Actor, Singer, Streamer, Endorser of Products...Dancer(?)...ok so I can’t actually say that last one with a straight face.
Anywho! Bai Yu is undoubtedly a talented chap, he also happens to be a flouter of rules and expectations when it comes to the concept of sitting ‘properly’...and interacting with flat surfaces when it comes to their intended use...and also just in general when it comes to supporting his own lanky, seriously-you-need-to-eat-something, weight.
This particular quirk is something I’m sure we’re all lovingly(?) familiar with when it comes to Bai Yu’s Zhao Yunlan. A character who I am fairly certain hasn’t yet met a surface he hasn’t sat or lounged upon.
At first I thought this was just a quirk of that particular character.
But then he lounged on a mortuary table in Detective L and sat on a counter in Fairyland Lovers, and I began to wonder if this was actually a character quirk or if Bai Yu was just Like That.
And so the Bai Yu Sitting Project was born.
The Project’s original purpose was to try and answer the question as to whether the sitting is a character quirk or just a Bai Yu Thing. Now it’s mainly just an excuse to watch Bai Yu and see if the man will take pretty much any excuse to sit, lean, or lounge...while making attempts to answer the original question.
If you’d like to join me in partaking of this particular brand of madness I seem to be cultivating, then head on under the cut.
If not, then keep on scrolling, nothing to see here, just a slight fixation on an actor with a draping habit.
Fair warning before you click, this is rather long.
Now then, just a few bits of admin before we truly start;
- image quality will vary depending on what I can find, apologies in advance for any of the really, really blurry images I’m going to post.
- I cannot make gifs, I wish I could, but I can’t, so you’re going to be stuck with boring screenshots (unless some absolutely delightful human being has giffed what I want of course).
- even though I’m not focusing on the stories in these films and dramas, I cannot guarantee that there won’t be any spoilers. Don’t know if that’ll bother anyone?
- this will be taking the form of unstructured rambling. It will have a conclusion...eventually...when I’ve finished my ‘research’.
Right, admin done.
Now are we sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.
We’ll start with When Larry Met Mary or 陆垚知马俐.
Do you know what we get with When Larry Met Mary?
We get eight seconds of screentime. Eight (8)!
From 9:14 to 9:22 Bai Yu is ‘Mary’s Deskmate’.
Here, play ‘Spot the Bai Yu’, it’s like an easy version of Where’s Wally...or Waldo for Americans right?
Can you spot him? In the room full of people sitting properly at their desks, where oh where could ‘Mary’s Deskmate’ possibly be?
If you guessed laying down at his desk with his head in ‘Mary’s’ lap...getting his ears cleaned, then you’d be right!
Eight seconds. I watched this nonsense, friendzone-for-life film where people in Spain apparently speak English without a hint of a Spanish accent for eight seconds of screentime!
And look, if you’d asked me after I’d watched this film if he goes for parts he doesn’t have to sit properly for, I’d’ve pulled up a pained smile and said ‘yes’ through gritted teeth. But I know this is stage direction or whatever it’s called, so I can’t entirely put this character choice on Bai Yu’s skinny little shoulders.
If you too would like to subject yourself to this *gestures vaguely at the film in general* just this, then it’s on DramaCool with English subtitles.
Right moving on! because the less I think about that film, the better
Next we have The Founding of an Army or 建军大业.
Bai Yu plays a chap called Cai QingChuan and my first thought when he finally appeared after over an hour and a half was ‘he’s going to die, isn’t he?’ But I had hopes that as a military man there’d be no leaning, lounging, nor inappropriate sitting!
Just look at him! With his shoulders back, and his spine straight!
Surely this isn’t a character that could be affected by the quirk of Bai Yu refusing to support his own body.
...then you realise he spends quite a bit of time splayed out on the ground either covered in foliage.
Knocked into a trench by an explosion.
Or, y’know, dead.
(Fun Fact - due to this film, death now counts in the column of ‘lounging/laying about’)
Amongst all the death and destruction, I did find time to snicker at the fact that of all the named characters in this, it’s Bai Yu’s character that seems to spend the most time on the ground...how very Bai Yu of you, Cai QingChuan.
If you want to watch this propaganda extravaganza of death and destruction then I found it on NewAsianTV with English subtitles. If you have problems with things like blood, beheadings, war related injuries like loss of limb due to explosions, or just general graphic violence then I’d suggest you give this one a miss
Let’s have something a bit lighter next, yeah?
