Animating Eco-aesthetics: Multiplanar Images, Interspecies Government, and Eco-conscious Gaming in The Legend of Hei (2019) and Its TV Series (2011–Present)

Abstract

Abstract This study on the animation feature The Legend of Hei (2019) and its TV animation series (2011 to the present) endeavors to explore nascent models of eco-aesthetics in Chinese animation through an intersectional framework bridging studies of eco-politics, eco-cinema, and contemporary animation and media studies. Through close analysis of multiplanar imaging and limited animation in the animation feature, I discuss how varied animation techniques in the film contribute to aesthetic effects of appearance and disappearance, diversified characterization, and representations of contesting models of ecological subjectivities, bio-politics, and environmental governance. Contrary to a radical ecologist’s approach that resorts to forceful undertakings to “rescue nature,” the animation projects an alternative ethico-political method that promotes co-existence, inter-species governance, tolerance, and the art of “letting be.” The latter half of the essay situates the TV animation series The Battle of Luo Xiaohei in the milieu of eco-cinema and media ecology. I argue that the TV animation’s transmedial presentation of ACG gaming, platformativity, and parasocial participation of gamers, human characters and elfin alike, offer new insights on videogaming as social and cultural responses to environmental crises, also drawing attention to the ethico-political potential of parasocial gameplay in promoting democratic ideals of ecosystem governance.