Film Name: 阿凡提之奇缘历险 / The Adventure of Afanti
The anticipation for an Animated Afanti movie has been building for years—perhaps even two decades—only to end in disappointment. While the transition from stop-motion to 3D CG merely altered the texture of Afanti’s character design, the shift from a bachelor to a romantic hero has fundamentally changed the very essence of Afanti’s worldview. And this change leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
I could accept Baiyi Laoye and Afanti “fighting side by side”—after all, even Happy Lamb can team up with Grey Wolf to complete missions, and Bear Brothers can coexist peacefully with Bald Strong. Why couldn’t Baiyi Laoye and Afanti do the same? I could even accept Afanti pursuing true love—though his story isn’t fundamentally a romance. It’s a tale of a people’s hero, a lone warrior challenging tyranny with wit, a narrative of the masses overcoming the ruling class through their own strength.
But I absolutely cannot accept this arranged marriage between Afanti and the noblewoman. Please don’t turn Afanti into a male version of Emma.
Anyone who has seen and cherished the 14-episode animated series “The Tales of Afanti” from the Shanghai Animation Film Studio knows that Afanti consistently represents the people—the poor peasants and workers, the common folk exploited and oppressed by the ruling class. He speaks for them, outwitting bullies and the powerful with his wit. The people adore and trust him. Those in power constantly seek to punish him, yet fear and resent him, only to be mocked by him time and again. His figure stands eternally with the people. Whenever you see the powerful defeated by his clever wit, left speechless and bitter, you can’t help but smile knowingly, feeling a deep sense of class-based satisfaction welling up from within.
Though this class identity is no longer emphasized in contemporary films and TV shows, you may downplay it but never defy it. You cannot have Afanti develop a romantic connection with the daughter of a powerful figure—even if she is kind and compassionate. Such a love story might belong to Afxiti or even Avatar, but it would never be Afanti’s tale. How could the poor peasants and oppressed masses—who believe Afanti will always speak for them—bear such a twist?
This fantasy worldview is merely the tip of the iceberg in Afanti’s distortion. Let me offer another example.
Afanti is human, not a superhero, much less a god. The film cannot portray Afanti as if he were Superman. His relationship with the people is not one of worship and being worshipped. Rather, Afanti is one among the people—a child in the eyes of the elderly, a younger brother to his peers—except that he is exceptionally clever and unafraid to speak for the common folk. In the classic “The Tales of Afanti,” when Afanti claimed he could teach a donkey to speak, his friends didn’t believe him. Weeks passed, and people kept asking, “Has your donkey learned to talk yet?” When the authorities mistakenly believed he had fallen into a trap and the common folk held their breath in suspense, Afanti relied on his wit to resolve the situation in a way that was both unexpected and perfectly reasonable. This captures the true essence of the Afanti stories.
In this new film, Afanti has become an all-knowing, omnipotent superhero. What he possesses is no longer mere wisdom, but a god’s-eye view. During his quest for water, he not only speaks foreign languages but also demonstrates dexterous craftsmanship in making a dwarz pole, effortlessly solving every puzzle along the way. The only moment where his wisdom feels relatable and elicits a knowing smile comes early on, when he refutes the wealthy landowner’s demand for payment for singing by detecting the scent of lamb. The people then elevate him to a “divine pedestal,” insisting he locate the water source.
The film’s production quality pales in comparison to the meticulous craftsmanship of its era, failing to deliver any sense of brilliance. It drags on with lengthy exposition where brevity is needed, while glossing over crucial details, leaving audiences utterly confused. The 1980s Chinese animation emphasis on “overall conceptualization” has been completely lost in today’s approach.
Let me reiterate another point regarding Afanti’s connection to the people.
I must reiterate: the essence of Afanti’s tales lies in highlighting his connection with the people, not his personal heroism. In the original “The Adventures of Afanti,” a key technique was focusing on others’ reactions—how commoners, authorities, and even his little black donkey responded to his bizarre antics. This emphasis on others’ reactions ensures every move Afanti makes connects him to the people and the powerful, all seasoned with a touch of humor from Little Black Donkey. This creates a richly layered film.
Consider the final shamisen performance in the Japanese animation I’ve recommended multiple times, “Nitaboh: Tsugaru Shamisen Shiso Gaibun.” The camera doesn’t stay fixed on the performer; it must focus on the audience—in other words, on the people. How do men, women, young, and old react to Nitaboh’s playing? What expressions do they show? What associations do they make? What actions does his rival take? How do the skeptical, critical monks respond? It is precisely these reactions from others that forge Nitaboh’s legend.
Therefore, when portraying Afanti, one must pay attention to the expressions and actions of others, using these states to reflect Afanti’s influence on them. It should not be like the film, which focuses entirely on Afanti himself. When Afanti went underground to find water, what was the state of the people left in the city? Did they believe Afanti could find water? How did they come to think of helping or rescuing Afanti? Only by portraying the state of the people intimately connected to Afanti—those bound to him like fish to water—can his eventual rescue appear truly grand and moving.
Finally, I wish to address the question of whether entertainment works can possess depth.
In “Hello Mr. Billionaire,” Shen Teng’s character, the goalkeeper, not only defended the goal line but also upheld the baseline of human kindness when faced with the test of money. It can be said that a single layer of depth can make all sensationalism shine. This is precisely why we advocate for depth in entertainment works.
Returning to this work, a crucial symbol is Dawazi—the traditional Uyghur acrobatic art of tightrope walking. If you could intertwine the act of walking a tightrope between cliffs with the act of walking a tightrope of human morality, it would add profound depth to this symbol. Afanti has never truly faced a moment of moral reckoning. Had he encountered such a choice, his performance on the tightrope would undoubtedly have been more gripping than the one on the cliff.
Therefore, we cannot accuse the film of carelessness in its creation. Rather, we must acknowledge that the creative team did not sufficiently contemplate what the film truly aimed to express and how to convey it. Lacking both the holistic conceptual methodology of the older generation and thorough preparatory work—including input from third-party script consultants—this ultimately led to Afanti losing its original flavor.
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