So Hello Joann or 你好喬安 is...well it’s a drama this time, not a film. I couldn’t tell you what it’s about however as I skipped basically everything but the Bai Yu parts.
(It’s surprising how quickly you can get through a 32 episode drama when you don’t really care about the characters)
Bai Yu plays the ex-boyfriend in this one, a bloke by the name of Chen Xiao. Now then, he’s not in it a lot, I mean he’s in it more than eight-second-deskmate up there (look I am still greatly miffed over that, alright, I wouldn’t even have minded if the film was actually any good), but he’s in it enough to be able to introduce a couple of Bai Yu Character Things.
First up - The Crossed Legged Lean.
I first encountered this when watching Memory Lost (which we’ll be looking at at a later date), and I almost choked on my tea when faced with it here. This is the you-can-make-me-stand-but-by-the-gods-you-can’t-make-me-support-my-own-weight Crossed Legged Lean (not to be confused with the General Lean that sometimes appears, though not as often as this one).
Secondly - If My Feet Don’t Touch The Ground Then I Can Sit Properly And Not Look Uncomfortable While Doing It...that’s a bit of a mouthful, but the point still stands!
This is something I’ve become aware of during the hours I’ve spent ‘researching’ this Project.
Bai Yu will sit on the floor, he will lounge on the floor, he will play dead on the floor.
The moment he is in a chair?
His feet seem to turn into little Kuzco’s
They do not wanna be touching the ground. The floor is lava and all that jazz.
At most, one will touch the floor. If both have to then he looks so uncomfortable, it’s hilarious...though at this point I will admit that my perception of what’s funny is rather skewed when it comes to this man and sitting.
(This move is also what I tend to refer to as ‘Relatable Bai Yu Character Trait’, because I, too, prefer not to have my feet touching the floor when in a chair)
Ok so this is a Project to answer the question of character trait or Bai Yu Thing, and I know how to research both sides of something, I know I shouldn’t reach conclusions without taking arguments for both sides into account. I have a gods be damned Masters degree to tell me I know I should do these things. But some times? Some times things happen that make you throw your hands up and go ‘you’re writing the damned conclusion yourself, ain’t ya?’
Until I decided to follow my ‘research’ to the end, this was that moment for me.
Look familiar? He’s on a damned car...truck...whatever. And I can’t even say again? because this came out before Guardian.
You have a character type, sir, and it all revolves around your sitting habits!
As a side note whoever was in charge of his styling for this? They have cursed me with this suit/cravat combo yet gifted me with the image of Bai Yu in kinda tight 3/4 lengths where it’s like an Elf decided to try out Hobbit fashion but tighter?
Look I know the quality isn’t great, but tell me that isn’t some Elf who looked at Bilbo Baggins in his burgundy jacket and short trousers and went ‘I’ll try that’ after waaaaay too much wine.
If you wanna watch this then it’s over on YouTube, the quality isn’t too bad, and the subtitles are pretty good too.
I shall finish up Part One with Fa Hai, or Legend of Fa Hai, or 缉妖法海传 (or if you’re iQiYi The Story of Catching Demons)
This film is the first, and possibly the only, instance where Bai Yu doesn’t seem to lean, lounge, or sit weird.
He does sit on the floor.
But look at him, he’s all stiff backed and uncomfortable looking. There is no leaning nor lounging. He’s sitting properly.
The only time he really lays down he’s on a bed and the only time he’s against a wall he was herded there by the monk guy.
However before I mark this as the only character who supports his own weight, I’ve got to remember that he does get himself stabbed, leading to him technically lounging in a lady’s arms. And if being dead counts as lounging, then I’m going to have to count this one too.
And he’s not just in the lady’s arms once, I think it ends up being about three times.
So something that gave me hope for the ‘Character Trait’ column has been shunted over to the ‘Bai Yu Thing’ column.
If you’d like to watch long haired Bai Yu take the long, I’m-not-entirely-sure-what’s-happening-right-now, path to becoming bald Bai Yu then give this a try. Some lovely person over on twitter has translated it, and it’s also available on iQiYi (but honestly their subtitles can be a bit hit and miss).
Well that’s it for Part One.
Have we made any sense?
Not really!
Will that stop us from continuing our ‘research’?
Of course not!
Are we regretting the decision to catalogue Bai Yu’s sitting habits?
A little bit! sodding Larry meeting goddamn Mary...eight seconds, people! eight
Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six
