Speaking of national comics, many viewers may first think of Caitiaoya Pictures, which has been well known to many audiences in recent years with works such as "Big Fish and Begonias", "The Great Protector", and "Jiang Ziya".
However, this year's Spring Festival "Nezha Rebirth" is not a work of Caitiaoya, but is produced by another national comic company. That's right, this company is the light-chasing animation that hit the industry with "Whitesnake: Origins".
Speaking of chasing light animation, we have to mention a person, Wang Wei, the founder of Tudou.com, who founded chasing light animation in Beijing in 2013 after seeing the market potential of domestic animation, and is determined to create an animated film with Chinese cultural characteristics and international first-class level.
Who would have thought that this ambition was ultimately exchanged for a series of failures, and the three animation works that were continuously launched , "Little Door God", "The Adventure of Atang" and "Cat and Peach Blossom Garden" without exception, had a dismal box office.
Just when the future is uncertain, Chasing Light Animation resolutely adjusted its development strategy, got rid of the family fun style, and took the adult route with the sword, launched "White Snake: Origins" and unexpectedly succeeded.
The box office performance of "White Snake: Origins" of 449 million yuan surprised everyone's expectations, and also made the production and release of the movie "New God List: Nezha Reborn" a reality.
As the fifth work of the light-chasing animation and the pioneering work of the new Fengshen series, "Nezha Reborn" has undergone four years of meticulous polishing before it was finally released.
From the fact that Chasing Light Animation chose to put this movie in this year's Spring Festival file and played off against blockbusters such as "Tang Detective 3" and "Samurai Shodown", it can be seen that the investors and the main creative team have confidence in this animated film. So what's so interesting about this movie?
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > if Nezha is in modern times</h1>
The most special thing about the movie "New God List: Nezha Reborn" is that there is one word - new.
As the "East Sea Dragon King" in the movie said: "The old list of gods has long been meaningless, and the new list of gods will be opened again." ”
The main creative team has modernized the traditional mythological story of "Nezha Noisy Sea", and strives to create a mythological story that conforms to the aesthetics of young people at present, while at the same time completely retaining the rebellious spirit and story connotation of the original work.
At the beginning of the film's creation, the creative team of "New God List: Nezha Reborn" once envisioned creating a remake of "Nezha Noisy Sea" that was completely based on the plot of the original work.
However, the main creative team soon found that the immutable remake was not only difficult to surpass the 1979 version of "Nezha Noisy Sea", but also "lifted a stone and dropped it on their own feet", and many viewers who grew up watching the old animated film were likely not to buy it.
At the juncture of where to go, a vision of director Zhao Ji saved the film project, "If Nezha is a modern person, how should the story be staged?" ”
If Nezha is a modern person, in the face of the oppression of innocent people by the Dragon King of the Four Seas and the injustices of the real world, will he still choose to resist like a mythical story? If resistance not only does not eliminate oppression and injustice, but intensifies conflicts and contradictions, where should Nezha go? If, in the process of resisting oppression and injustice, we fall into a situation of rebellion and loneliness, do we choose to continue fighting? Or just give up...
Around this series of questions, the plot framework of "Nezha Reborn" has gradually been set up.
Three thousand years ago, the Dragon King of the Four Seas was in a state of flux and stirring up trouble in the human world, and Nezha's rebellion not only did not make the Dragon King of the Four Seas who was wrongdoing stop here, but brought greater disasters to the people.
In order to save his relatives and people from suffering, Nezha finally chose to draw his sword and kill himself at a critical moment. However, the hope did not disappear, and Nezha's soul was still constantly reborn in the cycle of reincarnation.
The story begins three thousand years later, when Nezha reincarnated as Li Yunxiang, a hot-blooded teenager in the slums of Donghai City, whose biggest hobby is to modify locomotives and then drive their own racing cars to compete.
Of course, forced to make a living, Xiao Li usually has to deliver couriers and deliver smuggled goods part-time.
