The Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven’s Palace was directed by Pou-Soi Cheang and released by Cinedigm Studio, actors included: Donnie Yen, Chow Yun-Fat, Aaron Kwok. When I first began watching this film, I almost quit watching it. The style was somewhat infantile and silly with all the CGI and over the top sequences, but ultimately, I was sucked in by the mythology. It tells the story of a magical monkey born of stone who is granted many superpowers. The film follows his adventures through the Eastern Sea Palace, Jade Emperor’s celestial stable and the fairy peach grove. As side stories, he falls in love with a fox girl whom he met when he was a baby inside his bubble, and the Bull Demon King is trying to regain control of the Heaven’s Palace. The story/folklore that this movie is based on is one that is well known to all Chinese children.
This film made me realize that when we think of myths, most of us immediately think of Greek myths and that in school, those are generally the only ones that are taught. I would probably use this movie to create a comparative study of myths from different regions of the world with my World History students. I would have them read and watch myths from different areas and compare the similarities in themes and discuss the differences in style and narration. This would help students see how people across time and space have some similar worries and concerns and that each time and space have their own signature when it comes to telling their stories and folklore.
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