please enjoy this array of (mostly) lesser known poto fic from 2017 to 2005.

Uncertain Beginnings by UncommonNonsenseSEM

Christine and Erik try to awkwardly repair their relationship after the unmasking scene. A very touch starved Erik and a Christine who’s kind of flirting but also trying to figure out what on earth is going on inside his head. Short and sweet, E/C fluff!

Monstret Under Sängen by sarahandmarquis

Erik pretends to be the monster under the bed instead of the Angel of Music, and ends up befriending Christine! It could turn into E/C down the road but for now it’s mainly Erik watching over a tiny Christine and getting incredibly attached. And Christine is starting to have her suspicions about her Monstret and the Opera Ghost...

A True Gift by monarch27

Modern AU E/C, Christine gives Erik a Christmas present. One of the most poignant depictions of a modern Erik ever, as he overthinks everything and is trying very hard to remain collected, and an adorable Christine who is Handling this situation and just trying to do something nice for her weird music teacher. I love everything on this list but this one is probably my favourite out of all of them.

Radio Edit by madamequeso

A modern day adaptation of Leroux that’s scarily accurate. Christine is a radio intern who suddenly gets a big break out of nowhere, but she keeps vanishing and is talking about an Angel... There are so many conflicting feelings with the E/C in this and I think it’s one of the best fics for really capturing the complexity and depth of that relationship. WITH the novel’s R/C ending, but in the bittersweet and touching way Leroux did it.

My Dead Wife by BleedingHeartConservative

You know how Erik talks about Christine being his “living wife”? In some translations he goes “not like the dead ones” and this is a fantastic backstory delving into that. Non historical Persia in the vein of Kay, where Erik is given a wife as a gift. I read this whenever I want to be very sad.

Dreaming in Place of Reality by Smaug the Writing Dragon

Surprise, it’s a Cherik fic! Pre miniseries, Gerard pays a visit to his not-son on a completely regular non-birthday date and Erik muses about the nature of dreams. Why yes, he’s fully aware he’ll never have the chance to fall in love with a beautiful woman, but he can dream about taking walks with her in the sunlight and holding hands. It absolutely makes the series that much more painful so I highly recommend.

One Day in the Light by Quiet2885

Probably the most popular one on this list, as this author has received a lot of well deserved acclaim for their more recent works, but I really do think this fic deserves more love. Erik gets one day with a regular face and is determined to spend as much time as he can with Christine making the most out of every moment. An open E/C ending and a very intriguing concept, as I think we should see more of Erik with a normal face trying to adjust to the world.

Peaches by Broken-Vow

E/C family fluff! Modern AU Christine and Erik are married and weren’t expecting to have kids, but their daughter Mia comes along and they learn how to be parents together! Tracks their lives from Mia being born to her heading off to college. I said fluff but I lied, there’s also a fair bit of angst and this fic does not downplay the difficulties this family faces and needs to overcome, it’s very compelling and a fantastic read.

#phic recs #phic rec list #e/c #phanfiction #phantom of the opera #poto #please go comment on these fics and check out the other works by these authors #my goal is for them to get a bunch of emails with comments for these and be very confused #i will probably do another list like this #i read a lot of fic and ffnet is harder to search than ao3 #so i'm happy to share the goods i find with yall!

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hishoukoku · 3 years

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Heyyyy. I wanted to know how if u know how cql differs from the original story. Which is better? I'm kinda lazy to read and the donghua seemed super rushed to me? The manhua i heard is similar but it doesnt give me the same vibe idk.... maybe it's just me. like even a few pointers about big story changes would help. tyyyyyyy

Heyy,

I wanna start by saying that I do love all adaptations, so I will do my best just to point out the differences without being partial (too much) for certain plot elements.

It's true that the drama is a neat way to experience the story at a slower pace, but it's so because in a TV series scenario it makes perfect sense for everything to be slower and laid out or fed to the viewer. It makes sense to overextend tender and dramatic moments or to take the time and add a bunch of funny hilarious bits.

The donghua however is absolutely amazing and 100% worth watching. The plot advancing quicker than in the drama or the novel actually makes a lot of sense given, well first this is animation. It focuses on what's really important and the way the action scenes are intertwined with the main story elements is absolutely astounding. In an animated medium they did the absolute best to bring this long story to life. Plus the art is absolutely GORGEOUS, down to every frame. I strongly recommend it.

The manhua does follow the novel almost to the letter which is so refreshing to see and it's so rad to read too, plus I like the art style and also no censorship xD

I love them all because they each work in their own way. Bringing the drama slow pace into the donghua wouldn't work at all as well as making CQL shorter and more action packed would look ridiculous.

Personally I think it's rad to watch them all and gain even more knowledge on an amazing story, by consuming the same story in multiple forms of media.I just think it's great to explore all the angles from which the story can be observed.

Onto a few major differences. I believe this list is far from complete, but I tried to jolt down what I could from memory:

-> Basically the main difference would be Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji uncovering the mystery of Nie Mingjue's death:

In CQL, this was changed from the novel plotline: dismembered arm(+ putting back the dismembered body) of his spirit, to a spirit sword. It ultimately leads to the same epic conclusion as it does in the novel. The culprit is unchanged, just the means to get there and the characters motivations along the way are altered.

-> Another major divergence would be the entire Yi Iron arc and the hunt for Yi Iron pieces, which takes a vast majority of the CQL flashbacks. This isn't present in the novel. The Yi Iron is only important because it practically explains the already existent and yet unpracticed demonic cultivation, which brings me to my next point.

-> In CQL Wei Wuxian is not the actual founder of demonic cultivation. Wei Wuxian still uses demonic cultivation and all his inventions are there, including of course the Stygian Tiger Amulet. The reasoning behind this is the Yi Iron plot I mentioned above, which was something that was uncovered and worshipped in the past and it's a tremendous source of dark energy and power. This leads to the fact that demonic cultivation already exists, despite no one actually using it except for Wei Wuxian (after finding the first piece in the Xuanwu shell).

-> To emphasize more on this, a big part of WWX's morality is altered in CQL. The necromancy part is also heavily downplayed in CQL. We see the same choices being made which inadvertently lead to the same conclusions, but he is always shown as more of a victim of circumstance or there's always a bigger plot at stake, pointing all the blame towards him.

Without going into a character analysis in this arc (because I absolutely adore WWX and I would talk about him for hours) I wanted to point out a few more things on this:

- In CQL he's shown to be in wrong place at the wrong time type of situations, which is sort of downgrading what the original intent behind his character was about.

- I feel like the novel has built WWX to be very self-aware and more realistic and human. He knows exactly where his stands and what his moral compass is the entire time. He blames himself even for stuff out of his control and every decision he ever made no mater how it was perceived as, was all rooted in and filtered through his absolute sense of justice and selflessness. He's aware of his mistakes and assumes responsibility. He's very absolute about the decisions he sticks to and he's extremely intelligent and calculated.

Then again, I'm not blaming CQL per say for altering this, I know every divergence to his character was solely due to censorship (as morality usually is in cdramas), I just wish he'd been given a lot more credit where credit is due, like in the novel. Because he deserves a lot more validation and recognition. Absolving him of everything he ever did is actually a disservice to all the pain he endured and all the work he put into the cause he believes in and simply striving to survive and in the unfair, judgemental cultivation world.

-> The structure of the story is different. The novel, donghua and manhua jump from flashbacks to present time back and forth, while in CQL, episode 3 to episode 33(halfway) are all flashbacks presenting the entire past story arc to you, before returning to the present fully. Again, to have everything laid out in order, works well in a TV series environment.

-> The relationship between WangXian evolves differently. The novel has Wei Wuxian mistakenly concluding that Lan Wangji doesn’t like him, driving a wedge between them after the Nightless City events. This of course, has a beautiful natural progression into romantic relationship, later on after he resurrects.

CQL on the other hand shows Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji having a very close relationship from the moment they reunite as Wei Wuxian died knowing Lan Wangji cares deeply about him. I believe this to be a bit utopic as, technically without previous explicit romantic affection - censorship -, Wei Wuxian's actions wouldn't normally lead to such an easy transition into them being extremely close, especially for someone as stoic as Lan Wangji. True, Lan Wangji has always believed in Wei Wuxian's sense of integrity and justice and this was prepared beforehand, however it would make even more sense if this was backed, like in the novel, by love as a powerful incentive.

-> Wei Wuxian's reincarnation in Mo Xuanyu's body doesn't cause him to alter his appearance in CQL. This isn't really explained except for subtle hints that Mo Xuanyu took precautions to ensure Wei Wuxian looked like his original self, but ofc we can tell it was done so due to convenience.

In the novel it's clearly stated how Wei Wuxian takes Mo Xuanyu's appearance which makes complete sense to happen after he used the Sacrifice Summon.

This would be about it as main pointers, if you'd like me to go into details for any of them please let me know. Otherwise I feel like this post is already long enough, heheh.

