So here’s the tea. For the past weeks when Fireworks of My Heart 我的人间烟火 was on air, the show trended on Chinese social media but not for reasons you’d normally think. Yang Yang who’s starring in the drama with rumoured girlfriend Wang Churan has been the subject of criticism for a number of things like labelling his acting on the show as “greasy”. Then, there’s also the way his character Song Yan was written which some viewers describe as off-putting for his apparent crudeness and stinginess amongst other things. The show’s ratings has now plummeted down to 3.6 in Douban.
From a High to an All Time Low
Thanks to all the buzz around it, the firefighter themed TV drama has been hitting #1 in the ratings charts. This has also translated into unexpected popularity for longtime actor-variety show regular Wei Daxun who despite only appearing as a “special guest” has been getting a lot of attention for his performance. But then, things started going sideways and now it seems pretty much everyone is nitpicking the drama for a lot of things. For the most part, Yang Yang’s character has been the recipient of most of the ridicule online. Aside from his acting, even things like how he kissed Meng Qin (with excessive force apparently) to how the characters played with fire extinguishers which was deemed wasteful to why it was necessary to leave the tap on for a particularly racy scene has been put under close scrutiny.
Wang Churan’s character also didn’t escape getting flak as people have taken to describing her character Meng Qin as having a “love brain” (恋爱脑). This is a “condition” where the person is so fixated on romance and subscribes to the idea that “love conquers all” despite any red flags.
a Clear Conscience
With all that’s been said, Yang Yang still isn’t letting the bashing online get to him and says he has a clear conscience. As long as he does his very best in his acting projects, he said he has no regrets. The show was also accused of trying to “fix” the negativity and steer public sentiment through little changes such as cutting out a scene of Meng Qin hugging Wei Daxun who’s her foster brother in the series. Meanwhile, some of Yang Yang’s fans have been clamouring for his studio to take action against the online vitriol from some antis against the actor.
Source: 1
