‘Niu Lai’ and Animated ‘Trash’ in China

Welcome! Glad you could join us. This is another Thursday edition of the Animation Obsessive newsletter, all about the state of animation in China.

Right now, unlikely indie hits are a theme in the movie world. And the year’s most indie and most unlikely is Chinese: Niu Lai. The film was hard to avoid on social media last month, even outside China. If you’ve seen a clip, you get the idea.

Many laugh at Niu Lai. In America, though, the film resonated with at least one major animator: Jonni Pepper-GoLions. She’s created some of the decade’s best features (Barber Westchester, Take Off the Blindfold), and we’ve covered her work since 2021. So, when Jonni pitched us an article a few weeks ago about Niu Lai and underground animators from China, we were immediately interested.

Today, we’re bringing you that article.

Below, Jonni analyzes Niu Lai, explores the rise of “trash” art in China, profiles left-field Chinese filmmakers and advocates for rule-breaking animation everywhere. We’re honored to share this thoughtful piece.

The world is reverberating with laughter and terrified screams at the success of Niu Lai, a film created with architectural modeling software by an amateur animator, Xin Yumeng, from a script written by his mother Sun Lifang. Niu Lai is one of the most profitable animated films ever made, generating $9.4 million at the Chinese box office on an estimated $23,800 investment. The film became a meme in China, as audiences arrived in droves just to make fun of it.

Niu Lai’s detractors argued that its success should be ignored, and even that the film should be pulled from theaters because it was “not good enough.” However, I personally believe that Niu Lai is indicative of a passionate creative drive that’s been waiting under the surface of Chinese society, and that it can help us understand the moment we’re currently in, both in China and abroad.

In this piece, I’m using Niu Lai as a vantage point to observe Chinese animation and the animators on paths away from the mainstream, drawing on interviews with my artist friends Sijia Luo, Pang Wen, Yingdan Lai and Shangshan Ruoshui, founder of Most Trash Animation Festival.