[Mainland Chinese Drama 2019] The Untamed 陈情令

[NK Das]

1 hour ago, CQL said:

 

You can find the soundtrack here, including instrumental versions of the theme song.

This one is not in the official soundtrack. I had already checked. I cant seem to find this anywhere. The instrumental music for the theme song is just the piano and Guqin.  I wanted the main theme song without vocals. It was clearly used in the drama, not sure why it's not out there.

[frostflower14]

 

There’s going to be a side story  web movie called “The Living Dead” or 陈情令之生魂. It will focus on Wen Ning and Sizhui’s quest to find out the truth about their past. According to mydramalist, this web movie will be released on 7/11/2019.

[bluehibiscus]

On 10/15/2019 at 1:31 PM, adla said:

Anyone else notice that the Jiang family people all called WWX A-xian (although his birth name is WY) but Jiang Cheng was always called A-Cheng with his birth name rather than his adult name Jiang WanYin. If you think about it his so called adopted family seemed to put a small distance between themselves and WWX even from a young age by creating a nickname for him using his adult name rather than his birth name. Even after growing up, WWX calls JC as Jiang Cheng while JC keeps calling him WWX. And then there is LZ, who out right calls him by his birth name from the get go. He has only ever called WWX as WWX, and that was when he confronted him for the first time over switching to demonic cultivation. It goes to show that in WWX's life, even his adopted family kept him at an arm's distance while LZ was the only one to keep him by his side as all times.

But maybe im overthinking it. Let me know what you guys think. And sorry if i confused you with all the switching between birth names and courtesy names.

 

Peers who are on very close terms can address each other by birthname but WWX is JC’s senior. As his junior, it would be disrespectful for JC to address him as WY. The name WX was chosen by his foster father so it is not surprising everyone in the Jiang family preferred to use that name. In the book, choosing a name for a junior is a special honor as seen when JC suggested WWX be allowed to choose their future nephew’s courtesy name. In Chapter 15 of the book, calling a peer by their birthname is considered rude - WWX did so only after LWJ did not respond to his courtesy name and he said if LWJ was displeased, he could address him in the same manner. Thus, addressing each other by their birthnames became the defining element/trademark of their relationship and to others, a sign of their not-so-good terms; it may also be the author’s way of hinting to the readers that they would become very close in future. The author had noted in the remarks that the book does not adhere to any particular historical period so she had chosen to disregard the fact that traditionally, people were given courtesy names at the age of 20 and not 15.

[an-naum]

Regarding to the names, it is usual in Asian countries. 

On myside... 

Birthname or Full name only be used on paper for formal event. Or, when the parents really angry.. Hence, the fullname will be called out. Err.. 

For families, usually, a kinship terms will be given by birth order as a respect. "Kinship terms are words that are used to designate a family member who is connected to other family members by blood, marriage, adoption, or fostering" . 

 

However, for friends usually they will called the person using shortname. Or totally different names. Depends on situation. So, we have a few names ourself. 

 

Back to the story.. 

Wei wu xian, ah xian, xian xian, wei ying. The most charming is Wei Ying. A little bit playful. 

Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan, Han guangjun. 

Lan Zhan is unformal, I think it can only be used by a very closed one to him like Wei Ying. It's kind of rude for those who is not very closed to him to call him that. 

[frostflower14]

The full “Untamed” concert is available on YouTube! The song writers added a song for Jin Guang Yao’s character called 多恨生 which either means A Life With Many Resentments or  A Life With Many Regrets or more likely A Much Hated Life.

 

 

[frostflower14]

Anyone watched Wen Ning’s and Lan Sizhui’s side story movie 生魂 yet? In this movie Sizhui is night hunting alone in Fufeng town when he encounters Wen Ning who is also investigating some supernatural deaths. These events must have happened after Wen Ning and Sizhui bury the ashes of their relatives and Sizhui had returned to the Cloud Recesses.

