Have you watched “Zhu Yu” recently? The male lead nicknamed the “Foundation General” has sparked a lot of discussion.

Yes, I have. At first I thought it looked pretty good, but later I also felt something was a bit off. How could a general on the battlefield be so refined?

Right, this actually reflects the difference between costume romance dramas and historical dramas. Costume romance is more like a romantic fantasy and doesn’t fully pursue realism.

But the audience’s criticism makes sense too, right? After all, generals in Chinese history, like Xiang Yu and Yue Fei, all have a strong and powerful image.

Exactly. Ancient poetry also often describes scenes like “iron horses and icy rivers” or “troops assembling on the autumn battlefield,” emphasizing the harshness of war rather than beauty.

But many viewers nowadays just want to see characters who are ‘beautiful, strong, and tragic’—handsome yet pitiful, which easily evokes sympathy.

This is a kind of formulaic creation. As long as characters meet audience expectations, it’s easy to succeed, but the content may become hollow.

Hearing you say that, I think the “Foundation General” is both unfairly criticized and not. Unfair because of genre limitations, but not unfair because the creation does feel a bit lazy.