#Dynasty 2017

[susiephone]

liz gillies as fallon carrington

[yoitsmano]

i see so much of Jade West in Fallon Carrington i just cannot get these AUs out of my head

[bluetrainer]

Pride Month Art Challenge Day #11: Sam and Steven from Dynasty

Can I just give major props to the creative team behind Dynasty (2017) to be like “yeah let’s gender swap one of the characters from the original” thus giving us this couple. Granted Steven then gets written off for like 90% of the show but at least they reunite in the end. Curse you great CW cancellation spree, we could’ve gotten another full season of them together again.

[chats-make-me-laugh]

Cristal: So why don't we send the blueprints to an actual international rescue group, instead of depending on a doctor and a...well... Liam: ...A writer? Adam: Because the UN advises all international rescue groups not to go to Moldavia. Private security won't even got here. Cristal: So what makes you think you can do it? Adam: Look look, we're not going there to fight. We're simply going there to casually break in and... Adam + Liam: ..un-kidnap.. Adam: ...two innocent people Cristal: I think we should tell Fallon.

[laufire]

i've been watching some episodes of dynasty 2017 to disconnect lately and to me joseph anders is like if alfred was a person.

[marinamethyst]

I'm watching the 2017 Dynasty series and I cannot get over how ANNOYING Steven and Sam are 😭😭😭 Steven is so self-righteous and literally PRETENDING to be middle class in season 1 episode 12 and annoyed when he gets a job just because of his dad. Most people would kill to be able to get a job because of parents connections, and hes acting like its a punishment 😭😭😭 idk how to even describe my dislike of sam tbh tho

[doesthenightknow]

happy mooncake day 🎊

雲母屏風燭影深 a candle casts its shadows on a marble screen

長河漸落曉星沉 the milky way falls slowly, the morning star is low

笨女應悔偷船隻 a foolish girl will regret having stolen the ship

碧海青天夜夜心 blue seas and blue skies, night after night in her heart

based on "嫦娥" by Li Shangyin, third line is altered

[aestheticsun]

❁ Fan Bingbing as Empress Ulanara in The Forbidden Portrait (2017)

[xerogravityorange]

Oh look it's Huey Duck

[redcarpet-streetstyle]

[theakandrewscollection]

"B.D.S.M." and "Shibari" by The Dynasties (promotional materials, 2017, 2014)

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Promotional videos for the all Asian, all female dance troupe The Dynasties. (Other artists' music used)

"B.D.S.M." video, 2017

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"Shibari" video, 2014

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Screenshots

"B.D.S.M."

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"Shibari"

Their Instagram

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[rileykeouhg]

DYNASTY (2017–2022) 1.17 Enter Alexis

[reasonsforhope]

"[There is] fantastic news for species conservation after new populations of the gorgeous ‘Skywalker’ gibbon, known to science for only 6 years, were recently found living in the politically chaotic nation of Myanmar.

Also called the hoolock gibbon, this dainty vocalist was first described in 2017 living in the extreme south of China on a mountain in Yunnan. Classified as Endangered by the IUCN, the population was estimated to number a paltry 150 individuals, but others were believed to live in Myanmar.

Even before the recent military junta usurped the president and plunged the country into civil war, Myanmar [was a difficult place to conduct field studies, especially extensive or ongoing ones, due to ongoing conflict.]

[Although they are] now in open revolt against the military junta, [the Myanmar states of Shan and Kachin] were nevertheless destinations for an intrepid team of scientists from the Nature Conservation Society Myanmar, Fauna & Flora International–Myanmar Programme, the IUCN’s ape specialist group, and field researchers from universities in England, China, and the US.

Together, they conducted acoustic surveys, collected non-invasive DNA sampling, and took photographs for morphological identification at six sites in Kachin State and three sites in Shan State. With the help of the Myanmar conservationists, the team also interviewed locals dwelling in rural forested areas, small conservation programs, and timber companies about the frequency of sightings and the hunting pressure.

Population estimates of unknown quality and scientific rigor conducted in 2013 suggested there might be 65,000 hoolock gibbons in Myanmar, but the matter became much more complicated after the classification of the Skywalker gibbon as a separate species from the eastern hoolock gibbon—where before they were confused as the same.

