Visual

American vs Chinese Dragons

I am going to be using the images below to show the stark difference in the portrayal of dragons from the opposites sides of the world. 


This image is one with a red dragon shooting fire at a army of people who are trying to prevent the destruction from happening. Those who grew up in with the western mindset immediately think of destruction and death associated with dragons. This partly due to the past medieval stories, with the glorification of slaying dragons and partly to how dragons are still being portrayed in shows and books today. Although there are some instances where dragons are not seen as just cruel, books that personify dragons, overall dragons are still viewed as something get rid of for the safety of others. 


This image is a colorful image of a dragon at the roof of a temple. Compared to previous image seen, the dragons are a lot more calmer and kinder in appearance. There are many different types of dragons that stand for various things, with the underlying theme of having something to learn from them. This shows a difference in how the Chinese view the dragons versus how western view. Just seeing the visual contract between the two images is enough to see that although it is essentially the same creature, there are completely different interpretations.

Comments

  1. Michael GoellerMarch 7, 2021 at 8:18 PM

    In the Game of Thrones series on HBO / HBO Max, the best illustration of the power of dragons for waging war occurs in Season 7, Episode 4, when Daenerys's dragons have reached their full maturity and she rides one into battle. The battle scenes are pretty intense, with the dragon performing with practically the destructive force of a giant flame-thrower, so that dragons clearly represent the same sort of imbalance created by nuclear weapons at the end of WWII. If you can stomach it, you can watch the critical battle scene from the end of that episode here on YouTube:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlifvDEJG0g

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael GoellerMarch 7, 2021 at 8:49 PM

    Actually, when Daenerys and her dragon burn down King's Landing, even after the Queen surrenders, might top that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGVIWkVmtY0

    ReplyDelete

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