#anon #ishidareplies #god i ramble a lot in every ask #cql #mdzs #the untamed #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #canon divergence #mdzs meta #?

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quidfree · 3 years

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Not og asker but

Wuthering Heights, Great Gatsby, and Stephen King (in general) pls

these are mostly just my various thoughts rather than Hot Takes since it's been a minute since i read any of them but regardless if anyone disagrees with any of these just know you are incorrect.

quidfree's literary opinions hour

wuthering heights

the best brontë novel, no contest. i am actually of that rare breed who enjoys all 3 brontë sisters but i think for all that anne is the only one with a sane view of romance agnes grey is boring and jane eyre is too one-sided of a fiasco (jane get out girl you're in danger). wuthering heights is just filled with terrible people making horrible choices and is hands down the most fun as a result.

on that note people who find it 2 grim/depressing you are in fact just weak and ripe for natural selection.

people who say wuthering heights is a romance/romantic are deranged. it's a gothic Romantic (capitalised) comedy of errors greek tragedy Novel that eludes categorisation and every protagonist in it is the worst. cathy and heathcliff are So Bad to/for each other. yes they are also iconic and very fun to read about but good god how do people find them dreamy they literally drive each other to the grave through pettiness and bad communication. emily brontë says this in the damn book. this is not twilight people (despite s meyer's delusions).

that being said cathy and heathcliff are both intensely cool literary characters largely due to what natural shape-shifters they are (and their whole Nature v Society identity crisis). i think 90% of takes about them are incorrect because they don't pay enough attention to heathcliff and cathy's penchant for self-reinvention and what it says about them. plus obv they're intensely extra so we love that for them.

cathy linton (next gen) is an icon who should have gotten to spit on linton and heathcliff's graves on the page where i could read it. i wish her and hareton the best despite the cousins thing.

lockwood does that thing walton in frankenstein does where they're both incredibly obnoxious and entertainingly wrong about everything and their narration serves as funny bookends/mise en abime to the story bc it's like wow. you have 0 judge of character you pompous idiot.

this isn't a hot take i just want to take the time and say that the tone/writing in this book is so damn good. what a mood-setter. what iconic lines. 'i am heathcliff!' drama. we love.

great gatsby

read this in middle school so my memory is foggy.

fun. chaotic. messy. basically kind of like watching a good season of like, skins or gossip girl or whatever that brand of tv melodrama is called.

i'm kind of loathe to say any given big novel is over-analysed bc i'm very into over-analysis myself and thus find it hard to judge where the limit lies but i do think gatsby is perhaps a simpler novel than it is given praise for being. though i do love a Societal Critique always (see: wuthering heights). it's good, it's fine, it's. maybe not The Definitive Novel Of All Time. i don't think any Definitive Of All Time should be about the #struggles of the rich and pretty.

jordan baker >>>>>>> rest of the cast

why does no one ever talk about the weirdly present antisemitism in this book lol

i think reading gatsby as a man of color is really good and interesting actually. not to downplay people's gay agenda when it comes to gatsby (the subtext is there to a level that nick is pretty much explicitly suspected of it in canon) but i think this is the more interesting read of it.

i love an unreliable narrator! especially when said unreliable narrator drops hints/is called out for it in text!

baz luhrmann is literally a faultless movie-maker and his aesthetic was Perfect for an adaptation. that being said romeo + juliet 1996 still beats it hands down

stephen king

good idea guy, not very good writer

i've only read..... it, back before it blew up, and i think carrie many moons ago, and maybe some random less famous stories of his? but like. as much as he's responsible for some of the most iconic horror america has produced, you can tell this man bangs out 832 books a year and that his most famous ones were done while he was high off his fucking rocker. which i do not mean in a complimentary fashion

i honestly think stephen king is lucky more talented writers have been tasked with adapting his source material and retroactively attributing good dialogue/storylines/ENDINGS to him lol. like SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is a stephen king adaptation, which is insane.

that being said he does have a lot of iconic premises/stories and he's not /bad/ at the basics of writing by a long shot. he just has a knack for over-complicating said stories with weird surplus to tie into his 'verse which makes him do that moffat thing (see bbc sherlock or doctor who or anything else moffat touches w his grubby hands) that weighs down everything good he had going on for meaningless Multiverse shenanigans. and also a very airplane literature level of nuance to his text sometimes- there's not much beyond what's on the page.

i know it was the coke but why did he make them have an orgy in it. why stephen. why did you make the child have sex with all the other children unprompted. would the blood oath not have sufficed.

that being said while it 2017 is a great coming of age film it 2019 is a hot mess and the book does everything better.

#qui repond #qui parle #literature #lore #wuthering heights #the great gatsby #stephen king #anon

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anghraine · 3 years

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It’s occurred to me that two of my least favourite scenes in two very different adaptations are ... basically the same.

(Predictably, ranting negativity re: Jackson’s LOTR and Davies’s P&P under the cut)

I’ve talked about the P&P 1995 one bugging me before, but it’s the scene at Netherfield where Darcy snaps out “and yours is wilfully to misunderstand them” and it’s all UST-ish. The dialogue is almost word for word taken from the book and I’ve seen it praised as one of the best scenes on more than one occasion, but for me it kind of epitomizes my issues with the whole adaptation and esp the treatment of Darcy, because of how the supposed fidelity is executed.

(This is considering it as an adaptation and not TV—it’s good TV, but it is also an adaptation that’s praised to the skies for fidelity and that’s where a lot of my annoyance comes from.)

The thing is, the whole snappish UST deal between Elizabeth and Darcy is not their dynamic in the book—not mutually. Austen’s Darcy smiles as he delivers his line, and is repeatedly described as smiling in that phase of the novel. At Pemberley, Elizabeth remembers this when she recognizes the same smile in his portrait (we immediately thereafter hear that it was painted when his idolized father was alive, IMO suggesting that he feels around her the way he did at that easier, happier part of his life).

So all indication is that he enjoys being around her and having their back and forths. He doesn’t understand that it’s not enjoyable banter to Elizabeth—at least not in the same way that it is for him, and the disparity in their reactions is a major part of the point of those scenes.

On the face of it, converting Darcy smiling to Darcy snapping might not seem a monumental difference, but I think it really does change the entire tenor of the scene, and replacing Darcy’s smiles with irritable or brooding moments is a thing that adaptation does really often and yet it’s supposed to be the One True P&P and esp the One True Darcy.

>_<

As for LOTR, the scene I’m thinking of is the (initial) confrontation between Gandalf and Denethor. In general, the movies very persistently downplay Denethor and his family’s qualities. Like, Tolkien repeatedly associates Denethor with Aragorn and that is just—not there in the films, at all, because Aragorn is made so super special and Denethor so awful. Meanwhile, book!Gandalf’s warning to Pippin about Denethor shows a level of respect for the Stewards and particularly Denethor that is completely inverted in the film, where he describes them as “lesser men.” >:(

Anyway, film!Gandalf’s response to Denethor in that scene is very similar to the book in terms of the written dialogue, like the P&P scene. But in the film scene, Gandalf seems angry and tacks on steward in a tone of utter disdain. IIRC the line immediately following this in the book (“for I also am a steward”) is cut out to make that contempt work (this also reminds me of 1995 P&P cutting out “God bless you” from Darcy’s letter to make their treatment of it work, though it’s worse than that). But in the book, after that scene, Gandalf classes Denethor in with himself again.

To be sure, he does not seem to really approve of Denethor in that moment; he’s quietly rebuking him. But that is something very different from film!Gandalf’s contempt for Denethor and the Stewardship. Book!Gandalf has a clear respect for Denethor’s abilities and stature and his arc is treated as the tragic fall of a genuinely great man. The film, otoh, pretty clearly had zero respect for Denethor and zero interest in him as a towering figure who finally breaks.

And ... yeah, I think they bother me so much for the same reason: superficial fidelity combined with radical changes of the underlying dynamic/tone/emotional beats in the service of an easier, more generic narrative. It’s easier to treat Denethor as a contemptible obstacle to the right-minded characters. It’s easier to make Darcy out to be a brooding, snappish romance hero.

Sure, they can go for the easier route if they want to, obviously. But it’s incredibly grating in adaptations that claim fidelity.

