The Legend of Hei
Dec. 29th, 2020 16:23![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superborbAn animated movie that tells the story of Xiaohei, a cat demon, whose forest home has been destroyed by human activity. He goes on a journey to ~find a home~ in a world where humans have dominated the environment. This is a prequel to a webseries that I haven't seen, so I may be missing context from that, but it stood well enough by itself.
If you're heard about this at all, you'll know immediately that it is... very cute. The animation is really well done and the art is adorable. I don't think it's particularly innovative in how it shows magic or anything, but it's highly enjoyable to watch.
I have to say sorry to @/halfcactus because once again, I am going to be critical of media she recommended aha. I did enjoy it!! I just-- have more thoughts!!
My main issue is how it doesn't seem to let actual nuance come into play. It's like, trying to add moral grayness to the villain by giving him a motivation, but not letting it go far enough by making the motivation compelling; it's extra irritating when it could have easily have added in more nuanced criticism of humans instead of just the very beginning scenes. So close to a really interesting argument over assimilation without quite making it there!
Moreover, it really poorly paralleled how China seems to treat its minorities. Monsters aren't allowed to express themselves; they must always hide their monster traits. But they can keep their traditions within a rigid framework of "peace" -- so long as it never affects the humans. (Also, are we to assume that humans are just ignoring the obvious physical differences of the monsters living among them??)
I liked the movie; it was cute and there were a lot of enjoyable scenes and characters. I just couldn't help the little bit of "uhhh is this really the moral?" reaction.
If you're heard about this at all, you'll know immediately that it is... very cute. The animation is really well done and the art is adorable. I don't think it's particularly innovative in how it shows magic or anything, but it's highly enjoyable to watch.
I have to say sorry to @/halfcactus because once again, I am going to be critical of media she recommended aha. I did enjoy it!! I just-- have more thoughts!!
My main issue is how it doesn't seem to let actual nuance come into play. It's like, trying to add moral grayness to the villain by giving him a motivation, but not letting it go far enough by making the motivation compelling; it's extra irritating when it could have easily have added in more nuanced criticism of humans instead of just the very beginning scenes. So close to a really interesting argument over assimilation without quite making it there!
Moreover, it really poorly paralleled how China seems to treat its minorities. Monsters aren't allowed to express themselves; they must always hide their monster traits. But they can keep their traditions within a rigid framework of "peace" -- so long as it never affects the humans. (Also, are we to assume that humans are just ignoring the obvious physical differences of the monsters living among them??)
I liked the movie; it was cute and there were a lot of enjoyable scenes and characters. I just couldn't help the little bit of "uhhh is this really the moral?" reaction.
