#weiwei

My ships.... they match (Part II)

Tian Xu Ning (田栩宁), Chinese actor and model

like/reblog if you like/use <3

I could write a whole paper on this breaking it down episode by episode, and maybe one day I will, but not today.

Today I'll just say: the best thing about Revenged Love is the clever way it utilizes lighting, and filters to show point of view and tell us who is telling the story… Weiwei.

What do I mean?

Well the most obvious time it's done is when Weiwei's mom dies. The lighting is soft, and warm in the beginning. Weiwei is happy, so the scene is happy. And then he realizes she's gone, and everything shifts. They take the filter creating the shallow depth of field*, and the warm colorization** off like ripping off rose colored glasses and what we're left with is a harshly cold*** and sharpened image of WeiWei's grief.

But more subtly, and over a longer period of time, is the shift in our perspective of Chi Cheng. You may argue that Chi Cheng falls in love, and that's why he changes. And yeah, that's 100% true, but so does WeiWei.

And I'll tell you why.

Chi Cheng's feelings toward Weiwei are pretty obvious pretty early. This man goes from 0 to heart eyes in about 5 episodes, if that. But our perspective of him takes longer to shift.

Our first intro to Chi Cheng he's literally sitting in the dark with his snakes. He looks menacing. He looks like he's going to come in and ruin Weiwei's whole life. His actions in that first episode are the actions of a villain, of someone unfeeling, and cruel. But slowly, over time, as Weiwei grows to love him, we the audience also get to see a different side of him.

We go from him being scary, and unfeeling. To him being a ridiculous and still unfeeling brat of a man who sits on his desk while he's supposed to be working and sends off money to some guy he wants to sleep with like its nothing. To the lonely rich boy who's family won't even let him speak. To the man in that final scene who has put Weiwei's home back together for him. Who has spent weeks upon weeks making it just how Weiwei remembers. Who cares so deeply it HURTS.

Yes, he's grown, but Weiwei's perception of him has also shifted. I'd argue that from the beginning Chi Cheng had the capacity (and even the desire) to be that person for someone, it just takes Weiwei longer to realize that's who Chi Cheng is, and likewise how it's portrayed to us shifts slowy over time from agressive and almost menacing affection to something so soft it breaks your heart.

It's done through lighting. It's done through his actions and writing. It's done through his costuming.

But it doesn't happen all at once, or quickly enough for us to notice the shift until it's too late. And by then we care as much about his potential happiness or heartbreak as we do about Weiwei's. And then he's no longer an antagonist or a road block, he's the leading man.

Another way this is utlizied is with Chengyu and Dr. Jiang's relationship.

Yes. They're soft. They're cute. They're so healthy it makes the rest of us feel toxic by comparison. I'm not arguing against that.

BUT ALSO, the way their relationship is portrayed is through rose colored glasses. It's a lens with a shallow depth of field that softens the world around them. It's with warm lighting via sunlight or candles. And I'd argue at least some of that is because of what WeiWei wants Dr. Jiang to have. He wants his friend to have the kind of love that cares for him without expectation, no questions asked. And that's how they're portrayed to us. Does that mean it's not true? No. It's true regardless of how WeiWei's feelings affect our perception. But this IS Weiwei's story, he's telling it, and that affects the way it's presented.

Anyway from a storytelling and cinematography perspective this show was SO clever, and I appreciate it. They did not have to go as hard on this weird fluffy little drama as they did, but I love it nonetheless.

* a photography term for the way we create a scene with an overly soft background and a very small focal point, think your phone's portrait mode.

** a term for the filters used to either make a scene warmer or cooler. Ever notice how green a scene looks sometimes even when it's not even outside? That's a filter. We use that green a lot for supernatural spooky things.

Meet the Artist: @peevishpants​

Hallo! Weiwei here. I’m currently a full-time illustrator in tech by day and a part-time drawer for publishing and animation by night. You may remember me from such posts as my Zelda university AU, outfitober designs, the occasional comic about fish or Chinese diaspora identity, and [redacted]. Thank you for the love, and thank you Tumblr for giving my blog back and asking me to do a meet the #artist! Consider my socks rocked!

Great to meet you, Weiwei! Here are some illustrations that she has handpicked for us to feature here.

For more of Weiwei’s illustrations, check out @peevishpants!

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