#anghraine rants #/#//#///#////#/////#legendarium fanwank #austen fanwank #lord of the rings movies #pride and prejudice 1995 #fitzwilliam darcy #elizabeth bennet #otp of otps #denethor #gandalf #sure i'm a book purist but tbh pseudo-fidelity bothers me vaaaastly more than loose adaptations

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moonmothmama · 3 years

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@renmorris i read it years ago actually! i do remember it being very good, though i could probably do with a reread at this point (right now i’m on another reread of Dracula)

there are some really good takes on Renfield out there, but in my heart, i like my own best (i have A Lot Of Thoughts). don’t we all though!

as for Seward Sanitorium, yeah absolutely! i mean obviously Stoker downplayed that stuff so as not to offend the delicate victorian sensibilities of his readers, but i mean... as much as Dr. Seward is one of the heroes, he also was like “i think i’ll fuck with my favorite patient today and see what happens” wow so ethical! that’s a person’s mental health, not your personal sandbox to play in, my man

it’s fucked up BUT i do think that the interplay between Seward and Renfield is absolutely the most interesting part of the book*, because they’re like weird parallels to each other in some ways. as i said i am rereading Dracula now, so we’ll see how much liberty i’ve taken with the story in my thoughts, but- Seward is so consumed with his work, so isolated from his peers, that Renfield is kind of the closest thing to a friend he has during the events of the novel. their relationship is super weird and the contrast of these two sad bastards is really fascinating.

obviously we know who my favorite is between the two of them, but.

*- and tragically, it’s usually one of the first things tossed out when the adaptation to film or television is made (along with the complexity and depth of Lucy and/or Mina as characters, and Quincey’s entire existence)

i feel precariously close to going on a tirade about Renfield and really fucked up power dynamics but i’m gonna save that for after i’ve got the actual text of Dracula fresh in my mind rather than just going off of all the thoughts i’m eternally stewing on

#blogging on my blog #renfield #dracula #r. m. renfield

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dear-wormwoods · 4 years

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What were the main changes made to Sonia Kaspbrak in the 1990, 2017 and 2019 adaptations? Do you think that audiences were meant to interpret her as abusive or overprotective?

I think both adaptations downplayed her abusive nature and made her more overprotective, but IT 2017 did the best job of acknowledging that she was giving Eddie medications he didn’t need to keep control over him. IT 2019 made her seem sympathetic and scared when IT was taking her form in the flashback and her lasting impact on Eddie was never really acknowledged - I’ve said this before, but this issue would’ve easily been fixed by having Eddie face her in the final fight in a similar way to Bev having to briefly face her father again. It would’ve continued the thread established in Chapter One and gone a long way toward making Eddie a more dynamic character than Chapter Two currently portrays him as. And IT 1990… she’s barely in it, and her impact on Eddie is never really addressed, so she’s definitely just an overprotective mom in the miniseries, which is one of my biggest gripes with it (that and cutting Eddie’s arm breaking - I’m not sure why they did that, since they were generally pretty faithful to the novel).

I think it’s difficult to portray emotional abuse and factitious disorder in a role that is small. It was difficult enough to really get it across in Sharp Objects and that was a miniseries where the abuser had a major role. It’s just so much easier to get that particular type of abuse across in writing, and even then you kind of already have to know about it to see the signs. The novel had the opportunity to give us an entire chapter from Sonia’s POV that makes it impossible to see her as anything other than a monster, because we get insight into WHY she does the things she does, and how aware she is of what she’s doing. The movies and miniseries didn’t have that luxury, but there were ways they could’ve done things differently to make it a little more obvious. And including her in the final battle in Ch.2 would’ve made an enormous difference, as it would’ve forced Eddie to verbally acknowledge the damage she did.

But yeah, hands down Ch.1 does the best job of the three, it’s the only one that attempts to make her ulterior motives come across on screen. I think in Ch.1 the audience WAS meant to know she wasn’t just being overprotective, that there was something nefarious going on there, but Ch.2 didn’t follow through with that in any meaningful way and generally didn’t take Eddie seriously at all, so it lessened the impact of Ch.1′s Sonia. And the miniseries definitely took the easy way out too by cutting her role down to the bare minimum and portraying her as overprotective and nagging. If anyone wants the full picture of Sonia, they would need to read the novel (or at least her chapter in Eddie’s Bad Break).

#asks #stephen king's it #it novel #it 2017 #it 2019 #it 1990 #eddie kaspbrak #sonia kaspbrak #Anonymous #it meta #meta #my meta

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joandfriedrich · 4 years

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Little Women 2019 Review

I finally watched the 2019 version of Little Women. I’ve got quite a lot to say.

The Good:

The cast is good, I think everyone in it is a good actor but there’s a few hiccups, more later. Louis Garrel was a good Friedrich, Eliza Scanlen and Florence Pugh were good for their roles (Please note, this is my first time seeing any of these actors so I was still up in the air of how they would have performed these roles). Timothee Chalamet is such a good Laurie, you like him and you understand why Amy would fall for him, but you also see why he wouldn’t have been good for Jo. And I do agree, the apron scene is pretty hot.

There were a few moments that were chuckle worthy and did hit home, particularly, once it was put into context, the moment when Jo is talking about possibly accepting Laurie’s proposal and talks about how she is tired of people saying that as a women is is expected to be made for marriage, but ending with how she is lonely. I felt that.

The Meh:

I wasn’t exactly a big fan of the jumping back and forth, but it wasn’t too terrible. I know there were a lot of people who didn’t like it but it wasn’t the worst thing. There were moments where I was confused and worried we weren’t going to get to certain scenes, but it was neither the worst thing nor the best thing about it. Also, was anyone else like not digging the weird speaking to the camera while writing a letter? Friedrich, Jo and Mr. Dashwood all did it and it felt really out of place, like that style belonged more in a documentary rather than a film.

The Bad:

I know I am going to get some hate, but here we go. I didn’t like this one. It is certainly better than the 1970s BBC version, I give you that, but this. Let me sum it up in one sentence: It was trying too hard. It was trying to hard to make the story feel modern when it’s not supposed to be, it’s set in the Civil War era and obviously not everyone is going to be as forward thinking as we are. Also it tried too hard to be feminist. The novel was already a feminist novel, and I will stand by that statement even beyond death. So the scenes where you get characters who go on these speeches about how difficult it is being a woman or talking about the war and what have you just felt very contrived and unnecessary.

I stand by again this thought: Amy must be played by two actresses, one a child and one an adult. Amy is such a good character and Florence Pugh played older Amy very well, but she is much to old to play a child and so her scenes do not feel genuine. I watched it with my mom and my mom said “This was the first time I had really thought ‘Amy that was childish’, and it caught me off guard because Amy is supposed to be a child. You don’t get the same sense of sympathy or understanding of her in this movie.” And I agree. Also, can we stop using the trope of sticking bangs on a grown woman and say “Boom you are a child.” I personally never thought of bangs as being childish but this is something I have seen modern media do to try to convince us that an actress in her 20s is supposed to be a girl in her early teens. Let’s stop that. Florence Pugh has a naturally deeper tone of voice, so to hear that while looking at “young Amy” was jarring and unbelievable. Edit: yes, there are some children who have deeper voices, what I mean is that she sounds very womanly rather than a small child. Another thing that made her being a child not believable.

I was hugely disappointed when we didn’t get to see or utilize certain actors. Louis Garrel and James Norton were hugely downplayed and were barely in the movie, which is a shame considering that 1, they are good actors and 2, their characters are so good as well, and having them in the story more would have made the movie feel more fleshed out. It strangely felt condensed and not fully fleshed out which is odd because there were moments I went “Oh look, they included that from the book”, but thinking back, it was the small things they added and seemed to shortened the bigger things. The film really downplayed Meg and Beth to make Jo and Amy the more prominent sisters, so it felt less like it was a film about sisters and more about certain sisters who’s stories are more interesting than the other two. That was the vibe I felt when watching it.

I didn’t like the way Jo was presented here. Saoirse Ronan is an amazing actress, and she acted her heart out, but I didn’t like Jo in this. Particularly the scene where she and Friedrich are discussing her writing and she pretty much throws a temper tantrum when he says he doesn’t like it. I totally get her being upset, any writer would feel hurt, but she pretty much was like “You big meanie, you are not my friend because you big meanie!” So it didn’t make the supposed happy reunion feel right with me, it almost made me feel as though Friedrich could do better, and that is saying a lot coming from me. She reminded me of Katherine Hepburn’s version of Jo but not the good parts, the over the top bits.

I hated the ending. I know that Jo does canonically write a story about her sisters in Little Men, but the lines being blurred about whether or not it all was real or not wasn’t my favorite. Especially when it felt as though her being with Friedrich wasn’t real. It almost made me think, why bothering to even include Friedrich if it wasn’t going to have a good payoff? And the film had some really great Friedrich and Jo moments, but it was all for naught when she left New York after her fight and her dismissive attitude towards him during the visit. I don’t know, it felt very inconsistent and thus made me feel as though the ending wasn’t real, and in general, the film made me wonder if any of the events of the story were real at all.

Some people felt that Greta Gerwig was robbed of a nomination and some think that if the movie is nominated so then should the director. I disagree. I was not too pleased with the direction of the film. I hated how it felt like they all were screaming, toppling over each other and acting so wild especially when they have no reason to act so out of place. It made me cringe and did not feel as though we were getting a proper sense of family, of them working and loving together when all they did was shout and not listen to each other. There was no sense of them growing with each other. It didn’t feel like Little Women.

