Film Name: 白蛇2：青蛇劫起 / Green Snake
If the prequel “White Snake” depicted the White Snake’s encounter with a normal, romantic, and passionate love, then the sequel “Green Snake” portrays the Green Snake’s experience of an abnormal, entangled, and ambiguous love.
I had assumed the Green Snake’s aversion to the White Snake’s love stemmed solely from her own lack of experience with love, from never having met the right person. I thought Xiaoqing would find her true love through this adventure of her own, thereby understanding why her sister could be so devoted to a seemingly weak young man—even to the point of sacrificing herself. Yet it turns out that even after surviving the ordeal in Asura City, the Green Snake still came away empty-handed.
The third person Xiaoqing “fell for” was Meng Shao, fully known as the Masked Youth. He was the man who showed her the most care. As an ordinary man dreaming of becoming a great hero, Meng Shao bore a striking resemblance to the man her sister had met 500 years prior—frail yet considerate. Her interest in him stemmed from discovering he was her sister’s reincarnation, but her genuine affection blossomed the moment this frail boy sacrificed himself for her. At that instant, whether he was her sister or not seemed to matter little. Xiaoqing’s obsession born from longing for her sister finally began to loosen and dissolve.
The second person Xiaoqing “fell in love with” was Shangguan. This was a man destined never to be hers. For Shangguan had his own obsessions. In truth, if Shangguan were the sort to instantly fall for someone else the moment Xiaoqing appeared, why would he have come to this Asura City to liberate his “obsessions”? He would likely have become a fickle, flighty soul, delighting in endless rebirths. Thus, Shangguan’s disdain for Xiaoqing was neither surprising nor blameworthy. Xiaoqing’s task was simply to learn about love through trial and error with him.
The first person Xiaoqing “fell in love with” was Fahai. He was a pivotal figure in her life and the ultimate challenge she must overcome in Asura City. From the moment she first laid eyes on him, she marked him as the one she must defeat. His overwhelming power instilled in her a Stockholm Syndrome-like dependency; whether he spared her or punished her, she reveled in it. Her inner yearning for the powerful began at this very moment. She lived alone with Fahai in a private space for twenty years, battling him for twenty years. She witnessed his hair turn from black to white. In truth, what she called “defeating” him was perhaps driven by her own desperate desire to see him. Fahai might very well have been Xiaoqing’s true love—only she herself remained unaware.
Three men make a play, with a woman at its center. Xiaoqing did not choose the void of Wuchi, but instead chose the If Bridge, granting her life another chance. She freed herself from dependence on her sister, only to enter a new confusion and attachment to love. To choose Meng Shao, who loves her but lacks maturity; Shangguan, whom she admires yet can never have; or Fahai, with whom she shares a love-hate entanglement—this may become the Green Snake’s unsolvable dilemma within the vast, eternal Asura City called the human world.
The above rambling critique is merely a wild guess, meant only to amuse. Please take it with a grain of salt. Do not dwell on the film’s shortcomings. Let us all continue our obsessions within this illusory Asura realm, searching for true love!
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