@gekidasa @liztai
When I see Meng Ziyi on variety shows she seems so very much more lively and natural. I wish we saw that version of her in cdramas.
It’s not just more natural styling that suits her more, it’s that she has a natural vibrancy and chemistry with her coleads that we only rarely glimpse in dramas. I can’t believe that she would be incapable of performing that way in dramas given how much of what we see in variety shows *is performance/acting.*
So, I am convinced that for some reason directors *want* Meng Ziyi to look like that and behave so stiffly in dramas. There’s an aesthetic that male directors seem to find captivating — or they all wouldn’t be trying to create it with her — but she’s become typed by it.
Unfortunately, while Idol cDramas target market is women, the men making them still seem to be oblivious to how much their male-gaze priorities and repression of women’s expressiveness lower the overall quality and appeal to women.
I’m thinking that, like Bai Lu, we may only get to see her range and get a true measure of her skills when she gets to work with a female director in a woman-centric, female-gaze oriented cdrama. I’m not sure she could deliver a Bai Lu in ***The First Jasmine*** level performance, but I’m almost certain she could give so much more, especially in a comedy.
#cDrama
Oct 24, 2026, 2:31 PM
