Xiang Liu and You (Yes, You)

 atmospheres:

Liuliangs are often either regular cast or appear frequently on variety shows because the whole point is to make yourself a brand, to create a fandom around you as a personal idol not just you as an actor or a singer or a dancer.

I've noticed this too. Liulangs are not selling their acting or singing talent, they are essentially selling themselves as a brand. Their image is carefully crafted and they invite you to buy into the fantasy that they are selling. The danger of this is that you can potentially become heavily reliant on and beholden to your fandom. Personally, this isn't how I like to engage with entertainers. I don't care to know too much about their personal lives/details as I keep the focus on their products. Knowing too much will also kill the fantasy. 

 atmospheres:

he's been positioning himself as a liuliang for a while now, he's upper mid-tier and I'm sure trying to break into top tier.

Is this a good move do you reckon? I always see liuliang as a young person game, and while he's hardly old, in the world of entertainment where youth is king, I think his age will work against him. By this age, liulangs are looking to shift gears and pivot into more "serious" work.  

Anyhoo, I'll just keep an eye out for his dramas and watch them if they are to my taste. Unfortunately, Love My Voice isn't working for me and the only way that I can see myself watching this is to "snark" watch with some of the ladies here.

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a blessed day with your family and friends! ❤️?https://youtube.com/shorts/LU2hHTZYv3g?si=erGUgWsNN7GySAwg

 Elise:

Merry Christmas everyone ❤️

Merry Christmas Elise! Hope you’re having a great day! Don’t let that mean drama bring you down  :D ❤️

 HeadInTheClouds:

Merry Christmas, y'all! it's Christmas time and I'm still checking this board :-). It's like a daily habit now.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful festive season with their loved ones. Delicious food and drinks, and pressies!!!

Happy holidays to everyone here! Hope you’re all having a wonderful day and wrapping up the year with friends and family

 HeadInTheClouds:

Is this a good move do you reckon? I always see liuliang as a young person game, and while he's hardly old, in the world of entertainment where youth is king, I think his age will work against him. By this age, liulangs are looking to shift gears and pivot into more "serious" work.  

Artistically, it's an iffy move -- could be good in that the work chases him instead of him chasing work (and hey no more need to do the tedious audition grind) and therefore more work means more chances to get his acting skills seen and known. Could be a bad move in that if he continues to do more romantic idol dramas he will eventually be pigeonholed as that and industry people will forget that he's a legitimately good actor who can do and excel in serious work and won't be thinking of potentially casting him when those kinds of jobs come up.

Commercially, it's absolutely a good move. It will set him up for life financially and give him stability. It's not even the tv and film projects, it's the endorsement contracts he will get just by being him and having a fandom large enough and with lots of money to buy anything he pushes. Look at Zhang Wanyi -- started as a critical darling in several critically acclaimed roles but he's chasing liuliang status by very consciously pivoting towards idol dramas (although he has continued to do some non-idol dramas too), he wants the money and stability.

For TJC's particular situation, I think liuliang status was not really something he actively chased (although his critics will disagree, but I've been there since 2017 and never once did I feel like he was trying to become a liuliang, he just seemed to be trying to do as many roles as he could get if they were interesting to him), but it organically -- as organically as becoming a traffic star can be -- happened to him with his first two ML roles becoming back to back hits. His fandom has exploded since UtS and now with LYF, it's gone on a scale from 5 to 5 million in such a short time that longtime fans and him too, I think, can barely catch a breath. And of course I'm thrilled for him and for the fandom, however one thing I am worried about is that as his fandom has exploded, it has become toxic very quickly. I am only talking about his fandom in China, I can't speak to his international fans because I think that's a smaller fandom and it seems to me, so far, a more sensible one. It's as though this explosion of new fans are trying to prove their passion and dedication to him by acting excessively in every way they can. It's like they think just because they were ignorant of his existence for the first five or so years of his acting career, they need to make up for that all at once and constantly. 

In the past two years, his studio has put out two very comprehensive notices outlining in detail his expectations for how fans should behave in public spaces and what is acceptable and unacceptable. Since 2017, he has never once had to do this, but in the past two years he has had to put out two notices like that. The fandom needs to step back and do some reflection, their actions have put their own safety and his at risk, and their obsessive affection has sometimes become so toxic that they are damaging themselves and him. They are not at the level of some other extremely toxic monolithic fandoms like 紫米 or xfx, but they are really only about 2 years into a path of potentially becoming a major fandom so they really need to, as the saying goes, check themselves before they wreck themselves because ultimately it's their idol who pays the heaviest price and I do not want to see that happen to him especially when it's not something he actively chased after in the first place.

How cheery...sigh

Happy Holidays everyone!

 Elise:

Merry Christmas everyone ❤️

Merry Christmas Elise ❤️

 atmospheres:

It's like they think just because they were ignorant of his existence for the first five or so years of his acting career, they need to make up for that all at once and constantly.

 atmospheres:

They are not at the level of some other extremely toxic monolithic fandoms like 紫米 or xfx

Are these Xiao Zhan's fandoms? Sorry, I know nothing of any of this stuff :s