NiF - please avoid this if it will annoy you

[frith_in_thorns]

I STILL haven't finished Nirvana in Fire, and have finally pinned down my reluctance to do so.


I'm pretty sure my entire watching of it has suffered from it being sold to me in SUCH an over-hyped way. Frustratingly, I think I would have enjoyed it so much more if I hadn't had managed to pick up the impression that it was completely Life-Changing, The Best Show Ever Made etc. Like, it's good? But people similarly tried to sell me on The Untamed as The Best Love Story Ever, The Saddest Thing They've Ever Watched, etc, and just nope.

Also, I guess when I watch things and talk about them as I go on Twitter (with hashtags) I tend to be pretty irreverent? Like, I talk about notable bits to me -- the things I enjoyed and also the things that made me laugh. But I definitely felt when I talked about NiF I hit a vein of "you are not allowed to say anything critical about this Perfect Show", I think unintentionally, but.... yeah. It definitely made me feel I wasn't allowed to enjoy NiF in the way that I was enjoying it, so I... stopped enjoying it.

I'm on episode 50, btw. I've been here for two months? Bleh.

[Edit: Comments now full of spoilers]

Comments

[shipperslist]

I haven't seen NiF and don't plan to but yes, I get you on The Untamed. It was incredibly pretty and yeah, it was a bit sad and yeah, it was kinda nice but overall? Nah.

[frith_in_thorns]

Honestly, I really enjoyed most of The Untamed up until the last few episodes, which were TERRIBLE. Everyone stood around in Lotus Pier being shocked, and then there were four excruciating episodes in the temple being SHOCKED, and I was honestly just laughing out loud and pleading for it to be over by the time the temple scenes were only half done. And then the fandom is a trashfire, so XD

[shipperslist]

And then the fandom is a trashfire, so XD
I knew that even before watching. :D

[xparrot]

Not to be all one of those "the book was better" fans, but...the problem with The Untamed's ending is that in the novel, the whole climactic villain reveal is really a backdrop for one of the most incredibly ill-timed love confessions. Which is hilarious, because while everyone's finding out the truth and getting shocked, they are also being assaulted by LWJ/WWX's shameless PDA, and it's beautiful.

...Okay, I feel that MDZS is ultimately a (often pretty dark) comedy. Which may be why I never really fit in the fandom ^^;

[frith_in_thorns]

Ellie has been slowly reading MDZS and she definitely feels it's a comedy, but then she also lives in the Meng Yao Dead Dove Trashcan corner of the fandom (in her words) so probably also not indicative XD

[xparrot]

Heh, that's reassuring to hear! I read MDZS a couple of years ago (pre-Untamed) and really enjoyed it as a comedy. But then Untamed fandom is so much about it being an epic tragedy that I've assumed my memory of the book was more selective than I thought!

[sheron]

The feeling of the novel vs the show is really different! I wouldn't call it a comedy, even a dark one, but it's quite hmmm, cynical? I guess is the word I'd use about human nature and very "i'm capable of everything another human is capable off" (to quote maya angelou) with it's themes.

Also it's really interesting to hear that apparently corners of the fandom are a trashfire because it really hasn't been my impression at all with my small rarepares that I fan in that fandom!

[xparrot]

Yeah, that's honestly why I don't really "work" with the main MDZS/Untamed fandom, because most fans seem to see it as a pretty deep exploration of human nature, and I, uh, didn't. To me I enjoyed it as a really OTT and pretty ridiculous romance between a super-powered stoic and the world's fluffiest necromancer. And I really enjoyed it as that! But I never had much interest in reading more into it.