“We were able to genetically identify 44 new groups of Skywalker gibbons in Myanmar,” said senior author Tierra Smiley Evans, research faculty at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and contributing author. “This is a huge resource and success story for Myanmar.”

These gibbons sing to each other at dawn for around 22 minutes, and consume 36 different plant species; choosing fruit first, and flowers later. They seldom sleep in the same tree two nights in a row to avoid predation, and can’t swim so are often confined to territories by river systems.

The team that discovered them in China in 2017 loved Star Wars, and called them tianxing which is Chinese pinyin for “heaven movement;” a nod not only to their favorite sci-fi franchise, but also to China’s ancient history. In the famous Book of Change [aka the I Ching] of the Zhou Dynasty [1046 BCE to 265 BCE], a divination poem refers to gibbons specifically, and uses tianxing as a verb to describe their movements.

The interviews were a source of great data for the scientists. For starters, nearly all individuals in both the Kachin and Shan states could identify a Skywalker gibbon by sight and by playback of its singing, lending the exercise a good degree of reliability...

“Biologists did not believe Skywalker gibbons could live in the small remaining patches in Southern Shan State before we started this project,” Pyae Phyo Aung, executive director of Nature Conservation Society Myanmar, told the UC Davis press.

“I am delighted with our field team members who have done an excellent job, within a short period of time, building community trust for further conservation actions. This area is degraded forest. It is really important for Myanmar and China to consider extending conservation approaches for the Skywalker gibbon to this new geographic area.”

Nearly 32,000 square kilometers, or around 8 million acres of forestland in Eastern Myanmar are suitable gibbon habitat, and while existing forest reserves like Paung Taung and Mae Nei Laung are quite large, they remain unprotected. For this reason, the survey team recommended they remain considered ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List until habitat protections improve."

-via Good News Network, February 21, 2024

[recycledmoviecostumes]

This distinctive pearl necklace was designed by Joseff of Hollywood, who created jewelry for many films during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Because Joseff was not contracted to a particular studio, he was able to rent out his pieces to all of the film studios.

The above necklace first appeared on Kay Francis as Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez in the 1941 adaptation of Charley’s Aunt. In 1945 it appeared on Marsha Hunt as Constance Scott in The Valley of Decision. The following year saw it worn on the neck of Nella Walker as Mrs. Lawrence Tyburt Patterson Sr. in Two Sisters from Boston. 1947’s Northwest Outpost used it on Lenore Ulric as Baroness Kruposny. Ilona Massey was next to wear the piece as Madame Egelichi in the 1949 Love Happy. 

In the 1952 adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel My Cousin Rachel, Olivia de Havilland wore the necklace as Countess Rachel Sangalletti Ashley, and it features somewhat in the plot of the production. Richard Burton’s character gives the necklace to Rachel as a symbolic gesture that he wishes to marry her, which sets the remainder of the story into motion. The passage in the novel describing the necklace says:

There were four strands. They fastened around the neck like a band, with a single diamond clasp.

The description in the novel obviously does not match its representation on screen, but it is a beautiful necklace nonetheless. 

Finally, in 1987, the necklace was seen on Joan Collins’ character Alexis Carrington Colby in the episode of Dynasty entitled The Fair. 

The necklace eventually went up for auction at Julien’s Auctions in the 2017 Joseff of Hollywood: Treasures from the Vault. The action describes the piece as: 

A triple-strand, tiered necklace of alternating simulated diamonds and pearls with pearl drops. The necklace has four simulated mabe pearl medallions and is stamped on the back “Joseff Hollywood.”

To learn more about Joseff of Hollywood jewelry, you can visit their official website, or read Jewelry of the Stars: Creations from Joseff of Hollywood by Joanne Dubbs Ball.

Costume Credit: Dean, Eugene Joseff (Joseff of Hollywood), Veryfancydoilies, Katie S., Solidmoonlight

Follow: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram

[chats-make-me-laugh]

Bringing a Therapist to a Carrington Dispute

Therapist: The emergency session made me think this was a domestic dispute. Alexis: It is! He cheated on me. Adam: Ugh, I did not! Therapist: Okay, now I'm even more confused. Alexis: You cheated on our company - Adam: Because you stole my drug - Alexis: Because you framed me for murder - Adam: Because you paid someone to break up me and Kirby! - Therapist: Okay! Uh, the session is only 45 minutes. As much as I appreciate a litany of grievances, perhaps a truce is what's needed, yeah? Alexis: I already truced. And that's after he burned my face off. Therapist: I-I don't think hyperbolic metaphors - Adam: Burning your face was the only way I could get you to listen to me, and it only lasted until the gauze was removed. Therapist: Okay. So, apparently, not a metaphor.