They meet Xiao Yi, who claims to be the second young master of the Xiao family. He tells them a story about his beautiful sister Xiao Qing whose fiancé massacred everyone in the Xiao family, except for him. The Xiao family were once a subsidy of the Wen family and were famous for their lantern making skills.

 

This movie feels like a movie length episode of the Untamed, and had a few twists. It’s revealed that Wen Ning is self conscious about his age!

”Young Master Wei says that Uncle sounds too old, call me senior!”

The only gripe I had was Wei Wuxian’s cameo only showed his back! This screams stand in! 

 

 

 

[Bea]

8 hours ago, frostflower14 said:

Anyone watched Wen Ning’s and Lan Sizhui’s side story movie 生魂 yet? In this movie Sizhui is night hunting alone in Fufeng town when he encounters Wen Ning who is also investigating some supernatural deaths. These events must have happened after Wen Ning and Sizhui bury the ashes of their relatives and Sizhui had returned to the Cloud Recesses.

They meet Xiao Yi, who claims to be the second young master of the Xiao family. He tells them a story about his beautiful sister Xiao Qing whose fiancé massacred everyone in the Xiao family, except for him. The Xiao family were once a subsidy of the Wen family and were famous for their lantern making skills.

 

This movie feels like a movie length episode of the Untamed, and had a few twists. It’s revealed that Wen Ning is self conscious about his age!

”Young Master Wei says that Uncle sounds too old, call me senior!”

The only gripe I had was Wei Wuxian’s cameo only showed his back! This screams stand in! 

 

 

 

 

Personally, I didn't like it. Wen Ning became like a male version of a Mary Sue and felt like a different character; it went too far from the original story. 

[bluehibiscus]

The editing of the spin-off movie is a little choppy in some scenes. Some of the plot details are not really explained clearly, e.g.

Spoiler

How did Ah Jie’s ghost appear?

The following line was repeated twice. At first I thought it was a feeble attempt at humour but now I realise it is because the Chinese Censorship Board prohibits superstitions/real ghosts.

Spoiler

“There is no such thing as ghosts. There are only cowards.” 

*The last character in the Chinese term for coward is gui which also means ghost.

 

I think they used too much digital effects in the fighting scenes so I could not really appreciate the choreography. The way Wen Ning wielded his chains reminded me of Dr Oktopus in the Spiderman movie.

 

The two leads are not very experienced actors so there are places where I felt they could have done better. The actor playing the villain has potential as he is quite good looking although his acting is not matured enough to carry the baddie scenes. As for the twist, I saw it coming fairly early on.

 

Overall, it was not a bad way to pass the time but I don’t think it has rewatch value even with the twist.

[AnniaD]

I haven't watched the movie yet, just some scenes that were posted online. I was happy that there were references to Wei Wuxian and even a sort of "appearance" (just his back but still) but I thought that it didn't fit playing the Wu Ji song at that moment and it felt more like them trying to nod at the live drama fans.

 

Some people who watched were also complaining that Wen Ning talked and acted totally different than his character on the show.

[Bea]

1 hour ago, bluehibiscus said:

Overall, it was not a bad way to pass the time but I don’t think it has rewatch value even with the twist.

 

It really didn't, I was so disappointed. I'll probably ignore it ever happened because it feels like a completely different OOC spin off. 

1 hour ago, AnniaD said:

Some people who watched were also complaining that Wen Ning talked and acted totally different than his character on the show.

 

Yeah he was really OOC and they made him into a mary sue kind of character. Overpowered and a lot of what makes wen ning adorable and special wasn't found in the movie :/

[AnniaD]

Also I don't get that whole debacle of ghosts not being real but I guess I'll have to watch the movie eventually to understand.

[bluehibiscus]

@AnniaD I was confused at first but some of the premise was modified from that of the novel to make it past the censors and this is apparently one of those (I didn’t really make the connection while watching the drama when they made the point that WN didn’t die and he was not resurrected). 

