This year's summer program has undergone many blockbuster changes, and the "Galaxy Tutorial", which had high expectations, performed poorly again. In the midst of a downturn, a domestic animation "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" has suddenly emerged. First, it won a high reputation by virtue of the point screening. After the official release, the box office also rose all the way. The box office exceeded 1 billion in just 5 days after the release, breaking the domestic animation box office record created by "The Return of the Great Sage". With this momentum, it is not only a matter of time before it breaks the domestic animation box office record of 1.5 billion for "Zootopia", but it is not impossible to be at the top of the box office list, and it is not impossible to compare with films such as "The Wandering Earth". The fire of "Nezha" also means that the weak image of "Guoman" in the public's mind is gradually changing. As a niche genre film that has always been regarded as "children's direction", animation has gradually been accepted by the public. That's what is so comforting.
However, behind the film's high reputation and high box office, there is no shortage of controversies, among which the most intense controversy revolves around the change of Nezha's "image" and "connotation" . Nezha in this film, with his smoky makeup, crocodile teeth, decadent face, and all kinds of spicy eyes, made many viewers who grew up watching the image of a young hero with "pink face and red lips" shouted unacceptable. With the reconstruction of the connotations of important figures such as Li Jing, Nezha is no longer the one who resisted the oppression of the patriarchy and hated evil, which undoubtedly touched the bottom line of many people. For a time, negative comments such as "destroyed the image" and "not Nezha Ben Zha" also came one after another.
However, is the image of the righteous and awe-inspiring young hero in our impression really the true face of Nezha? What does Nezha look like in myths and legends, and what kind of spiritual core does it embody? Is he really a patriarchal rebel? The image of the new version of Nezha represents subversion, regression, or reconstruction? While applauding the film, these issues are also worth exploring.
Speaking of the origin of the character Nezha, it is said that it originated from Indian Buddhist mythology, and was introduced to China with Buddhism, and became a member of the Chinese folk belief in the gods. These are actually not very important to us, because the image of Nezha at that time was not completely finalized, and it lacked a distinct personality. It was just a terrifying and mighty protector. It was not until the Ming Dynasty mythological works "Journey to the West" and "Fengshen Romance" came out that the image of Nezha became vivid and three-dimensional. In "Journey to the West", Nezha is just a supporting role to set off the military force of Sun Wukong, and in "Fengshen Romance", Nezha, as one of the main characters in Xing Zhou and destroying business, has more ink. This image is also truly full and stereotyped. It can be said that the Fengshen version of Nezha is the most important blueprint for all the future image interpretations of Nezha .
Then, in "Fengshen", what kind of image is Nezha? Is he really the teenage hero that some people claim to be "disrespectful and rebellious against the patriarchy"? In fact, as long as we take a moment to look through the original, we will find that this is not the case...
Is it a "teenage hero" or a "bad boy"?
