This is a series of short articles by the same author which will be a 6 part analysis on Xiao Zhan’s various roles.
- Part 1.1 – Wei Wuxian
- Part 1.2 – Wei Wuxian
- Part 1.3 – Wei Wuxian
- Part 2.1 – Yan Bingyun
- Part 3.1 – Period Dramas
- Part 3.2 – Period Dramas
Original Article: https://www.weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404473770331996359
Original Author: 诗债累累
There was a lot of controversy over the character of Yan Bingyun, and part of the reason is because of Xiao Zhan, while another part comes from the script. For those who have read the original novel, they would feel that the character seems slightly different from what they expected.
Before we talk about the actor, let us first discuss my understanding of the character and the script. There is one point that we can make for certain – the changes made to the character, Yan Bingyun, was made to service the script and plot.
“Joy of Life” is a novel with almost 3.8 million Chinese characters. The content of this novel is rich and the pace is quick; the style of the novel is full of intrigue and foreshadowing as well as independent, yet interlocking plot lines – linking complex politics and personal motivations. Under layers and layers of intrigue, the author appeared to be playing a puzzle game with his readers by placing in countless surprises – for example, did you know that the genre of this novel is actually science fiction?
Novels are a form of narrative art, and therefore it is able to contain large amounts of information within a chapter, which the readers can reference back and forth. However, if the script were to be written similarly, it might cause confusion among its viewers. Drama is a form of action art – the core of action comes from incident, and in order to form incident, conflict and contradiction are the most important. As such, in terms of script formation, it is important it to focus on the main plot line, with clear direction on the lead character’s motivations.
In comparison against novels, the script needs to be as clear as possible, with highly comprehensible direction:
- What are the issues to be resolved in these episodes?
- Who are our friends? Who are our enemies?
- What is this character’s personality?
- What must the character do in order to move the plot forward?
With this, we are able to allow the audience to have a God’s view over the entire storyline, and create the effect that only the characters in the drama are caught unaware.
In the novel, Yan Bingyun is a highly complex character, as quoted from the novel:
Fan Xian thought highly of this Mr. Yan, who he had never met, and admired that he was willing to leave behind his riches and fortune, despite being a court official’s son, to travel to a faraway foreign land in order to take on the difficult task of spying on the northern borders, and in addition, he did that exceedingly well. Just by the fact that he managed to successfully infiltrate the Northern Qi upper class, Fan Xian knew that Mr. Yan was more outstanding than he was in many ways.
This meant that Yan Bingyun was a high-flyer, being of a high status despite his age, but yet uninvolved in politics, nor did he indulge in vices; instead, he worked hard, and it showed in his successful management of the spy network. Most people would manage a spy network by secrecy and infiltration, but for him, he did it by openly participating with the Northern Qi upper class. He lived extravagantly as a distinguished and admirable member of the society – people knew him as the great talent Mr. Yun; his main opponent’s younger sister fell in love with him. Even when Fan Xian first saw him, he was still handsome despite being under severe torture for half a year.
From the above descriptions, we can see that Yan Bingyun is another “Strong, Beautiful, Tragic” character, and since Xiao Zhan appeared to be a specialist in such, we could say that this was a suitable casting.
Some said that the script adaptation reduced the complexity of the character, but I felt that this was a purposeful change.
(1) To prevent duplication of character type and performance type
The entirety of “Joy of Life” is a science of contrast and juxtaposition in the its portrayal and scenes – important scenes were paired with relaxed performances; climatic conflicts were paired with an everyday setting. For example, when Emperor Qing was having a group lunch with Fan Xian, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, he openly asked Fan Xian if the Crown Prince or the Second Prince was a better choice.
By doing so, it added a layer of dark humor and intrigue in the character, creating complexity, and the actor had the freedom to include their imagination in the scene. For example, in the same lunch scene, the actors were given more space in their portrayal and were able to create their own reactions to that question.
