Becoming-monster: Ecoaesthetics and feminist criticism of Chinese animation White Snake (2019)1

Abstract

This article examines Chinese animation Baishe: Yuanqi (White Snake) () and discusses how ecoaesthetics are intertwined with questions of gender representations. Ecoaesthetics are broadly defined to consider the relationship between the human and natural world via de-anthropocentrism – which is the criticism of a human-centred view of the world that surrounds us. The film White Snake focuses on a man who becomes a monster to be with the creature he loves. This article argues that White Snake provides a multi-species model for ecocriticism. On the one hand, the film presents ecological thoughts that showcases a contradictory but symbiotic relationship between human and non-humans; on the other hand, the film neglects the connection between ecoaesthetics and feminist criticism so that it ends up portraying an ecological system that is under the inveterate patriarchal reign and therefore violates ideas around equality in ecoaesthetics. I propose a notion becoming-monster to decipher this ambivalent ecoaesthetic representation. The representation of becoming-monster showcases the harmony that can potentially exist between the human and the non-human appealing de-anthropocentric actions while the ideal image of the equality between human and non-human others is in fact under the male gaze.