Interpreting Nezha 2 as anti-America underrates its real ambition

I watched Nezha 2 on Feb 15th in Boston. I have to say that the movie was nothing short of breathtaking, truly living up to its phenomenal acclaim.

The movie’s historical box office success must have stemmed from the fact that it has done several things right—it has done these things not only more effectively, but at a higher caliber: exceptional visual effects aside, the storytelling is more compelling, and crucially, its series of metaphors perfectly resonating with the spirit of the times, or the Zeitgeist. All these favorable elements have naturally resulted to release an unprecedented perfect storm.

When a movie receives such overwhelming acclaim, it’s probably because it hits a resonant chord, triggering massive empathy across the society. Since the release of Nezha 1 in 2019, what has been the largest factor that delivered all Chinese people a collective experience? It’s the great pressures imposed by the US on China, including threats of tariffs, tech sanctions, geo-strategic containment , and diplomatic frictions during the Trump and Biden administrations. This collective memory has naturally become the single greatest source for empathy.

Nezha 2 excels by using plot metaphors and character arrangements to portray the international landscape of the post-Cold War era, particularly the latest episode of the Sino-US drama.

Jade Void Palace (Yuxu Gong) symbolizes the Western camp. Wuliang, the Immortal, represents the US, self-styled as a beacon of enlightenment, yet engaging in bullying and causing chaos. The Deer and Crane fairy symbolize the supportive forces like the UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan, who may occasionally express dissatisfaction, but inevitably align with the US.

Netizens’ Discovery of ‘American Elements’ in Nezha

The protagonist Nezha symbolizes China, endowed with exceptional talents but has long been discriminated against for being a ‘demon’. Ultimately, he transforms into a hero leading the resistance. The dragon clan, exhibiting bouts of aggression, represents Russia and other former Soviet nations, long self-neutered but continually got pressured due to their differing identities with substantial hard power.

Moreover, some dragons have betrayed and aligned with the Yuxu Gong—just like what Ukraine, Georgia, and the Baltic states have done.

Meanwhile, stray demons like the marmot clan, cats, dogs, shrimp soldiers, and crab generals embody numerous developing countries across the globe, eager to ascend and diligently cultivate, but mostly end up being harvested and turned into Wuliang’s elixirs…

Shen Gongbao represents the collaborators from the third world who ‘love America’ . They are so proud to align with the West, even willing to aid and abet. But they also somehow share a tinge of conscience, after all.

Meanwhile, the Taiyi Zhenren represents progressive forces in the West, who sincerely impart modern knowledge to the developing world, albeit with notable limitations. Just as Nezha’s growth couldn’t occur without Taiyi, China’s rise also  owes much to imported scientific knowledge, capitals and technologies from the West.

Looking at these character settings from this particular perspective, it’s easy to understand how the movie reflects on the countries’ modernizing journeys via the symbolism of how various demons’ ascendency to the status of immortals through cultivation. The lofty Yuxu Gong pays lip service to moral cultivation while building its self-proclaimed holiness on divisive and parasitic rules—symbolizing the distorted and monopolized modernization narratives of the West.

To attend the status of the immortals, Nezha faces trials from the Yuxu Gong, capturing stray demon clans like the marmots effortlessly, earning favor from the Wuliang and significantly advancing his own strength. This process mirrors China’s splendid economic trajectory after the reform and opening-up, participating in an American-led global division of labor, emerging as a global factory, meanwhile crowding out industrialization opportunities for some as a collateral damage.

Importantly, Nezha’s participation in demon hunting activities is restrained and filled with empathy, affirming China’s self-identification as part of the developing countries’ community.

Wuliang deliberately plants a Heart-Penetrating Curse when granting the status of the immortals to Nezha. This reflects how the West meticulously crafted technical barriers in its cooperation with China, maintaining an edge with ‘technical choke points,’ hoping to paralyze China’s economy through tech embargoes and sanctions.

Interestingly, when the Wuliang casts Nezha into the cauldron of Samadhi Fire, it not only fails to destroy him, but actually eradicates the pre-planted curse, ultimately catalyzing Nezha’s transformation into a super-strong being with three heads and six arms! This echoes how the first Trump administration’s tactic of maximum pressure on China since 2018 inadvertently ignited China’s great potential, pushing it towards the approach of independent high-quality development, upgrading it from conventional industrial economy to the smart economy of the next generation, sending it from catching up to leading.

Yet unlike the naturally gifted Nezha, most stray demons believe diligent practice and cultivation ultimately leads to the status of the immortals, but are often captured and turned into elixirs before achieving their goal. This depicts the blind following of the West teachings by many countries from the Global South. They more often than no fell into the development traps, reaped by recurring predatory capital tides, and hence long failing to modernize, while growing poorer.

This reflects Nezha 2’s elaborate touch: exposing the high-and-mighty hypocrisy of the Yuxu Gong, echoing China’s frustration with an unjust international system, and exhibiting the indignation for the plight of Global South as a whole.

If the core spirit of Nezha 2 is ‘resistance,’ and ‘my fate is up to myself, not up to the gods,’ then the target it aims isn’t one single villain or a particular bullying power, but the entire unjust international system.

The movie plots—the townspeople’s sufferings in Chentang Pass, the dragon clans’ helplessness, and the stray demons’ tragedy—vividly craft the sufferings of the oppressed, and then juxtaposes Nezha’s determined leadership in resistance. This unexpectedly resonates very powerfully among the Chinese audiences.

However, the movie doesn’t highlight Nezha’s overwhelming combat prowess or personal heroism. Instead, it places him among the oppressed in resistance, emphasizing his role as a core of the rebellion. This steers clear of the raw nationalistic narratives, rendering it the sense of the collectiveness and even the internationalist spirit.

The ultimate showdown between the resistance force and reactionary oppression climaxes the plot, proclaiming that Nezha’s resistance isn’t a solitary fight, symbolizing that China’s struggle isn’t just one nation’s battle as well.

In my view, this is where the movie is most ferocious and ambitious: it artfully exhibits the higher ideals inherent in China’s arduous journey—for the liberation of all nations across the globe!

After all, on Tiananmen’s gate, next to ‘Long live the People’s Republic of China’ also stands ‘Long Live the Unity of the World’s People.’

Editor: Zhongxiaowen