Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 685 Shifting Conflict, Elevating the Theme

In the grand finale of the original "Ne Zha 2", there was a scene where the Dragon Father fought against the Crane Boy and the Deer Boy. With a single slash, the Dragon Father revealed the true forms of the two, turning the handsome man and beautiful woman into monsters with deer heads and crane heads.

Then Dragon Father curled his lip in disdain and complained, "So the Immortal's capable subordinates are also two beasts. What demons and immortals? It's all just a trick to fool people."

However, this part of the plot was modified in the new version of "Ne Zha 2".

When Dragon Father swung his sword down, he did not turn Crane Boy and Deer Boy into beasts. Instead, golden and silver light gathered behind them, forming a radiant celestial deer and an ethereal crane.

The crane's enormous, shimmering silver wings folded together like a shield, directly blocking the dragon father's self-sacrificing strike.

"A divine form and immortal body!"

Seeing the scene before him, Dragon Father's face showed a mixture of shock and envy, and he couldn't help but say:

"So you are demons too, all of the same kind..."

"Shut up!"

Lu Tong shouted, his voice laced with disdain:
"We two have long since undergone a complete transformation and reshaped our immortal bodies and forms. How could we possibly be of the same kind as you demons!"

Through this plot, along with Nezha's three trials to become an immortal and his ascension ceremony, as well as Shen Gongbao's father Shen Zhengdao's teachings to his disciple, another main conflict in "Nezha 2" is already emerging.

That is "ascension to immortality" or "becoming an immortal," or breaking away from the old class and entering a higher class on one's own.

In Galaxy Pictures' version of "Ne Zha 2", the world contains both humans and demons, and they can all become immortals through cultivation.

However, to become an immortal, one must undergo a complete transformation.

This is not the spiritual transformation after suffering in our common sense, but a true physical "rebirth".

In traditional Chinese mythology, a person is composed of three souls, seven spirits, and a physical body, that is, two elements: spirit and matter.

Becoming an immortal involves cultivating one's soul to elevate it, discarding the original physical body, and then using higher-level elements such as "immortal energy" to create a new body.

In "Ne Zha 2", this physical body is what is called the "immortal body", "immortal root" and "immortal bone". It is essentially completely different from the original mortal body of an immortal. It is neither material nor spiritual, but an energy aggregate.

Such an "immortal body" not only allows for the gathering and dispersing of objects at will, but also eliminates the fatal weaknesses of a mortal body, freeing one from the limitations of lifespan. Furthermore, it greatly enhances combat power, enabling the use of the divine power of "manifesting the heavens and earth" to fight enemies with the "immortal body form".

This method of dividing immortals, mortals, and demons resolves many logical issues in the original "Ne Zha 2".

The most fundamental issue is the positioning of the Chan sect.

It's important to understand that in "Investiture of the Gods," although the members of the Chan Sect are not well-liked, they always stand on the side of the Great Zhou and help King Wu overthrow King Zhou. This is the fundamental plot of "Investiture of the Gods."

Nezha, on the other hand, was a disciple of Taiyi Zhenren and the vanguard officer of King Wu's conquest of Zhou.

Unless the Nezha animation team expands into the Fengshen universe, even if Nezha fights to the death with the Chan Sect in Nezha 2, he will still have to go back to his old enemies later, which greatly diminishes the charm of the Nezha character.

In this case, the Chan Sect cannot be positioned as villains in the Nezha animation, at least not purely villains.

Therefore, in the previous "Ne Zha 2", director Jiaozi created a villain - Wuliang Xianweng.

He is called the Boundless Immortal, but in reality, judging from his appearance and the deer and crane attendants under his command, he is just a beggar version of the Antarctic Immortal, only with a different name to avoid the taboo.

This Boundless Immortal was created as a villain solely to resolve plot logic issues and to serve as a villain.

The key point is that he is also independent of the Chan Sect!

This was probably a design feature of the dumpling to address the issue of the Chan Sect's positioning.

In fact, this is also reflected in the movie, when the Twelve Golden Immortals gathered and faced the threat of the Dragon Clan, some of the other Golden Immortals said that they could not exterminate the Dragon Clan without a legitimate reason.

Later, during the final battle, Taiyi Zhenren also told Wuliang Xianweng that his actions violated the teachings and asked him to go and apologize to his master.

And the Immortal's own performance undoubtedly proves that there is morality within their Chan Sect, and that they have a set of right and wrong that everyone agrees on.

So this is the old cliché of "the fault lies not with the organization, but with certain individuals within it," and "the policy is good, but it has been poorly implemented."

Thus, the evil of the Chan Sect was piled on the head of the Boundless Immortal.