The description of Nezha's life before his debut in "Fengshen" mainly focuses on the twelfth and fourteenth chapters. The conclusion is very serious. When he was born, Taiyi Zhenren said that he "committed the 1,700 killing precepts", and this is indeed a prophecy. When Nezha was seven years old, he thought the weather was sultry one day, so he went out of Chentangguan to take a bath in the Jiuwan River near the mouth of the East China Sea. As a result, he stirred the magic weapon to mix the sky and caused a small earthquake in the Dragon Palace of the East China Sea. The Dragon King sent the patrolling Yaksha out to check, but the result was a fight with Nezha, and he was killed by the Qiankun Circle. The Dragon King sent the third prince, Ao Bing, to question him, but Nezha didn't take it seriously at all. He only said, "If he comes to scold me, it's okay if I kill him." They took them out and skinned him." Of course, Ao Bing couldn't bear this, and the two fought again. As a result, everyone knew that Ao Bing was skinned and cramped. No matter how you look at this description, Nezha doesn't care. To this day, it's like someone splashing in front of a government office. The guard came out to check and was called a beast. The person who tried to pick up the trouble was directly beaten to death, and the person in charge came out to check and was beaten to death. No matter how you look at it, this is a major violation of law and discipline, not to mention self-defense, not even excessive self-defense. Moreover, Ao Bing is "the righteous god who walks clouds and spreads rain", and is a person in the establishment, so it is not reasonable for the Dragon King to go to Li Jing to ask for an explanation after learning of his son's death, and even to go to heaven to sue the imperial court. Excessive. And Nezha knew that his father couldn't cover him after he got into trouble, and his first reaction was to find his master. At this time, Taiyi was not criticizing Nezha's fault, but protecting the calf. "Although Nezha is ignorant and hurts Ao Bing, this is the number of days." He also said that Ao Guang "doesn't blaspheme the court of heaven with such a trivial matter is really ignorant." Translated into the vernacular, it is probably "He is still young, so he should let it go" "He is going to be a big thing in the future, so you have to endure it if you kill your son. You are still making trouble, I really don't know the importance". This kind of educational attitude is probably going to be drowned by spittle stars today. That's not all, he also gave Nezha an invisibility amulet to prevent Ao Guang from going to heaven to complain, which is a bit like blocking petitions now. If Ao Guang failed to sue by himself, he would go to appeal together with the Dragon King of the Four Seas. Li Jing is still troubled by this matter. Who knows that Nezha will cause another disaster. Relying on his natural power, he privately pulls the Qiankun bow enshrined in the castle tower of Chentangguan, and shoots Shiji Niangniang to death with one arrow. The next Biyun boy. If Nezha killed the sea patrol yaksha before, you can blame the latter for doing it first, then this time the responsibility is all his alone. As a result, Empress Shiji came to the door to ask the guilt, and Li Jing asked, okay? Nezha again! To be honest, if I had such a troublesome son, I would probably have to scold him for being a "rebellious son". Li Gang's son was ashamed of himself at this level, and it really had nothing to do with feudal patriarchy. As a result, Li Jing took Nezha to Shiji to admit his mistake. Not only did Nezha not admit his mistake, but he also made the first move. While Li Jing was not paying attention, he killed Caiyun Boy and Shiji Niangniang. But Shi Ji's mana is not weak, and he took his Qiankun Circle Huntian Ling, Nezha couldn't do anything, and went to the master again. Taiyi came out and confronted Shi Ji, but what he brought out was the theory of "Nezha is determined by destiny and can't move". Shiji refused to give up, but Taiyi sacrificed the Nine Dragons Fire Mask to death, and inexplicably got on the list of gods. . This matter has just happened, and the Dragon King Sihai has already come to the door. At this time, Nezha finally has a bit of blood, and performed a big play of "removing the bones for the father, and the meat for the mother", quelling the Dragon King's anger. The turmoil that he made came to an end.
Throughout the whole incident, Nezha's actions are basically unjustifiable, and his performance is a typical example of cheating parents. It is not fundamentally different from the bear children who "pee in the elevator" and "push pregnant women if they want to know what an abortion is like" in the news today. , just like a "bad boy". Therefore, the devil boy Nezha in the film is actually a return to the myth and story in a sense , even to a lesser extent. After all, no human life has been caused. So where does the disruption that many believe come from? In fact, it only comes from the image of Nezha created in the 1979 edition of "Nezha in the Sea".
At that time, based on the domestic political environment and cultural adaptation orientation, Nezha was set as a young hero who resisted feudal ethics, which was in line with the political correctness of art works of that era. But in this way, Nezha's "bad deeds" in the original work gave the adaptor a headache. No way, since Nezha is the incarnation of justice, then his opponent will naturally take the blame. So in the 79 version of the animation, it wasn't that Nezha had nothing to do and went to people's door to make trouble, but it was a drought and a crack in the ground. As the god of rain, the Dragon King of the East China Sea was the god of rain, but no water fell. Robbery of boys and girls. The image of a lively "Zhou Papi" type of reactionary feudal landlord suddenly appeared.
