What is the Core of Chinese Comics Going Global? | China | Going Global

Finding childhood memories by the shore of Baima Lake, strolling along the lakeside pedestrian street, encountering dreamy float parades, and observing the "Anime Dragon Boat Race" in Xixi Wetland... In recent days, the 19th China International Anime Festival has been held in high demand, adding to the "anime content" of Hangzhou.

When it comes to anime, what comes to mind first? It could be Hayao Miyazaki's anime that has cured countless people, it could be the animation universe created by Pixar, or it could be the classic Chinese anime series "The Heavenly Palace" and "Nezha's Sea"... "Animation" itself is an imported product, also known as "cartoon", but the term "anime" is a name given by the Chinese people based on their own aesthetic conception and cultural heritage.

In fact, throughout history, the acclaimed and popular anime works of various countries have never been separated from tracing and following excellent traditional culture. I can't help but ask, what is the true core of the popularity of Chinese comics? How can we establish a deeper connection between Chinese animation and traditional culture now?

On site of the 19th China International Anime Festival Industry Expo

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Many excellent animated works both domestically and internationally are derived from traditional culture and classic literature.

For example, the animated film "The Little Mermaid" produced by Disney in 1989 was adapted from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Daughter of the Sea"; The Lion King is a second creation based on Shakespeare's work Hamlet. In Japanese animated works such as Dunk Dunk, Doraemon, Detective Conan, and One Piece, Japanese cultural symbols such as cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji, and sushi can be seen everywhere.

Looking back at the development process of Chinese animation. In the early days, local anime works were products that imitated American and Japanese animations. However, in the process of localizing foreign art forms, local anime works gradually began to return to nationalization.

In the early 1920s, "Shu Zhendong Chinese Typewriter" was born, opening a colorful page in the history of Chinese animation. From the ink and wash animated film "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom" to the first Chinese animated film "Ne Zha Nao Hai" exhibited in Cannes, from the childhood memories of "The Hulu Brothers" that occupied a generation to the fusion of wonder, fun, and beauty in "The Legend of Heaven", a large number of Chinese animated works from the 1960s to the 1980s are still talked about by people today.

These iconic works not only promote the formation of the "Chinese animation school" full of Eastern aesthetic ideas, but also confirm a well-known saying: the more national, the more global.

The stills of "Chinese Qitan" take a closer look at the domestic cartoons and animation works in recent years. It is not difficult to find that they have a more distinctive traditional cultural imprint. For example, "The Return of the Great Sage of Journey to the West", which was born in 2015, is based on "Journey to the West" and creates a chivalrous and courageous oriental martial arts hero; "Big Fish and Begonia" in 2016, its image comes from "Zhuangzi" "Xiaoyaoyou", and local characteristic elements such as Fujian Tulou are incorporated into the film; and "White Snake: Origin" and White Snake 2: "The Green Snake Robbery" is the second interpretation and continuation of the folk monster novel "The Legend of the White Snake.

Animation is the carrier of culture, and culture is the core of animation. In the "anime universe" created by animation, traditional culture has always been one of the themes of creation, which makes the content of the works more profound and attractive, which also means that animation is shouldering the responsibility of cultural inheritance and development.

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After a century of development, domestic animation works now have a rich and colorful creative foundation, and are winning more and more fans with their unique artistic style. At this anime festival, awards such as "Lion Boy," "Deep Sea," and "Chinese Strange Tales," which won the highest award in Chinese anime - the Golden Monkey Award, have attracted much attention for their excellent expression and interpretation of traditional culture. These works also show people that the future of domestic animation is promising.

But it cannot be denied that in order to truly achieve "creative transformation and innovative development", and to do a good job in cultural inheritance and development, there is still a long way to go for Chinese animation.

On the one hand, it comes from ourselves. Some of our anime works still lack sufficient exploration, interpretation, and interpretation of excellent traditional culture.

For example, according to the needs of the plot, historical anime works can be easily adapted while maintaining the original story framework or worldview, which is understandable. However, if there are too many plot twists, fictional plots, and even characters that are vastly different from those in historical classics, it is easy to mislead the audience.

