Thoughts of a rare soul who enjoyed DMBJ’s Time Raiders 2016 adaptation (2/2)
Or: why TR 2016 is a Pingxie movie
[SPOILERS]
Continuation from this post.
Okay, normal movie review aside, this post is my attempt to discuss the very-compelling Pingxie story that pulled me into the deep end of niche within niche fandom. I am now wholeheartedly shipping Pingxie.
Incredibly long post, so here’s a summary:
Symbolism & foreshadowing in nuances
Pingxie & past lives
These are the nuances that sold me TR: the song, the button, the masks, the scarf, the hands. They added an extra layer to the movie and made you really think about the real story.
Because the story isn’t truly about tomb raiding and fighting monsters, it is as Wu Xie stated at the beginning, “This should be a story about me and him.”
It’s a story about Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling/Men You Ping, about their connection that probably started thousands of years ago, and it ran so deep that we couldn’t possibly fathom how far.
Wu Xie asked, “When did it begin? How did it end?” We don’t know, but we know it definitely exists.
To sum up the story before starting the analysis:
As a kid, Wu Xie snuck inside a maze-like place, took a button from a relic and was chased by a ghostlike figure for it, let’s call the ghost Bronze Mask. This experience haunted his dream all the way to adulthood. Then he discovered the tomb of Iron Mask, a tomb builder, found a key to the Snake Empress's tomb, and met ZQL ‘for the first time’ on the raid with his uncle. They bonded, and for some reason, ZQL wanted that button, which WX gave it to him upon their parting. At the end, it is implied that Bronze Mask is actually ZQL and Iron Mask is Wu Xie.
Wait what? You think that ending came out of nowhere?
NOPE!
First, let’s go back to the very beginning. The performer’s song.
Which, according to English translation, goes like:
“Life is a dream
What is unreal would be real
Life is a mirror that shows your reflection
But I hope the reflection doesn’t show the mundane
Flowers bloom and flower wilt are a way of life
How can life be as you wish?”
At first glance, it didn’t seem to be anything significant, just very pretty words, but after I finished watching, I realized it could be interpreted as foreshadows.
The beginning couple of lines could allude to WX’s dream, and the possibility that there’s something more tangible in this connection with the Bronze Mask figure. Then they foreshadow the ending sequence when WX and ZQL walked past one another as themselves, but turned and saw each other as Bronze Mask and Iron Mask.
The words are telling us that even seemingly unlikely, things could just as likely to happen in life, and I thought they tie the ending back to the opening very neatly.
The idea of mirror and reflection seems to come up quite a bit in the movie, window, mirror, camera lens, dialogues.
I'm thinking that a reflection of themselves symbolizes the idea that there lies another facet of their identities, hinting at past lives. Then we have ZQL’s crisis over his existence and amnesia, constantly wondering who he is, and whether he will one day lose himself.
The last two lines are about ZQL’s immortality, if to live means to bloom then wilt, then he doesn’t belong to the land of living at all.
At the end, the song goes:
“We don’t seek smoke and mirror
Looking back at the time when the wise man rises
It was a time of innocence and purity.”
Mirror appears again here, I haven’t even begun dissecting what this could mean. But I like to think the last two lines fit very well with Wu Xie’s character development, how he grew up after this trip.
NEXT, the pendant thing that I'm going to call a button.
The button honestly foreshadows that ZQL is Bronze Mask in two instances: when he took it from WX the first time and gave it back, then when he asked for it again when they were inside the tomb.
This is the connection that tied WX to Bronze Mask until he met ZQL, until he returned it at the end, AFTER the two of them formed a new connection with pictures, and memories from inside the tomb.
The masks--specifically the Iron Mask foretells Wu Xie’s identity as Iron Mask.
He put it on when he was telling the writer the story in the opening. Then when he first discovered the tomb and the key, he also did that. I was very confused on why someone would put on a rusty old mask? I just chalked it up as a method to open the cage. I was wrong! BAM, foreshadow!
That brings me to the scarf that Iron Mask wore in the ending sequence.