In short: 2 out of 5 stars. Not the worst Little Women adaptation, but not the best, and certainly not my favorite, it was just trying too hard. If you disagree, please discuss it peacefully and kindly. I am open to hear other people’s opinions, but let us all be civil about this.

#little women #little women 2019

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x0401x · 4 years

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Why do you think the writers of the Tsurune anime decided to tone down masamina and outright cut out kaisei while pushing for sei/mina instead? It's just so baffling to me why they would alter the canon content from the novels so much. Like, what was even the point?

I’ve answered this question quite a few times before, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever made the point entirely clear, so here we go one last time. Sorry that it turned out so long.

So, in novels and manga or any written medium, creators normally have more freedom to do what they want, but when it comes to TV series, animators have been developing the habit of toning down whatever they can. Most of them have this conviction that the viewers only want to watch calm and relaxing stuff nowadays. Other than this, we get adaptations of popular works that basically exist to promote the source material, most of which rush up towards the end like crazy. It does seem like the Japanese audience has an obsession with comfort animes now, since life in Japan gets more and more stressful with each passing year, but it’s not like they’ve abandoned other genres. This general belief that creators should water down the contents however they can is pretty much destroying the industry, and it’s probably what the animators of Tsurune had in mind when changing the novel’s events into a much less dramatic versions or just cutting them off. That’s issue number 1 with the anime.

Issue number 2 is that animators of adaptations tend to ignore the reader demographic in favor of making the series neutral to please all audiences lately. But that’s only when the majority of the readers are women and girls. If it’s guys, you’d rarely see alterations. It feels like the general conception is that making the contents less “cringy” for men means more people will be watching it and having a positive opinion. It seems to completely slip the staff’s minds that the fans they disappoint mostly won’t feel willing to buy the DVDs or merchandise. This is where most of these adaptations fall flat, by the way. It’s kind of really obvious to me that these series are more prone to succeeding if the studios animate what the readers fell in love with, because the originals are popular for a reason, and it’s that people liked them the way they were. I think it’s only the expected when readers are disappointed not to see animes live up to the expectations, and that whoever picks the source material will feel the difference as well. Still, if the anime isn’t a BL, there’s this unsaid rule that you can’t show too much gay between male characters unless you have an excuse for it. Normally, nakama power and rivalry is what does the trick. I don’t think I need to mention that this is the standard in sports animes.

In the Tsurune novel, most of the gay doesn’t have an excuse. Of course, it’s not officially gay unless canon states it, but the books not only don’t give any justification for it, they get rid of possible justifications, so while you can’t say it’s not fanservice, you can’t label it as just fanservice, either. For a studio that banks off fanservice like KyoAni, that’s a problem, especially since the novel is packed with heavy scenes and even heavier quotes.

I mean, in Masaki and Minato’s case, they don’t have the nakama power or rivalry elements, so one possible excuse for them being so close would be that they’re master and disciple. But Minato makes it clear quite early in the story that Masaki doesn’t have to be his master because just having Masaki’s company is enough for him, and all in all, the two of them have a much more affectionate relationship than the other teacher-student ones from the books. Another excuse would be the found family dynamics, but Masaki already shares that with Kaito, who canonically sees Masaki as the older brother he never had, and their relationship is unlike Masaki and Minato’s as well. Kaito also has a monologue in volume 2 about Masaki treating Minato differently from everyone else in the club, and the way he describes it denotes that Minato is Masaki’s favorite, and that Masaki doesn’t bother hiding it. Just as a cherry on top, Minato often loses his rationality when it comes to Masaki despite being a serious kid, and he’s very verbal about wanting to monopolize Masaki. Add fate to the mix and you have the perfect recipe for anything except an ordinary mentor-pupil relationship.

As for Kaito and Seiya, there was a lot going on between them since the beginning, but the nakama power excuse only starts applying late in volume 1, because they didn’t get along very well at first. And even then the nakama stuff hardly applies to their interactions, where Seiya often acts like Kaito has a thing for him, for no reason other than Kaito’s reactions being amusing. Their relationship also does some big strides in the middle of volume 1, and Seiya literally migrates to Kaito’s side at some point. They don’t seem to have a friendship as strong as the one between Seiya, Minato and Ryouhei, but it’s Kaito who Seiya interacts with the most in volume 2 and he’s also the one that Seiya leans on whenever he needs any sort of assistance. There’s other unexplainable things here and there, such as Seiya taking a peek at Kaito’s sleeping face when it’s just the two of them in the room, or him implying that Kaito is jealous of the motherly attention he gives Minato. It goes on as far as the novel does. There’s literally no scene with the two of them that doesn’t make it look like Kaito is really into Seiya and that Seiya owns his ass but he’s the last one to know.

Back to the main point, it’s really hard to animate all of this without giving people “ideas”. For KyoAni, any gay exists ultimately for the sake of fetishization, and they often follow the “ship whatever you want, even yourself with the characters” model. If being gay is canonically a character trait in the original, it’s out (Violet Evergarden is probably the best example of that one), and if the gay can’t be interpreted as something else, it’s either out or downplayed. In Seiya and Minato’s case, that’s perfectly feasible. Not only are they best friends, they also have a familial relationship where Seiya treats Minato like a son. Minato has sworn eternal friendship to Seiya in the novel, and both he and Kaito describe Seiya as something like a helicopter parent. There’s more than enough counter-argument to remind the viewers that, whatever happens between Minato and Seiya, it’s all a product of their childhood friend bond. Anyone is free to interpret it differently in fanon, but the viewers (at least the Japanese ones) are ultimately aware that the anime is in its “safe zone”, portraying a friendship. Nobody on the Japanese side of the fandom actually believed that there was romance going on in it. On the other hand, if you search in Japanese for people’s impressions of MasaMina, you’ll notice people often saying that the novel makes you wonder if Minato and Masaki aren’t actually dating, or if Minato doesn’t have a puppy crush on Masaki, at the very least. Basically, everyone seems to agree that what goes on between those two is hard to define, but whatever it is, there’s this very particular, “special” air about them that differs from the rest of the characters, which normally manifests when they’re alone together.

As you can tell, this overall view is the opposite of the animators’ ideal. If the novel had been animated the way it is, it would’ve probably felt like a BL for the people watching. Not only does it come with practically set ships, it also doesn’t give much space for the proverbial “ship even yourself with the characters” option. To put it bluntly, the animation went through those changes so that it could fit the mold. It gave us SeiMina and even some NanaKai (the latter being honestly disturbing, since they’re cousins), while either toning down or erasing the rest of the duo and trio interactions. It made Minato’s accident with his mom actually seem like Seiya’s fault and didn’t really take the burden off his shoulders but instead swept it under the rug. It also made Masaki seem like a two-faced bastard who only became a coach for the sake of revenge, which means he was using his students (actual 15/16-year-olds) for his own personal gains. Shuu and Minato’s friendship went down the drain, Ryouhei was pushed aside as if Seiya was Minato’s only childhood friend, Nanao was never depicted as his own person, and the girls didn’t even exist 90% of the time. So yeah, none of the changes served any good purpose for the characters’ images. All it did was (try to) fill a quota.

Personally, this whole thing feels like we’re being told to the face, “we’ve given you what you want, now give us your money”. It brings me back to interviews I’ve read featuring Stars Align director Akane Kazuki and his statements about the anime industry being in a pinch, specifically because animators nowadays keep trying to make a fool out of the audience for monetary ends. Seems clear to me that the staff thought the female viewers would latch onto anything as long as it looked remotely gay, and that’s why I was so angry back then. Being looked down on like this by people who expect us to consume their media is pretty offensive, in my opinion. I’m glad there’s at least one creator speaking up about this matter and using the exact same arguments as I have been for more than two years now.

