Yi Yao, the movie, had achieved classic status. The titular character, Yi Yao, was a girl with a rough background. Despite her background, she was kind, strong, and determined. Although she had experienced various hardships, she was not tarnished by the darkness of the world. In the end, through her own efforts, she managed to achieve her dream and find love.
When Ning Xia played the character, Yi Yao, the makeup was minimal. Her eyes were clear and determined; her every action was consistent with the character. This was the reason Liang Zhen, the author and screenwriter for Yi Yao, once said, “Ning Xia brought Yi Yao to life and gave Yi Yao a soul.”
At that time, even the director, Pan Hao, nodded vehemently in agreement. He had said, “Ning Xia is very intelligent and a skilled actress. Perhaps, her sense of empathy is strong, she perfectly grasped Yi Yao’s emotions. Such an actress is rare and can only be found by chance…”
All these interview videos from the past were dug out by resourceful netizens. Although the quality of the videos was rough, due to their excellent content, they spread like a wildfire on the Internet.
Needless to say, the videos further exposed Ye Xin’s shortcomings.
In the original movie, during a crying scene, Ning Xia had cried silently; her eyes expressing unsaid emotions. The viewers were influenced by her acting and were so carried away by her emotions that it was as though they were personally experiencing what she was experiencing.
On the contrary, in the drama, during the crying scene, Ye Xin cried like a spoiled child, which was not in line with Yi Yao’s character as well.
Another example was Ning Xia’s smile that was like the arrival of spring. It was gentle and soothing.
In contrast, Ye Xin’s smile was too ostentatious and bright. It did not convey the character of Yi Yao who had lived a rough life.
Ning Xia perfectly expressed Yi Yao’s character while Ye Xin’s acting only revealed her life as a princess who had never tasted the hardship of life.
The movie was shot in a mountain village west of the country. All of the actors came to the mountain village half a year in advance to adapt themselves to the environment and to also build a rapport with each other. Therefore, everyone’s acting and chemistry were superb.
On the other hand, the drama was entirely shot in a studio. The sets were either created in advance or were computer-generated images.
There were people who commented this was only to be expected since Ye Xin was the Young Miss of a wealthy family; how could she endure hardships?
Naturally, there were people who retorted that Ye Xin should just live her life as the Young Miss of a wealthy family instead of becoming an actress if she could not endure hardships.
Needless to say, comparisons were also made. People pointed out that when Ning Xia was filming for Yi Yao, she was also a Young Miss from a wealthy family. Moreover, she was only a high school student at that time. However, not only could she endure the hardship, but she even acted so well.
All in all, the general consensus was the original movie was like chicken soup for the soul while the drama was like a bowl of instant noodles.
Logically speaking, Ye Xin should not have received so much hate on the Internet. After all, the production team and the investors were to blame as well. However, actors were always the faces of the films or dramas they starred in. Therefore, it was only natural that the actors would bear the brunt of the negative opinions.
The hate comments on the Internet were like a wave of tsunami that drowned the supportive comments from Ye Xin’s fans.
This matter was so popular that even people who did not normally pay attention to the entertainment industry looked up the matter on the Internet. With that, more and more people watched the original movie and the drama for comparison, generating even more hate toward the drama.
Later, some resourceful netizens even dug up Ye Xin’s schedule and found that during filming, Ye Xin had participated in two variety shows as a guest and earned a lot of money from her appearance. This, naturally, made people even more dissatisfied with her.
In comparison, the original movie took a year to complete the filming process with no outside interference. Everyone was very professional.
In the first few days when the negative reactions started pouring in, Ye Xin’s management company mobilized people to change the public opinion. They tried their best to clean up Ye Xin’s reputation and tried to present her as a skilled actress. This, naturally, drew even more dissatisfaction from the public. Things had gotten so bad that even the slightest movement made by Ye Xin or her company was instantly criticized by the netizens. Alas, there was nothing much Ye Xin and the company could do since it was true that Ye Xin did not have any outstanding work. In fact, she did not even have any skills to brag about.
For all these reasons, despite the amount of wealth the Ye family or the company possessed, there were no reputable companies or celebrities who were willing to speak up for Ye Xin. It was not easy for these companies and celebrities to achieve their current status, after all. They knew if they spoke up for Ye Xin, they would be drawn into the drama and generate hate for themselves.
As for those famous but disreputable celebrities, they discovered they could gain free publicity as long as they spoke about Ye Xin. For these people, any publicity, even if it was bad, was still good. Following the trend of the crowd, these people criticized Ye Xin to draw attention to themselves. Some of their words were even more vicious than the netizen’s words. Their comments pushed Ye Xin further down the abyss.
At this time, Ye Xin’s company’s PR department was in chaos, dealing with this matter. They also prohibited Ye Xin from making any comments on social media in order to avoid making things worse.
Meanwhile, Ye Xin was determined to hide at home and never go out again after the drama was aired.
As the drama continued to air, things got worse and worse.
