News

I. Box - Office Miracle and the "Defy - Fate" Frenzy: A Counter - attack of Local Culture

1. Cultural Confidence Behind the Numbers
   • Box - Office Records: As of February 13th, the total box - office of Ne Zha 2 exceeded 10 billion yuan, with the number of viewers exceeding 200 million. It surpassed domestic and foreign blockbusters such as The Battle at Lake Changjin and Star Wars, topping the Chinese film history box - office chart.
   • Global Breakthrough: The film ranked 17th on the global box - office chart of all - time, and became the only non - Hollywood work among the top three in the global animated film box - office. The overseas pre - sales were booming, and movie tickets were in short supply in many cinemas in North America, Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
   • Industry Resonance: The share price of Enlight Media, the producer, soared by 200%, and its total market value increased by 56.9 billion yuan. 138 Chinese animation companies jointly produced the film, which can be regarded as the "Olympics of the animation industry".
2. The Core of "Ne Zha Spirit": Resisting Fate or Reconstructing Values?
   • Ne Zha 2 continued the theme of "My fate is determined by me, not by the heavens" from the previous work, but upgraded the resistance from "individual fate" to the collective awakening of "breaking the rules".
   • Identity Deconstruction: Ne Zha, with the identity of a demon pill, saved all living beings. Ao Bing, burdened with the shackles of the Dragon clan, chose the path of light. The resistance of the villain Shen Gongbao reflected social discrimination in reality.
   • Cultural Metaphors: The film used images such as "chains" and "the battle in the torrential flood" to imply the game between traditional constraints and collective power. Finally, with the cry of "If there is no way ahead, I will forge one", it completed a poetic interpretation of the Eastern collectivist values.
   • Controversy: Does this kind of narrative that emphasizes "defying the heavens and changing fate" go against the concepts of "accepting differences" and "respecting diversity" in Western universal values?

II. The "Imaginary Enemy" of Universal Values: Conflict or Misunderstanding?

1. The Divide in Eastern and Western Narratives
   • Individual Hero vs Collective Breakthrough: Hollywood animations often feature individual heroes saving the world (such as Frozen and Spider - Man), while the victory of Ne Zha 2 belongs to "the torrent lifted by 4000 animators". This kind of collectivist narrative has been regarded by some Western media as a symbol of "opposing individual freedom".
   • Differences in the Concept of Fate: Western culture emphasizes the balance between "free will" and "fatalism" (such as Greek tragedies), while Ne Zha's "defy - fate" is closer to the Confucian pragmatism of "man can conquer nature". Essentially, they are different interpretations of "the power of human nature".
2. Deep Resonance Beneath the Surface of Conflict
   • Empathy Outweighs Opposition: Despite the different cultural contexts, Ne Zha's protection of family and friendship (such as sacrificing himself to save his parents) and his resistance to injustice highly resonate with the core emotions of works such as Coco and Zootopia.
   • "Cultural Translation" Enabled by Technology: Ne Zha 2 wrapped Eastern philosophy with top - notch international special effects (1900 special - effect shots, a battlefield with ten - thousand - person scale), and bridged cultural gaps with visual spectacles. As the director Jiaozi said, "Images are a universal language."
   • Case Evidence: At the North American premiere, foreign audiences were moved to tears by the scene of Ne Zha "breaking the curse", and there was heated discussion on social media that "Chinese dragons are cooler than Western dragons".

III. Conflict or Integration? The Global Code of Chinese Stories

1. Cultural Confidence ≠ Cultural Opposition
   • The success of Ne Zha 2 proves:
   • Modern Deconstruction of Traditional IPs: Transforming the mythical core into global issues such as "identity anxiety" and "generational conflicts", making Ne Zha evolve from a "Chinese hero" to a "global citizen".
   • The Universality of "Defy - Fate": Whether it is the "Yellow Vests" movement in France or the "Black Lives Matter" movement in the United States, the spirit of resistance is a common feature of human civilization. Ne Zha 2 just reinterpreted this theme with Eastern aesthetics.
2. Industrial Insights: From "Catering" to "Leading"
   • Rejecting "Cultural Flattery": Director Jiaozi once refused the "third - rate perfunctory" of international teams and insisted on leading the production by Chinese animators. Eventually, unique scenes such as the "chain special effects" and "the battle in the torrential flood" shocked the world.
   • Global Distribution Strategy: During the overseas promotion and distribution of the film, it emphasized the "Chinese mythological universe" rather than a single IP, paving the way for subsequent works such as Jiang Ziya and Yang Jian, and building a sustainable cultural export system.

IV. Reflection: What Kind of "Value Export" Do We Need?

1. Beware of the Trap of Nationalist Narrative
   • In the box - office frenzy of Ne Zha 2, there were no lack of radical remarks such as "China defeats Hollywood". However, true cultural confidence should not be built on "opposition", but rather on an open attitude to communicate with the world. As the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "Chinese films build bridges for mutual cultural learning, rather than walls."
2. From "Conflict" to "Symbiosis"
   • Content Aspect: Use fewer confrontational slogans like "defying the heavens", and explore more paths of "how to defy the heavens" (such as the symbiosis between the Dragon clan and Ne Zha in Ne Zha 2).
   • Industrial Aspect: Learn from Disney's "globalization + localization" model, cooperate with overseas teams to develop technologies, instead of working in isolation.

Transcending Conflict, Reaching Resonance