This allowed the entirety of the cast to be also in contrast against Fan Xian. They were scheming, creating mystery and trying to be undecipherable. But Fan Xian quickly understood the rules of the game and attempted to change his fate from a pawn to be the chess player.
Based on the script adaptation, Fan Xian is a very outstanding character – he’s an antihero, not entirely righteous, and very relatable for viewers (who belong to the modern society). He has a very strong protagonist halo – he is very practical and very self serving. (TN: Protagonist halo – when the protagonist has strong abilities, able to overcome difficulties and gain more capabilities.)
This also created a problem, in which the majority of the cast were self-serving – Emperor Qing, the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, the Elder Princess, Fan Xian, Wang Qinian. This caused the drama to have a darker tone, more egocentric, and most of the conflicts were internalized – resulting in restrictions in the script. While the story appeared to be attacking human nature, it also seemed to comply with the weaknesses of human nature.
As such, the story needed a more direct character, and this character needed to be acute, direct and aware of the self-serving society, but uses above board tactics and stratagems. The line, “Everything is for the Great Qing” is a brilliant line, as it brought the conflict in this drama away from a self-serving level, and showed that there was a higher level which many continued to fight for.
Yan Bingyun was a character who never knew love, but loved deeply (in this case, Qing). This is again in extreme contrast, as the viewers and the characters in the drama would view Qing as an actually rather lousy country. From the current status, it appeared that his view was to create a revolution from within, spiraling upwards from the bottom to top.
Hence, the Yan Bingyun in the drama became more passionate, more acute; while others were plotting in the dark, he continued to use above board tactics – the only externalized character in the entire drama.
I have created this table for easy understanding:
| Character | Emotion | Appearance | Communication | Inner Self |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yan Bing Yun | Restrained | Reserved | Acute | For Nation |
| Fan Xian | Wanton | Friendly | Diplomatic | For Humanity |
| Other Characters | Restrained | Solemn | Diplomatic | For Self |
(2) When grouping characters, the need to determine character positioning and quadrant
Wang Juan stated in this in a Weibo post: “This character (referring to Yan Bingyun), will need to be part of the team with Fan Xian, Wang Qinian and Gao Da in the future. It would be amusing when these 4 interact, there is probably a need to have greater headspace for this.”
If there were no adjustments to Yan Bingyun’s character, he probably could have completed all the tasks of Fan Xian + Wang Qinian + Gao Da on his own. Not only does he know more about Qing’s internal conflicts, he also understands Northern Qi. While Wang Qinian also has the same clarity, his court position was too low and he has too little influence. And Gao Da’s main task was the fighting force, and for sure, Yan Bingyun could fight as well.
As such, in order to become part of the “crew”, there is a need to weaken his perfect image – a classic example, in the novel, Yan Bingyun built the spy network from scratch, whereas in the drama he took over and managed an existing network.
Zhang Ruoyun said in an interview: “Yan Bingyun is strict, and I am super not-strict, our relationship is a bicker-tease relationship. This understanding is very accurate.”
And we can see this after the changes in his character, we can see the distribution of work in this team of 4:
- For the Great Qing: Yan Bingyun > Gao Da > Wang Qinian > Fan Xian
- Political strength: Yan Bingyun > Wang Qinian = Fan Xian > Gao Da
- Fighting strength: Fan Xian > Gao Da > Yan Bingyun > Wang Qinian
- Support required: Fan Xian = Yan Bingyun > Wang Qinian > Gao Da
Before the changes in the character, “For the Great Qing” was a blurry concept, and Yan Bingyun felt mechanical and one dimensional. After the changes, he had more flaws, and as such had greater room for growth. He needed support from this team, and the symbiotic relationship he had with Fan Xian would aid Fan Xian in quickly attaining his goal.
Wang Juan said that to see Yan Bingyun, is to see the emotions that he was unable to contain. We can predict that Yan Bingyun will be of a greater effect in the next arc, with more scenes and character growth. His place in the first arc was just setup for this, and as such, this Yan Bingyun does not need to be perfect.