cashew | Tuesday, March 18th, 2025

It was good.

TL;DR — FINALLY, IT'S A NEZHA MOVIE!

Edit to add:

The original 哪吒 (before he was even officially called 哪吒) was a monstrous form (妖) that slowly morphed into a godly form (神) around North-South dynasty (南北朝). It wasn't until well into the Song dynasty (宋) that 哪吒 got firmly established as a god and took on the recognizable characterization that we know today. The movie clearly tapped into this origin by making the monsters (妖) the good guys, playing with the philosophical conflict of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, the three main philosophies that influenced Chinese cultural values. (If anyone wonders why Chinese culture seems so weird and mish-mashy, it's because three fundamentally conflicting philosophies are simultaneously dragging social values in disparate directions.)

However, I nonetheless insist that the classical 哪吒 story pitted 哪吒 against authority as its basic framework. And given 哪吒's origin is literally the result of people wrangling with the conflicting values of newly introduced Buddhist values against traditional Confucian teachings, 哪吒 at his heart has always been about challenging authority.