Since the Dragon King is the representative of the reactionary class, then Nezha's action will naturally become "see the injustice, eliminate violence and peace", which has natural rationality and justice. Later, the Dragon King of the Four Seas tried to force Li Jing to surrender Nezha and threatened to flood Chentang Pass. At this time, he staged the scene of "pulling his sword and slaughtering himself", not only for the support of his parents, but also for the people of Quanguan. So breathtaking. Li Jing, on the other hand, was cowardly and cowardly in the face of power, a typical example of a feudal patriarch who was stern and ruthless. As for Shi Ji, he was lucky enough to escape the catastrophe without a chance to play. However, if you can hide on the first day of the first year, you can't hide on the fifteenth. In the future adaptations of Nezha stories, such as the TV animation "The Legend of Nezha", Niangniang Shiji is a proper villain. In the original book, the stone spirit, who was cultivating with peace of mind, turned out to be a chaotic world, suppressed by Nuwa, and tried to occupy the dragon's veins. The reason is just because you are on the opposite side of Nezha, do you think Shiji is wronged or not, is it miserable?
Therefore, Nezha in the original work of "Fengshen" was not actually a young hero at the beginning, but just a naughty child who caused trouble everywhere, even worthy of the name of "Magic Child". And the young Nezha that most of us have the impression of hating evil is actually a subversion and adaptation of the myth. This adaptation, rather than highlighting Nezha's humanity, exaggerates his divinity, making him a saint with a natural resistance. This was actually a distortion made to shape the image of a "class rebel" under the political and social atmosphere at that time, and it was a continuation of a series of "Gao Daquan" and "Wei Guangzheng" images on the screen at that time. What is intriguing is that many people mentioned the model dramas of that era and the images of Gao Daquan in the dramas. It cannot be changed in the slightest. This can only be attributed to the "deep rootedness" of good childhood impressions.
In this regard, some people may also say that Nezha's teenage hero image is certainly caused by the excessive beautification of the cartoons of the year, but his behavior of rebelling against the patriarchy is the spiritual core inherent in the original myth. A group of bigwigs, including Mu Xin, once stood on his platform, praising his six relatives for refusing to resist to the end, and even promoted him as the first resister in Chinese literature throughout the ages, even higher than Monkey King.
However, does Nezha really reflect the resistance to patriarchy as they say? We still need to look at the original.
Does "Father Killing" mean "revolting against the patriarchy"?
It is said that Nezha rebelled against patriarchy, mainly based on his two deeds: one is that he eviscerates his bones to return to his father, and cuts his flesh to return to his mother. In the feudal era of "the body grows and the skin is accepted by the parents", it symbolizes the relationship with the big feudal family. A complete break; the other is the act of "father-killing" after he got the incarnation of Lotus. However, in the original book, are these two things really full of rebellion? This is questionable.
Let's talk about the section "Returning the Flesh to the Parents", which can be said to be very heroic in the 79th edition of the animation. But in the original work, this matter is not so tragic, it can only be said that it is "my own fault and I will pay it back", and it can only be said that it meets the basic moral requirements. And the book clearly pointed out that this was arranged by the real Taiyi for Nezha, and the purpose was to settle the grievances with the Dragon King. In the context of God's Word, the "death" of the flesh is not an end, but a choice, not even a break with the family. After Nezha died, it didn't stop. Under the guidance of Taiyi, he asked his mother, Mrs. Yin, to build an ancestral hall for him and reshape his body. Mrs. Yin went to beg Li Jing, but Li Jing refused in anger. Mrs. Yin turned back and told Nezha, but he refused to obey, and said, "If you don't build an ancestral hall with me, I will quarrel with you." His mother had no choice but to secretly build an ancestral hall for Nezha behind Li Jing's back. In this situation, where is the "complete break with the family" and "independence of personality and spirit" at all? It is very much like the second ancestor and the old clan who stalked and stalked their parents for some pocket money. It is precisely because Mrs. Yin did this without the knowledge of Li Jing that it brought out a grudge between Nezha and her father Li Jing, which is the embodiment of the theme of "killing the father".
