Whitesnake 2: Green Snake Robbery: You are your own robbery

Author: Ye Zi

The animated film Whitesnake 2: The Green Snake Continues Whitesnake: Origins's ingenuity in interpreting traditional stories. With the green snake as the protagonist, "Green Snake Robbery" let go of its hands and feet, told a new story, and expanded the creative space of the script. The film tells that after Xiao Bai was crushed by the Leifeng Pagoda, Xiao Qing fell into the "Shuluo City" because of the obsession of "saving her sister". In a dangerous city, Xiaoqing must learn to survive and find an opportunity to escape.

Whitesnake 2: Green Snake Robbery poster

"Robbery" is an obsession that cannot be put down

The film's central problem revolves around the word "robbery". The opening quote from the Great Treasure Sutra is quoted: "All beings in the world, I am obsessed with heavy thoughts, and I am angry and aggressive, and I have fallen into the path of Shura. Xiao Qing was unable to rescue her sister Xiao Bai from Fahai, and entered a Shuluo world with a grudge and resentment towards Xu Xuan. Disasters abound in that world, and all kinds of creatures attack each other because they have strong attachments in their hearts that are difficult to quell. What is robbery? Robbery is the thing that disturbs the body and mind, that is, the obsession that cannot be put down even if you want to. Xiao Qing's robbery, on the surface, is a sisterly affection that is constantly cut, and in essence, it is still the "self-grasping" mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures. She wants to rescue Xiao Bai, who was suppressed by the Leifeng Pagoda, wants to get justice for her sister, and wants to return to the good times she once had. And it is "self-grasping" that drives the hair and persistence of every "want", and in the end, it is not even clear what they insist on, but they still "insist". The idling of this obsession is "self-grasping."

There is a magic pool called "Nothing" in the film, and as long as you jump into it, people can abandon their obsessions and leave the Shura Path. However, not everyone is willing to forget the past, even if what needs to be discarded is some torturous memories, such as lovers who cannot be loved, lost names, and so on. Therefore, those who have a stronger "self-grasping" would rather stay in the cultivation field forever, even if they will disappear at any time, and they must accompany the obsession. Xiaoqing and the masked teenager are such people, so they chose a more difficult path, "If Bridge". As long as you cross this bridge, you can retreat with all your memories, but the price you must pay for this is to exchange the powerful obsessive mind, and to fight against the "cause" that once caused the obsession with the weak body and mind. In the black hole of cause and effect, Xiao qing struggled with Fahai for twenty years, and finally overturned the Leifeng Pagoda and eliminated the "cause" that caused her all her pain. However, when she retreated from Shuluo City, Xiao Bai still couldn't find it. The devastation is still there.

The "knot" is a two-way robbery

"Robbery" is an obsession that cannot be let go, and it coexists with people all the time. And this symbiotic, entangled state is similar to a "knot". In Makoto Shinkai's animated film "Your Name", "knot" has the meaning of entanglement and protection, as if the red line of fate, connecting the fates of two people. Therefore, the positive side of the "knot" is fate, and the guardianship brings warmth and goodness; the negative side of the "knot" is the disaster, and the things that are involved are always entangled and consume people's hearts in various ways, making people fall into pain.

Xiao Qing, who walked out of Shuluo City, her robbery still existed, because the sister Xiao Bai, who was guarding and holding each other with her, had not yet been found. It wasn't until Xiao Qing traveled through a thousand years of time and Xiao Bai went through several lifetimes of reincarnation that they were finally reunited at the West Lake. This two-way rush to the moment makes each other's fates intertwined again. The disaster is resolved, and the "knot" that carries the sister's affection is re-concluded.

Whether in the midst of a disaster, or in search of or forging a new knot, one needs to first learn to live with attachment and ultimately transcend one's own attachment. This transcendence is not selective amnesia, forgetting troubles, nor is it the suffering of obsessive thoughts like enduring illness, but the calm after understanding, understanding the compassion after understanding, whether in the field of cultivation or returning to the world, as long as the attachment is transcended, the "robbery" will be dissolved, and the various "knots" that will be encountered in the future can also be dealt with freely, and there will be no more greed and anger because of the fact that things are not human.

The story of "The Legend of the White Snake" has a long history, and it constantly derives thoughts about people's hearts and obsessions. In the novel "Green Snake" by contemporary writer Li Bihua, Su Zhen is eager to transform into a human form and repay Xu Xian's life-saving grace, but Xiao Qingben is not happy. In her opinion, the white snake follows her sister for the sake of love, but because she is afraid of loneliness. But Bai Suzhen said in a word, "What is the difference between the two?" This look at love can also be used to annotate the word "robbery": disaster or because of external objects, and you are your own robbery.

(The author Ye Zi is an associate editor of Guangxi Normal University Press)

Source: Guangming Network - Literary And Art Review Channel