Looks familiar?! Well I would argue that that’s the same scarf that ZQL wore the entire time in the movie, and he very clearly used it to fight A-Ning. If the button is WX's connection to Bronze Mask, then the scarf is a memento--it's ZQL's connection to Iron Mask.
FINALLY, THE HANDS! And Michelangelo’s reference. Separate hands appreciation gif set here.
Hands are incredibly expressive, and I found myself very drawn to them while watching movies. Well, they are the forefront of Pingxie in this story, the movie keeps on showing them, figuratively and literally, reaching out to each other.
Hands are to catch, to hold, to protect, to save, and you will see all of these in Pingxie’s interactions. Heck, the director ended the movie with an entire sequence of their hands and freaking allude to The Creation of Adam!
There’s the first handshake, where ZQL opened up for the first time, and WX appreciated it and reached out first.
Then comes my personal favorite scene which I gif entirely here.
WX, standing on death’s door and still legit worrying about giving MYP his memories in the camera. Boy, pls stop. And you see ZQL freaked out. This was the first time ZQL reached out, this was trust, this was him caring about someone for the first time, you know, as far as he can remember anyway.
Then WX said to MYP, “I said I’d take care of you.” He really did jump headfirst onto a questionable tomb structure to save MYP.
Here, WX literally saved ZQL, and figuratively saved him from his mind and existential crisis as well. Because after, ZQL said to WX, “Memories aren’t everything, daring to imagine is what everything is all about,” which is his character development! Hooray!
Bonus, that hands hold on the magical carpet ride.
AND the Creation of Adam allusion? Which shows God giving life to the first man?
WX is man, he’s always on the left of the painting and all the hand-scenes, ZQL is basically god-like immortal, he’s always on the right. When the allusion to the Creation happened, WX was actually on higher ground, he was the one doing the saving. In this case, the mortal human gave the god life, not the other way around because ZQL didn’t know what living was, so he let WX show him.
The whole idea of past lives probably deviated so much from drama and novel, but it created such a compelling bond for WX and MYP in this movie.
That is why I ship Pingxie now.
You can’t watch this thinking it’ll be like the drama, or like a live-action remake of the novel. No, it’s meant to be a standalone film that showed only a corner of the DMBJ universe, but it unfailingly portrays the deep connection between WX and ZQL, and I love it.
Thoughts of a rare soul who enjoyed DMBJ’s Time Raiders 2016 adaptation (1/2)
[SPOILERS]
So I got into DMBJ bc of Reboot Zhu Yilong’s Wu Xie, I’ve been comparing all the Wu Xie, and came to check out Luhan’s. I just didn’t expect to fall in love with Jing Boran’s ZQL/MYP and catch feels for Pingxie?? Once again falling into niche fandom life??
Apparently within the niche DMBJ fandom, there’s a tinier, almost nonexistent niche for Time Raiders, so I have to rant about it.
Incredibly long post, so here’s a summary:
Action, A-Ning’s insole blade
My favorite Wu Xie adaptation
MYP whump and his damned smiles
A-Ning & PangZi + Badass tomb-raiding crews
Questionables things, prop & plot
Pingxie + 2/2
Foremost, this is an action movie. The action sequences are very nice, even with the occasional flying/floating people/objects in cdrama. As an action movie nerd, I approved and gave it 6.5/10 (and my standard is The Old Guard okay.) There’s everything--swords, guns, grenades, A-Ning’s insole blade. I particularly enjoyed ZQL vs Da Kui & Pan Zi, and ZQL vs A-Ning cut.
Characters are pretty fleshed out for a movie, motives and development are clearly established.
I really like this Wu Xie, personally I think he came closest to what I imagined to be novel’s WX. He is inexperienced, incredibly curious, and daring, but knowledgeable, he thinks outside the box and pulls his own weight, even aiding the crew. He’s BABY, naive, kind, and cheeky af. Refer to How to make friends--a guide by Wu Xie.
But by the end, you know that he matured, he’d seen deaths, hell, he broke his promise to take care of MYP, he grew up. STILL, he made me so protective over him, I finally understand how the entire Reboot casts feel about ZYL’s WX now.
