Xiang Liu and You (Yes, You)

 luv2bafangurl:

What a mess. I really don‘t understand the DW‘s fans reasoning to escalate the fan wars to show their power because imo it‘s only going to give their idol a bad rep in the industry.

I don't understand this reasoning either, but I've come across this idea on numerous blogs devoted to C-entertainment and these sorts of inter-fandom wars appeared to be uber-common. The worst part here is apparent "proof" that a member of the idol's team instigated it, otherwise, it would just be your garden variety nut-job fans having a go at each other. That and taking aim at Tencent, one of the biggest entertainment platforms in the industry. It's really not a good idea to burn bridges like this.

 luv2bafangurl:

The question is, how much power does an actor actually has over his agency. From what I understand, often the actors themselves are completely under the thumb of his agent, from they don’t have any say in which project/endorsement they can take, their schedule, public image the should cultivate, etc.

 luv2bafangurl:

In this case then the responsibility actually is more on the agency, if it’s true that the actors are basically only the puppet and cash machine for the ppl behind the scene.

I do have sympathy for these idols/idol-wannabes - they are often exploited and have limited power against their powerful agencies. The thing is, at the end of the day, these people are adults who entered into this industry of their own free will because they want something from it. The industry promises fame and fortune, but it will also extract a price. Being backed by a powerful agency will increase their chance of success, but these agencies will also demand their independence and personal agency. When you sign onto the dotted line, you are saying that you see this as an acceptable exchange. And if you are happy to reap the benefits from your agency's actions; then when there are blowbacks you really can't just brush it off as having nothing to do with you. So take the vinegar with the sugar instead of pulling the woe-is-me, I have no control card.

Ultimately, it's not these idols since they probably understood this and are keeping their head down and powering through, but it's the fan and their tendency to make excuses for their idols as if these people are children that I roll my eyes at. I hope that makes sense. I don't wish these idols ill and hopefully, the system will change and one day they will have more control over their career. 

 luv2bafangurl:

Quite smart actually to punish the idol to keep the fans in check. On the other hand this kind of punishment is actually quite unfair for the actor if he is really blameless in the mess or if the mess actually was instigated by anti-fans pretending to be the crazy fans of the actor to stir up trouble for him (we‘re going down into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theory now LOL)

This makes sense and is fair to a certain degree. These idols deliberately cultivate a relationship with their fans that allows them a certain amount of influence over them. Their fans buy products that they push, or rally on their behalf - so it's only fair that they use this same "idol power" to control their fans. Can't just lap up all the benefits, but take zero responsibilities :-). Can you tell that I'm big on responsibility?

And yes, this whole fake fan accusation, whenever something bad happens, is as common as eating rice :-). It's a dirty business that's best to peek at but don't become invested in. 

The Deng Wei issue is a very convoluted and messy situation, I have to admit I haven't followed it very closely mostly because I've been busy with work and then personal obligations over the Chinese new year holiday. Also, I'm not very knowledgeable about Deng Wei or Yang Zi as I don't follow either of them closely -- the only actor (or celebrity, for that matter) that I follow and would consider myself a part of their fandom would be TJC.

I think it's actually more of a power/control grab issue by Deng Wei and his team (or maybe mostly his team, I'm not sure how much control he has in his career) than it is Diamonds vs. Zimis/Deng Wei vs. Yang Zi -- I think that's just convenient smoke and mirrors to muddy up the waters that Deng Wei Studio (I will be referring to this as his team) has been very displeased with how Tencent has treated and promoted (or lack thereof) him, his character, and the official CP since the promo cycle for S1. They feel that Tencent has given preferential treatment to Yang Zi and TJC (the latter is probably true because all of TJC's headlining modern romantic dramas are backed and will be aired by Tencent) and not only has not treated Deng Wei and his character as the romantic leading male character and part of the official CP but has treated him as though he is a 3rd class citizen or worse. This has led Deng Wei Studio to be very reluctant for him to participate in any promotional commitments for LYF in general. Originally, he was not going to attend that fanmeeting, but ended up agreeing to attend (although he did not attend the cast and crew + Tong Hua dinner afterwards), and he did not attend the Tencent Video Awards. The latter looked shifty to industry observers and cnetizens because the reasoning Deng Wei Studio gave was that he was busy filming and would not be attending any year end awards shows or events but then he attended the Weibo Awards so people were making jokes about that and how Deng Wei will only attend events where he knows he will be getting an award.