[fiftysevenacademics]

Over the recent years, the term guofeng ( literally means “national style”) has seen a rising prevalence in Chinese media to describe popular televisions, films, and musics that are considered to embody an essential “Chinese-ness.” While originated from the Chinese classic The Book of Songs, the concept of guofeng nowadays has already become a part of popular culture. National style is often utilized by the state media to emphasize Chinese history and de-emphasize the queer elements in the drama when discussing boys’ love stories. In her analysis of another BL Xianxia drama, Ye identified Word of Honor, with its soft masculinity, as comprising a larger landscape of reconstructed Chinese masculinity that includes more militant depictions, such as the Wolf Warrior films (dir. Wu Jing, 2015 and 2017), and thus being complicit in “brand homonationalism with Chinese characteristics’.”39) In The Untamed, the national style is manifested through two instruments: the historical items with clear cultural fingerprints and the martial arts chivalry extolled in Xianxia stories.

Set in the ancient indeterminate times of China, the cultural elements like Mo’e (old-style headband), Liusu ( decorative silk tassel), Chinese style gardens and architectures, and frequently mentioned Confucian quotes are prevalent throughout the drama. Some of them are savvily deployed by the producers as a hint of boys’ romance. In most Chinese historical dramas, Mo’e is always used by beautiful men with feminine traits, such as the most widely known characters like Jia Baoyu (Figure 1) and Liu Xianglian (Figure 2) in Hong Loumeng (The Red Chamber, 1984). Gradually, this code is fixated with the meaning of beautiful men (and many times, effeminate men) with fair skin, exquisite facial features, slim yet strong body figures, and graceful manner. In The Untamed, when the male protagonist Lan Wangji appears with Mo’e (Figure 3), his configuration would recall people of the early screen visual presentations and to relate the androgynous beauty with the characters. This cult of male beauty distances young men from the traditional masculinity and delivers a non-conforming gender attitude towards conventional hegemonic models. Moreover, this cultural symbol is deliberately encoded with homosexual implications by the screenwriter. In the drama, people of Lan Clan are asked to wear Mo’e to restrict their behavior ever since they are a child. As a sacred symbol, no one can touch it except for their parents, wife, and children. It represents their identity and bears a sense of belonging. Though acutely aware of its significance, when Wei Wuxian is in danger, Lan Wangji still chooses to take it off and ties it to Wei’s wrist with no hesitation. The emphasizing of “Only wife and son can touch it” in the early part of the same episode denotes that when Lan takes off the Mo’e, he already acknowledges and places Wei Wuxian in the position of a “wife.” His action of taking off the Mo’e not only breaks their clan discipline but also functions as a repudiation of social norms. 

However, all this more or less overt depiction of boys’ romance is ignored and even recognized by state media because of its application of national style. Its adaptation of ancient oriental elements was even praised by The People’s Daily for its “wonderful presentation  of Chinese characteristics,” and “manifestation of Chinese people’s confidence and pride for our own culture.”40) As a Chinese traditional clothing accessory tied on the forehead and decorated with embroidery or pearl jade, Mo’e originated from the Shang Dynasty (1600 to 1046 B.C.)41) and was used in the military for managing and distinguishing troops, but in its later evolution, both men and women, especially in the rich family wore it as a decoration. When The Untamed gets an unprecedent hit in the overseas market, the Chinese government chooses to exploit its  cultural values to exert its “cultural export” program thus turning blind eyes to its boys’ love content.

Coalition between Drama Producer and Audience: Encoding and Decoding of Boys’ Love Stories in Chinese Xianxia Drama The Untamed (陈情令) 건지인문학 2024, vol., no.40, pp. 135-174 (40 pages) DOI : 10.22830/humins.2024..40.135 by CHEN YUE