This time, Netflix has gone back to the 16th century to adapt (once again) one of the most famous and widely adapted Chinese myths, the story known in the Western world as the Monkey King, in China as Sun Wukong, and in Japan as Son Goku. . Wu Cheng Western Journey An animated film based on his novel, Monkey King In addition to the action scenes, it also features some important figures in the Chinese religious world, but its greatest virtue is that it also offers philosophical and moral lessons.
This over 400-year-old story has provided the basis for numerous films, series, and video games. No wonder: his world is filled with many exciting mythical creatures, gods, demons, dragons, magical and non-magical animals, but also peasants fighting for their villages and monks dedicated to serving knowledge. In 1965, an animated film based on the story was actually made Monkey King – The great disturbance in the Heaven Palace With a title that was a huge hit at the time of its premiere, and is now a classic. It was produced in 2008 with Jackie Chan in one of the main roles Forbidden Kingdom Also Western JourneyIt was based on it, as was the 2014 Hong Kong action film A monkey Kingbut was also produced for Netflix New Legends of the Monkey King Perhaps even one of the most famous Japanese anime, Dragon Ball It was also inspired by the Chinese novel: the protagonist is Son Goku. This time he was nominated for an Oscar Square trolls One of its directors, Anthony Staci, handled the editing.
Adaptations aimed at a younger age group focus primarily on the Monkey King, who is a mischievous, inquisitive, somewhat arrogant, and highly entertaining character who, despite his young age, believes he knows everything about the world. Born in a rock, he came into the world alone, having no parents, but he tried to adapt to the other monkeys, but to no avail: all his attempts were accompanied by rejection. Satisfied with this, the little monkey decides to become stronger than everyone else and does everything to reach the camp of the immortal gods.
The birth of the Monkey King and his adventure leading to immortality, or at least the desire to achieve it
He begins by stealing the Dragon King’s staff (referred to as the Golden Rod in the original story). With this move, he turns the Heaven Palace and the Realm of the Gods upside down, but with the staff, he becomes nearly invincible during all of his subsequent battles. He travels the world as a classic lone hero and defeats demons – although in the Netflix version, the robot can be considered a companion with personality traits, only the Monkey King can communicate with him, and the robot serves no one. However, in the village where the Monkey King prepares to defeat the 100th Demon, a peasant girl named Lin joins him – although the human, who has special powers, initially does his best to get rid of the vessel.
What’s most interesting about the film is the visual representation of the individual characters, especially the gods – although the Chinese religious world is so rich in colorful characters that this streak could have been exploited more. The funniest is the Dragon King and his two little fish assistants (initially there were three, but he ate one out of disrespect). The dragon’s authority is not quite at the level he would like, and furthermore, due to constant dehydration problems, his skin is constantly drying out on the floor, so his two servants carry him everywhere in the bathtub, which obviously undermines the generous nature of those he enters.
However, the most recognizable representation of God is undoubtedly that of Buddha, whose cinematic presentation and radiance is perhaps the closest to the image children might have of God.
He is strong, calculating, wise, commanding, protective, but at the same time perhaps a bit frightening in his power, a ruler who can appear anywhere and at any time (but mostly above the clouds). In this presentation, the Buddha looks as if he is not speaking when speaking to others – his mouth does not even move – and rather his interactions give the impression that he is addressing other gods and people on the level of thought.
The most interesting scene in the film, both in terms of content and imagery, is when Buddha teaches the Monkey King a lesson. He takes her between his hands and says to her: If you can jump out of my hand, you can become immortal. However, if you are not able to do this, you will remain locked in a rock for centuries of contemplation and contemplation. The Monkey King, looking tiny in Buddha’s palm, laughs at God’s word – because he has never faced a greater challenge! He even jumps from the palm of the hand, across the universe, to another planet, pinpoints the location, then jumps back and brags that he completed the mission. But Buddha humbly points to his arm, where the mark that the Monkey King carved on the distant planet blooms.
Not surprisingly, these details are taken exactly from the original film. It can also be presented visually in an exciting way, and this scene itself is an educational story not only for children but for adults as well, but otherwise it deconstructs this picture from beginning to end. Monkey King. Under the authority of the gods, people and animals live by eschewing the idea of individuality. For them, cohesion and integration into a group is the basis of their world and society: there is no need for flaming individuals. Benefit in the microenvironment is a very important principle, and exaggeration of it is harmful.
The Monkey King spits in this soup, who can’t do that, he wants to be like the gods:
Distinctive, distinguished, timeless, cannot be part of the crowd. However, this character trait is not presented in the myth (not even in the Netflix version) as a virtue of dream-fulfilling heroes in modern Western stories. Instead of a negative trait that the protagonist must get rid of at the end of his adventurous journey and character development.
However, the tale argues to some extent in favor of both concepts, and even comes to the conclusion that the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Basically, he believes that humans are small pebbles in the vast, infinite universe, and therefore need to stabilize themselves and find their place in their own system (the opposite of which is the Monkey King). However, he also says that even a small pebble can make big waves (represented by Lin). On the other hand, self-centeredness cannot be the right way according to either view.
Monkey King It’s a good idea to go into its new animated adaptation with at least a minimal understanding of the background history of the hugely influential Chinese work. Without it, we might more often raise our eyebrows in confusion (e.g., why is a monkey making his way with a stick? Why is it important that a protagonist be essentially arrogant at the center of a children’s film?). However, if we realize the layers of meaning behind it and the simplest theses and characters in the world of Chinese belief, we can clearly feel that this Monkey King– The copy has chosen effective language to communicate this centuries-old classic and its main points to children.
The Monkey King is on Netflix.
