‘현대의 신화’ 창조 - 중국애니메이션『哪吒之魔童降世』의 哪吒 캐릭터 스토리텔링에 대한 고찰

Abstract

This study explores a storytelling of the mischievous character Nezha (哪吒) in the 3D animation film titled Ne Zha (2019), currently a major box office hit in China. Ne Zha is a modern adaptation of the popular story of a young boy Nezha and the idea of deification of the dead manifested in the Ming novel Fengshenyanyi (封神演義). It especially focuses on the modern Chinese ideology implanted in the process of making the film. Nezha was initially introduced to Han (漢) China as one of the Buddhist guardian figures. It was the Tang (唐) period that he became widely known in China, through the Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures. Eventually, the character Nezha was absorbed into Chinese Daoism and gain the role as a subduer of evil. In the Fengshenyanyi, Nezha appears as a unfilial son. Nezha dissects his own flesh and bones and return them to his parents, and he even attempts to kill his father Li Jing (李靖), a clear representation of his Oedipus complex. The film Ne Zha creates a new ideological significance through the character Nezha, who had been imbued with diverse cultural implications in Chinese culture accumulated over a long period of time. Firstly, it eliminates the idea of the Oedipus complex, while it newly advocates the virtue of patriarchal sacrifice to accentuate the ideology of loyalty to national duty. Secondly, the film adopts the idea of yin-yang (陰陽) converting the notion of good and evil. Nezha overcomes his image as a destructive monster (妖怪) and his tragic fate, by saving the village, and thus he conversely gains a new virtuous reputation. Therefore, it effectively constructs the ideology of defiance towards the American “cultural standard” established in the global society. The Ne Zha becomes a “modern mythology,” through the espousal of the classical narrative familiar to the Chinese general public. In this manner, it encapsulates the ideology of modern Chinese society and the cultural psychology of the masses.