I kinda feel that Clothing Reflects Personality applies to the live action show but I'm not sure it's quite the right trope. Examples would be like how all the Bird Clan/Family constantly wear feathes. It's not really a uniform, nor does it necessarily really symbolize their 'personality', but it is a consistant thing denoting that they are in the Bird Clan. Maybe that's Stock Costume Traits.
Another costume thing (and tbh, the 1 that really got me wanting a note of it in tvtropes somewhere) is Xu Feng's robe with the flames/fire/smoky/ashes motif. Being a Phoenix, such imagery defines his being entirely, especially at that point in his story. He's not wearing 'clothing' or 'armor' per se, more it's expressing who he is. What's more, It's white on the bottom because his origin is with Heaven Realm. Then he cuts off part of the white section of that robe to cut his ties to Heaven Realm & everyone therein.
I also want there to be something about how Sui He wears her cloak inside-out but I'm not sure what trope to tie that too. It could still be Clothing Reflects Personality because she's hiding (In the Hood) the extraudinary power she got from Tu Yao, while also giving her the appearance of wearing white flimsy mourning clothes due to Xu Feng's death, and expressing the concept that her world is somewhat inside-out as well because she's having to seek aid from Demon Realm instead of Heaven Realm or even the Bird Realm. Or maybe it's just that she's keeping the decorative fabric inside the cloak close to herself while presenting the rest of the realms with the plain interior. Maybe I noticed that and it just kept bugging me and bugging me as it was in several episodes so I worried away at it's symbolism too much. None of the other characters seemed to notice it. But dangit, you can see the obvious seams! The decorative outer fabric (worn on the inside) turns over the edge making it really apparent because she's always got the hood up so if you see her face, you can see the turned in (out?) trim! Am I alone in noticing this? It seems consistent, so is it Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization? Other characters wear their robes right-side-out.
Also, can we talk about how much this story parallels Greek Mythology? Tai Wei is Zeus, going around impregnating all the women he loves. His wife Tu Yao is Hera, badgering her husbands illegitimate children. Didn't Tai Wei kill his father to claim the throne... or was it just his brother? It's mentioned a couple times but considered ancient history & not really overly detailed. Tbh when I was reading Everybody Loves Zeus, I kept thinking 'yea, that's Tai Wei alright!' Criticizes others for similar behavior. Condemns demons for similar things. They all just want to rule the 6 realms! There'll be peace if everyone just Does What I Say! Right??
I'm not super familiar with Greek mythology though. I lean towards Norse mythology for some of the other characters. Like, Xu Feng is Thor & Pu Chi is Loki.
And Narcissism explains so much with Run Yu. It'd explain why he shifts between appearing to care for Jin Mi & locking her in her room when she disobeys, or his insistence that he's done so much for her so why won't she just love him. It explains why people love him so much. He says that he became that way 'for her' but really she was just the spark to get him moving. He kept his narcissism in check by inaction, not wanting to become like his father the emperor. That poor character never really learned what love is, all he could see was power, so that's all he really loves & Jin Mi is just his trophy that he won from Xu Feng. So of course he won't give her up! It's not the trope of narcissism though. It's closer to real narcissism, which is kinda great. Trope Narcissist is so often overblown. It's usually pretty obvious. In real life, narcissist behavior has degrees. It's less obvious. And less ... sinister? So the character Run Yu, comes across as so much more understandable, so much more relatable, because he's a less obvious narcissist than the trope.
Edited by Typopyt