The director even tried to justify Wuliang Xianweng's actions, saying that he was actually doing it for the sake of the entire Chan Sect. He claimed that the young disciples of the Chan Sect were not ambitious and hardworking, and that he had no choice but to do so in order to cope with the upcoming competition with the Jie Sect.

In this way, even if they want to whitewash Wuliang Xianweng later on, it seems that as long as they revive Nezha's mother, it will be acceptable.

Even if it doesn't make sense, there's still a last resort: like in "Journey to the West," claim that the Immortal Wuliang is a fake, and that the real Immortal Wuliang is actually in seclusion cultivating, while the one outside is just a manifestation of the Immortal Wuliang's staff.

No matter how many reasons are offered to justify it, the simple and straightforward villain, Wuliang Xianweng, still directly diminishes the film's storytelling and depth.

Even worse, it caused an invisible but intense conflict between the core of "Ne Zha 2" and "Ne Zha 1".

In the original "Ne Zha 2", Wuliang Xianweng ordered the sea monsters to slaughter Chentang Pass and refine the dragon race. Taiyi Zhenren would say that he did wrong and violated the teachings of the Chan Sect.

What doctrine?
The Chan Sect believed that all demons were evil, so they wanted to recruit them into the sect for education. Shen Gongbao, Lu Tong, and He Tong are examples of this.

However, Taiyi Zhenren never directly said that the prejudice that "demons are evil" was wrong, and he didn't even dare to let the immortal know that Nezha was a demon child.

But in the first movie, what Nezha was supposed to rebel against was this kind of prejudice.

However, in the second part, the Boundless Immortal Venerable did not oppress other races by spreading prejudice or using psychological control, but by directly oppressing other races through force.

Therefore, the immortal does not represent the prejudice that "demons are evil," but rather another kind of clichéd villainous force.

Therefore, Nezha's rebellion against the Immortal Elder is actually reasonable within the doctrines of the Chan Sect, and all people and immortals who understand right and wrong would agree that the Immortal Elder was indeed wrong.

This transformed Nezha's rebellion from the unreasonable aspects of the Chan Sect's doctrines—prejudice—into a rebellion against certain villains in a secular sense.

The slogans they shouted changed from "My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens; whether I am a demon or an immortal, I decide for myself!" in the first part to "Immortals are not necessarily good; demons are not necessarily bad; demons can be righteous" in the second part.

Essentially, the core of the story has changed. The screenwriter of "Ne Zha 2" created a villain in the secular sense, which was easy and created satisfying moments, especially with the addition of elements that metaphorically represent the United States, equating Wuliang Immortal and Chan Sect with American hegemony.

However, this would mean losing Nezha's spirit of resisting "prejudice" and turning his resistance against "prejudice" into resistance against "hegemony" and "good and evil".

The former is intangible, deeply rooted in the public consciousness and difficult to touch, while the latter is tangible and can be seen, making it easier to become a target.

Therefore, Shen Gongbao in the second part is actually more outstanding than in the first part.

why?
Because the core of anti-prejudice that should have been in Nezha was transferred to Shen Gongbao, becoming his highlight of humanity. In particular, "Nezha 2" used a montage technique to mislead the audience into believing that Chen Tang Pass was really destroyed by Shen Gongbao, and then there was a reversal to clear his name, which made this villain easier for the audience to empathize with and understand.

Now, with the addition of the concept of "immortal body" to Xinghe Group's "Nezha 2", many of the problems in the original version have been solved.

why?
The addition of the step of "rebirth" to become an immortal completely changes the core of the story's conflict.

In the original "Ne Zha 2", the core of the conflict is the confrontation between immortals, demons, or monsters.

In the new version of "Ne Zha 2", the core of the conflict is the confrontation between immortals, demons, or monsters.

You're saying there's no difference?

No, no!
In the original "Ne Zha 2", although immortals are nominally more noble than demons, that is only in name.

In terms of combat power, immortals and demons are actually equal.

Take, for example, the three trials that Nezha overcame.

The groundhog monster in the first level is purely for fun, needless to say.

However, Shen Zhengdao, who was in the second stage, was actually stronger than many of the disciples of the Jade Void Palace's constable team, and he might even be evenly matched with Lu Tong.

The third level, Lady Shiji, is definitely stronger than Lu Tong.

There are also the Four Dragon Kings and the sea monsters, who are also demons, and their strength is no less than that of the Jade Void Palace's demon-hunting team.

Therefore, the conflict between immortals and demons in the original "Ne Zha 2" is essentially a racial conflict.

