Paper short abstract:

What was it about the White Snake Legend that inspired anglophone producers to use it as an impetus for social change and minority activism in the digital world? This presentation focuses on the "relational creativities" of three anglophone White Snake projects and their transformative potentials.

Paper long abstract:

A number of anglophone digital projects inspired by the Chinese White Snake legend engage powerfully with issues relevant to minority rights and environmental justice in the United States and across the globe. In this presentation, I will use the digital operas from White Snake Projects, an activist opera company based in Boston as a central case study; and use the digital activism of fashion photographer Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri in her short film Legend of Lady White Snake and the global reach of Mary Zimmerman’s stage play The White Snake and its digital afterlives as supplementary cases. Through their "relational creativities" and via anglophone (and sinophone) digital media and digital platforms, these activist projects enrich our understanding of what can be seen as a global White Snake digital archive, one that is transformative, multivalent, constantly regenerating, contemplative, and empowering.