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sid_guardian2020-12-04 11:17 am
waterscroll) wrote in sid_guardian2020-12-04 11:17 am
Entry tags:
Focus on: The Dixing Bar (episodes 16 and 17)
Location of scenes:
Episode 16: 25:00-26:10, 27:35-28:55
Episode 17: 5:57-7:45
Screencaps taken from the rewatchalong, thank you!
Episode 16
While Shen Wei is talking to the Regent, Zhao Yunlan is running around Dixing, getting into arguments with kids (and one future king) and talking to a suprisingly emotional pillar. Eventually he finds a bar, with some people loitering outside wearing masks. One is in the middle of vomiting and Zhao Yunlan takes his mask while he’s bent over. It is black and covers half his face, oddly like that of the Black Cloak Envoy.
Inside, the bar is crowded. Most people are wearing plain masks but some are fancier and one man is wearing a pig face.
Zhao Yunlan orders a beer. The bartender, who is the only person in the bar not wearing a mask, observes that someone else was just wearing the exact same mask that Zhao Yunlan is wearing now. Zhao Yunlan assures him that it is a coincidence, and asks if this is a masquerade, which are all the rage in Haixing. The bartender is baffled by the question.
In 16:27:35, the kids make it to the bar, where a brawl has just started. The bartender complains about the young people of this generation, and Zhao Yunlan says, they must not have been taught well at school. The bartender asks, what’s a school? Zhao Yunlan says it’s a joke. The fight continues, and one of the people involved in the fight gets slammed on the floor where he cuts his arm with a broken beer bottle. Zhao Yunlan says to take him to the hospital, and the bartender asks what’s a hospital. At this point the bartender suspects that Zhao Yunlan is not from here and rips his mask off. The person whose mask Zhao Yunlan took calls him out and all the bar patrons call out to get the human thief. The three kids come to get Zhao Yunlan and the guy in the pig mask grabs him and yanks him outside. He turns out to be Butler Wu, from episode 5, who is now working for Shen Wei.
Episode 17
Shen Wei, looking for Zhao Yunlan, runs into the bar without a mask.
He says he’s looking for a man with a moustache and maybe a lollipop. The man whose mask Zhao Yunlan took shouts that he’s dead, that he killed them with his fist. He asks Shen Wei to say what their relationship is, then everyone in the bar shouts out that he should tell them. Shen Wei looks distraught or possibly scared, then he turns into the Black Cloak Envoy. The unmasked man accuses him of just presenting to be the Black Cloak Envoy and everyone calls him a fake and throws things at him. Shen Wei uses his powers and everyone bows. The bartender looks scared and then gives Shen Wei the information that he has.
Things I find fascinating about the scenes:
1. The bar seems to be the main functioning social institution in Dixing. Eventually, in episode 40, it is the people of the bar who tell the truth about Ye Zun and take him down. Here we also see people of the bar are also acting as some sort of community patrol, with the bartender finding out that Zhao Yunlan isn’t from there and later the people in the bar calling Shen Wei a fake. So they are a somewhat suspicious bunch, for good and for bad.
2. The masks! And that that the bartender immediately recognizes Zhao Yunlan’s mask, even though it is fairly basic black. This may show that the bartender is unusually perceptive, or that the masks are significant, or that this particular mask is more significant than it looks, or all of the above.
3. This is when we find out that Dixing has no schools and no hospitals. I think this was where I first became super-invested in wanting things to get better for Dixing.
Questions:
1. So, what are the masks all about? Are they a way to have fun in a world that doesn’t seem to have many other opportunities for that? Or are they something more serious? Is the bar somewhat subversive, so that people have to hide their identities somewhat to go there? Or is it cultural and a form of self-expression? Why did Butler Wu have a distinctive one and Zhao Yunlan end up with one that looks kind of like that of the Black Cloak Envoy? Why is the bartender the only one not wearing a mask?
2. When the bartender complains about kids of this generation, do you think it reflects anything that has actually changed in the past generation? Also, he doesn’t look any older than the bar partons, so do you think he is actually of an older generation?
3. Why do you think Dixing has no schools and no hospitals? Do you think that gets fixed post-canon? (I know there are some good fics about this so feel free to rec them.)
4. The people in the bar react as if a human being there is bad but not overwhelmingly surprising. Do you think humans visit Dixing? For what purpose? Why do you think the people in the bar don't like it?
5. The bar patrons are very concerned that Shen Wei might be a fake and bow to him when they find out he’s real. What do you think they know or believe about the Black Cloak Envoy?
6. The bar patrons seem to be almost entirely men, although I think I noticed one woman. Do you think this is significant? (In general there seem to be few women in Dixing, I wonder if the gender balance is different there.)
