July 10, 2008, 11:38 am
Global Buzz: Why TV Show ‘Fated to Love You’ Is an Obsession in Taiwan


By Maya Alexandri

In Taiwan, this past weekend—the same as the previous 16 weekends—close to 10% of the population was glued to their televisions watching “Fated to Love You.” Since first airing in March, the program has emerged as Taiwan’s hottest “idol drama.”

The idol drama roughly equates to the Latin American telenovela or the American soap opera, in that its complicated, episodic plot structures land characters in absurd situations and expose them to bizarre plot twists and coincidences–and also for the addictive hold the story has on fans.

Though called a “drama,” “Fated to Love You” is hilarious and employs a wide variety of comic conventions. In the first episode, a sex scene is intercut with clips of missiles firing and a train entering a tunnel, à la “The Naked Gun.” In the second episode, a woman runs into a public bathroom to do a pregnancy test and gets caught on a live news broadcast.

Like “Strictly Ballroom” and “Ugly Betty,” “Fated to Love You” champions a bespectacled, good-hearted, but undervalued girl, named Chen Xinyi, who has a chance at transformation. The premise, set forth in the first episode, is that Chen Xinyi—while trying to win the heart of her two-timing boyfriend on a cruise, and dizzy from having taken cold medicine—wanders into the wrong room on the ship and accidentally falls into bed with the handsome scion of a wealthy family, named Ji Cunxi, who himself has been drugged by business rivals. The ensuing, much-remarked-upon love scene doesn’t show much skin by Western standards, but the outcome is pregnancy for Chen Xinyi. Under pressure from Ji Cunxi’s spunky grandmother (first seen playing video ping pong in Episode 2), Chen Xinyi and Ji Cunxi get married.

“Fated to Love You,” has been breaking ratings records, thanks not only to its charm, but also to a public promise by male lead actor Ethan Ruan (who plays Ji Cunxi) that he’ll swim naked in an episode if the ratings exceeded 10%. Never let it be said that Taiwanese television doesn’t know how to incentivize fans: The series has occupied the number 1 ratings slot for 15 straight episodes, and ratings hit 10.93% during an episode aired in June.

But if “Fated to Love You” is winning hearts and minds in Taiwan, its reception in mainland China is more varied. “Fated to Love You” is primarily a phenomenon of the Internet phenomenon in the People’s Republic of China, as it’s not broadcast on Chinese television. On Youkou.com, a leading video site in China, the comments pages suggest that, naked or clothed, many viewers aren’t impressed with Ethan Ruan, with suggestions that the series would be “perfect” if it instead starred Ming Dao.

Another netizen decried what he perceived to be politically charged dialogue: “The actor’s lines are like ‘We want to march on China,’ (like [Taiwanese are] not the same as Chinese people — is it possible that they’re half-breeds?). Everybody should quickly wash their eyes.”

For American viewers, episodes with English subtitles (thanks to industrious bilingual fans) can now be viewed on YouTube.

***
fated to love you ep1 part1 (english sub)
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=n96sXS6ZOT4
***
The above news&pic are from The Wall Street Journal:
http://blogs.wsj.com/buzzwatch/2008/07/10/global-buzz-why-tv-show-fated-to-love-you-is-an-obsession-in-taiwan/

***
命中超紅 登上華爾街日報
自由 更新日期:2008/07/22 04:09

阮經天裸泳紅到美國,在中國卻挨批「不管他赤裸還是穿衣服,該角色還是由明道來演比較完美」!台視、三立偶像劇「命中注定我愛你」日前受美國「華爾街日報」(右下圖)專題報導,內文除了提到數週來台灣10%收視人口瘋看「命」劇的爆紅現象,也指出中國網友對該劇的兩極看法。

 

「命」劇夯到連國外媒體都報導,讓阮經天聽後爽喊「Yes!沒想到國外也會注意我們。」而報導的內文也將陳喬恩所飾演的「便利貼女孩」與外國影集「醜女出頭天」的主角類比,讓陳喬恩直呼「我可比她漂亮很多!」本週三起劇中演員將展開亞洲巡迴感恩之旅,首站將跨海至金門舉辦。

The above news is from Yahoo! News:
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/080722/78/13o5c.html

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Thoughts

'Fated to Love You' is truly
a very interesting&attractive idol drama!!
In the beginning,
I have no interest in it coz Ji's personality....
I dislike that kind of man who is too hesitant....
But,with the change of Chen,I like this drama more and more!

It's amazing that this drama actually is reported by The Wall Street Journal!!!
To memorize this,I post the news here.
It's truly incredible that the foreign media notice Taiwan's drama!Haha!

***
Thoughts in Chinese 中文心得

「命中注定我愛你」('Fated to Love You') 是一部很有趣、很吸引人的偶像劇!
一開始因為男主角的個性,我對這部不太有興趣
……
我不喜歡個性猶豫不決的人啊
……
但隨著女主角的改變,這部劇越來越好看了!

會被華爾街日報報導真是一件神奇的事啊!
且讓我貼出此文紀念一下吧。
國外媒體會注意到台灣偶像劇真的事一件不可思議的事呢!哈哈!

◎華爾街日報的報導:
Why TV Show ‘Fated to Love You’ Is an Obsession in Taiwan 為何台灣會掀起一股「命中」熱
http://blogs.wsj.com/buzzwatch/2008/07/10/global-buzz-why-tv-show-fated-to-love-you-is-an-obsession-in-taiwan/

◎命中注定我愛你 英文字幕:
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=n96sXS6ZOT4

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