Everyone has that one friend who falls for someone that everyone told them they shouldn’t be with. Someone that is going to cheat on them, mistreat them, or otherwise is just flat out wrong for them, but the friend always has a way of shrugging it off. If you have a friend like that then they might resonate with the legend of the White Snake. It’s one of China’s oldest and most famous love stories. It features love, betrayal, morality, and spiritual insight.
The Tale’s plot
Over the centuries this tale has morphed almost as much as the stories protagonist. It has taken on new meanings and messages to reflect the anxieties and culture of the times. At first the tale encapsulated a few paragraphs of essentially a warning about the dangers of women on high ranking officials and the distraction they can play from their more important duties, no where near a complex love story with intricate and nuanced details. However this was a real anxiety of the time with stories like Yáng Yùhuán’s where a beautiful woman essentially put an empire into turmoil because of a distracted emperor. But, as the times changed so did the tale. In modern renditions the tale is a lot more nuanced and complicated, but it essentially takes on the following plot.
The modern versions of the tale have a much more complex, intricate, and meaningful story than the original. They includes love, betrayal, heart break, and more. They reflect a lot of the anxieties we have today about if we are with the right person, the fear of “others” and acceptance of the marginalized, social norms and the fear of crossing them, and many more.
Above are 2 depictions of the White Snake legend. On the left an illustration from Stories to Caution the World (1624). On the right a modern Hubei Han opera.
The Movie
The 2019 animated film White Snake, by Light Chaser Animation re-imagines this classic legend with a Pixar like animation style. It has elements of fantasy, romantic drama, and traditional Chinese culture. On its surface the movie is a cheesy, predictable kids’ movie with talking dogs and a PG rating but its much richer than that. It explores identity, memory, and much more.
Analysis
Instead of focusing on the tragic romance of the White Snake and Xu Xian, it instead focuses on a mission to retrieve the White Snake’s lost memories, and understand her true identity while facing outside threats who want to exploit her. In a lot of ways this refocusing on finding the White Snakes true identity encapsulates the identity crisis many Chinese people face today.
In China there is a identity crisis between tradition and modernity. Preserving ancient values vs embracing a new world. Reconciling your past with your present situation, and understanding who you are. In the movie, Blanca has to reconcile her memories of her self with the new version of herself that wants to connect with humans. These two versions of herself come to a conflict when her sister the Green Snake tells her that Blanca can’t live safely with humans. Rather than rejecting a single version of herself, Blanca integrates the two identities of herself into one and embraces her dual nature. She uses her powers to protect humans and her sister. This gives guidance to Chinese people that your true identity is not one of modern China or historic China, but of both. You are a product of your past and present and these don’t have to conflict, they can both influence you and develop you into a more intricate and complex person.
The film chooses a Pixar like aesthetic with beautiful CGI, and more global visual signage of good vs evil with light colors on heros and dark auras around villans. This allows the story to transcend language barriers with a wider audience. This is the goal in it being a global retelling but it has some trade-offs. In the original telling of the story there is more moral complexity with a central conflict being of the morality of spirits and humans intermingling, represented by Fahai. However in this movie the materialistic general provides a much less nuanced moral dilemma, the audience does not feel conflicted on if he is doing the right thing.
Conclusion
The legend of the White Snake has stayed popular for so long because it evolves along with time, just like its protagonist. What began as a simple moral warning about temptation has transformed into a deeply emotional story about identity, love, and the struggle between worlds. The 2019 White Snake film captures this transformation beautifully, translating ancient anxieties about order and transgression into modern questions of identity and belonging. In adopting a global visual language, it opens the story to a broader audience while still preserving its emotional and cultural roots.
Ultimately, whether read as a myth, a romance, or a reflection of modern China, White Snake remains a story about the courage to embrace one’s full self, even when that self defies the rules of the world around you.
Watched "White Snake" (2019), a Chinese animated film, and it was really beautiful. The main male MC was so corny 💀 But certain moments had me sad af 😭 The twist at the end was pretty neat I can't lie on that. pic.twitter.com/aU11tBGBfE
— Bagel (@scammable) January 30, 2023
