[Western dragon (London 2014). Foto Rb]
Dragons are special animals
in the myths and folklore of many cultures. They have existed since ancient
time. They can move from the past to the future at will. They occupy a special
place in children’s literature because children understand and feel beyond the
ordinary world whereas adults forget about the possibility of another world.
Eastern and Western dragons
have similarities and differences linked to the cultures where they belong.
Traditional Western dragons often have cruel and negative qualities, but their
image in recent times has changed to resemble Eastern dragons, most of which
have powerful external features (fire ability, steely tail) similar to Western
dragons, but they show sympathetic feelings and enjoy the status of deities.
The
characteristics of dragons both in the East and the West are complex and
numerous. Some of their common features are reptilian attributes and flight
abilities. They connect to water, are able to activate supernatural powers,
blow toxic breath or fumes, and are guardians and emissaries.
There are several special
beings arising from fantasies - unicorns, fairies, ghosts, and mythical
figures. Yet, the dragon has perhaps more complex meanings than other fantastic
beings because it inhabits both the real world and the world of fantasy.
In addition, the dragon has
varying symbolic features - some
stories present it as a dark creature, but, in other stories, it is positively
powerful and good-natured. Both Western and Eastern children attach their own
meanings to the dragon by focusing both on their bright and dark aspects. The
dark side of children’s interpretation of the dragon is a reflection of the
hidden side of human beings, as opposed to the bright side, or the side that
they normally show explicitly.
In
some cases, we are not sure whether the dragon’s characteristics are positive
or negative. For instance, with regards specifically to the Eastern dragon,
both in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, the “dragon” symbolizes
“power” in economic growth. On the one hand, this is a
positive meaning, yet, on the negative side, the existence of these economic
powers might threaten other Asian countries
In
China, in terms of Yin and Yang, taking their meaning here as “shadow” and
“light”, the dragon has two faces – a bright one and a dark one. The Chinese
dragon allegorizes imperial power, is one of the signs of the twelve animals of
the Zodiac, is attributed the number Nine (a special number in China,
especially for its imperial significance), and has five toes. The Four
Dragons (of unknown authorship) is a Chinese legend, and a children’s
picture book, in which dragons have different friendly attributes related to
their names - Black, Yellow, Long, and Pearl. This story starts when there is
no rain, and the four dragons decide to help people by becoming great rivers.
In
Japan, the dragon symbolizes water deities (the Japanese believe that water and
the dragon have a very sacred existence and are related to each other). On an
opposite secular line, the dragon is the emblem of the Chunichi Dragons (a
baseball team). In the manga entitled Dragon Ball, the dragon gives
special powers to the main character Goku (we call Goku 손오공, Son-oh-kong, in Korea).
This dragon has three toes.
The
Korean dragon has a longer beard than in the previously mentioned countries.
The Korean dragon story Shim Chung and the River Dragon is based on a
traditional myth articulated around the power of the Ocean. The Korean dragon
has four toes. At times the Korean dragon has Yeouiju, an orb to see the future
which many people want to get hold of. Under the identity of Imugi, the Korean
dragon looks like a huge sea snake, somehow like a Leviathan. The Korean Imugi
is a native mythological creature which, in order to become a real dragon, must
survive one thousand years, and its meaning is “good luck”. A modern version of
the Imugi appears in the 2007 fantasy action film D-War by Shim
Hyung-rae, which is about the change from Imugi to real dragon through the
sacrifice of a young woman. Her external and internal sacrifice does not
express just death, but a pleading for peace. We can find the innovative dragon
in celebrity culture, see Korean singer G-Dragon, whose real name is Kwon Ji
Yong, a celebrity-rapper in the pop-band called Big Bang. His popularity has
spread due to his dragon-like image and the name he has adopted.
The
characteristics of the Eastern dragon in general are wisdom, longevity,
nobility, solemnity, holiness, good fortune, benevolence. The Eastern dragon
looks like a snake with the combined addition of other animals. In fairytales
and myth the Eastern dragon is portrayed as an auspicious creature with magical
powers, lives in Heaven with the gods, is part of people’s daily lives,
protects the harvest, and is propitious in general.
