Chinese animation film Ne Zha became a hit

江蘇南通大學外國語學院 余 敏

In the face of mounting competition，China's animated film， Ne Zha， became a hit.The film， produced by Beijing Enlight's recently launchedanimationstudio， earning $35.2 million and driving its total to $425 million after 13 days of release， according to analyst Artisan Gateway.

Ne Zha is now the biggest animated film ever in China， having overtaken Disney's Zootopia， which brought in a record of $236 million in 2016. The runaway success of Ne Zha represents a huge win for both Enlight and its director， Yang Yu， who made his feature debut with the project.

Yang， who goes by the nickname Jiaozi(which means “dumpling”) has become an overnightcelebrityand inspiration in China. The 39-year-old filmmaker dropped out of pharmacy school at Sichuan University with the long-shot dream of becoming an animator. He then reportedly spent three and half years holing up in his mother's home， studying animation techniques and technology， and developing his debut short， See Through. Released in 2009， the 16-minute pic earned numerous praise， including the Berlin International Film Festival's special jury prize for shorts.

Boostedby that success， Yang then founded his own animation company in the Chinese city of Chengdu but spent the next six years toiling on his debut feature and struggling to find financing for the project—what would finally become Ne Zha. He was then approached by Coloroom Pictures， Enlight's startup animationsubsidiary， with financing and technical support in 2015. Coloroom's CEO， Yi Qiao， has said in interviews with the Chinese media that he was attracted by Yang because of his “crazy， single-minded passion for animation storytelling”.

Many have noted that Yang has channeled hisunconventionalspirit into Ne Zha， which is an innovative take on a well-known work of classical Chinese mythology， the Ming Dynastyera text Fengshen Yanyi (also known as The Investiture of the Gods）. Ne Zha， one of the work's heroes， has traditionally been portrayed as an attractive young figure in recent remakes，but Yang depicted his as amischievousboy with cute and ugly features. He's positioned as a lovablydefiantunderdog character who has to overcome prejudice and his dark fate to become a hero.

“It would have been easy for our animators to paint a handsome face that the audience will like at first glance， but we wanted a breakthrough and wished to convey a message that a person should not be judged by his or her look. Instead， it's the internal personality that decides who you are.”

Word bank

2. celebrity /s??lebr?ti/ n. 名人

2. celebrity /s??lebr?ti/ n. 名人

3. boost /bu?st/ v. 促進；提高

4. toil /t??l/ v. 辛苦工作

5. subsidiary /s?b?s?di?ri/ n. 子公司

7. mischievous /?m?st∫?v?s/adj. 淘氣的

8.defiant /d??fa??nt/ adj. 挑釁的；反抗的

Critical Thinking

Will you judge a person by his or her look? Why or why not?

Cultural Background

餃子導演 楊宇

今年，火起來的除了動畫電影《哪吒之魔童降世》，還有一位導演，他就是楊宇（餃子）。 同樣引起網友關注的，還有楊宇的母親。 據悉，在楊宇還沒成功之前，他曾靠著母親退休金生活，“啃老”了多年。 而如今，他成功了，靠著《哪吒之魔童降世》公司在5 天里暴漲41 億！

楊宇畢業于四川大學華西藥學院，后從事自己感興趣但又陌生的行業：動漫行業。 當時，楊宇父親去世了，家里經濟來源只有母親每個月的一千元退休金。 在那三年里，楊宇在家潛心創作，都是靠著母親的退休金。

成功沒有偶然， 楊宇的成功除了有其日復一日的努力和堅持， 還有一位作為堅強后盾的母親，這才讓我們見到如此精彩的《哪吒之魔童降世》。