A Study of the Inherited Relations between Classical Mythology and the Making of Chinese Animation Films

Abstract

In the process of the development of Chinese animations, mythical themes have provided a variety of practical materials for the creation of animated films. The recent domestic movies such as Monkey King: Hero is Back (2015) and Ne Zha: I am the Destiny (2019) are cases in point, achieving great progress in both quality and box office in the film industry. It can be seen that Chinese mythology and the creation of animated films are closely related; while the previous animation works might focus on the educational significance in design characters, films were productive while they lack of fun or suspense at some point. In addition, the development of Chinese animation in previous years has also been impacted by American and Japanese animations, an academic worry is that, would the Chinese mythological themes in the process of adaptation be slightly lost? Then, how to understand the connection between Chinese myths and the creation of animations becomes a key subject for writing the paper. In other words, this paper will use content analyses to claim that creation of animation films is to inherit cultural elements of Chinese mythology. Such inheritance not only highlights the national spirit, but also advocates cultural communication, allowing audience to understand the essence of Chinese culture.