Ashes of Love (2018)

Wow! I have just finished watching this for the second time, and plan on watching for a 3rd before New Year’s Eve. This is probably the best fantasy I have ever seen. It has everything: love, hate, revenge, good, innocence, evil, callousness, redemption, rebirth, and best of all, MAGIC! I started watching this because I saw that Adonis - Daniel Jin Feng Liao (Lord Pu Chi / Yan You / Snake Immortal) was in it, and aside from being unbelievably handsome, he is quite mesmerizing to me as an actor. Surprisingly, I fell in love with Deng Lun, Yang Zi, and Leo Luo. They were entrancing, along with the rest of the cast. They were all superb. The sets, costumes, and flow of the drama were all spectacular. There were only a couple of times I felt it was a little slow, but that is by no means a criticism. Bravo to the entire experience of Ashes of Love!
The problem I had with watching this as an English speaker was the translation. The drama critic, Artemide, described it, “The action takes place in the prehistorical era, in a time when the six realms were reigning independently in harmony.” After reading his description, we know that this was LONG before the “Age of Slang.” But, slang and culturally specific terminology determined by modern concurrent events abound in this translation. Two examples are “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” and “Have a casual hang-out and chill together.” Another example is “Roger that!” This was repeated time and again in the drama and could not possibly have even been dreamt of due to the lack of technology during the ancient times. Roger came from the WWII use of two-way radios as a verbal signal of recognition and confirmation. Its use in this drama was just silly! Also, the calling of women LORD or GOD (this occurred mostly in the beginning of the drama and was later corrected) would not have been permitted since women were NOT equal to men even in Heaven. They would have been called Lady or Mistress or Goddess or something appropriate that has recently been discarded by the PC police of this era. The prime example would be calling a female an actor instead of an actress to eliminate gender.
The list of the following were used. I have reinterpreted them to better suit this particular drama’s era. Phrases used in the drama are followed by something like it should be. Roger that!- Right away, I understand, I will get that done; No Worries!-It’s alright, or It can easily be remedied; My bad!-My fault, or It was my grievous fault; Freaked me out!-Scared me, or Frightened me; Sure!-Yes; Pushing my bottom line-Pushing my patience, or Endurance; What a joke!-This must be a jest!; Every Jack has a Jill-Every man has a woman; It’s a deal-We have an agreement; I’ll be darned!-I am amazed: This is weird-This is very strange or odd; Stuff!-Should be specifically named; Tough nut to crack-Difficult person; Whatever!-It is of no consequence; The bigger picture-The larger scheme; Get it?-Understand?; Buck the trend-Go against convention or tradition; Hit below the belt-cheat or harm; Buck up!-Try to feel better; Some new-fangled thing-something new; It’s a piece of cake-It’s easy; Get back on the right track-Begin again correctly; You jerk-anything appropriate would do: ingrate, monster, traitor; True THAT!-You speak the truth; No such thing as a free lunch!-nothing is free; You WISH!- That is only your desire; Same to YA!-You are, or do, exactly the same. (I truly expected to hear “Dude” or “Back in the day,” which is the most ignorant of all phrases. If you don’t know it was back in 1920, or back in the 30’s, or 25 years ago, or back at the turn of the century, then just keep quiet. Using a phrase like “back in the day” doesn’t make you sound knowledgeable, intelligent, or credible.)
As to the song that keeps playing over and over again, it translates to let’s get drunk again when the flowers bloom. Honestly, that is such a crass translation for such beautiful, touching moments. I thought, let’s drink wine again, or let’s share wine again would be softer. The consequence of drunkenness is expected and doesn’t really need to be expressed as the outcome, and it is NOT very romantic.
I let many of the grammatical errors “slide” because I would not have a clue as to how to translate any language since I only speak English. I am in awe of anyone who speaks another language. But, I will point out one example: Phoenix asks Jin Mi, “Will you marry me?” She says, “You know I do.” Of course it should be, “You know I will.” This is of no consequence; I mean “no worries.” We knew what she meant.
I would have just liked the translation to have been a little more AUTHENTIC for the supposed era and a little CLASSIER for such a grand endeavor. These ARE Gods and Goddesses conversing, NOT common street hipsters, and since they are considering a second season, even if it is about the children, the verbal exchanges would still be antiquated, not contemporary.
Again, I think this is one of the finest offerings ever, and I am thankful to whomever translated this masterpiece into English, no matter how incongruous. It has been THE HIGHLIGHT of my 2018 Christmas season!

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