Reading Notes Part B: The Monkey King

Another element I get from this story could be a moral of the consequences of wanting too much power. Elements of this story could be changed to change the moral into something different, for example, it could be a story about the downside to immortality. He is afraid of death, so he strives to become immortal. Once he does, maybe it is not all he thought it would be and he regrets his decision.

Another moral we could get from this is the consequences of stealing and hurting others to get what you want. He could try to get immortality, but be punished for stealing things from others along the way, and never end up getting the thing he was after.

Something I still want to go back to is the Planet of the Apes combo. As the story ends, you see that he has gotten a lot of power. Even though the apes do take over in the original film, it could be changed so that these apes gain power and almost take over, but are unable to. I think that I would want to eliminate the Heavenly aspect to this story and change it to something science fiction like. It might be nice to have it be more realistic, I could even change it to take place in present day.

Another change I could make is to erase the monkey component entirely. It could become realistic to the point that is follows a main who is after immortality and traces the consequences along the way.

The Monkey King

The Monkey King from Wilhelm's Chinese Fairy Book