5) other than plot, are there any differences between cql-main and book-main fic that you notice, particularly in character dynamics? i notice these from the other direction, like some details make me go "oh this must be influenced by cql"
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Book main JGY is VERY different than CQL main JGY is one of my biggest vibes. He feels hmm a little softer (but never like SOFT SOFT) in CQL bc of some of his actor's choices
im glad to get outside validation on this bc i feel like book jgy has layers but is a bit of a "go girl give us nothing" antagonist so i hated him but fic drawn from cql jgy (mainly yours. trembling ever so little>>>>) turned me around on him as a character completely and now i find him compelling.
It’s been years since I actually saw the source material but I remember it the other way around? Cql jgy LOOKS softer for sure but I remember not liking him as much because they pinned more evil stuff on him that was different in the book. I don’t remember details, just this impression.
He does get blamed for more stuff in the end, but we ALSO get hours and hours of him being the most long-suffering beleaguered customer service representative with first. 🤔 mixed bag imo
Very fair! I also did not see xiyao AT ALL until it was explicitly pointed out to me (I have a story about that lmao) so that changes how I took in the story
I don't know if I could discern whether people were CQL Main or Book Main from character dynamics, though I do definitely assume anyone writing XY calling JGY 'YaoYao' is a CQL fan.
6) when you talk to other fans, if it is not immediately obvious, what is your biased assumption of which direction they joined the fandom from (book vs novel or both)?
I saw someone with an ace lwj icon one time and I was like. Okay that is a valid interpretation if you only watched cql but you definitely only watched cql
Okay I was wrong about this!! I just remember being very annoyed by the irony of cql trying to make wwx a pure innocent and jgy responsible for everything in a story that is very much about how public opinion does that shit to people
it would depend on contextual clues, like what circles of fans they run in, or what space I met them in, things like that. if that makes sense! Like I think I'd assume on tumblr that a fan is a cql main, but if I met another fan through one of my mdzs friends, I'd assume they're also mdzs
5) In general I think everybody feels a little softer/more sympathetic across the board in CQL for a combination of:
A - the actors put their entire pussy into those performances and it SHOWS
2 - the writing had to make the "good guys" less morally culpable for atrocities lol
Wrt to B) … kind of? Like there was this one meta I came across that brought up how making some characters more sympathetic didn’t really eliminate the moral complexity, just redistributed it to other characters — like for example, softening JGY and going harder on NMJ
I do agree with that, but I meant in terms of the legal requirements for protagonists they were writing to. I think they struck a fairly good balance, all things considered, personally!
For me, the big tells are Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji. CQL JC and LWJ definitely have their difficult qualities, but they both tend to have rougher edges in MDZS fic, at least that I’ve read.
Novel WWX’s clown act often feels a lot openly ruder and less charming, especially toward LWJ.
Little thing, but I didn’t realize until I started getting into fic that the Twin Jades were called that because they looked like twins! Ok but srsly,, I think in CQL, LXC feels more like a semi parent to LWJ than I gather he does in MDZS and their age gap seems wider
this is so funny to me because when i watched a bit of cql after reading mdzs i was like... this is an interesting casting choice for people who are supposed to look identical. like i get that finding two people who look close to the same is hard but like, they are not even in the room of similar 😭
also, agree w the lxc/lwj dynamic being really different. it made me kind of sad when i watched my 7 little episodes of cql because it felt like they put such a tangible social distance between them. WAIT. does that mean cql ppl see my jadecest posts through that lens???? oh my fuck 😦😦😦
TBH I think most of the jadecest enjoyers are very invested in the codependent brothers who grew around each other like two entwined trees angle, so I wouldn't worry about that overmuch 🤭
(I do also think the casting is funny though because sooooo many other characters look legit related and then they got to the Lans like "close enough" 🤣 )
5) The biggest cql tell in a fic for me is exes to lovers wangxian, I spent a long time wondering why that was SO popular in fic and then I started cql and it was immediately apparent
I think CQL definitely has more yearning glances, and I think more of a focus on the flashback stuff, which leads to more lectures content.
I think novel mains overreact sometimes to cql's saturation and caricaturise characters by focusing on their 'novel only' traits
I mentioned already that the themes are different, and honestly that strikes me much more strongly than plot stuff! the plot changes, and character changes, are in service to the themes imo. The moral universe of the two versions of the story are just very different, and that impacts everything
5. So, a huge difference to me is that there's no homophobia in CQL because there's no homosexuality 🤷♀️ In the novel part of everyone's problem with wangxian is that they are cutsleeves. In CQL it's just...not...a thing, which hilariously makes everything gayer??
This especially makes Jiang Cheng come across way differently. In the book he's way less sympathetic because he's homophobic on top of all his other issues. WZC's acting in CQL also makes him more sympathetic, and some other writing choices, including giving him a crush on Wen Qing...
hahahaha i used to be a jiang cheng hater (casually) because i only read the books and wasn't really in the fandom but when i started reading fic and got exposed to wider fan interpretation i softened on him so much and now i love him
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Some of that I think is by virtue of us getting scenes with him *not* from WWX's perspective and/or Empathy flashbacks.
A - the actors put their entire pussy into those performances and it SHOWS
2 - the writing had to make the "good guys" less morally culpable for atrocities lol
Novel WWX’s clown act often feels a lot openly ruder and less charming, especially toward LWJ.
I think novel mains overreact sometimes to cql's saturation and caricaturise characters by focusing on their 'novel only' traits