7 What do you think the bar is like when the heroes aren’t there?
8. What else can we figure out from these scenes about Dixingian life and culture?
Episode 16: 25:00-26:10, 27:35-28:55
Episode 17: 5:57-7:45
Screencaps taken from the rewatchalong, thank you!
Episode 16
While Shen Wei is talking to the Regent, Zhao Yunlan is running around Dixing, getting into arguments with kids (and one future king) and talking to a suprisingly emotional pillar. Eventually he finds a bar, with some people loitering outside wearing masks. One is in the middle of vomiting and Zhao Yunlan takes his mask while he’s bent over. It is black and covers half his face, oddly like that of the Black Cloak Envoy.
Inside, the bar is crowded. Most people are wearing plain masks but some are fancier and one man is wearing a pig face.
Zhao Yunlan orders a beer. The bartender, who is the only person in the bar not wearing a mask, observes that someone else was just wearing the exact same mask that Zhao Yunlan is wearing now. Zhao Yunlan assures him that it is a coincidence, and asks if this is a masquerade, which are all the rage in Haixing. The bartender is baffled by the question.
In 16:27:35, the kids make it to the bar, where a brawl has just started. The bartender complains about the young people of this generation, and Zhao Yunlan says, they must not have been taught well at school. The bartender asks, what’s a school? Zhao Yunlan says it’s a joke. The fight continues, and one of the people involved in the fight gets slammed on the floor where he cuts his arm with a broken beer bottle. Zhao Yunlan says to take him to the hospital, and the bartender asks what’s a hospital. At this point the bartender suspects that Zhao Yunlan is not from here and rips his mask off. The person whose mask Zhao Yunlan took calls him out and all the bar patrons call out to get the human thief. The three kids come to get Zhao Yunlan and the guy in the pig mask grabs him and yanks him outside. He turns out to be Butler Wu, from episode 5, who is now working for Shen Wei.
Episode 17
Shen Wei, looking for Zhao Yunlan, runs into the bar without a mask.
He says he’s looking for a man with a moustache and maybe a lollipop. The man whose mask Zhao Yunlan took shouts that he’s dead, that he killed them with his fist. He asks Shen Wei to say what their relationship is, then everyone in the bar shouts out that he should tell them. Shen Wei looks distraught or possibly scared, then he turns into the Black Cloak Envoy. The unmasked man accuses him of just presenting to be the Black Cloak Envoy and everyone calls him a fake and throws things at him. Shen Wei uses his powers and everyone bows. The bartender looks scared and then gives Shen Wei the information that he has.
Things I find fascinating about the scenes:
1. The bar seems to be the main functioning social institution in Dixing. Eventually, in episode 40, it is the people of the bar who tell the truth about Ye Zun and take him down. Here we also see people of the bar are also acting as some sort of community patrol, with the bartender finding out that Zhao Yunlan isn’t from there and later the people in the bar calling Shen Wei a fake. So they are a somewhat suspicious bunch, for good and for bad.
2. The masks! And that that the bartender immediately recognizes Zhao Yunlan’s mask, even though it is fairly basic black. This may show that the bartender is unusually perceptive, or that the masks are significant, or that this particular mask is more significant than it looks, or all of the above.
3. This is when we find out that Dixing has no schools and no hospitals. I think this was where I first became super-invested in wanting things to get better for Dixing.
Questions:
1. So, what are the masks all about? Are they a way to have fun in a world that doesn’t seem to have many other opportunities for that? Or are they something more serious? Is the bar somewhat subversive, so that people have to hide their identities somewhat to go there? Or is it cultural and a form of self-expression? Why did Butler Wu have a distinctive one and Zhao Yunlan end up with one that looks kind of like that of the Black Cloak Envoy? Why is the bartender the only one not wearing a mask?
2. When the bartender complains about kids of this generation, do you think it reflects anything that has actually changed in the past generation? Also, he doesn’t look any older than the bar partons, so do you think he is actually of an older generation?
3. Why do you think Dixing has no schools and no hospitals? Do you think that gets fixed post-canon? (I know there are some good fics about this so feel free to rec them.)
4. The people in the bar react as if a human being there is bad but not overwhelmingly surprising. Do you think humans visit Dixing? For what purpose? Why do you think the people in the bar don't like it?
5. The bar patrons are very concerned that Shen Wei might be a fake and bow to him when they find out he’s real. What do you think they know or believe about the Black Cloak Envoy?
6. The bar patrons seem to be almost entirely men, although I think I noticed one woman. Do you think this is significant? (In general there seem to be few women in Dixing, I wonder if the gender balance is different there.)
7 What do you think the bar is like when the heroes aren’t there?
8. What else can we figure out from these scenes about Dixingian life and culture?