On the ＂New Story Compilation＂ of Domestic Animated Films from The List of New Gods： Yang Jian

The animated films in the hot show have inherited the system of "deifying" pioneered by other films, and taken another solid step on the road of building "China Animation School" in the new century with rich narrative content and distinctive artistic characteristics. However, its narrative defects have exposed the universality of domestic animated films in adapting myths and legends in recent years. It is of great significance to explore this issue in depth to promote the benign development of "China Animation School".

The new list of gods: Yang Jian takes the myth story of Aquilaria sinensis saving the mother as the core, integrates the relevant plots of Romance of the Gods, and integrates myths and historical stories such as the Goddess of Wushan and the warlord of Zhou Youwang, focusing on the mental journey of Yang Jian and Aquilaria sinensis seeking for themselves and resisting power, which is exactly the same as the previous similar works such as Ne Zha Legend of Deification weakening the collective ethical narrative and strengthening the personal growth narrative, showing the narrative and values of the "China Animation School" and traditional animation works in the new century. However, just like the controversy caused by Ne Zha’s release, the excessive reconstruction of The List of New Gods: Yang Jian under the shell of "a new story" is also worth pondering.

The most interesting thing in the film is the "blackening" transformation of the celestial groups represented by Yuding real person and the four heavenly kings. In the traditional story of the Three Notre Dames, the Lotus Lantern bears the spirit of Yang Chan and Liu Yanchang’s guarding and rebelling against love. This story was transplanted into the film, and it was adapted into the spirit of dedication to protect the world, and it was sublimated from "small self" to "big self" in value. However, with the development of the plot, the traditional narrative of Lotus Lantern gradually disintegrated: Yang Chan, the Three Virgin, who tried her best to suppress the mysterious birds, was just a chess piece ruthlessly manipulated by Yuding real people; While talking about "the great righteousness of the world" and "the sentient beings in the three realms", Yuding real people used Yunhua, the mother of Yang Jian, and Yang Chan, the sister of Yang Jian, to achieve their political goals, and the original touching friendship between master and apprentice disappeared. Whether Yang Jian split Taoshan or Agarwood split Huashan, it was the deliberate operation of Yuding real interest groups, and the ethical connotation of the story itself was greatly weakened.

The story after the "new edition" has multiple explosive points, such as court tactics, blood relatives fighting, loyalty and injustice, which undoubtedly enhances the readability and commercialization of the film. In fact, in recent years, many animated films adapted from traditional myths and legends have such a tendency. Ne Zha strengthened Nezha’s "anti-tradition" color of "disobedience and unfilial", and Legend of Deification strengthened the hero’s lonely heroic color of resisting the collective will for personal value. This adaptation conforms to the trend of pursuing individuality in the current youth subculture and has gained many fans. However, the subversive reconstruction of the traditional story system and the ethical system behind it implies the danger of falling into the quagmire of value nihilism from myth nihilism.

The reason why these "new stories" can be established in narrative logic is that the system of China’s myths and legends is complex, which leaves enough space for the current reconstruction, but the ethical system behind it is complete and firm. Whether it is a personal narrative that praises love and exalts family ties, or a collective narrative of self-sacrifice and resistance to power, it contains the national spirit condensed by the Chinese nation in the long process of agricultural civilization evolution. This national spirit not only cherishes personal values, but also vigorously promotes family, family-centered collectivism values and community consciousness.

However, from Legend of Deification in The Big Fish Begonia to The New List of Gods: Yang Jian, this collectivism value and community consciousness have been gradually deconstructed in the artistic world of "New Stories". For example, the concept of "love is above everything else" in Big Fish Begonia and Legend of Deification’s concept of "individual is above the collective" clearly declared this tendency, while The New List of Gods: Yang Jian quietly hollowed out the core of social and ethical relations such as mentoring and friends through the blackening of Yuding real people, leaving only the trust and willfulness of the relationship between individuals and blood relatives, which undoubtedly fell into the pattern of individualism.

Animated films conform to the growth track of the younger generation, express the value appeal of young people, and also reflect the value confusion of young people. Domestic animated films with "new stories" are put into the "new wine" of youth culture with "old bottles", but the educational and guiding functions of film art as an important category of popular culture are ignored. Although traditional stories have their limitations of the times, there are also defects and misunderstandings in youth subculture. The significance of "new story compilation" is not only to endow the traditional narrative with new connotation of the times, but also to guide the audience to establish "new value" in the new era with "old stories". If we blindly obey and cater to the aesthetic preference of the market and abandon the responsibility and mission of socialist literature and art, the development of animated films will inevitably be mired in the quagmire of commercial reproduction.

Needless to say, with its exquisite artistic presentation and complicated narrative construction, The List of New Gods: Yang Jian has become the most eye-catching animated film this summer, and will certainly become one of the representative works of "China Animation School" in the new century. However, how the "China Animation School", which is characterized by the "new story compilation", establishes the value benchmark of the new era in the "new story compilation", organically combines the construction of the nationality of animated films with the modernization of the national spirit, and makes domestic animated films become an important participating force in the creative transformation and innovative development project of excellent traditional culture, which is still an urgent problem for China animators.