#tsurune #tsurune kazemai koukou kyuudoubu #narumiya minato #takigawa masaki #onogi kaito #takehaya seiya #wow i can't believe i'm getting asks about tsurune in 2020

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marysfoxmask · 3 years

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the secret garden (1949) - why it’s my favorite adaptation

hello @renee-mariposa! thank you so much for the ask! while i believe i have answered a question like this before, i don’t think i’ve elaborated as much as i’d like to. so allow me to wax poetic on my favorite adaptation, the secret garden (1949)!

intro

this adaptation really stands out, i think, because of the the era it was made in; i don’t think you could get an adaptation aimed towards kids that is such a sentimental, gothic-lite melodrama with these days, at least without aggressively telegraphing its more emotional moments a la pixar/disney; it’s amusingly blunt and straightforward in that regard, much like the children at its center. there’s not much syrupiness at all. the child actors (margaret o’brien as mary and dean stockwell as colin) are fast-talking as any actor of that era, but in my opinion, the film’s clearly scripted dialogue just makes all the kids seem amusingly precocious.

actors

margaret o’brien as mary is great. i love her stridency, her snobbishness. unlike other adaptations, which downplay mary’s contrariness to the point where her character arc comes across as too subtle by half, the movie upgrades it. not only is 1949 mary contrary, her sullenness has been replaced by a shrillness, snobbery, and the tendency to run to emotional extremes (not to mention a healthy helping of classism). she alienates herself from the other children on the ship to england purposefully, finding them inferior to herself, then attempts to physically fight another passenger when the child calls archibald a hunchback. while this characterization isn’t book-accurate (book mary is a mix of fiery and sullen that none of the films capture accurately imo), i prefer this characterization of her to the closed-off sullenness of the 1993 version or the palatably traumatized 2020 version. 1949 mary isn’t given an obvious freudian excuse for her issues; her parents are just as neglectful, but the film puts the onus on mary for being contrary, which is weirdly refreshing and more attuned to the novel’s perspective. (that isn’t to say that mary’s traumatic early childhood didn’t inform her character in any meaningful way, or that the adults around mary aren’t responsible for how she turned out--but imo the films tend to take an un-nuanced view of the situation in order to make her a more palatable, sympathetic character, which is vastly less interesting than a complicated, flawed one no matter if the character is a child or not). when mary’s character develops and she becomes sweeter, it’s much more impactful as a result of this earlier narrative choice.

brian roper, who was 20 at the time (crazy, right?), plays dickon, and he plays him with a sweet affability that’s hard not to enjoy. he’s a little mischievous, laughing at mary when she accidentally speaks yorkshire (i’ll talk about that in a bit), and has, in a nice touch that i’ve strangely only seen in in the 1994 straight-to-dvd animated film, just as much of a passionate interest in the secret garden as mary does. dickon isn’t treated as mystically as other adaptations, save for the tendency to disappear strangely quickly just when mary happens to turn around (which is a nice nod to his quasi-magical aspects without being distracting, and also adds to mary’s sense of displacement/confusion on the mysterious misselthwaite grounds). he also gets a surprising amount to do in this adaptation, which i love, as someone who strongly believes his character has been under-served in all the film adaptations thus far. in this film, he gets to even enter misselthwaite manor by climbing up ivy into colin’s room in the middle of a storm (albeit offscreen), which is just the kind of adventurous, dramatic touch i enjoy. he also gets probably more dialogue than any of the other dickons (whoo!), as he makes a couple minor declarations--nothing super ham-fisted and melodramatic, as i said the screenplay is rather straightforward and devoid of a lot of corniness you might expect from a children’s film made in the ‘40s, especially with this kind of source material--that are heartfelt without being cloying (one of the benefits of having an older actor playing this kind of role).

colin, played by dean stockwell, is a weaker element to me. he does a good job alternating between screaming (and this movie contains a lot of screaming) and being sweet when the movie calls for it, but i don’t think he was the best choice for colin. while i think it’s awful to criticize a teen actor (stockwell was 13 at the time) for being baby-faced, the fact that he looks significantly younger than o’brien (who was 12) means that his tantrums come off as less a result of arrested development than they should. while he speaks as stiltedly as 2020 colin (who i personally think was one of the best elements of that film), it’s unclear whether that’s the result of the ‘40s fashion of expressing dialogue or a characteristic choice (i’m guessing the former). he can’t help but pale compared to o’brien’s mary, though he is perfectly adequate. he just didn’t stand out for me.

i summed up my feelings of elsa lanchester as martha in my previous, brief review of the movie back in june: “the one major flaw, i think, is actually martha, played by elsa lanchester; her portrayal is odd, feels definitely tone-deaf. her constant shrieking laughter feels very forced and unconvincing. in her few scenes, she jars everything to a halt in terms of believability.” she was significantly older than brian roper, being in her ‘40s playing a character heavily implied to be in her mid-teens to early twenties, and as a result feels out of her depth. her establishing scene is probably the worst, although i’ve warmed to her other scenes as time’s gone by.

tone/atmosphere

in general, i think the ‘49 film does a wonderful job expressing the gothic implications of the original book, even emphasizing them by casting misselthwaite manor largely in shadow and having mary and mrs. medlock first arrive in a carriage pulled by black horses on a dark, stormy night. it makes the bright outdoor scenery seem that much more inviting in comparison. burnett’s robin is also replaced by a raven, who also takes on aspects of dickon’s crow soot, as he is friends with dickon and hops on his shoulder occasionally. while it divulges from burnett’s book, i think a raven makes a little more sense in this adaptation, which amps up the eeriness of the original story; it gives mary’s journey a little more of a fairytale aspect, i think, and is overall an understandable and palatable change.

plot

the big plot development that divulges from the novel is the presence of a subplot where, due to a misunderstanding of an axe and a tree in the titular garden, mary and dickon fall under the impression that archibald killed lilias. now, this is a pretty bizarre plot, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t take up much of the film; it’s charming in its strangeness, and fits well with the idea of innocent children struggling to understand the complicated adult world—which is itself a theme original to the story that i’m kind of a sucker for, in general. it also serves as a bonding point for dickon and mary, whose friendship largely feels passed over in film adaptations.

and, of course, there’s the big plot-breaking point near the end, where archibald goes to tell colin that he’s selling misselthwaite and going to move to europe with him. an obvious plot point that conflicts with this scene is that colin, in the book, has no relationship with his father. again, it’s an odd adaptational choice meant to amp up the stakes, but it doesn’t impede my enjoyment of the film as a whole. the presence of two doctors—one, a hapless neville craven figure named dr. griddlestone, and the other is obviously inspired from the book’s “doctor from london,” who insisted all colin needed was fresh air, food, and exercise—gives the film some psychological weight. despite the disappointing element of all of colin’s neuroses being blatantly the result of his father’s emotional ailments, which i think is a lazy way of reading the original novel’s portrayal of colin’s illness, i think the way this development was executed in the film was tolerable—and i’m a sucker for children’s films that don’t think anything of including long conversations between adults about psychological issues. like, you can’t help but respect a film like that!

the garden

something i also love about this adaptation is that the garden isn’t a huge part of it; it represents more of a place where mary and dickon and colin can foster ideas and grow rather than a place of orgasmic beauty. there’s not a surplus of lavish panning shots, really, like in the ‘93 film, and it lacks the magical realism of the 2020 film. the garden itself is more transparently a plot device, which i actually like—it gives more room for the children to center themselves.

individual scenes

and the pacing of the film is actually really nice, i think—probably the best out of all the films. i love the ‘93 film with all my heart, and it’s definitely gorgeous in its own right, but i think it gets a little sluggish; this film is paced beautifully. there’s no fat, really.

there’s a scene i really love that shows the passage of time from winter to spring in a super succinct, stupidly obvious way that nonetheless works because of the innocent sweetness of o’brien’s delivery. like, it’s very old-fashioned and sentimental, but gah, it gets me every time.

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it’s time to talk about the scream scene!

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this film stole my heart the minute mary screamed wholeheartedly at colin that she hopes he dies. there’s a dark comedy to this whole scene; these two maladjusted, spoiled children trying to out-scream one another while tearing down curtains and knocking down tables full of food higgledy-piggledy?? you just can’t get better than that!

if you’re adapting the secret garden, i strongly feel you can’t soften the children’s meanness, their sharpness and ugliness. their tantrums must be harsh and grating and horrible! they have to really let loose! the rawness of the children’s emotional dysfunction contrasted against the buttoned-up stiffness of edwardian england is one of the fascinating aspects of the novel i love to think about, and you just can’t get that contrast if you don’t have the children be genuine terrors! i think this scene puts that nicely, more nicely than any of the other films, which pussyfoot around colin’s intense tantrum too much to be nearly as effective. i get giddy whenever this scene comes on; it’s brilliant.

there are so many little details from the book that i love: that the children speak yorkshire to one another, mary singing her ayah’s song to colin,

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dickon’s “i will cum bak” note (here written as “i will kum back”), the mention of dickon’s mother sending them bread to eat to make them strong. it’s all so nicely implemented, and reminds me of the joy of reading the book for the first time.

but the scene i love most is one entirely made up for the film. in it, mary tells colin about the garden, but wraps it up in fiction wherein it’s a sort of child’s eden, only accessible for children like themselves. that gets to the heart of why i love the book moreso than any other adaptation i can think of. it’s a children’s paradise where the innocent, inherent goodness of children reigns. it makes me tear up almost every time, despite the scene’s brevity.

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miscellaneous

there are some little details that i love about this film: the fact that mrs. sowerby is spotted in one scene where we see dickon at his home, feeding a lamb (and the implication that mary was so darn excited about finding the key to the garden that she ran all the way to the sowerbys’ cottage, five miles away from misselthwaite, to show dickon), mary’s clearly false story to colin about being surrounded by tigers and elephants in india, mary threatening to tear people’s gizzards out, mary telling dickon she hates him because he (gasp) dared to know about colin so she couldn’t reveal his existence to him...there’s a lot to enjoy about this film. it definitely isn’t the most accurate to the book, but it’s one of those films that i could watch over and over again.

aside from some superfluous subplots, it’s a lean adaptation that still captures all the essential elements of the book to at least to a degree. i can easily imagine some very indignant little girls in 1949 insisting that no, the raven was a robin in the book, and there was no implications of murder, either, but i love it in all its simplicity. i think you need a little old-fashioned sentiment to make a film adaptation of the secret garden successful.

