Question: Shen Wei's car

[china_shop]

I'm reading the Guardian novel for the first time (still only a few chapters in), and of course, I'm fascinated by the differences, and by how many aspects transferred over despite the demands of censorship.

I'm sure this has been much discussed before, but one obvious thing is that novel!Shen Wei has a cellphone and a car.

Why do you think they changed the cellphone thing for the drama? Just as an interesting character note? To make him more odd and old-fashioned (so Zhao Yunlan could deliver that line about Shen Wei being "pretty much a living fossil", ep 12: 我之前就觉得沈教授滴酒不沾又和一切的现代设备绝缘 简直就是个活化石)? So that the Black-Cloaked Envoy would have some limitations and need to work with the SID (ie, complementarity)? Some other reason?

And what about the car?

Poll #31944 Drama!Shen Wei's driving skills

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 21

View Respondents

Does drama!Shen Wei own a car?

View Answers

yes
0 (0.0%)

no
10 (47.6%)

he can drive, and he does sometimes
5 (23.8%)

he has a driver's licence but doesn't drive
5 (23.8%)

no car, no licence, no driving
10 (47.6%)

other
0 (0.0%)

I love how the drama adapted the Li Qian storyline, making it resonate thematically with the Ye Zun storyline
7 (33.3%)

wow, novel!Guo Changcheng is even more hapless than his drama counterpart
5 (23.8%)

but Daqing is hilarious :D
5 (23.8%)

ETA: How about a bicycle?

Comments

[trobadora]

I really need to find the time to read the novel translation now that it's all out!

Why do you think they changed the cellphone thing for the drama? Just as an interesting character note?

Probably multiple reasons. Most straightforwardly, him being old-fashioned in some respects works to make him actually feel older than he looks. And then, part of the early dynamic between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan is that Zhao Yunlan is suspicious of Shen Wei, not just because he happens to be present for several cases but also because there are things about him that aren't so ordinary, and I think the him being old-fashioned about tech and not having a mobile phone is part of that, too.

I do think he can drive a car (and ride a bike), but he doesn't own one (or a bike either), and he only drives if he really needs to.

[teaotter]

I'm pretty convinced that he learned to drive but never felt a car was necessary when he can teleport or take public transit.

I think the lack of a cell phone makes him more mysterious, and less easy to track. A teleporter with an active cell phone would look very strange in the carrier's records. I don't know the novel, but I assume the drama's version of the SID is much more technologically focused, and therefore might be assumed to look at cell phone records.

Besides, if SW had a cell phone, we wouldn't have the great video call about bears.

[autodach]

Alternative theory for the missing phone: They saved money on a prop this way :D
I headcanon that Shen Wei has a driving licence, he just doesn’t use it much and doesn’t own a car.

[tinypinkmouse]

I seem to remember that the mobile phone he owns in the novel is an older model and something he keeps in a desk drawer or something, instead of always carrying it with him. I might misremembered because it's been a while since I read the novel. But generally I got the feeling he only has it because he has to. And you still get the vibe that novel!Shen Wei is old fashioned and only reluctantly keeps a mobile phone. I suspect it would be harder to get all of that across in the drama and maybe it was just easier to make him not have a phone at all to get the same old fashioness across.