Veppeee

It is also possible that they are trying to increase Ai Mi's popularity (even though she is already a pretty good actress) by pairing her with actors with a lot more traffic and visibility.

I am pretty excited for a good Deng Wei drama but yea I am hoping there isnt really any romance between the FL and ML. Too much age difference and FL actress is too young for it to not feel uncomfortable for me (and Deng Wei acted with her in a drama when she was just a teenager so it is not like he just met her when she is a 18yo adult) - not sure why Ai Mi is being paired with actors nearing or over 30yo (surely there are good actors closer to her age?). From what I have been reading, many fans of Ai Mi are happy she is getting lead roles since she has been acting for a while tho (although their okayness with her being in supporting romance roles, with men in their 20s, since she was a teen is incredibly disturbing). I guess there arent many female roles in chinese television that dont have romance either?

On ep 8 (ytube iqiyi channel only has 8 eps currently) and so far I mostly agree with the mdl rating. The editing and story has been a bit choppy. The OST is beautiful however. My main issue with the story is that I hope that the ML and FL dont get together in the end. I know it is supposed to be a comedy, but the character of the ML is too immature and jealous(even when not pretending to be dumb) towards the FL. I kept thinking that it is unfortunate to be married to such a man even if it is fake and no freedom. Maybe the ML gets better? Its been a while since I read it, but Im pretty sure the emperor in the original Saiunkoku novel wasnt so petty and controlling.

I dont have 2ML syndrome either since the character doesnt have too many scenes yet but I do love Deng Wei's face and he doesnt do too many dramas so prob keep warching this just for his face and voice.

I do agree with you that ageism towards women is still a big issue in media. It confounds me when women are actively trying to uphold the patriarchy by saying things like "women mature faster anyways, science proves it" - science doesnt prove any of that except that women have a slight head start in cognitive development in early childhood and that this gap does not exist in adulthood between men and women. The other factor is socialization that forces girls to grow up too fast and "act mature" based on a script provided by society to be "responsible" and "considerate" and not act silly and make mistakes. But youthful folly is a necessary part of actual emotional maturity - making mistakes and learning from it and so too many women just have an illusion of maturity that is actually just performing compliance and hyper-vigilance. You acknowledging that you are not mature is actually more mature and honest than many women who think that they are more mature at a younger age than a man. I also feel like relationships where the woman is slighly older tends to be healthier and has better power balance than where the man is older or sometimes even equal aged couples.

That being said, I am pretty excited to see Wang Duo in this drama because he is genuinely an excellent actor and also pretty good looking. I dont think he does very many romance heavy roles but he is quite good at playing a complex villian and I am curious to see if he is a villian here and what kind.

Im not a man so idk

I wasnt replying to you....it was to the Mephisto guy. Maybe you are not seeing the full thread so getting confused

Will do baby...byeee

It is other peoples business when you publicly post it as a comment. But thanks for the discussion.

I am not chinese so not familiar with all the chinese shows and movies out there. But I have seen a lot of male centered chinese media advertised before - they definitely exist if you are interested in watching them.

The oldest toxic trait is men complaining when something is written for women. While ignoring the vast repetorie of men centered media that they can watch instead. When women get something good and for them, these toxic men make sure to complain about it. And then crying "not all men!" and "gEnerELization"when the well documented issues with male gaze are pointed out. Also it is pretty easy to tell if a cdrama is female centered based on the plot and first ep. Just like you wouldnt watch horror and complain that it is horror if you dont like horror, dont watch female centered media if dont like that genre

@Mephisto I love that it is written for women with great female and male characters. And heterosexual women prefer good looking men. I dont care for media written for men where women are treated either as one dimensional charicatures or sex objects. The female gaze is so much more respectful towards men than the male gaze is towards women. If you dont like the female gaze, then dont watch these shows - there are many shows with the male gaze out there (faaar outnumbering ones with female gaze so no need to fake complain about "reverse sexism" or yada yada").

Can you explain the names for ppl like me who dont understand the nuance of the language?

I feel like I need to take a whole course on modern film techniques. It is hard for me to tell what is real and what is not lol

They just look soo realistic. Most of the CGI I had seen before looked fake all the times. But here, except for the falcon and when the pigs were being carried...they look so real so it was confusing if many of the scenes did indeed use real pigs

Oh okay thanks for pointing that out...I didnt wait till the end of credits so didnt see that!

I didnt know that. But I just now learned that a horse died from severe injuries it sustained from horse tripping in a korean drama. Unless it is CGI I will not watch continue to watch anymore...thanks from bringing this to my attention

Thanks!!

Okay thanks guys for confirming it for me! I can now watch and appreciate the drama without feeling bad!

Thanks that makes me feel better!!

There are scenes where the pigs are being harassed. They might not be dead but the pigs would be scared or stressed from the manhandling. Thats why usually there are animal protection laws to prevent unecessary suffering to animals. But china doesnt have that which is why I am asking

Thanks! Is there a source to confirm this? Or signs you see that confirm they are CGI? Im asking because the pigs look super real to me and dont resgister as CGI to me