#the secret garden #frances hodgson burnett #the secret garden 1949 #mary lennox #dickon sowerby #colin craven #margaret o'brien #dean stockwell #brian roper #elsa lanchester

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nyerus · 4 years

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MDZS vs. The Untamed

Differences between “Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” (Mó Dào Zǔ Shī - 魔道祖师) and its live drama adaptation “The Untamed” (Chén Qíng Lìng - 陈情令)

(If you want to skip right to the differences, please see below the cut!)

I’ve recently fallen into the MXTX fandom by crying through TGCF and I’ve been delighted to see that I’m not the only one who’s been newly inducted. I've been seeing so much of the live action adaptation of MDZS, i.e. CQL, on my dash, and I'm so happy about it. After watching it, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to make a post cataloging the differences between CQL and MDZS for those interested. (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ The goal of this post is for two reasons: First, to help people who are totally new to MDZS and are starting out with CQL as their entry, and then reading the novel (or going to the donghua/manhua). This will hopefully help them get their bearings in regards to the fandom, so that they won't be confused when coming across certain content that isn't in the live drama. Second, this is to help folks who have already read the novel/etc to understand what's different in the live action, so when/if they choose to watch CQL, they aren't caught off-guard by any changes. (I won't get into the manhua/donghua in this post because it's already too long as it is.) Hopefully, this will also help bridge the gap between fans, so that we can have a fun and shared experienced over this incredible world brought to us by MXTX! This post is split into two distinct sections: one without any major spoilers, and one with spoilers. If you want to be as unspoiled as possible and just want to know the big differences between the novel and drama, please read only the first portion. The second //spoiler-filled// portion is divided into other major and minor differences, and is mainly intended for people who have experienced at least one version already. Additionally, if you are completely new to MDZS, there are things which may seem like spoilers to you, but happen in like the first page of the novel/in the summary itself (or in the first 10mins of the first episode), and will not be treated as such. I will do what I can to keep actual spoilers out of the first section….

Before jumping right into it though, I think it’s time to say that many of the differences in CQL are in large part due to the strict censorship laws that China has. Unfortunately, we just have to live with this fact. Thankfully for us, the creators of CQL have earnestly tried their best in keeping the major points and themes of MDZS in tact, and have really stuck to the spirit of the series. Kudos to them and the actors for their hard work!

SPOILER-FREE DIFFERENCES

There is no explicit romance between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji in CQL. They are literally called soulmates right in the CQL summary, and there are very obvious romantic undertones to their relationship in the drama—but there is nothing explicit on-screen. Naturally, due to censorship. While the novel has the two in an intimate (and very explicit) relationship where they end up literally married, the show tones this down to something more subtle. It’s still pretty obvious that they’re in love though. (Especially in the 20-episode wangxian special edition.) Also, they always seem to be sharing a room with one bed….

The plot is modified for CQL. In the novel, the plot revolves around Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji following an aggrieved spirit as they uncover the truth of what’s going on. In CQL, this was changed from the dismembered arm of said spirit to a sword, but it serves virtually the same purpose as it does in the novel. The other real major difference with the plot is that something known as “Yin Iron” is what drives a majority of the past’s plot. It has its origins tied to demonic cultivation, which I will explain more below. It doesn’t drastically change the actual plot itself, but does change some motivations, etc. This is not present in the novel.

Wei Wuxian is not the founder of demonic cultivation in the drama. Yes I know this seems whack. After all, the original novel is literally called Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/Founder of Diabolism. But due to censorship laws, they had to change this. Wei Wuxian still uses demonic cultivation, and still invents many things (the compass, the spirit flags, the amulet, etc). He’s still shown as a prodigy—but demonic cultivation is a thing that’s been around long before the story takes place; it’s just that no one uses it except Wei Wuxian. The reason is the existence of the Yin Iron. It was something that was found and revered long ago, and is a source of dark power. Hence, why demonic cultivation already exists, but also why no one follows that path. The necromancy angle is also downplayed in CQL.

Wei Wuxian’s morality is somewhat different. Again, due to censorship restrictions. In the novel, Wei Wuxian is far more of a gray character who does some questionable things. He makes mistakes, there are things which are definitely his fault, and he has many things which he regrets. However in CQL, he is shown more as a victim of circumstance. He’s portrayed as a much more innocent character, who happens to be doing what’s right, and is just continually fucked over. He still does plenty of questionable things, but it’s less so than in the novel. In both versions, he is still Chaotic Good, just the novel emphasizes chaotic, and the drama emphasizes good. Also, CQL doesn’t really portray Wei Wuxian’s breakdown or deteriorating mental health before his death too deeply.

Wei Wuxian’s death in the beginning of the story is different. The novel is much more vague in this regard, and it is more drawn-out. I will return to this point later as well, in regards to spoilers. The live drama has a more… “peaceful” and quick type of death for Wei Wuxian, and given how it’s the very first scene that you see in the show, it may catch novel fans off guard. Still absolutely heart-wrenching though, especially when you see it play out in full later on.

The structure of the live drama’s narrative is different. While MDZS intersperses its main story in the present timeline with flashbacks (as do the donghua and manhua), CQL goes about it differently. After episode 2, CQL takes the viewer all the way to the past and goes through the entire timeline of events which happen leading up to Wei Wuxian’s death as seen in the first few scenes. From episode 3 to episode 33, you are firmly in the past only. Novel readers may find that this causes many things to be revealed quite early on. The change in structure is probably the biggest difference. From episode 33 and onwards, you are back to the present.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s relationship in the present timeline is different to start out with. The novel has Wei Wuxian first operating under the assumption that Lan Wangji doesn’t like him. This eventually turns around, and deepens into a romantic relationship between the two. CQL on the other hand, has present-timeline!Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji having a much more tender relationship from the moment they meet again.

Wei Wuxian’s appearance remains the same after he is resurrected in the drama. While in the novel and other adaptations, Wei Wuxian takes on the appearance of Mo Xuanyu (who happens to look similar to a younger him, luckily enough), this does not happen in the drama. Probably done for convenience’s sake. It is never properly explained other than the fact that along with the soul-summoning spell, Mo Xuanyu did some other things to ensure that Wei Wuxian returned to what looked like his old body. (Some body parts snatching might’ve been involved.) Thus, Wei Wuxian hides his identity by wearing a mask.

Everyone looks the same as they did when they were teenagers. Again, probably just for convenience’s sake. They spend a lot of time in the flashbacks so getting viewers used to one set of faces, and then changing everything would be jarring—and also expensive to swap out actors. So despite a 16 year gap, everyone looks the same with no aging. #cultivatingimmortality

The time gap between Wei Wuxian’s death and resurrection is slightly longer in the drama. It’s 16 years versus 13 years in the novel. Unsure of why the change, as it doesn’t change much apart from serving to make some of the kids older. Some kids’ ages are also slightly altered. It’s not a huge difference and it plays virtually no difference in plot. Also, I can’t confirm it, but everyone seems to start out older as well.

Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, and Xue Yang are encountered much earlier in the drama. Before Wei Wuxian’s death, the three of them are encountered in Yueyang before the start of the Sunshot Campaign. The rest of their story plays out after Wei Wuxian’s resurrection.

Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning attend the classes at Cloud Recesses. This gives them a lot more screen time. Elaborated in spoilers below.

Wen Qing’s relationship with Wen Ruohan is more antagonistic from the start. Just like how Wei Wuxian is shown more as a victim of circumstance, so is Wen Qing (and by extension Wen Ning). Elaborated below.

The next section is spoiler-filled. It’s divided into two parts: major and minor differences. Turn back now if you don’t want serious spoilers for either CQL or MDZS!!!

SPOILER-FILLED MAJOR DIFFERENCES

After the dancing statue/Dafan Mountain incident — Wei Wuxian passed out, and wakes up in Cloud Recesses in Lan Wangji’s room. Both of them know™ already. Thus, Wei Wuxian doesn’t even try to pretend that he’s Mo Xuanyu in front of Lan Wangji, but he keeps up the appearance for other people until he’s figured out. This allows the two of them to have a very private relationship with each other.

Also lending to this, Wei Wuxian dies in a much different way in the drama, and dies knowing that Lan Wangji cares deeply about him. Thus why their relationship on his resurrection is so soft. He knew that Lan Wangji protected him and tried to save him until the very end, and is far more affectionate as a result.

