The New Generation of Chinese Classical Mythology on the Screen
2025-03-20
The Chinese mythological system has a profound philosophical foundation and rich narrative resources. Mythical legends such as "Fengshen Yanyi," "Journey to the West," "Shanhaijing," and "Legend of the White Snake" have always been important materials for film and television adaptations. In recent years, Chinese films have adapted mythological themes and created a number of works that showcase the indomitable spirit of the Chinese nation. From the trilogy "Fengshen" retelling ancient epics, to "Ne Zha: The Birth of the Demonic Child" and "Ne Zha: The Demonic Child Roars in the Sea" constantly breaking the box office ceiling, from the soaring vitality of the scales and claws of the ancient divine dragon, to the ink and wash painting of the "thousand mile landscape" on the IMAX screen, Chinese filmmakers are redrawing the spiritual map of Chinese classical mythology in the context of international dissemination, and creating a mythical universe belonging to China in the fertile soil of excellent traditional culture. The modern decoding of the genes of Chinese mythology. Classical Chinese mythology contains rich philosophical and value systems, such as "unity of heaven and man," "self-improvement," and "virtue carrying all things," which constitute the deep cultural genes of the mythological universe. For example, the creation myth of Pangu's creation of heaven and earth embodies the simple materialist view of "labor creates the world", while N ü wa's mending of the sky symbolizes the wisdom of human beings in understanding nature, transforming nature, and promoting harmonious development. These contents are well-known to people in the process of dissemination. Only by "unfamiliarizing" myths and embedding modern issues such as identity recognition, environmental crisis, and individual freedom into traditional symbols can classical texts become carriers of contemporary discourse. The first part of "Fengshen: Chaoge Fengyun" transforms the concept of "heavenly destiny" into a profound exploration of personal fate and historical processes, successfully achieving a "historical retelling" of traditional mythology. The White Snake: Origins cleverly combines the narrative of love with emotional issues. Through the love story of Xiaobai and Xu Xuan, it explores the individual's pursuit and identification of self-identity, as well as the importance of free choice in love. It interprets classical stories from a modern social perspective. The movie "Ne Zha: The Demonic Child Roars in the Sea" subverts the hierarchical and patriarchal themes of mythology through the image of Ne Zha's "defying heaven and changing destiny", strengthens the philosophical expression of "resistance and growth" and "my fate is up to me", retains the original genes of mythology, and triggers emotional resonance among modern audiences. This adaptation highlights the contemporary value of traditional Chinese mythology. The global narrative of Eastern cultural symbols, in the context of Hollywood superheroes becoming popular worldwide, such as "Ne Zha: The Birth of the Demonic Child" and "Ne Zha: The Demonic Child Rises in the Sea", the cognitive awakening of "White Snake: Origin", and the question of the heavenly way in "Jiang Ziya", these re encoded cultural symbols not only maintain the genetic sequence of Eastern aesthetics, but also grow cultural tentacles of global common value concepts. The journey of Chinese mythological films to the world is witnessing a transformation from easily encountering cultural discounts to constantly inspiring cultural resonance. Nezha: The Birth of the Demon Child "focuses on the dialectical thinking contained in the spirit beads and magic pills, sparking discussions among North American audiences on topics such as good and evil and right and wrong, family and growth; The first part of "Fengshen: Chaoge Fengyun" has received praise from overseas media as an "Eastern epic", which is actually a re examination of Chinese style hero narrative. From these feedbacks, we can see that mythology creates a world full of meaning and vitality through the unity of emotion and form, providing humanity with a way of cognition and expression that is different from rationality and science. Chinese stories are establishing a new dimension of dialogue with the world in the form of mythological films. On the one hand, the success of these mythological films going global relies on the support of technological innovation and industrial upgrading. The Chinese film industry in motion capture CGI、 The advancement in digital special effects technology, such as digital characters, has made the fantasy scenes in the mythological universe concrete and transformed them into a "visual universal language" that can be perceived by global audiences. The "New God List" series of films takes inspiration from Dunhuang murals and combines traditional Chinese clothing and architectural styles to give mythological films a modern sense of technology, thus forming an Eastern cyber aesthetic style. There are also films such as "Jiang Ziya," "Journey to the West: The Monkey King Returns," and "Big Fish and Begonia," which attempt to construct a new aesthetic paradigm of Eastern fantasy aesthetics using visual symbols and establish a unique aesthetic standard in the world of film. On the other hand, the success of these mythological films in going global also lies in the organic integration between Eastern visual wonders and global shared values. In "Ne Zha: The Birth of the Demon Child", the integration of spirit beads and magic pills metaphorically represents the possibility of reconciling cultural conflicts, and the Chinese dialectical thinking contained in it, such as "blessings and misfortunes depend on each other", provides a new philosophical perspective for global audiences; In "Ne Zha: The Demonic Children of the Sea", the struggle and awakening of the dragon clan highlights the theme of finding self-worth and identity in adversity. This kind of refinement and reconstruction of the mythological core makes cultural symbols no longer simple visual wonders, but become narrative carriers that carry national spirit and human emotions. The creator not only strengthens cultural identity, but also emphasizes emotional narrative, and showcases the collision of tradition and modernity. This narrative strategy has attracted wave after wave of overseas audiences. The multi-dimensional coordinate creation of mythological films in the narrative of future movies requires thinking beyond single point hits. Just as Marvel spent over a decade creating the "Infinite Legends" film series, the cultivation of the Chinese mythological universe still requires more cultural determination. Light Media has established a subsidiary called "Light Animation" to coordinate the development of the "Chinese Mythical Universe" system; Chasing Light Animation has also gained a lot of experience in creating the "New Legend" and "New God List" animated films. These attempts are all exploring the establishment of a larger and more rigorous mythological film universe. Standing at the intersection of technological change and cultural dialogue, the evolution of Chinese mythological films needs to be considered from three dimensions to form sustainable content production and dissemination capabilities: at the creative level, it is necessary to establish a more complete and broad worldview - some works often only select a single plot or character when adapting traditional stories, lacking a comprehensive grasp of the mythological system, resulting in a fragmented worldview and insufficiently rigorous logic; At the technical level, there is an urgent need to break through the industrial bottleneck of "animation production capacity" - the current mythological film production cycle is relatively long, averaging 3 to 5 years, and relies more on industry wide collaboration models; At the operational level, it is necessary to explore new formats such as metaverse social networking - with the development of digital technology, the demand for immersive experiences and multi-dimensional interactions from audiences is increasing. Chinese films not only construct the Chinese mythological universe, but also serve as the spiritual spark of human civilization diversity. When people compare the stories of the "Investiture of the Gods" trilogy with Campbell's "Hero's Journey", when they use Freudian theory to explain Nezha's rebellious spirit, and when Jiang Ziya's Investiture of the Gods list becomes the "interstellar map" in the eyes of foreign audiences, this cross-cultural, cross temporal, and cross linguistic dialogue allows people from different countries and regions to find spiritual resonance in the Chinese mythological universe. And different ideas, values, and civilizations converge together, presenting a state of 'each beauty is its own beauty, and beauty is shared'. This may be the inspiration given by Eastern mythology to the digital age: true tradition never sleeps in museums, but is reborn in the pupils of innovators. (New Society)
Edit:momo Responsible editor:Chen zhaozhao
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