was first born during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. After hundreds of years of development, he has become a familiar mythical figure. From a cultural point of view, the Buddhist protector originating in India has been transformed by Chinese Taoism, coupled with the depiction of stories full of Confucian values, Nezha itself is a witness to the coexistence of the three cultures of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. After hundreds of years of continuous re-interpretation and modification of Nezha's image, Nezha has become one of the classic Chinese cultural symbols.
Punishing evil and promoting good are certainly the main axis of Nezha's life, but what is more valuable is that the compilation of Nezha stories by people in each historical period also reflects the trend of people's values at that time. Nezha in "Fengshen Bang" dared to fight and kill, "Nezha Naohai" is a rebellion against feudal hegemony and patriarchy, "Nezha: Devil Boy Comes into the World" emphasizes breaking through the shackles of fate. Nezha in different historical and cultural periods represents social and cultural thoughts in different periods.
Therefore, the image of Nezha has changed in history, and the angle of interpretation has also changed due to different social environments. However, it is always the same. Nezha is always the Nezha of China, and the stories that Chinese people can understand.
However, just today, the trailer for "Nezha and Transformers" was announced. This is a Chinese-American co-produced cartoon, Nezha can fight evil in armor like a Transformer. 52 episodes are tentatively scheduled, and the release date has not yet been announced. The plot like
reminds me of the "War" series that was once flooded in the 1990s when I was a child: "The Gourd Baby vs. Transformers", "The Monkey King Fights Astro Boy" and so on. The crude flavor of the earth and the curious content of the story have made them a dregs of culture, and they were finally thrown into the cultural garbage dump by the times.
Whether it's for Transformers or Nezha, the two animated images were born in their different cultural environments, condensing the different values of their respective cultures. The problem with cultural integration like "Nezha and Transformers" is that the arrangement of the story must conform to both Chinese and American values. Otherwise, Chinese audiences may find it difficult to accept some plot settings.
In addition, Nezha comes from Chinese mythology and is the world of gods and demons. Transformers originated from American animation, a world of science fiction. There is no intersection between the two worlds. If they are forcibly bound together, the final result may be extremely embarrassing.
Nezha is a god with boundless powers, who can protect the water and soil of one side and keep the people safe. This animation actually wants God to condescend to become a mecha to fight evil, which is too inconsistent with the consistent style of Chinese mythology. Chinese mythology is often the setting of one finger, one vellus hair, and one wave of hand.
And more importantly, no matter China or other ancient civilizations, the reason why human myths can endure is that every myth has a deep ideological and philosophical nature. Myths can help people to enlighten their values in the history of human civilization. Since the United States is an emerging country and does not have any myths, companies such as Marvel and Disney have emerged in the United States, and they have launched cultural works to help American society shape the values of children. This is the biggest difference between Nezha and Transformers.
Because of this, I am very optimistic about this collaboration of "Nezha and Transformers". Because in my eyes, animation must conform to its own cultural core and tone, at least culturally self-consistent. From the current point of view, "Nezha and Transformers" obviously does not fit my view.
