Cultural Narratives and National Identity in Chinese “New Mythology” Films

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of Chinese mythological films that have a positive impact on audiences’ sense of national identity, among which three films, Legend of Deification, Monkey King, Hero Is Back and Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child have the highest box office and reputation. Through text analysis and in-depth interviews, this study will start with the above three films, combine the interview results and film content, and analyze the correlation and ways of the cultural narrative and national identity in Chinese mythological films from the perspective of narratiology and audience psychology. This article concludes that Chinese mythological films influence the viewers’ sense of national identity through the way they culturally reconstruct and satisfy their psychological needs.