Hero, a Wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou, tells the story of a nameless assassin attempting to kill the King of Qin on the basis of revenge. The King of Qin at the time was fearful for his life because of three main assassins who have made attempts to murder him – Long Sky, Broken Sword, and Flying Snow. Nameless appears before the King of Qin and informs the majesty of his victory over all three assassins. Amazed at what the King of Qin has heard, asks Nameless to tell him of how his victories were gained. The film then depicts Nameless and his encounter with each character in various settings (the fabricated, the truth, and the reality), each playing an imperative role to the theme of the film as well as the story behind the truth.
Various themes and their subparts of culture, revenge, peace and war, interplay together to create this film depicted of love of nation and love of loyalty. One thing that I had noticed while watching the film was Zhang Yimou’s use of color in each of the settings of the film. In the beginning of the film, Nameless tells a story of lies to the King of Qin on how he was able to kill each assassin. In this part of the film, the color red has been utilized in the architecture, costume, as well as nature settings in a sense to portray deceit and betrayal. In this part of Nameless’ story, Nameless accuses Flying Snow to have had an affair with Long Sky, ultimately betraying her love for Broken Sword. As a result, Broken Sword takes revenge by having sex with his servant Moon right in front of Flying Snow. Because of this deceit, Flying Snow kills Broken Sword allowing Nameless to attack the emotionally agitated Flying Snow in a fight. The color red is incorporated into this fabricated story of betrayal and deceit between Broken Sword and Flying Snow, the same way Nameless is lying to the King. The King then realizes that Nameless is lying and tells his version of what really happened. This is juxtaposed with the color blue in the King’s version of the story. The juxtaposition between red and blue and Nameless and the King showed to me that red and blue may represent one side of a story – in this case Nameless and the King. The King’s version is that Snow had injured Sword to prevent him from stopping her in dueling with Nameless and sacrificing herself in order for Nameless to get 10 paces closer to the King. Blue is a representation of love and loyalty, in this case Snow’s willingness to sacrifice herself for her nation Zhao and to protect her love with Sword. Nameless then goes on by telling the reality of what actually happened in the events. This part of the film is represented by the actors wearing white, a color without color in a sense stripped of bias and only entailing truth and purity. Nameless had faked the deaths of both Sky and Snow in order to get closer to the King and accomplish his mission. Sword, in reality, does not want to kill the King of Qin because he is the only one who will be able to unite the six divided states. The color green is utilized for the portion of the film where Sword and the King are in a fight. Green is a representation of serenity and peace, elements that Broken Sword had achieved to realize while studying calligraphy and swordsmanship. This also incorporates the theme of revenge where Flying Snow was not able to achieve this enlightenment thus still filled with hatred and revenge towards the King. Ultimately, Nameless decides to not assassinate the King which further shows the failing of Snow’s wishes due to her inability to see the bigger picture. In the end, Broken Sword’s yearn for peace and unification in China is succeeded.
This film had made an impact on me visually due to its incorporation of color which allowed me to “see” emotions rather than “feel” them. Snow’s wish to take revenge on the King of Qin conclusively fails and also leads to her demise. Instead of the King of Qin dying in her hands, it was her one true love Sword who died in an attempt to show her the bigger picture. Soon after realizing it, she herself takes her own life leading to her demise. Although Nameless was executed for attempting to murder the King, he was buried as a hero. In the end, those who were able to overcome hatred and violence, found peace in them as well as for their nation.
I agree with you on the role of color in the movie. I appreciate how you caught the color green in the film. This is something I didn't notice. I also like the way you interpreted the use of green as peace and serenity because these are definitely the ideals that Broken Sword represents. Definitely an interesting take on the color green!
ReplyDeleteI like your last point about how those who overcame hatred and violence were able to end up peaceful. It still makes me wonder why the king would have allowed such an honorable memorial for someone who almost assassinated him. Even though I'm sure the king himself would have wanted it, his group of men most definitely would have been against it. How is it possible for the men to not care that an almost successful assassination attempt's perpetrator had a more honorable memorial than those who died in war?
ReplyDeleteYour analysis on the use of the color on the film was very interesting to me. I liked the points that you brought up about the juxtaposition between red and blue.
ReplyDeleteHarry,
ReplyDeleteI also thought about that while watching the film. I think for me, it was because the King had come to realize the meaning behind Sword, and what he finds behind the meaning is peace. So in a sense, rather than hatred, he wanted to seek peace, even with Nameless. And after seeing Nameless' heroic action, he wanted to compensate that for his death?
I think there's one more color is used in this movie which is color black. Most scenes in the palace when Nameless met King of Qin, his clothes was black with black sword cover and black band around his head. And the last scene when nameless chose to sacrifice himself, overall color was black or gray like countless arrows, armor and helmet in cloud weather. Color black represents darkness and death.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of the King's decision in killing Nameless and his reasoning of why, I believe that it was in order to maintain his authority figure among his men. It is difficult to retain respect from your men as a king when you are seen being undermined by a foe.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite interesting how you picked out each color with different meaning and how it's associated. I've never noticed this before you mentioned it. And I believe the color black, red, blue and green are the key points and was just impressed how director Zhang Yimou represented the scene with/without color, even later at the Olympic ceremony.
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