The Fly, one of Cronenberg’s most celebrated works, is part of a long lineage in the history of cinema of films portraying the metamorphosis of humans into animals, just like in literature and classical and oriental mythology. The Japanese version of this tradition is given form in The White Snake Enchantress, the first feature length colour animation made in the country. The film, inspired by a popular Chinese tale, centres on a girl in the form of a snake who falls in love with a man, but comes up against the barrier between their species. With delicate drawings and a bewitching soundtrack, this gentle film would go on to influence all Japanese animation, from animé to the works of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli.