Oh, the challenges that faced the script writer when first adapting Mao Ni’s novel, “Thankful for the Remaining Years,” better known by drama viewers as Joy of Life. The source novel is 746 chapters long, dense, action-filled, character-driven, and complicated. The success, or should I say “triumph” in bringing part one to the small screen had me thirsting to know more, to know what would happen in Fan Xian’s world, which turned me to the novel while still half-way in my viewing of the drama. But I made myself a promise; I would not read further than the the adaptation covers until after I’d finished watching it (and yes, I kept that promise.) However, as the script writer is in the process now of adapting what will be the next part of Joy of Life, with plans to go into filming at the end of 2020 if all goes to plan, meaning we’ll likely not see the finished product until late 2021 or even 2022, I’d like to talk about the drama versus the novel, and maybe yes, where the next part will take us as viewers. If you’ve not watched the series I can only ask, “What are you waiting for?” And know that there will be spoilers if you plan to read further, as well as speculations.
In Chinese dramaland today there is a constant need to balance the desire to be truthful to the source with what the official broadcast censors will permit, and we see minor influences of the latter to the former from the start of the drama. It is clear from the start that “this” is a “work of fiction” because we see a contemporary Fan Shen (modern-day Zhang Ruoyun) explaining his latest fiction-writing project to his professor. Folks, this is not a real China, real Emperor, real-world time-traveling or anything like that. It is Fiction with a capital “F.” This is because there have been, at various times, crackdowns on playing fast-and-loose with history, and crazy notions like time-travel, etc. But let’s not let that get in our way.
SPOILERS AND TINY SPECULATIONS FROM HERE ONWARDS
We Talk Dramas All Day 