Zhang Qiling/Men You Ping is still mysterious, indifferent; he’s very lost in life, has a goal but almost no will to live. Still OP af, but the WHUMP--so much ZQL whumps with bloody mouth, self-sacrificing tendency and everything. But he appreciates his experience more after knowing WX, like even without shipper eyes, you can tell he cares for WX--the first person who insisted to be his friend, who told him ‘I’d take care of you.’
I like drama MYP but, I completely fell in love with this angsty boy who needs some good sleep. Also probably bc of HIS DAMNED SMILES!! I’m a sucker for poker-face characters who can smile/laugh naturally. Bonus that he only did so with WX! Refer to ZQL smiling at Wu Xie.
I also dedicated an entire gifset on him because uhh I accidentally got attached?? LOOK AT HIM HE’S BEAUTIFUL
ANYWAY
Here is our favorite forced-to-cooperate gang again. Sadly, the Iron Triangle dynamic isn’t developed in here at all.
A-Ning has a bigger role than Pangzi, she’s still freaking competent, badass af, almost equal to ZQL. She is not so heartless at the end, obviously cares for her men, somewhat for WX. Seems to have a mild connection with ZQL over their fighting prowess LOL, and somehow bonds with PZ.
Pangzi is still comedic relief, unfortunately, has little motives and developments. His interactions with WX are hilarious though. They’re dorks together. Although, I found an easter egg: PZ wearing pot on his head again.
I appreciate the side characters in this movie a lot (especially Pan Zi with his kickass martial art). I think they made very badass tomb-raiding crews, both San Shu’s and A-Ning’s; it's clear that (some of) these men know what they were doing, and they aren’t afraid to die.
Also the props in here, holy cow, elaborated af. CGI is better than drama, but can always be improved...
BUT the time period is confusing as hell? This looks like old-school vibes, but they had incredibly high tech, drones and holograms? Uhh okay. Xie Yu Hua’s people used drones in The Lost Tomb 2, but this is a whole new level of sci-fi blue-screen computer stuff. And it’s probably very historically inaccurate, bc what queen back in the day had steampunk technology installed in her tomb?? The coiled machinery-ness bothers me. Ignore it if you can.
English is only better than The Lost Tomb 2’s English hahaha, but not so unbearable that I had to give up the movie. What hit me out of the left field is WX’s flute ability?? LMAO he pulled a Wei Wuxian bc what the heck? How does that even work? But I let it slide.
The plot is very basic: heroes go on quest, heroes face typical mastermind villain and powerful endgame monster. Featuring not-immoral-enough-to-destroy-humanity Hendrix, also known as, can’t-say-no-to-WX-baby-face Hendrix. And final boss: worms-queen with armors and tentacles and everything.
There are plot holes, but it’s an action movie, come on, nobody watches action movies for the plot.
But if you're a shipper, you should watch this movie for the SOFT AND WHOLESOME Pingxie content!
I didn’t expect it. I honestly didn’t watch the movie for Pingxie because I didn’t even ship Pingxie prior to this. I knew it existed, I liked the idea of it and I would read fic of it, but I didn’t feel a lot for it until now.
And then BAM, pokerface MYP with a very visible soft spot for WX? Hell yes. Worried and protective MYP who will catch WX when he falls? Also there.
MYP telling WX about his existential crisis of forgetting who he is? “If I totally lost myself one day, there’s still someone who would remember me.” WX insisting on being MYP's friends, and walking around recording memories for him with his little camera?“You won’t be lost.” YEP.
MYP and WX saving each other? “I said I’d take care of you.” Oh, for sure. Not to forget my standard for (b)romance: prolonged eye contact, smiles, so much smiles, and HANDS! They're all there!
Now, there are even more subtle things that told Pingxie’s story on a deeper level, which I talked about in continuation post 2/2 here.
Anyway, I know Time Raiders isn’t related to the main story aside from the characters and certain tropes. BUT as someone who just dipped their toes in DMBJ, out of everything I’ve seen--Lost Tomb 1, 2, Reboot, I’m in the middle of reading Book 3-- this installment is my favorite, barely beat out Lost Tomb 2 and only below the novel.