By
contrast, the characteristics of the Western dragon are evil, darkness,
violence, meanness and cruelty. This dragon is a nasty, malevolent
water-monster and a horned dinosaur-like creature. Western dragons have wings
(and in this respect they are more fantastic than Eastern dragons), and they
have sharp teeth and strong legs to bring harm, suffering and fear to human
beings. The person who killed a Western dragon is a great hero. The Western
dragon has more darkness than the Eastern one.
We can find out some of the meaning of the traditional Western
traditional dragon by reference to the Bible. Dragon here means monster -
Leviathan (large sea monster), like in Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick
that is based on the Old Testament. In this context, dragon also means evil -
Satan, the Devil (the red dragon in Europe). The Western dragon fights against
St Michael, and it is a supernatural thing in legends derived from the New
Testament. The description of the dragon in the Old Testament shows the dragon
as a snake, and in popular culture we see it as such for instance in the recent
movie Noah, where we can easily find the dragon-symbol as a vicious
snake that lures pure people. The snake looks like an angel but leads human
beings into temptation. After he slips out of his skin, he looks like a small
Leviathan. This is the beginning of sin, deriving from the actions of a snake.
This evil thing is therefore a monster with a Janus face.
More
manifestations of the Old and New Testament evil dragon can be found in popular
culture in the contemporary TV series Supernatural and the 2005 movie Constantine.
These evil things have snake’s scales on their bodies. Snake scales show they
have not a human but an animal and evil nature. The main characters of Supernatural
and Constantine are male; they try to fight against evil. Their enemies
change into anything and aim at harming the protagonists.
An
example of a Western picture book is The Paper Bag Princess by Robert
Munsch, a story where a vicious dragon kidnaps prince Ronald. Princess
Elizabeth goes on a journey to rescue the prince, which she does after
defeating the dragon. It is a simple story that shows the dragon’s strengths
and weaknesses. This story, by playing with narrative clichés, would also seem
to show that the Western dragon is not always scary.
In this respect, the dragon
called Saphira, in the novel and film Eragon, is particularly
interesting, because of a mixture of Western frightening external
characteristics and benign internal Eastern features. Furthermore, Saphira is
not a male dragon, and this is an unusual identity if compared to other dragon
stories. I believe this style of dragon will expand in future.
We can still find the dark
side in Western dragons, such as Norbert in the Harry Potter series.
However now we can also easily find the changed meaning of the dragon. I
mentioned Saphira of Eragon above. And there are more similar examples - such
as Dav Pilkey’s Dragon series, Geoffroy De Pennarts’ Dragons
series, Moon(dragon) of Baby Unicorn and Baby Dragon, and Yevaud
of A Wizard of Earthsea. The shapes of the latter dragons have changed
to appear cute rather than seriously threatening.
Movies contribute to keeping
this phenomenon going. There are many movies of this kind: Dragon, How
to Train Your Dragon, Transformers (Megatron), and the Percy
Jackson series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, A Ward of
Earthsea, Eberson, and so on. Most movies make a materialization and
visualization possible from the original written works. In addition, the game
industry offers a variety of dragons: Jabberscok of Alice: Madness Returns,
Red Dragon of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings, The Legend
elda-Dragon Roost Island, etc. All of these products, including music (see
the previously mentioned G-Dragon), are connected with culture. The culture industry
will be presumably more and more flourishing in future, and it is hoped
that it will offer good texts to children.
A
particularly significant story is Eastern Dragon, Western Dragon, by
Robyn Eversole, illustrated by Scott Campbell. It is a very simple story in
which, a very long time ago, the Eastern and Western dragons did not know each
other, they lived on the opposite sides of the world. The
Eastern dragon was sure that the Western dragon’s huge wings meant that he was
strong. The Western dragon feared that the Eastern dragon’s long, swishy tail
meant that he was fierce. When some meddlesome knights started a riff between the Eastern and Western kingdoms, the two dragons
were finally forced to come face-to-face. After
they met, they made friends and accepted their different meanings. The main
point about this book is that difference is a positive feature.
The
dragon is a unique character, especially with reference to children’s
literature. In a sense, it is not important whether dragons exist or not and
whether they are good or not. They might be characterized by darker features
than other imaginary beings, but they allow children to have lots of fantasy
and dreams, and expand the imagination beyond the boundaries of the real world.
