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Xiaobai finally found Xu Xian, the reincarnation of Axuan, after 500 years, the two met on the Broken Bridge. Xiaobai and sister hid in the streets and alleys, started a lively life in human world with him and his brother-in-law Li Gongfu.

A Commendable Partial Interpretation of a Time-honored Chinese Folktale Suffering from Incompleteness

White Snake: Afloat presents a commendable, though partial, interpretation of the time-honored Chinese folktale The Legend of the White Snake (hereinafter The Legend). However, the movie&#39;s quality is unfortunately diminished by its incompleteness caused by an inconsistent sequel, a lack of response to the audience&#39;s concerns for the major characters, the missing contemporary value that could have been revealed through a complete narrative, and inadequate foundational settings and key plot explanations. Afloat currently serves as a sequel to White Snake: Origin (2019) and a prequel to Green Snake: Tribulation (2021). It is based on modern and contemporary adaptations of The Legend, which has been passed down through established plot elements. Light Chaser Animation (LCA) delivers a refined and coherent reinterpretation of the selected plot elements while making their connections smooth and seamless. As expected, the picture quality is undeniably top-tier, and the original soundtrack by Guo Haowei significantly enhances the film&#39;s appeal. Afloat&#39;s modified scenes of the Meeting at the Broken Bridge and the West Lake Love Pledge perfectly connect with Origin, which compellingly explained why Blanca chose to marry Xu Xian as a way of repaying his past incarnation&#39;s life-saving grace--a question that many adaptations had left unanswered for centuries. If, due to Origin&#39;s historic contribution to the internal logic of the traditional White Snake storyline, it is granted the privilege of being incorporated into the canon someday, Afloat&#39;s Meeting at the Broken Bridge and West Lake Love Pledge scenes could then follow Origin&#39;s honorable path. Additionally, Afloat&#39;s recrafted Dragon Boat Festival Unveiling scene, from its cause to consequence, is probably the most convincing of all its versions. Moreover, the entirely original scene of the Separation in the Sinkhole, which serves the traditional function of dividing Xu Xian and Blanca and then confining Xu Xian in Jinshan Temple, matches Xu Xian&#39;s new characterization extremely well. Afloat&#39;s Xu Xian fully inherits the spirit and soul of his past incarnation, Xu Xuan (from Origin), whose love for Blanca is pure and whose willingness to sacrifice for her is unquestionable. Afloat&#39;s creators cleverly utilize Xu Xian&#39;s fear of snakes to mask his courage, enabling the harmonious coexistence of cowardice and bravery within one individual. This also allows Afloat&#39;s adaptation of Xu Xian to resonate with his traditionally weaker portrayal, giving a sense of revealing the truth that past adaptations failed to uncover. Meanwhile, the return of Lady Bao Qing--a sophisticated and powerful demon introduced as an original character of the series--ensures that Xu Xian, a mortal, can play a pivotal role in the conflict between demons and religious agents to defend Blanca. As a result, probably for the first time ever, Xu Xian&#39;s love for Blanca matches Blanca&#39;s for him in both willingness and power--something previous adaptations did not achieve. In this way, Afloat answers another centuries-old question more persuasively than previous adaptations: why would Blanca, a demon superior to humans in almost every aspect, cherish a marriage with a human? In this sense, Afloat presents the most &quot;historically accurate&quot; version of The Legend, if it had ever truly occurred. However, Afloat is positioned commercially to bridge Origin and Tribulation. Since The Legend&#39;s storyline starting from the Flooding the Jinshan Temple scene was covered in Tribulation, Afloat deliberately refrains from narrating the complete love story between Xu Xian and Blanca. Perplexingly, Tribulation, which showed little interest in the main story of The Legend, was not assigned to detail the fate of Xu Xian&#39;s family beyond a brief glimpse of the Flooding scene. Moreover, Tribulation portrayed Xu Xian and Fa Hai quite differently. In Tribulation, Xu Xian was accused of failing to protect Blanca due to incompetence, as if Blanca had never shared with her sister Verta what happened in the sinkhole battle in Afloat. Meanwhile, Fa Hai behaved as though the revelation from the celestial realm in Afloat had not speak to his views on demons in a manner consistent with the revelation&#39;s undeniable form. These characterizations contrast sharply with those in Afloat, where Xu Xian is depicted as a committed, self-sacrificing husband, and Fa Hai as a spiritually insightful monk. Thus, Afloat and Tribulation do not exhibit a true sequel-prequel relationship as suggested by LCA; rather, they more resemble two narratives with overlapping characters. The lack of a functional sequel renders Afloat terribly hard to digest, as Xu Xian&#39;s family is depicted as experiencing a pure tragedy without any in-film relief, overwhelming empathetic viewers emotionally. Probably more noteworthy, Tribulation&#39;s failure to be a coherent sequel to Afloat also leaves the