The new version of "Ne Zha 2" adds the "transformation" step of "ascension to immortality", which allows humans and demons to "evolve" into immortals. This conflict between immortals and demons, and even the potential conflict between immortals and humans in the future, essentially becomes a conflict between different social classes.

It's best not to discuss this topic too much, but with this setting, the story of the new version of "Nezha 2" has undergone a complete transformation.

First, there is the issue of the positioning of the Chan Sect and the identities of Wuliang Immortal Venerable, Crane Boy, and Deer Boy.

For the Chan Sect, their doctrine is that immortals are nobler than humans and demons. Humans and demons are mortals, and to become an immortal, one needs to "transform" and "sever worldly ties." After "transforming," one becomes one of their own.

Crane Boy and Deer Boy were accepted by the Boundless Immortal Elder precisely because they completed this step and severed their mortal bodies.

As for Shen Gongbao, he was beyond redemption, unable to relinquish his demonic body and worldly desires such as his father and younger brother, and thus he was never able to transform himself into an immortal.

This is why the position of one of the Twelve Golden Immortals did not fall to him, because he did not align himself with the organization, his heart was not sincere, and his desire to become an immortal was not firm.

Shen Gongbao was not convinced by this, and naturally he was determined to find a way to become an immortal without "rebirth". He didn't want to benefit the demon race, but at least he wanted to benefit his family.

In this context, the question of the Jade Void Palace's positioning is no longer an issue.

Because in the established lore, immortals are stronger and nobler than ordinary demons.

The dragons are not included here because they are born with a more powerful body that can change size at will, possessing certain characteristics of an immortal body. Therefore, the Boundless Immortal Elder is also very wary of the dragons.

Since the Jade Void Palace is more powerful and noble, its oppression of the demon race is institutionalized and an objective fact. This makes the Jade Void Palace more acceptable to the audience and leaves room for the subsequent story of the Investiture of the Gods.

Similarly, with institutional oppression, the actions of Wuliang Xianweng, He Tong, and Lu Tong also gained institutional backing.

Here, the original version of refining pills with monsters is changed to throwing monsters into the Heavenly Origin Cauldron to extract their demonic power for pill refining. Monsters whose demonic power is drained will be reduced to their original forms.

Such institutionalized exploitation not only carries deeper meaning but also greatly increases audience acceptance.

In this regard, there are even a few meaningful scenes in the new version of "Ne Zha 2".

For example, when Nezha first arrived at Yuxu Palace, he saw many animals, and many female disciples of Yuxu Palace also kept some pets.

At first glance, viewers thought it was just the kind-heartedness of the disciples of Yuxu Palace, but when the answer was revealed later, they suddenly realized that those adorable pets were actually demons who had been reduced to their original forms.

It is precisely because of institutional oppression and class divisions that prejudice has fertile ground to grow; simply put, it is two sides of the same coin.

The Nezha in the movie naturally evolved from resisting "prejudice" in the first film to resisting "the system that gives rise to prejudice," thus elevating the overall core of the story to a higher level.

Not only that, this also foreshadowed a kernel upgrade for the sequel.

Because in the Chinese cultural system, sometimes resistance alone is not enough.

Simple resistance is just a slogan of Western liberalism.

Resistance and the establishment are the cultural threads of China's five-thousand-year history.

From Qin Shi Huang's unification of China to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's question, "Are kings and nobles born with special privileges?"

Those who offend our mighty Han, though far away, shall be punished; the emperor shall be subject to the rule of those with strong and powerful armies.

From the mighty Tang Dynasty, people from all directions came to pay homage, and on the Heavenly Street, they trod upon the bones of countless officials.

China's five-thousand-year history is an epic of resistance, construction, more resistance, more construction, continued resistance, and continued construction.

In this process, the Chinese nation demonstrated its indomitable will, its yearning and pursuit of a better life, and its contempt for authority.

Cut off the bones and return them to the father, cut off the flesh and return them to the mother.

Fight against heaven and earth, and fear no power.

This is why Nezha is still talked about and loved by the public after so many years.

But the previous events of Nezha's birth and his battle with the sea are not enough; they only represent destruction and rebellion. Nezha is still a demon child.

Only in the third part does Nezha come into contact with the Jie Sect and discover that, besides the Chan Sect, there is another system of education for all.

Only then will he realize that the system is not entirely a bad thing, and that simple resistance and destruction cannot solve the problem.

Thus, in the fourth part, he has a reason to join King Wu's army to overthrow King Zhou, go through a cycle from resistance to construction, and complete the transformation from a demon child to the Great God of the Three Altars and Seas.

When that time comes, looking back, the simple binary opposition between immortals and demons will no longer be a problem.

(End of this chapter)