For such a life, Li Yunxiang is not without his own ideas, but in the face of reality, he has no choice. Until one day, a bizarre robbery completely changed Li Yunxiang's life...
Ao Bing, the third prince of the Dexing Group, the premier chaebol of Donghai City, wanted to take it for himself after bumping into Li Yunxiang's modified locomotive.
Xiao Li, who preferred to die, was first hit by the ice arrows summoned by Ao Bing, then beaten wildly by Ao Bing and his men, and finally brutally killed the kitten on the locomotive, such an evil deed finally completely stimulated Li Yunxiang's inner Nezha Yuanshen, and Li Yunxiang, who accidentally exposed his true identity, soon caused greater trouble.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > still shiny story theme</h1>
Remember that the story of "Nezha Noisy Sea" began with the Dragon King of the Four Seas colluding, stirring up the wind and waves, endangering the human world, and thus leading to the theme of the story - resistance to oppression and injustice, and the "New God List: Nezha Rebirth" released many years later also continued this theme.
The Donghai City in the movie is a city with a very serious gap between the rich and the poor, and the vast majority of ordinary people in the city live in the slums where the people are not happy, and in stark contrast, there is only a bridge across the road from the lights and greenery, and the rich people singing at night.
The rich live a life of carefree food and clothing, while the poor spend their entire lives in dark corners.
The villains Dragon King, Night Fork, and Shi Ji have experienced thousands of years of baptism, no longer carrying out naked blackmail to the people like in "Nezha Noisy Sea", but secretly monopolizing the fresh water resources of the entire East Sea City, so as to achieve the purpose of controlling the world and maximizing profits.
The contrast between the villains who appear in the original story, who are innocent and evil, evil-looking, and vicious, is transformed into the most powerful ruling class in the entire city, which is quite ironic.
And what is more ironic is that li yunxiang is also a traitor to ordinary people, and it can be said that it is precisely because of the incompetence of the people that these villains can unscrupulously commit crimes in Donghai City.
When the homeland was violated and his relatives were killed, it was hard to have such a heroic role as Li Yunxiang, this traitor not only did not know how to cherish, but went to the third prince of the De family for the sake of fly-headed small profits, secretly manipulating Li Yunxiang's armor, in order not to let his own little tricks be known to everyone, he did not hesitate to kill people and kill his mouth, and even when everyone silently mourned for the deceased, he sneered at Li Yunxiang and blamed all the consequences on him.
Such a plot cannot but cause the audience to think deeply, and remember the scene in "Nezha Noisy Sea" that year, when Nezha resolutely drew his sword and killed himself, which is almost indistinguishable from Li Yunxiang's guilt in "Nezha Rebirth". Is this Nezha's personal tragedy? Or is it the sorrow of the weak compromisers?
Li Jing in "Nezha Noisy Sea" did not know the evil deeds of the Dragon King of the Four Seas in harming the human world, but in order to avoid more deaths, he repeatedly chose to endure and compromise with reality.
But can compromise solve everything? Li Jing's compromise eventually cost him his son, and the people of Chen Tangguan still had to sacrifice virgin boys and girls to sacrifice the three princes who had committed evil in order to avoid the disaster of the Dragon King.
Similarly, the traitor who threw cold water on Li Yunxiang in "Nezha Reborn" and not to say that it is precisely because he has a later tragedy to face the deceased relatives and friends who pour cold water on Li Yunxiang to solve the problem? Compared with the heinous Dragon King and others, Nezha is the only hope of the people in times of crisis!
In summary, whether it is the "Nezha Noisy Sea" of that year, or today's "New God List: Nezha Reborn", it conveys such a simple and profound truth to the audience, that is, in the face of the old order of oppression and injustice, escaping from reality and repeatedly forbearance cannot solve the problem, and the struggle will always be sacrificed, but only through resolute struggle can people usher in a better life!
If you look at it from another angle and stand on your personal standpoint, if you want to change your life, your fate can only be through your own efforts, and going against the grain and forbearing will only make the originally difficult situation worse.