Speaking of his death…. In CQL, Wei Wuxian chooses to basically swan dive off a cliff after seeing the horrors in front of him. It has a very lucid finality to it, and feels as though he has decided that only his death can bring peace, and so he falls back off a cliff—only to be caught momentarily by Lan Wangji. He eventually wrests himself from Lan Wangji’s grasp and falls to his death as Lan Wangji (and Jiang Cheng) watches in horror. The novel is far more vague and hints that he met a more gruesome end.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian essentially make up at the end of the drama—or at least end on decent terms by agreeing to put their past behind them and move on. Wei Wuxian wipes away a stray tear as Jiang Cheng cries in front of him in the temple. After everything is said and done, Jiang Cheng privately and quietly wishes Wei Wuxian well as he leaves with Lan Wangji.

Lan Xichen does not go into seclusion at the end of the drama. Despite his trauma, he’s relatively okay as compared to the novel. The drama doesn’t really comment on this aspect, to be honest.

In CQL, Jiang Yanli attends the classes at Cloud Recesses with her brothers. She is given extra interaction with Jin Zixuan during this. Yanli is in general given way more screen time in CQL. She is present during the destruction of Lotus Pier (she appears with Jiang Fengmian), and escapes with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng to Yiling.

Similarly, Wen Ning and Wen Qing are also present for the classes at Cloud Recesses. This is where they first meet Wei Wuxian (and Jiang Cheng), instead of Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian meeting in Qishan later. This gives all of them a pre-existing relationship before the events at Lotus Pier. Jiang Cheng also harbors a tiny crush on Wen Qing for a little bit. #same

Wen Qing is handled with much more suspicion by Wen Ruohan and Wen Chao, and during the Sunshot Campaign, she is even locked up. She’s saved by Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, but goes her separate way until Wei Wuxian encounters her again after becoming the Yiling Patriarch proper.

Mianmian is shown to be a part of the Jin sect in CQL, and is close to Jin Zixuan. She renounces her ties to Lanling Jin after everyone starts hating on Wei Wuxian.

Mianmian is also encountered in episode 1. She and her family replace the random farmer family they meet once they leave Gusu (for the second time) on their way to the Burial Mounds. The timing of this may also be different. This is because there is no real “epilogue” that takes 3 months later, like the final chapter of MDZS.

Mo Xuanyu was not ostracized for the same reasons as in the novel. In the novel, he’s also thought to be insane, but was thrown out because he supposedly “harassed” Meng Yao (i.e. had romantic feelings for him which were found out and he was driven out of Lanling). In CQL, he was thrown out for “harassing” Qin Su, but in actuality was only trying to reveal the truth about her husband, and was thrown out as an excuse to get rid of him before he became troublesome.

During the hunt in Phoenix Mountain, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian have a heart-to-heart, and establish that they do, in fact, care for one another. (I’m pretty sure they use the word soulmate here, but the subs are like “lifelong confidante” lol.)

The origins of the bunnies is different in CQL, and is tied to Lan Yi—an ancestor of the Lan clan (the one who invented Cord Assassination). Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji find a cave in Gusu during their classmate days, which holds the spirit of Lan Yi. There, she reveals information about the Yin Iron and that she is guarding one piece of it. After all this, Wei Wuxian looks after the bunnies after taking them out of the cave, and as he leaves Cloud Recesses, he leaves them in the care of Lan Wangji.

The Gusu Lan sect is less rekt in CQL, as many of them are able to hide away in the aforementioned cave during the destruction of Cloud Recesses. Su She, then a disciple of Gusu Lan, betrays them by telling Wen Chao that the others are hiding in the cave. He’s summarily kicked out. In the novel, he’s the one that tries to rat out Mianmian when they’re facing the Tortoise of Slaughter. (He is still the one who casts the hundred holes spell on Jin Zixun.)

SPOILER-FILLED MINOR DIFFERENCES

In CQL, after his 33 lashes, Lan Wangji goes into forced seclusion for 3 years first. And then his 13 years of playing Inquiry start. Extra depressing, but it doesn’t change anything else.

The ghost baby that Wang LingJiao sees is replaced with a dismembered eye. Still gory. Don’t really know which one is worse…….. Her death is definitely less gory in CQL, though.

The Stygian Tiger Amulet was made of the strange weapon found in the Tortoise of Slaughter in both the novel and drama, but in CQL, said weapon was actually a fragment of the Yin Iron.

CQL shows a few scenes of Wei Wuxian when he first gets tossed into the Burial Mounds.

Lan Qiren is the head of the Gusu Lan sect, all the way through the story in CQL, including the end. Lan Xichen is never referred to as the sect leader.

Gusu Lan's rules are a little less strict in CQL. And co-ed classmates and cultivators seem to be the norm.

This post is certainly not 100% complete, as it’s just what I managed to pick up as I watched/read and remembered to note down. But if you have questions or comments, please reach out to me and I’ll do my best to answer! I hope this is as accurate as possible, but since I’m flying off memory... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Take care, all! Feel free to drop into my DMs and scream with me! ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ✩‧₊˚

#mdzs #the untamed #cql #mo dao zu shi #mdzs live action #long post #nyerus.txt #oh my god i dont know how many mistakes ive made in this #if there are any im so sorry i tried my best #but ive been working on this so long im not even sure whats real anymore #my eyes are glazing over i gotta just yeet this out there

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theeeveetamer · 4 years

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Could we maybe have one of the opera babies be a show writer? I imagine this kid was probably super inspired by both the stories from the opera and Ingrid’s tales of the omega knights of Faerghus and maybe wanted to try combining the two? Iirc, you mentioned Adrestia had a tendency to downplay the achievements of omegas (even historical ones such as Loog), so maybe this kid wants to write “the real thing”? (Also, Ingrid and Dorothea would tell the best bedtime stories, no contest) (1/2)

For extra cuteness, the writer opera kid’s first attempt at writing their own script could be the story of the omega princess Dorothea who gets rescued by her valiant omega knight Ingrid and then the two fight the evil sorcerer together for the climatic final scene? ;) (2/2)

Honestly I love this idea so much I cannot express with words. YES! It’s up there with “Felix and Sylvain single-handedly create birth control” on my list of completely self-indulgent social justice headcanons.

And my word, the Adrestian nobility would be so shocked and appalled. I don’t imagine there were many tales told about Loog thanks to the Empire’s resentment of the Kingdom, but if there were any they were probably those tawdry little love-novels. You know, the kind that are 90% sex and have a plot thinner than tissue paper (because if there’s one thing I know it’s that there will always be people willing to sexualize someone they hate).

God now that I think about it, there’s probably all kinds of weird historical fanfic about Loog in the Empire. From strangely specific mommy porn novels to “and this is what would have happened if the Empire won!” fix-it fics (with usually not so nice implications of what they would have done to the unlucky Omega King had he actually lost).

Poor kid (I’ll say Marcellus or Iris) probably picks one of these books up thinking it’s another epic tale like the ones Mama Ingrid used to read to them, and they’re utterly disgusted when they get more than ten pages into it and realize what it’s really about.

Their big debut play (they obviously write the gallant Knight Ingrid one, but that was when they were younger and still practicing) in the actual opera house is probably just an adaptation of one of the many Loog stories from Faerghus and the scandal. An Omega? Doing something other than pushing out babies or falling hopelessly in love with their advisers (there is also the conception in the Empire that Loog was a figurehead/propped up by historians to fulfill some agenda, and Kyphon had to have been the primary force behind Faerghus’s bid for independence)? In an Adrestian Opera? Unthinkable!

#3h Omegaverse #Ingrid/Dorothea babies #My self indulgent social justice headcanons #abo #Omega!Loog #because Omega!Loog is the ONLY Loog #the Omega!Loog agenda #nerii-oleander

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eyreguide · 5 years

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Thoughts on Jane Eyre (1961)

1961 adaptation of Jane Eyre (this is such a staged photo, there's no scene like this in the episode!)

There have been a handful of American hour long adaptations of Jane Eyre that were produced in the 40s/50s/60s for anthology television shows. Three are generally available - one of them starred Charlton Heston as Rochester and another with Patrick MacNee (from the TV show The Avengers) as the brooding hero - and they are all interesting in their way, but there is another version that is only available to watch for free at the Paley museum in LA and NYC. This one starred Sally Ann Howes and Zachary Scott. It's one that I want to explore in this post because it's so interesting to me as an adaptation. And in many ways I adore it.

I think of this post as a way for me to show that I can like Jane Eyre adaptations that change a lot of things from the book. I'm not completely close-minded when it comes to liberties taken. I do generally like for adaptations to be faithful, but if, in the event of time constraints, or catering to the audience, etc, there has to be some big changes, I still hope that those changes remain faithful to the story/characters/spirit of the original. And in this TV version, I found that to be the case, which is very rare, especially with the changes they decided to make and the fact that it is only an hour long.

