Above: Dongfong Bubai (Joe Chen) and Linghu Chong’s (Wallace Huo) romance take center stage in “Swordsman”. Long awaited wuxia drama, Swordsman <笑傲江湖>, an adaptation of Jin Yong’s (金庸) The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by one of China’s top television producers, Yu Zheng (于正), finally made its debut on February 5. Not only did criticisms about its cast not die down, it has increased in volume over the miscast, especially that of bubbly Joe Chen (陈乔恩) as the main villain, Dongfang Bubai, as well as the subversion of the characters. Dongfang Bubai Takes Over Female Lead Since March last year, when news of Yu Zheng’s adaptation was reported, the online community was puzzled by his casting choice for Dongfang Bubai. Even though the villain was a castrated man who later turned feminine, the choice of the cute Joe Chen did not sit well with the public. Also, unlike the novel, Yu Zheng has included a love aspect between Linghu Chong (played by Wallace Huo 霍建华) and Dongfang Bubai, which increased the screen time of Joe Chen over female lead, Ren Yingying (Yuan Shanshan 袁姗姗). Yu Zheng explained, “We just want to include a dramatic irony in the show. Just when Yue Buqun wants to be the most formidable man in the world, Dongfang Bubai who is already one, seeks love instead.” Yuan Shanshan’s Ren Yingying Ridiculed Yuan Shanshan said that she is not afraid of being overshadowed by Joe Chen. Believing that every role plays an important part in the drama, Shanshan feels that the screen time for Joe Chen is justified. Shanshan herself was not spared of verbal attacks from the online community. A netizen cruelly called her the “disfigured” version of Ren Yingying. Another said she possesses “sausage lips”. Claiming to be good at self-ridicule, Shanshan said she is equally good at filtering out the bad comments. Subversion of Blue Phoenix Besides Dongfang Bubai, the role of the Blue Phoenix also received heavy flak. In Swordsman, the role of the Blue Phoenix is played by Kelsey Lu (吕佳容), who was a buck-teethed ugly girl, unlike the original Blue Phoenix who was supposed to be charming and beautiful. Kelsey explained, “Blue Phoenix was ugly initially. After a face lift, she will become a beauty.” Not only that, the revised Blue Phoenix is man-crazy. Besides having a relationship with Linghu Chong, she will always act silly and crazy whenever she comes across a handsome man. Blue Phoenix will be the character to provide much comic relief, which was originally provided by another character, Tao Gu Liu Xian. She will also be taking on the characteristics of 7 other roles from the novel in Yu Zheng’s drama adaptation. Wuxia Turned Love Story There are also netizens who worried that the addition of the extra love scenes between Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan (Yang Rong 杨蓉), Ren Yingying , and Dongfang Bubai will turn the wuxia drama into a melodramatic Qiong Yao love story instead. Yu Zheng said, “There are so many fighting scenes in the series. I want to add some love elements but it’ll take up only a quarter of the whole show. So this is still mostly a wuxia drama.” Creds: QQ
I was kinda looking forward to this series but some of the comments kinda make me wonder wtf did they do this this amazing classic.
hmm...if joe chen wasnt acting dongfong bubai i would be like wtf is with the story line but because its her i dont actually really mind. i mean ive got to say im not a huge fan of yuan shan shan, and ill definietly prefer to watch joe chen then her any day! the character of dongfong bubai itself is much more interesting then ying yings, somehow i feel like her character became really boring during this version of swordsman, the actress, the make-up, clothing, it all screams boring to me, so i dont even really wanna watch her be with linghu chong. the character ying ying doesnt actually have much to do even in teh original story line, but in the old versions she seems wise, charismatic, mature and intelligent, this version she just seems like a really nice girl...and im not saying this based on my dislike of the actress, just my analysing of the character itself.
This serie have been remake too many times so it is implanted in our brains the way it should be played out. I Think If You Take The Adaptions with Open Mind (Like u never seen it before) then it should be okay and actually I like this dongfong bubai better instead cause he/she seems more human instead of a no brains/weirdo/cold blooded leader in the others remake series If u are a Jing Yong PURIST then I think u better forget watching this serie. (U would say "What The hell!! Dong Fong Bubai falling in love with ling wu chong) Anyway that my thinking it up to u
That was exactly the point, the idea was already done in the Tsui Hark version. It's just a recycled idea
[video=youtube;TvTEcZE4a7U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvTEcZE4a7U[/video] [video=youtube;Q0ZwPpWuQxw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0ZwPpWuQxw[/video] best version, best lingwu chong. cant imagine him being played by anyone else. China versions seriously have some cringe worthy costumes and effects. TVB in the 90s was RAW
I want just to say this version of Xiao Ao JiangHu is amazing. The first version I know, XAJH 2002, is the best, the most successful TV show. It made me fall in love with Jinjin, or I gotta say Xu Qing. She's the reason I was watching XAJH2002. Xu Qing portayed so well Jinjin that when we talk about XAJH we think about her. XAJH2012 gives me another awesome character, Dongfong Bubai played by the beautiful Joe Chen and an amazing storyline. Make Donfong Bubai a woman, a beautiful hot woman is audaciously smart. It gives us a totally different story. You love it or you not, but you have to appreciate the new wuxia romantic story. Honestly I love very much. And of course I'm under Dongfong Bubai's charm. The two versions are both my favorite.
Just finished the series and the way the storyline goes simply made the female lead an eye sore to watch ... there were more screen time between joe chen and wallace huo comparing to the other gal .. There are a lot of remakes these days because creative writers are dead gone. I think people should just watch and enjoy each version as its own work rather comparing to the past versions of the same story even thought it's a difficult. Everyone sees things differently .. some might like this version more than the other or saw it for the first time.
