(no subject)
Continuing my 卧薪尝胆 (woxinchangdan) obsession...
In Chinese BL circles there is a word 意淫, usually written as YY. In the manner of Chinese words it can be used as both a verb and a noun, and occasionally an adjective. Loosely rendered it means to mentally profane, and can be used to describe all kinds of slightly salacious daydreaming. But in the BL context it is more or less the equivalent of slash, slashy, slashing. There is a key difference though. While in the West there is always the suggestion that slash must somehow be derived or teased from the canon, YY makes no such pretensions (even though people might joke about it) -- it's an alternative approach, a shift of perspective, and has none of the burdens that slash canon can impose. And while slash almost always involve writing of fanfic, YY can be enjoyed as a game in and of itself.
Now, while it's as easy to YY standard buddy dramas and beautiful Chinese opera actors as it is to slash them, it's really much more fun and challenging to do it to a sober historical series like Woxin with its cast of stage heavyweights, and to not just YY isolated scenes, but see the entire epic history as one grand BL drama, as succinctly summarized by one particularly talented viewer:
The story of Woxinchangdan is about the brave and noble king of Wu, who desired the cool and seductive King of Yue. The king of Yue pretended to submit to him, and said, I must return to my kingdom so I can divorce my harpy of a wife and return to be your companion forever. But after the King of Yue returned he sent in his stead the ugliest woman in all of China (Xishi) to the King of Wu, a strategy proposed by his adviser and lover Fanli (King of Wu's rival). King of Wu was heartbroken and lost all his will to live. And his kingdom withered away.
The End. ^__^
Okay, so I'm easily amused. Anyways, some pretty pictures:
Hu Jun and Chen Daoming in real life, best friends off camera. It's very very hard to resist RP slash with these two, especially as they insist on carrying on the most leading conversations in interviews.
THE canon pairing: Fuchai X Goujian
2nd canon pairing: Fanli X Goujian
There is also Fuchai X Fanli , As you can see Fuchai is the uberseme, and Fanli is the crafty reversible.
I tried to find a nice picture of Goujian in his cool white armor, but this montage is the best I could find. Very pretty all the same.
A couple pictures of Chen from his other shows:
Master Gu in Jasmine
Emperor Tianqi of Ming
Fang from A City Besieged, perhaps his most famous role
The Eighth Prince of Song I think this is the picture that makes everyone thinks he looks like Nomura Mansai.
I think this is from "Our Misplaced Youth", but not too sure.