It is an undeniable that he is a rising traffic actor with a very loud and dedicated and rapidly growing fandom that is willing to go to battle for him (as long as they feel as though they are being respected and kept in the loop by Deng Wei Studio, which they have had bad blood with in the past). IQIYI knows this and seems to be backing Deng Wei -- IQIYI doesn't have as much money or influence in the industry as Tencent does, it only broke even like last year and was consistently losing money every year of operation prior to that, however IQIYI is trying to develop a 360 model with actors that Tencent and other production houses and online content distributors have not done or if so have not fully leaned into (Daylight for example) which is to not only invest in and distribute shows but invest in, create, and promote actors to make them traffic stars specifically for IQIYI productions. They are already doing this with several actors who are represented by their agency Super Up, but they also have agreements with other actors such as Zhang Linghe and I think Deng Wei as well (pretty much all of his upcoming shows are IQIYI) to help steer their careers and place them in IQIYI productions -- basically, they will help promote certain actors and make them traffic and in return those actors will do IQIYI productions for a deal that is preferential to IQIYI. IQIYI has been trying to expand and create a strong revenue stream from artist development and management. This is a known plan and strategy in the industry and in the drama circle so there are a lot of jokes about IQIYI's "crown princes".

As for the Yang Zi issue, Deng Wei Studio has not been happy with Yang Zi and her team since the promo cycle for S1, they feel she has not promoted the official CP the way she should have and she has said things that have upset his fandom, mostly in a past livestream saying XY didn't choose any of the men, TSJ was the only one who chose her, so basically his fandom took it as her saying XY just ended up with him by default. She also said in that livestream that all the guys had a chance with XY in the beginning, and that if XL wasn't committed to his 'state' (meaning Gong Gong and the Chenrong remnant army), things would've likely ended up differently (and she played her and TJC's duet from the show and sang along which I suppose was adding insult to injury). From Diamonds' POV, she has not been professional and fulfilled part of her job which is to promote the official CP and play up the couple vibes with Deng Wei during promotional events instead seemingly choosing to highlight her own individual accomplishments portraying Wen Xiaoliu and XY. So this new interview where she did not choose TSJ and commented that he was too obedient to his family was just another incidence of disrespect and unprofessionalism from her. Furthermore, they want to distance themselves from Yang Zi and her fandom anyway because they feel Deng Wei is being seen as just another hack male idol who rode her coattails to fame. Yang Zi has long had a reputation of being the actress "who makes her who is he? male leads famous" (while she doesn't benefit anything from them), to the point where she has been asked about it in interviews and has laughed off the dubious title as a joke and said that everyone involved in a show is credited with the success.

Some Diamonds have also pointed out something that Yang Zi and her team + fandom have been accused of multiple times in the past by other of her leading men's fandoms which is that they have a certain victim routine they like to play over and over, which is to try and splinter the fandom of her CP from a show and turn them against the male actor in the CP so that they become her fans. It is true that it is more difficult for female idols to pick up fans and increase their fanbase and one tactic that it is often pointed to that their fandoms and teams will do is create a scandal around the actress's CP from a show that makes the actor and his fandom look bad or crazy and like they are maligning the actress unfairly to try and turn the CP fans against the actor and into fans of the actress out of sympathy. Yang Zi and her team and Zimis have been pointed out to be doing this many times in the past. I know this is a tactic that some actresses' teams and fandoms do employ but I don't know if Yang Zi Studio and Zimis in particular are the frequent offenders of this as they have been accused of.

However, I think probably this Diamonds vs. Zimis commotion is to create a mess to obscure the industry wranglings going on behind the fandom shenanigans between what Deng Wei contractually owes to Tencent for promotional activities for S2 and any future projects he may have agreed to do with them before Deng Wei Studio felt Tencent slighted them or possibly did not adhere to what was previously agreed to for the promo cycle for S1. With that said, I doubt Deng Wei or any of the cast will do much promotion when S2 airs, too much time will have passed and they will have all moved on to other work commitments. Whatever promo activities end up airing during S2 will mostly have been filmed a long time ago during the S1 promo cycle. 

oOh! if you post yours, I might have to post mine too! hahaha. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

No backing out allow :-)

lol. I need to edit it a bit but yes! I'll post mine too.

 plor20:

oOh! if you post yours, I might have to post mine too! hahaha. 

 HeadInTheClouds:

No backing out allow :-)

Looking forward to both of your analysis.

 nathsketch:

The tiny legs lolololol

Wish he could dance for real ahahah imagine how much money we would make if I took him to the streets!

The plushie or Tan?

I'll go to the bank and get a bunch of dollar bills today. ;p

 liddi:

Thank you all for your concern. Am a lot more mobile, though I might have twisted my leg again yesterday while helping my boys with their packing (they leave home tomorrow)... gah. I definitely feel the relentless reminder of my age these past years.

Ouch!  Let those boys pack themselves!

 liddi:

BTW, love how coiffed your Xiang Liu doll is! How do you do it? I showed the photo to my girl, but she tries to convince herself that her frazzled version looks just as great LOL!

Heh ... nope.  Not going to say it.

 liddi:

Thank you very much for sharing. That is such a haunting song, and the MV itself reminds me again just how versatile TJC is as an actor - effortlessly portraying his character in vastly different stages in life. Hope it is accessible to me when it does premiere - definitely want to watch it, even though normally, this is not a genre I gravitate towards.

I am amazed at his portrayal of the high school (I assume) version.  It's spot on.

This song and the previews already have me tearing up.