When it comes to Nezha killing his father, many cultural leaders are not stingy with praise. Become an Oedipus-esque tragic hero. But the question is, is "father-killing" a rebellion against patriarchy? Then Yang Guang killed his father and Zhu Yougui killed his father, are they the role models of rebelling against patriarchy? The answer is of course no. Their father-killing act was only to replace it. It was just a reincarnation of the struggle between father and son in the era of patriarchy, and it did not have the legitimacy of resistance. So, does Nezha have the legitimacy of this resistance? It's actually quite suspicious. In the original work, Nezha did not hate his father until he was eviscerated and returned to his father. This behavior was even interpreted by Ao Guang as not involving his parents, which was a manifestation of filial piety. It was not until after his death that Mrs. Yin built a shrine for Nezha without the knowledge of Li Jing, but Li Jing found out and destroyed the ancestral hall in a rage, shattering the golden body, so that Nezha had no place to rely on. turn against each other. This is the plot of Li Jing's three defeats and three escapes after Lotus incarnates and goes to Chentangguan to ask for an explanation. Therefore, Nezha's father murder was not so much out of a spirit of resistance as it was out of revenge . Having said that, Nezha has already returned his physical body to his parents, and Li Jing still insists on destroying his clay sculpture golden body, which is indeed too much, so Nezha's revenge has a certain rationality, but it is not the rationality of rebelling against the patriarchy. Otherwise, why is the core plot of the murder of the father ignored in the 79th edition of Nezha, which emphasizes the most rebelliousness? This is exactly the proof that Nezha's father-slaughter lacks resistance to legitimacy. In other words, what Nezha violated here is not just the ethics of patriarchy, but a more general ethics . This made the adaptors keep a close eye on this black history.
After all, the 79th edition of Nezha is also a reinterpretation of the myth story by the adaptor at that time based on the spiritual demands of his own era. That being the case, then today's screenwriters can naturally give Nezha a new spirit of the times through adaptation, and this adaptation is actually closer to the original to some extent.
Nezha's True Spiritual Core: Growth
If the theme of "Nezha Raising the Sea" in 1979 was resistance, then the story of Nezha in the original work actually focuses more on growth. Resistance is just an episode in the process of growing up. Nezha is not a revolutionary, he is going to be recruited after all, so the main point of the story is actually just how a reckless boy who is confused and reckless grows into the vanguard of revitalizing the Zhou Dynasty and destroying the commerce, and finally becomes a sanctified body and ranks in the immortal class. process only. This is a process of indoctrination. In today's terms, it is just a disciplinary process from "natural person" to "social person". Just from the current perspective, this discipline process is really not successful. The father-son relationship was often unable to restrain the instinctive impulse, but the "destiny" education given by the society made it more unscrupulous. The escalation of the father-son conflict eventually got out of hand, and he could only rely on a higher level of authority to force mediation. Reflected in the original work, Li Jing finally relied on the pagoda given by the Taoist Ran Deng to regain a city, and in an extremely stiff and awkward atmosphere, "father and son reunited." And this kind of education method is obviously even more unreliable today, so the main task faced by the script writers of "The Devil's Come to the World" is to give this story a new connotation of the times while continuing the theme of growth. And that's where the film really shines.