[bluehibiscus]

Two more movies are to be released, one of which will be broadcast in the cinema. The next one is supposed to be about JGY and the Nie brothers.

[AnniaD]

1 hour ago, bluehibiscus said:

@AnniaD I was confused at first but some of the premise was modified from that of the novel to make it past the censors and this is apparently one of those (I didn’t really make the connection while watching the drama when they made the point that WN didn’t die and he was not resurrected). 

 

 

I know they changed Wen Ning being dead to being alive in the drama because of the censorship. If I recall correctly they don't mention WN's actual state in the drama. I get it Wen Ning not being dead to pass censorship. But Lan Sizhui asking if ghosts exists at this point knowing what we know about him being a disciple of the Lan sect for most of his life and what we've watched in the drama, makes absolutely no sense . And the implication that there are no ghosts refutes the drama itself where ghosts do exist, at least the sword spirit and others we see on the drama. Or were they referring to ghosts as zombies and therefor they say that they don't exist because of the Chinese censorship?  (as I said didn't watch the movie so maybe I lost something that gives context to this and explains it) 

[bluehibiscus]

45 minutes ago, AnniaD said:

 

 

I know they changed Wen Ning being dead to being alive in the drama because of the censorship. If I recall correctly they don't mention WN's actual state in the drama. I get it Wen Ning not being dead to pass censorship. But Lan Sizhui asking if ghosts exists at this point knowing what we know about him being a disciple of the Lan sect for most of his life and what we've watched in the drama, makes absolutely no sense . And the implication that there are no ghosts refutes the drama itself where ghosts do exist, at least the sword spirit and others we see on the drama. Or were they referring to ghosts as zombies and therefor they say that they don't exist because of the Chinese censorship?  (as I said didn't watch the movie so maybe I lost something that gives context to this and explains it) 

 

There was one scene where WWX kept stating to XY that he didn’t resurrect WN. This is just my theory so it may not be correct. The drama seems to be making a distinction between spirits (灵) and ghosts. The movie didn’t really do much explanation.

[bluehibiscus]

A graceful ice skating performance using the soundtrack from The Untamed.

 

[GiaGia]

Just started this drama, and I love it :). WWX is playful and funny. Wangji is serious guy, so WWX balanced him out^^. Everything about the drama is nice; the cinematography, fighting, and editing is good. I haven't read the anime, so I'm watching this without biases. 

Question, in the anime book, are WWX and Wangji written as BL? I know in the drama they cannot show BL because of censorship/other issues.

[Bea]

27 minutes ago, rosierosie said:

 

Question, in the anime book, are WWX and Wangji written as BL? I know in the drama they cannot show BL because of censorship/other issues.

The donghua (anime) falls under the same censorship as live action/drama so no it's not explicitly bl. but you can tell just like in the drama/The Untamed. think of it like yuri on ice. You can tell it's bl/shounen ai anime eventhough they don't kiss or are said to be in a relationship but it's still implied. 

 

The manhua on the other hand is still bl and so is the audio drama, because they don't fall under the same censorship as televised media

[GiaGia]

EP 15 when the Jian clan got attacked was so hurtful to watch :(!!! Poor Jiang Chan, Elder sis and WWX!!!

 

Really do not like the dumb evil Wen guy and his nasty woman!!! Ugggh, so wishing the little Jiang boy disciple could have shot her dead before he died :(. I know we need to see the miserable mess to get to the plot, but it's so sad :(!!!

Question, when WWX got the sword out from the turtle monster; it looks like he absorbed their power bc of the black smoke coming on to him? Is this where we see he gain more power and slowly become the master of the demons?

[Bea]

44 minutes ago, rosierosie said:

 

Question, when WWX got the sword out from the turtle monster; it looks like he absorbed their power bc of the black smoke coming on to him? Is this where we see he gain more power and slowly become the master of the demons?

no that happens later on (you're close though) and it happens because of a very specific reason.