I'm going to list some of the changes made, and why I think they worked or why they just delighted me even if they don't exactly fit in with the story. But first I should mention the usual with these hour long productions - Jane's childhood is always skipped, and generally the Rivers section is shortened or skipped. I can live with that, since the main drama is with Jane and Rochester at Thornfield. Production values are simple and no one cares to even approximate an English accent. Oh well. And now on to some of those liberties taken with the story:

Grace Poole as a suspicious character is immediately established

With some adaptations, Grace Poole is not a major character - but she does play a role in the plot of the novel because she is the red herring for the mysterious occurrences at Thornfield. She gives Jane a reason to not wonder too much about who is behind the fires and attacks, even if it's unclear why Mr. Rochester doesn't get rid of Grace. I liked that in this adaptation you see that Grace likes to drink (important to note), and also that she might like to creep about the house. It's also great that a little bit of suspense is set up right in the beginning, because this version focuses on the romance between Jane and Rochester foremost, so that early bit of Gothic flavor is appreciated.

Jane meets Mr. Rochester in the library

Instead of a Hay Lane scene where Mr. Rochester almost runs Jane down on his horse, Jane goes to the library and Mr. Rochester startles her because he is sitting there in the gloom. It's kind of hilarious because it is surprising for him to be there, and he's completely nonplussed by Jane and her reaction. Sadly we don't get the poetic beauty of a fairy tale turned on it's head with Mr. Rochester riding in majestically on his horse to literally falling off, but with this scene, we get that Mr. Rochester is unsettling to Jane, he is established as morose and brooding, and just as it is in the book, the scene is not very romantic at all.

Mr. Rochester tells Jane there is a madwoman in the attic

I like this change, (and it's kind of a big one!) because it's realistic to me that Rochester would just tell Jane he has a mentally unsound "relative" up there, which is what I would think most of the servants in the house know. It also serves to downplay Jane's naïveté when it comes to not questioning the secret Mr. Rochester is obviously keeping. Especially when he is going to marry her, and he should share everything with her. It's a change that makes sense.

There is a scene between Mr. Rochester, Jane and Blanche!

Alright, so Blanche is not a nice person, but in the book, we only have Jane's observations of her, and not really any dialogue between the two of them, so having a scene where Blanche is absolutely catty to Jane, and Jane gets her own back with a little zinger is the best. Something that's not in the book, but something I totally wanted. It went like this:

Blanche: "But governess aren't supposed to, are they Miss Eyre? Fall in love I mean. My Mama thought she would wield an immoral influence, so she packed her off. Minus the tutor." Jane: "What a shame you never completed your education, Miss Ingram." Blanche: "You have a sharp tongue haven't you? You must learn your place..." Rochester: "And your place is at the piano, my dear Blanche."

The scene also features Mr. Rochester more demanding in his wish for Jane to return to the party, and just generally seeming to prefer her company to Blanche, as Blanche is rather snippy. I have all kinds of love for this addition. The subtext of the scene from the novel is brought out into an actual scene.

The proposal is wonderfully awkward

The proposal scene in the novel is especially fun to re-read (the first time you read it, I think you are caught up in the fact that Mr. Rochester is actually proposing now) but when you go over it a few more times, it's so clear just how much he's trying to push Jane into revealing her feelings. And with this adaptation, you get a greater sense of that. Mr. Rochester here, is so deliberately obtuse as he blatantly makes Jane think he is going to marry Blanche. It's awful teasing, but funny in a way. Especially when he makes the complete turnaround, and is all 'you're the one that I want.' Jane's confusion is completely justified. And the scene shifts into romantic very quickly, especially with this line of Rochester's:

"I don't ask you to love me, perhaps you know too much about me to love me now. But I need you Jane, I need you to take my life and make it over. The best and the worst of it. If you will."

He's bares his soul to her, and it's beautiful.

St. John Rivers is a joke

This is not something I would generally like about the adaptation, because it is so far from the way St. John is written in the novel! But he's so out of character in this, and so humorously unappealing, that it is funny, and he brings an unexpected lightness to the story after so much heartache. St. John in this adaptation is rotund, balding, stuttering, over-effusive and I get the sense that when he's asking Jane to become a missionary and his wife, he's surprised that Jane actually considers it. I mean, Jane acts like she seriously considers it, but the moment he leaves, she's like no way! That's also hilarious to me. I guess I like this change too, because I don't care for the character of St. John, so I'm not as attached to seeing him as he should be portrayed. It's almost like with this change, St John's personality (in the book) matches the physicality of this adaptation's portrayal. Someone so handsome and angelic-looking, shouldn't be so cold and dismissive.

Mr. Rochester and Jane's reunion is aggressive

Ah, the last scene! In the novel Mr. Rochester is pretty broken down - I mean he's lost his sight, one hand, and the love of his life, so that's understandable. And in the book his melancholy wins out over his pride. But with this adaptation, Rochester has so much pride, he's angry that Jane's returned to him, because he feels like he doesn't have anything to offer her, and it's kind of adorable. Jane's passive aggressive comments are also endearing to me. Their relationship throughout the episode often featured verbal sparring, and it really comes out now. Jane doesn't have patience for Mr. Rochester's pity party, and it's glorious. Favorite line from Jane -

"I'm only sorry to see that you met disaster with such poor spirit."

Me: *slow clap*

The Writing

Perhaps you may have noticed from the parts of the script I've quoted, that this adaptation takes some liberties with the original text. It's true, it absolutely does. I think it uses very little of the dialogue from the book, but surprisingly the script is very good at capturing the tone and spirit of the novel - at least I think so. And that makes it an interesting script for me, because something that is so changed and abridged still gives me the feels when it comes to the story. There are a few moments in the episode that are emotionally powerful to me, where the script perfectly brings to life the romance and personality of Jane and Rochester. There's this one from just after the fire in Rochester's room and Rochester is talking to Jane, commenting on how much good she's done for the place --

Rochester: "Joan of Arc come to raise the siege of Thornfield." Jane: "I'll do what I can sir, whatever I can." Rochester: [quietly and thoughtfully] "I wonder if you could raise it."

Or this one after the attack on Mason, and Rochester is revealing more of his feelings to Jane --

Rochester: "Are you still my friend Jane, now that you know all this?" Jane: "I shall always be your friend, sir." Rochester: "Then I shall make one more confession. You are my only friend."

To paraphrase Jane - who wouldn't melt at those words?? And Jane is so pessimistic about her feelings for Rochester. This line is especially bittersweet in how it shows Jane’s lack of confidence in loving Rochester:

Jane: "I had come little by little to admit to myself that I loved him. Though I knew if ever there was a hopeless love, it was mine for Edward Rochester."

There's also humor, as in Mr. Rochester's question when Jane returns in the end and finds him blind and lonely -

Rochester: "What brings you to Thornfield? On holiday visiting ancient monuments and ruins?"

What this adaptation manages to do astonishingly well is cut to the heart of the story and presents a dialogue that is true to the novel and the emotion, but in brevity. For instance, instead of Mr. Rochester describing why he's not interested in Blanche during the proposal scene - in the novel he asks what love Blanche has for him and what happened when he caused the rumor to reach her that he was not rich, etc. No, in this adaptation Rochester dismisses Blanche by calling her a "supercilious stick." Come on, that's hilarious! I don't know how this version can fail to delight anyone.

Conclusion

I've spent most of this post highlighting aspects of the script, but I should give lots of credit to the actors, especially Sally Ann Howes as Jane and Zachary Scott as Rochester. Jane is "not such a rabbit" as Rochester calls her in the show, and it was refreshing to see a Jane who could hold her own verbally against Rochester. Most adaptations struggle to show a strong Jane with an "inward fire". I don't think Sally was the perfect Jane - there was still somewhat of a too submissive quality to her portrayal, but I think she did a creditable job and I enjoyed the touch of asperity she brought to the character.

Zachary Scott - well, I developed a great fondness for the actor because of this. (I have since watched a bunch of his old films!) I loved the brooding romantic quality he brought to Rochester. He's rough, he's bitter, he's teasing, he's tender, he's almost perfect, and I found him very swoon-worthy. And the way he would deliver some of those lines! *fans self* There's a moment too when Rochester abruptly moves closer to Jane and you just know he wants to kiss her, but he stops himself. Perfection. That exact moment of longing and restraint is the emotion I want from every Jane Eyre adaptation. I want to say that even the soundtrack to this production is gorgeous - very romantic and pensive.

I can't believe I'm so obsessed with this version. I can't believe it because there are so many adaptations of Jane Eyre out there, that I can own (and do), yet this one - now one of my top favorites - is unavailable! I also feel sad that I can't share this version with everyone, because I truly feel that it would be a great introduction to the story if someone has not read it. Err, if you don't mind TV production values from the Sixties. And of course it would delight any fans of the novel. All I can say is that if you have the opportunity to visit the Paley Museum, try to watch this in their library. And if the copyright owner of the program happens to see this.... please make this for sale!!

And thank you, dear Reader, for getting through this long review!

(Note: This is a re-post, with edits, of something I wrote on Bookish Whimsy a few years ago)

#Jane eyre #Charlotte bronte #Sally Ann howes #Zachary scott #film adaptation #literature

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