In addition to the image of Nezha in this film, there is also a character who has been criticized for the change of the image. This person is Li Jing, who is Nezha's father. The 1979 version of Li Jing is an image of a domineering feudal patriarch who is domineering internally and weak externally, which is contemptible. In the 19th edition, Li Jing changed his body and became the image of a loving father who silently sacrificed for his son, and was even willing to block his robbery. , and even the loss of the spiritual core of Ne Zha's story. But they didn't really think about it, what kind of father-son relationship do we need to build in today's era? In the process of individual growth, what needs to be confronted most is patriarchy in the traditional sense, or the corrupt feudal ruling authority? The fathering of Li Jing's image is, of course, partly due to market considerations. After all, today's parents take their children to the movies, but they don't want their children to learn to sing the opposite of themselves. Are there not enough arrogant children? The plot of repaying kindness with death is enough to make parents tremble with fear. But we should also think about it, does not resisting our parents mean a retrogression in our intentions? Today's children, the object they have to resist on the way to grow up, is not mainly their parents? From an educational point of view, why repeat the crusade, since the domineering parental authority of the past has proven to be a failure? What's wrong with telling a story about helping children grow with love and responsibility? Does it not match your childhood memory, is it kitsch, is it burning the piano and cooking the crane?
Of course, whether Li Jing's image is pleasing or not is secondary. The key is that many people think that Li Jing's loving fatherhood has led to the lack of objects of resistance in this film. Therefore, the theme of the film can only be changed from the original rebellion against the patriarchy to the rebellion against fate. The latter is really illusory and general. But at a deeper level, this is precisely the film's interpretation of the changing times. In the film, Li Jing, the father, was turned into a loving father, and the real Taiyi, who was the master, was made fun of, and the Dragon King and the Dragon Palace, who were originally Nezha's resistance to the superstructure, also became the objects of oppression. never appeared. This actually represents the tangible authority in the traditional context, and the weakening and dissolution of "the monarch, parent and teacher" in contemporary society. In this regard, psychologist and sociologist Fromm once said that the society we live in is a society in which tangible authority is no longer, but "anonymous authority" is everywhere. The anonymity of authority means that there is no longer a "big brother" who can openly resist. Some are invisible and intangible, but they are invisible oppression that diffuses in the whole society. This anonymous authority can be a concept, public opinion, social Customs and scientific common sense can also be expressed as the prejudice of the world, the malice of gangsters, the expectations of the family, and the expectations of society's desire to shape individuals, as in the film... Therefore, when Nezha shouted in the film "My life is up to me When he is not in control of the sky”, his so-called “fate” is not so much the embodiment of traditional Chinese fatalism, but rather the borrowing of anonymized authority in the traditional context. In order to make this resistance more concrete and dramatic, the film strives to create the existence of a pair of contradictory bodies of "Magic Pill" and "Lingzhu", which to some extent completes the transcendence of the original work.
Magic Pill and Lingzhu: Conflict Construction from a Psychological Perspective
In this work, Nezha's biggest change is not only in appearance, but also in that it is no longer a simple "reincarnation of a spirit bead", but has become a "natural magic pill", an existence destined to be destroyed by thunder. Is this a subversion of the original? Through the above analysis, we also see that this is not the case. Nezha in the original work, although he bears the name of Lingzhu, he behaves more like a little devil. Although Nezha in this work is known as the "Magic Boy", his demonic nature is actually weakened. Although he often destroys, this is more due to his lack of control over his own divine power. Although he makes fun of the people of Chentangguan , but it is more of a mischievous manifestation, a self-defeating revenge for not being accepted by himself, and he still hopes to be recognized by others in his heart. This is a clever trick of the screenwriter. After all, if it is the arrogant and domineering Nezha in the original work, it is estimated that few people will replace it by themselves. The establishment of this sense of substitution is the key to Nezha's character modeling, because he represents not only a distant mythical figure, but a spiritual symbol of each of us. Is it Nezha who is "born to be a devil"? Freud has long said that the newborn child is not an angel, but a selfish "evil boy" who puts self-satisfaction first. Freund divides the personality structure into three levels: id, ego, and superego. Among them, "id" represents people's original impulses and desires, aiming at self-satisfaction; "superego" represents the internalization of social morality and authority, and disciplines people's behavior; Impulsivity and moral conditioning are reconciled with reality. The child's superego is not yet fully formed, so it is undoubtedly the representative of the self-satisfied "id personality". This is also a necessary stage in everyone's growth process. So in a sense, we are also born "magic children". In the process of socialization, this id personality, like Nezha, will experience various setbacks, misunderstandings and scorn from the world, which is the psychological basis for the audience to identify with this character.
