woxin natter (spoilers)
As I watch, I keep catching myself trying to figure out how it might translate into English. Distressingly, it translates quite respectably. Distressing because if it's impossible I'd just give up and forget all about it; but as it is I might actually try. Heavens have mercy on us all.
One upside though is I pay more attention to nuance than I otherwise might have, which is a fruitful exercise because it reveals that Gou Jian speaks in a plainer fashion than most of the other characters. Most of the characters speak in a slightly more formal, literary fashion; not archaic per se but definitely marks the series as a period piece. When at home or speaking with intimates they may lapse into speech that resembles modern-day Mandarin much more closely. With Gou Jian it's the opposite; mostly he uses plain unornamented speech, which is not to say it's devoid of proverbs and metaphors because, well, that's the way Chinese swings. When he switches to a more formal tone it's almost always sardonic or to make a point. And this before he even becomes king. It's either calculated arrogance or huge, immense self-assuredness. The only other character I can think of with a similar speech pattern is the old king of Wu, and he is just an egotistic prick.
And I keep wondering how one might replicate this in English, but that's neither here nor there.
The series is terribly, soul-crushingly Confucian in a way that most period dramas I've seen are not. Possibly because most period dramas I've seen fall into the following categories:
1. HK drama series, in which characters are simply modern laissez-faire Hong Kongers in costumes and wigs
2. Adaptations of Qiong Yao novels, in which the focus is on doomed love not meant to be, ohhh why does social station keep us apart sob snivel hang self
3. Adaptations of wuxia novels, in which the whole idea is precisely not duty to nation and king.
One upside though is I pay more attention to nuance than I otherwise might have, which is a fruitful exercise because it reveals that Gou Jian speaks in a plainer fashion than most of the other characters. Most of the characters speak in a slightly more formal, literary fashion; not archaic per se but definitely marks the series as a period piece. When at home or speaking with intimates they may lapse into speech that resembles modern-day Mandarin much more closely. With Gou Jian it's the opposite; mostly he uses plain unornamented speech, which is not to say it's devoid of proverbs and metaphors because, well, that's the way Chinese swings. When he switches to a more formal tone it's almost always sardonic or to make a point. And this before he even becomes king. It's either calculated arrogance or huge, immense self-assuredness. The only other character I can think of with a similar speech pattern is the old king of Wu, and he is just an egotistic prick.
And I keep wondering how one might replicate this in English, but that's neither here nor there.
The series is terribly, soul-crushingly Confucian in a way that most period dramas I've seen are not. Possibly because most period dramas I've seen fall into the following categories:
1. HK drama series, in which characters are simply modern laissez-faire Hong Kongers in costumes and wigs
2. Adaptations of Qiong Yao novels, in which the focus is on doomed love not meant to be, ohhh why does social station keep us apart sob snivel hang self
3. Adaptations of wuxia novels, in which the whole idea is precisely not duty to nation and king.