by nthingtohide | 2025-04-04 15:51:18+00:00
here's an example.

https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1901133641746706581

I finally watched Ne Zha 2 last night with my daughters.

It absolutely lives up to the hype: undoubtedly the best animated movie I've ever seen (and I see a lot, the fate of being the father of 2 young daughters ).

But what I found most fascinating was the subtle yet unmistakable geopolitical symbolism in the movie.

Warning if you haven't yet watched the movie: spoilers!

So the story is about Ne Zha and Ao Bing, whose physical bodies were destroyed by heavenly lightning. To restore both their forms, they must journey to the Chan sect—headed by Immortal Wuliang—and pass three trials to earn an elixir that can regenerate their bodies.

The Chan sect is portrayed in an interesting way: a beacon of virtue that all strive to join. The imagery unmistakably refers to the US: their headquarters is an imposingly large white structure (and Ne Zha, while visiting it, hammers the point: "how white, how white, how white") that bears a striking resemblance to the Pentagon in its layout. Upon gaining membership to the Chan sect, you receive a jade green card emblazoned with an eagle that bears an uncanny resemblance to the US bald eagle symbol. And perhaps most telling is their prized weapon, a massive cauldron marked with the dollar sign...

Throughout the movie you gradually realize, in a very subtle way, that this paragon of virtue is, in fact, the true villain of the story. The Chan sect orchestrates a devastating attack on Chentang Pass—Ne Zha's hometown—while cunningly framing the Dragon King of the East Sea for the destruction. This manipulation serves their divide-and-conquer strategy, allowing them to position themselves as saviors while furthering their own power.

One of the most pointed moments comes when the Dragon King of the East Sea observes that the Chan sect "claims to be a lighthouse of the world but harms all living beings."

Beyond these explicit symbols, I was struck by how the film portrays the relationships between different groups. The dragons, demons, and humans initially view each other with suspicion, manipulated by the Chan sect's narrative. It's only when they recognize their common oppressor that they unite in resistance and ultimately win. The Chan sect's strategy of fostering division while presenting itself as the arbiter of morality is perhaps the key message of the movie: how power can be maintained through control of the narrative.

And as the story unfolds, Wuliang's true ambition becomes clear: complete hegemony. The Chan sect doesn't merely seek to rule—it aims to establish a system where all others exist only to serve its interests, where the dragons and demons are either subjugated or transformed into immortality pills in their massive cauldron. These pills are then strategically distributed to the Chan sect's closest allies (likely a pointed reference to the G7).

What makes Ne Zha 2 absolutely exceptional though is that these geopolitical allegories never overshadow the emotional core of the story, nor its other dimensions (for instance it's at times genuinely hilariously funny). This is a rare film that makes zero compromise, it's both a captivating and hilarious adventure for children and a nuanced geopolitical allegory for adults.

And the fact that a Chinese film with such unmistakable anti-American symbolism has become the highest-grossing animated film of all time globally is itself a significant geopolitical milestone. Ne Zha 2 isn't just breaking box office records—it's potentially rewriting the rules about what messages can dominate global entertainment.