Wait: Is the monkey king the bad or the good guy?

[mai72]

The game is based on the classic movie Journey to the West. In the scene that I linked, the monkey king is battling the Buddha and gets crushed. And so, is the monkey king the good guy in the video game, but the bad guy in the movie?

I'm confused...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHivuHXk3vo

[redhongkong]

it has nothing to do with good or bad. hes like kids before tasked to escort monk to india
as a kid he mess around with ppl, prank everyone,
monkey king do treat or trick as well (the kind of kid burn ur house down if u dont give treat)
celestial heaven had enough of it. tried many way to deal with this problematic kid
eveantually asked buddha to handle it.
wukong made a deal with buddha to see if he can escape buddha's hand or not. lost the bet and get punished(sealed under a mountain) for 500 years
and then get a task to escort monk to india if he wants freedom.
but he tricked the monk to release him and still dont behave. monk got a headband from guanyin(or buddha) that headband is the trap that punish wukong if he misbehave.
then suddenly wukong becomes the good kid

thats the story before journey to the west

behind the scene story about whatever celestial heaven is "a good or bad company" is debatable. ppl say its crude and strict.
jade emperor's ride bumped by a tiny rock, the dragon pulling the chariot get killed for it.
zhu bajie was a naval general(god) on heaven, got punished to be a piggy(yaoguai) for flirting with female servant
sandy was a general(god) as well, got similiar punishmen to become a yaoguai in human world
many of the yaoguai in the way of the monk's trave path are actually servant or previously a god from heaven

the story in black myth is actually "revealing"(make up story) the dark side of celestial heaven. wukong challenge its authority, but failed.

[Zogtar]

Up to interpretation.

It's a fictional story based around historical events from what I've read.

[zeta]

he's the symbol of defiance. So depends on if you view defiance as a good or bad thing

[mai72]

Got it people, thanks.

So, its up to interpretation. Do we get a fighting scene with the Buddha in the video game? I know there is baby Buddha in a cut-scene, and we go on quest to find the Buddha's eyes. But, is there a fighting scene like in the clip I linked?

[Kryten]

So far nothing of planetary proportions, no. Also no stand-off with buddha, but DLCs are coming, so it might still happen :)

[vongogh]

That is the Stephen Chow movie, that's an alternate origin story of the JTTW. Some things are correct like how MK is short and actually totally not dashing handsome like the game or fanart, the pig in the movie is some oily faced handome yaoguai, but in the stories he has a big pig head, and the main monk is... well don't listen to me, watch this lady clarify everything, she is a great explainer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb3xiR6J_hY

[Akustik]

Originally posted by mai72:

The game is based on the classic movie Journey to the West. In the scene that I linked, the monkey king is battling the Buddha and gets crushed. And so, is the monkey king the good guy in the video game, but the bad guy in the movie?

I'm confused...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHivuHXk3vo

wu kong just want freedom for himself and his people. He aint evil

[thorin.hannahs]

Yes.

[Zogtar]

Here's what I gathered:

Wu Kong is a trickster, he pissed off the Jade emperor a few times.

He pissed off a lot of people.

He reminds me a lot of Loki.

[Settings]

It's important to note that in the source material Sun Wu kong journey's with the Tang Monk to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures because he seeks redemption for past sins.

So he's a bit of both good and bad like any one else, but as others have said the trickster god Sun Wu Kong is meant to be a symbol of defiance and free will.

[vongogh]

Looks like everyone is answering without having watched the movie OP linked, in that, MK is one of the antagonist monsters and had a human form. In JTTW MK was never the antagonist, and he had no human form.

[Zogtar]

Originally posted by vongogh:

Looks like everyone is answering without having watched the movie OP linked, in that, MK is one of the antagonist monsters and had a human form. In JTTW MK was never the antagonist, and he had no human form.

Naw, I've seen it. Monke isn't based off the movie, tho. Just don't need to "um ackshully" all the time.

(I like that movie btw, the scene where he sings to the fish demon makes me smile).

[palacentes]

the monkey is good in the game for sure. All the minions of celestial court seem to be very corrupted and greedy.

[BigRoot]

Firstly, it is not based on the movie, it is based on the novel "The Journey to the West" as one of the four Masterpieces of Chinese novel, created by Wu Chengen from the Ming Dynasty, 500 years ago.
Secondly, Sun Wukong, is the good guy, or we can say, the mightiest, the strongest, the coolest guy, in every Chinese's opinion, everyone had a imagination of being the Monkey King back in our childhood.
Back in the story, Wukong was firstly, well maybe you can call him a villain, but only to the Heaven and the gods, and what he have done (you can look it up) to the heaven has brought him punishment from the Buddha Tathāgata (如来）and being trapped under a mountain for 500 years. Then, he is appointed a mission to escort Tang Monk(Tang Seng) to the West to get the scriptures as a way to atone, and as in return, he can be officially ascended to a Buddha after the journey is done.

Now I am using a metaphor to explain. The Heaven court is the CIA, Wukong is the previous head of Mafia (The Monkeys). In order to get his identity clean since he did a lot of mess, he needs to escourt an important NPC to get something very important. Afterwards the CIA would offer Wukong a place in it. Wukong killed lots of other Mafias on the journey. (The following part is not the same as in the novel, it is changed for this game) At the end Wukong doesn't want the place in CIA, and wants to return to his mountain for a peaceful life. The CIA plans to wipe out him and his gang, then it comes to the start of this game.

Hope this helps, but the novel is way too long for me to explain it here, probably have a brief look, or youtube videos might help?

[AllenVoltage]

Originally posted by redhongkong:

it has nothing to do with good or bad. hes like kids before tasked to escort monk to india

My guy am not sure if english is your first language but you may want to reword that