Some fans once commented that from ancient times to modern times, Nezha, who rebelled against power and injustice, did not hesitate to sacrifice his life, but the Dragon King could not kill, even if he killed and a new Dragon King would appear, thousands of years have passed, what is the meaning of Nezha's struggle?
I think the story of "New God List: Nezha Reborn" answers this question very well, the Dragon King is indeed inexhaustible, and the evil and greed it symbolizes will indeed be an eternal confrontation with justice and goodness in the world, but as long as people do not give up their yearning for light and have the pursuit of ideals and beliefs in their hearts, the world is hopeful, and the existence of justice will always have its special significance.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > Oriental punk</h1>
In the field of science fiction literature, the so-called "cyberpunk" refers to the "combination of low-end life and high technology", and the appearance of advanced science and technology, irrational social structure, and gradually collapsing civilization system is the standard collocation of "cyberpunk style science fiction works".
In simple terms, "punk" means rebellion and subversion of mainstream civilization, irony and rebellion against the indifferent real world, and also symbolizes the desire for spiritual freedom of modern people struggling in the modern civilization system.
The worldview of "New God List: Nezha Reborn" is based on this cyberpunk thinking, and combines it with the most rebellious Nezha story in traditional Chinese mythology.
The most direct embodiment of this creative concept is the Donghai City in the film, which is full of elements of modern Western civilization and at the same time has the characteristics of Shanghai Beach formed by the collision of Chinese and Western cultures in the 1920s and 1930s, which is one of the most important contradictions and conflicts in the film.
In the introduction of the film's behind-the-scenes creation, director Zhao Ji introduced Donghai City this way, "In this city, we pieced together two very important elements, Manhattan in the 1920s and thirties and Shanghai Beach in the same period, and There are many things in Shanghai Beach that express traditional Chinese, and these elements are mixed together and are particularly suitable for us to make an oriental punk style story." ”
Antagonism and fusion, history and future, punk elements and traditional mythology are all well integrated in this film.
Compared with Li Yunxiang, the "Nezha" who forgot his past life experience after being reborn, after returning from the True Scriptures, because he lost confidence and fighting spirit in the real world, Sun Wukong, who sank into the "Mask Man" three thousand years later, as a supporting role in "Nezha Reborn", expressed the regrets and unwillingness of many contemporary people about reality, but eventually turned into a cold and numb inner world.
In the traditional Chinese mythological story system, the two most deviant characters are naturally Nezha and Sun Wukong.
However, in "Nezha Reborn", After the rebirth, Li Yunxiang still maintains his original enthusiasm and rebellion, while Sun Wukong, who has experienced thousands of years, has long ceased to be the original pride, as if he is an immortal in the world.
If the advanced technology and Manhattan and Shanghai Beach in the 1920s and 1930s are the coats of oriental punk, then "Nezha" Li Yunxiang and "mask man" Sun Wukong are very good expressions of the connotation and deep meaning of oriental punk.
On the one hand, it is a strong rebellion against the real power order, on the other hand, it is to look down on the ups and downs of the world and the peace of the encounter, compared with the mainstream values that are completely subservient to reality, these two attitudes to life show the characteristics of rebellion and avant-garde, and also explain the different views of ancient Chinese culture on the adversity of life, which cannot help but cause people to think deeply outside the plot.
In general, as the foundation and force of the "New God List" series of works of the light-chasing animation, "New God List: Nezha Rebirth" gives full play to the advantages of "White Snake: Origins" in terms of character modeling, action scenes, and lens language design, and at the same time, it also goes further in the depth of thought.
However, it has to be said that "New God List: Nezha Reborn" still has some shortcomings, such as because the ideological themes wanted to be expressed are too rich, and the expression effect is still not profound enough.
In terms of plot rhythm, although the dizzying action scenes well cover up some of the problems in the film's plot itself, it is undeniable that the overall plot rhythm is still a bit stretched.
Of course, flaws do not hide Yu, "New God List: Nezha Reborn" is still the most worthy of watching a new national comic in the New Year file, and the action scenes and scene design alone are worth the ticket price.