audience&#39;s emotions toward Xu, who has been eloquently depicted as loving Blanca in a way unprecedented in previous adaptations, unanchored. This feels like the creators do not truly cherish their ingenious approach of rationalizing the internal logic of the White Snake story by paralleling Xu&#39;s love for Blanca with Blanca&#39;s for him in commitment and strength, let alone deeming it a distinguished contribution to The Legend&#39;s generational heritage. Viewers who sensitively recognize the uniqueness of LCA&#39;s portrayal of Xu naturally expect this redefined character to bring intriguing changes and chemistry to the trajectory of the entire White Snake story. However, at the end of this expectation, what awaits is unanswered concerns and the ensuing disappointment. In fact, for any adaptation of The Legend, even when the male protagonist is not shaped like LCA&#39;s Xu, the resolution of the Xu-Blanca love story inevitably becomes a primary concern for the audience. This concern could even be considered a legacy passed down among different generations of White Snake audiences in East Asian regions, where the story enjoys varying degrees of popular recognition. Therefore, Afloat&#39;s open-ended treatment of the Xu-Blanca love story can constitute an unfulfilled response to the audience&#39;s historical concern for Xu-Blanca relationship. Given the weight of this concern, leaving the ending of Xu-Blanca relationship ambiguous can even be seen as irresponsible in the eyes of some White Snake story lovers. The absence of a conclusion for the Xu-Blanca love story also leaves the creators&#39; stance on the Xu-Blanca relationship hidden. The topic of human-demon love in the White Snake story, as a battlefield where widely held conventional beliefs fiercely clash with a controversial individual case, is inherently a fertile ground for generating The Legend&#39;s contemporary relevance. Furthermore, the story&#39;s traditional heritage pattern of passing down plot elements rather than specific content grants considerable flexibility in thematic choices, such as criticizing authorities who fail to diligently fulfill their duties, challenging determinism based on background, or exploring what it means to be human or to love. However, the discussion about The Legend&#39;s contemporary value must be premised on telling a complete Xu-Blanca love story, which Afloat alone fails to satisfy. Consequently, LCA&#39;s creators not only forfeit their opportunity to reinterpret the White Snake story&#39;s contemporary value but also deprive the audience of potential perspectives--beyond the superficial layer of a romance--to appreciate The Legend. One way to render Afloat&#39;s partial presentation of the Xu-Blanca love story reasonable is to make the incomplete story feel whole at the causal level by appropriately supplementing foundational settings and key plot explanations. Unfortunately, in Afloat, the lack of these two explanatory resources actively hinders the audience&#39;s effective understanding of the characters&#39; decisions. Viewers encounter only overly simplistic foundational statements, like &quot;each race to its path,&quot; or mere signs of revelation without further interpretation. Too much ambiguity about the consequences of the characters&#39; choices is left. What are the similarities and distinctions in the emotional spectrum of humans, celestial beings, and demons? To what extent is the insertion of a period of secular life into a cultivation process permissible? What aspects of demon nature can substantially separate them from the human path? What are the relative authorities of celestial beings and Buddhist agents? Had Afloat&#39;s audience been given answers to these questions, even an illuminating part of them, they might have gained insights into the sources and potential remedies of the movie&#39;s tragedy, allowing them to achieve emotional equilibrium without turning to a comforting sequel. However, Afloat does not arrive with these clarifications when the audience desperately needs them to accept the film&#39;s tragedy. Tribulation does not fit the designated role as a sequel to Afloat, rendering Afloat an incomplete story. Ideally, Afloat would serve a role similar to that of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring or Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone in their respective trilogies, narrating a coherent and consistent story with the appropriate sequel(s). Otherwise, Afloat, in its current state, is no more than a semi-finished product. A functional sequel to Afloat should address how the Xu-Blanca love story reaches its conclusion, thereby addressing the audience&#39;s concern for the major characters and the emotional distress they feel due to the two Xu-Blanca romantic tragedies presented in Origin and Afloat. By offering such a sequel, LCA&#39;s creators can also reclaim the privilege of attaching contemporary relevance to their adaptation of The Legend. With a complete storyline, foundational settings and key plot explanations that were necessary for Afloat may seem less essential, though they could still be appreciated.

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White Snake: Afloat

A Commendable Partial Interpretation of a Time-honored Chinese Folktale Suffering from Incompleteness

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