Recently, the mainland Chinese animated film “Nezha: The Devil Child’s Sea Trouble” (referred to as “Nezha 2”) has entered the global top ten at the box office, having earned a whopping 13.6 billion Chinese Yuan (RMB) to date. However, even in Hong Kong, there are audience members giving the film a rating of 0.5 and calling for it to be taken down. Popular internet personality “Texas Mom” posted on Facebook under the profile “Texas Mom Is Not Collapsing” on the 24th stating, “Nezha 2 is undoubtedly a major propaganda film from China.”
Texas Mom wrote, “Seeing how Chinese people cannot criticize ‘Nezha 2’ now makes it clear that the box office for ‘Nezha 2’ is a patriotic one, not based on artistic achievements.” She further expressed, “There is nothing wrong with major propaganda films. Even the United States has major propaganda films that evoke patriotic sentiments, which is a good thing.”
However, Texas Mom pointed out that “Nezha 2” contains many scenes that satirize the United States. She sarcastically mentioned that while patriotism is good, it should not lead to “dumbing down the population”, as having a narrow-minded arrogance without a global perspective can make one a laughingstock.
Currently, “Nezha 2” has been promoted from China to overseas, with massive publicity by the Chinese Communist Party’s official media claiming it has reached the top spot as the highest-grossing animated film globally.
According to some mainland Chinese netizens, the success of “Nezha 2” at the box office is evidently due to support from the Chinese Communist Party, where the box office numbers seem to have been artificially inflated. Communities nationwide are organizing group viewings of the film: the military reserves screenings, schools have exclusive screenings, and state-owned enterprises are booking entire theaters, engaging in a collective battle.
Previously, there was a wave of “billions in subsidies” circulating on mainland social media, urging people to show off their “second viewing” or “third viewing” tickets, with calls like “we can’t let three-year-old Nezha bear the burden of the box office alone, our own children must support him.” Some netizens even booked entire theaters and only required people to show up, saying, “You bring people, I’ll bring the tickets.”
As “Nezha 2” has not been performing well at the overseas box office, a Chinese-American woman who watched the film in a US cinema released a video, saying, “I thought ‘Nezha 2’ would be packed in the US every showing, but today the theater was nearly empty, with only a few people watching, all Chinese faces, not a single American, it’s really not that we don’t want ‘Nezha 2’ to succeed overseas.” In response, some mainland Chinese netizens claim the US is deliberately suppressing the film out of fear of being overshadowed, while Texas Mom believes “Americans actually don’t care about this at all.”
Addressing mainland netizens suggesting that Taiwan dared not screen “Nezha 2” due to a scene where Nezha tells a marmot, “I’ve come to collect you”, hinting at reclaiming Taiwan, and noting the similarity between the shape of the marmot and Taiwan on the map, Texas Mom jokingly retorted, “I’ve never heard Taiwan being described as the shape of a marmot in my entire life!”
According to Radio Free Asia, all mainland Chinese media outlets are praising “Nezha 2,” with overwhelming positive comments on domestic social platforms, highlighting it as a show of “China’s cultural confidence”, “spark of national pride”, and that “Chinese cinema is standing tall again”, while negative comments are swiftly deleted.
Texas Mom emphasizes the need for “truth seeking,” which involves objectivity and a broad perspective built on sufficient information and clear cognition, but she notes that achieving this is difficult in places with “walls.” She states, “I am not trying to discredit this film. I acknowledge its commercial success, but I simply think the subsequent effects are far from the international image they wish to achieve. Everyone already knows that China has many wealthy individuals, but having money does not automatically improve your global image.”
In conclusion, Texas Mom quips, “In my opinion, ‘Nezha 2’ will not go down in history as a legendary film. ‘Let the Bullets Fly’ (a film directed by Jiang Wen and starring alongside Chow Yun-fat and Ge You) is a hundred times more legendary.”