With Nezha who embodies the id personality, should there be a "superego personality" opposition? The film did create such a character, that is, Ao Bing, the third prince of the Dragon King. Ao Bing in the original book is just a character who goes through the motions and exists for the plot. In this film, Ao Bing was given a spirit bead, and he was given a new definition, which came alive in an instant. If Nezha is a bad boy with excess id, then Ao Bing is a good boy with a strong superego. He bears the expectations of the entire dragon clan, and bears the fate of becoming a god, attaining the Tao, and standing out. He practices hard and demands extremely high, and often act ethically. The most intuitive manifestation is that Nezha's talent is fire, representing instinctual impulse and destruction, while Ao Bing's talent is water and ice, representing rationality and calm thinking. These two seem to be opposites, but in fact they are two sides of the same body, the two sides of the coin of self. There are too many hints to this point in the film, from the setting that the Lingzhu and Magic Pills were originally one, to the fact that the two also faced the prejudice of the world, all pointing to this point.
In a healthy personality, the id and superego should be reconciled with each other, which is shown in the film as the friendship between Nezha and Ao Bing at first sight. But the two are bound to conflict, because Ao Bing was told that if he wanted to truly become a god, he would have to obliterate the existence of Nezha. Just as modern people think that the socialization of man is to use the superego to obliterate the id. In the climax of the film, the scene of Nezha's birthday banquet, this conflict and contradiction is dramatically presented. Although Nezha in the film reflects more instinctive impulses, deep down in his heart, he also yearns for the world's approval and acceptance, but the world's caution and indifference make him think that his expectations are just illusions, and the dissatisfaction and resentment caused by his growth setbacks It led to a runaway. In the initial rampage, Ao Bing, a superego personality, tried to suppress the id and become a hero who conformed to social expectations. But he eventually found it difficult to achieve this goal, because he internalized so many authorities that they contradicted each other and could not be unified, and he, like the id, had to face the prejudices of the world. He couldn't be a hero of salvation and meet the expectations of his family. Visible and intangible authority is all over him, and eventually the superego goes into a rampage, trying to bury the id and everything related to it. But this extreme approach is actually a kind of self-destruction, because the id is not pure evil, it is also the original impulse and driving force of life.
In a critical moment, it was the love and affection of his parents that awakened Nezha's ego, allowed him to achieve real growth, and brought the out-of-control superego back on track. This is actually what this film wants to promote: the growth of individuals does not come from rigid external authority, but from the love and care from the heart between people. Only in this way can the broken personality be reunited. It may be cliché, but it is a universal theme.
Afterwards, the two released their suspicions and fought against the calamity together. Some people think this scene is too abrupt, why does Ao Bing want to help his enemy? In fact, he didn't understand it himself. At this time, Nezha and Ao Bing already understood that the so-called hostile relationship was only the shaping of the world, and it was also part of their destiny to fight together. And they are the existence of me in you and you in me, and one with each other. Only when the id and superego are reunited with the ego can human socialization be truly completed. At the end of the whole film, the kowtows of the people in Chentangguan are actually the initial recognition of this kind of socialization.
Of course, for the sake of the sequel, the film is also sold out here. It is not known where Nezha and Ao Bing, who lost their bodies, will go. However, as our analysis has already pointed out, only the true fusion of the two can mark true socialization, and only in this way will Nezha truly grow into the legendary heroic and invincible young hero!
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