the firmament of the pleiades â midway musingsÂ
(Or, in other words: I intended to post about The Pleiades earlier, yet procrastinated until I ended up about halfway through. Specifically, at the time of writing I am at episode 12 of 28.)
Depicted above is a seemingly benign scene â Emperor Guangxuâs beloved Consort [at this point in time, Concubine] Zhen (Lemon Zhang) trying her hand in court painting under the tutelage of late Empress Dowager Cixi (Yuko Tanaka). But things are never so simple â even Cixiâs lessons and compliments are lined with terse warnings: in the Forbidden City, never think too highly of yourself. (And if you know how the history goes âŚ)
The year is 1889, and at the ripe age of 18, Emperor Guangxu (Zhang Bo) is finally allowed to assume full powers as rightful ruler. But with the Qing Dynasty in major decline, with foreign threats and influences, a weakened military, ludicrous palace spending, the rise of the noveau riche, as well as Cixiâs unwillingness to so easily hand over power, weâre really in here for a long ride.Â
As a rather well-known and well-documented period of history, admittedly I find it shocking that there havenât been many hit dramas and movies depicting the dramatic occurrences revolving around the second-to-last reign of the Qing Dynasty â a time filled with both court splendor and major foreign influence, not to mention the almost fairy-tale tragic love story between Emperor Guangxu and Consort Zhen that quite nearly spells the perfect formula for hit cdrama. But The Firmament of the Pleiades, though not perfect, is most definitely a masterfully directed and relatively objective, authentic taste into the doomed time period.Â
Rather than take a side in depicting the tense and fearful relationship and power plays between the Emperor and Empress Dowager, The Pleiades actually brings focus to an unexpected bromance between newly appointed court minister Liang Wenxiu (Zhou Yiwei) and Cixiâs favored eunuch, Chunâer (Xu Shaoqun). Instead of pointing fingers at who may be right or wrong, the historical figures, as well as the two original protagonists (technically Wenxiu sort of does have a historical counterpart), in their own way represent conflicting ideals â the Emperorâs willingness to open up to reform (and I imagine, later on in the drama, Consort Zhenâs fascination with Western traditions and objects such as photography, as well as directly further encouraging reform) that clashes with Cixiâs far more traditional take, be it her shock at âWesternâ customs, universal education, and the Gregorian calendar, or even the way she so cleverly retains power through means of âpolitical tutelageâ â the way Qianlong supposedly did when he served as regent after passing the throne on to his son, Emperor Jiaqing â something she was willing to do because there was a precedent, as if it followed a tradition of sorts.Â
However, twelve episodes into the drama, weâre really still at a set-up of sorts, with all sorts of political machinations happening in the background as we witness âordinaryâ things such as various traditions and rituals, and most especially some angst and relationship-building â a âcalm before the stormâ of sorts as Guangxu meekly and fearfully attempts to appease his adoptive mother, while princes, ministers, and eunuchs take sides in two clearly forming factions â all the while attempting to pretend that all is fine and dandy. While I squeal over all the drama going down while the Qing Dynasty is clearly increasingly weakening, here is what Iâve surmised (spoilers below the cut):Â