After watching "New God List: Yang Jian", some viewers gave this evaluation: "It's difficult to score, three stars are sorry for the special effects, four stars are sorry for the plot...". Some people believe that although this animated film has reached new heights in special effects and visual aesthetics, it has overlooked the pursuit of the core of the story and has shortcomings in both storytelling and storytelling. In fact, compared to exaggerated plots and high-end visual effects, most viewers value whether the work has a high artistic level and can better reflect national style and cultural heritage.

In addition, there are a few works that tend to express content at a young age, which leads to a younger audience and makes it difficult to construct a complete worldview for the audience. This is also a bottleneck that Chinese animation urgently needs to break through in terms of creation.

On the other hand, due to differences in cultural contexts, some Western animation works have always deconstructed traditional Eastern cultural images.

For example, Disney's animated film Mulan is an example. As for the character Mulan, traditional Chinese culture endows her with a resilient core of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness, as well as a sense of patriotism. After being adapted, its appearance, lines, and more resemble a modern woman with Western ideas, pursuing personal liberation. The film also uses magical elements, and has been criticized by netizens as "an unfamiliar Mulan.".

At the same time, some of the "highlights" themes that could have rooted in the fertile soil of the nation have become "treasures" of other countries. For example, the web drama "Go Soul" adapted from the Japanese manga of the same name introduces Go into the audience's field of vision, allowing many young people to appreciate the charm of Go. Go is originally a national treasure in China, and its cultural value is self-evident. However, the quantity and quality of Chinese anime works with Go as the theme are very limited. This is also worth pondering.

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So, what is the password for domestic animation and anime works to open up new spaces? In response, the author comes up with three sentences.

Inherit the past without sticking to it. As early as 1936, one of the pioneers of Chinese animation, Gu Chan, asserted: "To make the Chinese animation industry have unlimited vitality, it must take root in its own national traditional soil."

The impressive performance of Nezha's Demon Child in the history of Chinese cinema confirms the charm of traditional culture. This phenomenal animated film, which grossed over 5 billion yuan at the box office, finds a balance between "breaking" and "standing" with its unique "smoky makeup" Nezha image, conveying positive energy of integrity, bravery, and kindness. It can be seen that only by inheriting the past without adhering to it, can we observe and express the imagery of traditional culture well from a modern perspective.

Fusion without closure. The birth of a classic work cannot be separated from the ingenious depiction of animation masters. In the last century, in order to shoot "The Heavenly Palace", the directing team not only traveled to the palaces and buildings in Beijing for filming, but also invited professional Peking Opera actors to design the actions, integrating various elements.

In the new era, we should and can integrate various creative styles to form innovation on diverse tracks. Network novels, comics, Paper Cuttings, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism culture, ancient figures, etc. can all be used to interpret traditional values such as truth, kindness and beauty. In short, various images and elements can be drawn from classics, and myths and fairy tales can be reproduced from a modern perspective to carry out integrated innovation.

Empathy triggers resonance. Domestic anime works can learn from excellent foreign works, using a sense of scene, immersion, and closeness to attract everyone's attention, and then telling stories that resonate and resonate with everyone. Finding spiritual resonance with contemporary audiences, connecting with the spirit of the times, and using anime to interpret the beauty of diverse Eastern culture may be the direction that domestic anime should think more about in the future.

Another question is, after taking off our costume, what is left of our work? As some people say, the spiritual core of culture is always stable, but its forms of expression will constantly develop and change with the evolution of the times. The author believes that deeply cultivating China's excellent traditional culture and integrating into the pulse of the times is an important direction for the creation of excellent Chinese anime works, whether in terms of content, form, or industry.

At the opening ceremony of the 10th National Congress of the China Federation of Literature and Art and the 9th National Congress of the China Writers Association, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that we should persist in not forgetting the original, absorbing foreign countries, facing the future, transforming in inheritance, surpassing in learning, and creating more excellent works that embody the essence of Chinese culture, reflect the aesthetic pursuit of Chinese people, spread contemporary Chinese values, and conform to the trend of world progress.

This passage is full of words and requires careful consideration and deep practice.