Sunday, July 25, 2010

Hero

Zhang Yimou’s Hero tells us a story during warring states period that lasted from 475 BC until the unification of China in 221 BC when ancient China was divided into seven kingdoms all battling for supremacy. There isn’t much dialogue in this film, but its conflicts give insight to the Chinese people’s frame of mind. The film tells us about Chinese philosophy that enabled the people who lived during warring states period to sacrifice their lives for their kingdoms and accept their death at any time.


The film illustrates how people in ancient China accepted everything that happened to them as their fate or destiny. In addition, the film also depicts how the mandate of heaven’s concept strongly influenced people’s thoughts during the warring states period. According to the mandate of heaven, the heaven, also known as Tian, decides everything happening in the world. Believing in heaven, many people dedicated their entire lives to their own rulers. They were so loyal to their own rulers that they even fought a losing battle. We have an instinct to protect our own lives to survive, but none of the characters in the film hesitated to give up their lives for their kingdoms or rulers. The people back then seemed to try to accept everything including their own death as their fate, which is determined by heaven.


Besides, the characters’ thinking tells us how collectivism’s influence ingrains first priority to the kingdoms over individual’s own will or precious life. When Qin people started shooting countless arrows at a calligraphy school where Zhou people were writing calligraphy, the Zhou people stopped writing calligraphy and ran to an old man to get his opinion. But then again, the old man told them that they should remember that although Qin people’s arrows might destroy their town and topple their kingdom, the Qin people can never obliterate their culture. After he said so, he started writing calligraphy and all the other people calmed down, understood his words, and started writing calligraphy while thousands of arrows kept on shooting them. The people were shot by the arrows but they proudly continued to write calligraphy until they died. If I were there, I bet I would have given up writing calligraphy and ran away from the school to save my life. However, the people in the film tried to protect their own culture until the last minute. Their refusal to run away portrays their strong will that no one can take away even if their homeland is being invaded; their honor overcomes their fear of death. The kingdoms that fought against each other during the warring states period is now the united country of China. The film made me realize that different kingdoms in ancient China used to have their own unique culture and identities that they tried to preserve at the risk of their lives.


The film also shows that just like in the movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the characters don’t confess their feelings to others, especially those who they truly love, except the very last minute when they are about to die. Many people were inspired or encouraged to hold back their personal emotions or feelings probably because of collectivism and traditional Chinese philosophy that had been embraced by the people in ancient China. They seemed to have been strongly encouraged to think about their own kingdom, rulers or masters as their first priority. Conquering other kingdoms of China must have required not only lots of time and effort but also sacrifices of many people’s lives. No one probably knew how long it would take to conquer other kingdoms and finally start living in peace and harmony. Therefore, the traditional Chinese philosophy such as the concept of heaven seemed to have inspired the people who had no choice in deciding their own lives. The concept of fate helped reassure people living in such unpredictable times that gave their lives meaning.


The film, Hero, shows Chinese people’s strong will that enables them to dedicate their entire lives to their rulers. The Chinese philosophy must be one of the secrets that convinced countless people in China to go into battle for their kingdom during the warring states period. If they hadn’t developed such strong will to dedicate their youth and entire lives to their own kingdoms, the warring states period may not have lasted for such a long time and China may not have united as one.

5 comments:

  1. I kind of agree with Tiffany's interpretation of people willing to sacrifice their lives for their country. This idea is reflected through the soldiers fighting for the King. However, I think it is a pretty strong statement to say that all the characters in the movie willingly gave up their lives for their ruler/country. Sky did not die, he just faked death. Broken Sword died for love. He wanted to prove to Flying Snow that he was truly in love with her and that she was the only one he cared about. Flying Snow died because of what Broken Sword did, and finally Nameless died because the King ordered his soldiers to kill him. I would say that these characters died more because of what they believed in instead of for their ruler or country. These 4 individuals wanted to kill the king...why would they die for the king if they wanted to kill him in the first place?

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  3. I like the point you make about the characters hiding their feeling until the very end. That's one thing that i find kind of frustrating about the movies. I wish the characters could be more open about their feelings.

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  4. I think it very interesting how you bought up the fact the different kingdoms of ancient China has their own unique cultural identity and try to preserve at the expense of their lives. Which I feel is very important but again it makes one wonder then if it's for the better or worst that China got unified? Do you think it would have been better if the kingdoms remain?

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  5. Karen,

    Thank you for taking the time to read my response. I kind of agree with you that the main characters of the film “died more because of what they believed instead of for their ruler or country.” I was focusing a little too much on the Zhou people in the film when I wrote the review. The main characters in the film probably died of what they believed, but I think that they would have accepted their death even if they had died when they were fighting for their kingdoms.


    Yujin,

    Thank you for your comment! I also “wish the characters could be more open about their feelings” because I was frustrated when I watched "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" because the characters didn’t confess their feelings to the others except the very last minute when they were about to die. Unlike in today’s American society, the people in ancient China seemed to be encouraged to hold back their emotions.


    Lee,

    Thank you for taking the time to respond to my comment. I believe that there would have been more cultures and customs today if the different kingdoms had remained. It is unfortunate that cultures and customs are almost impossible to retrieve once they are gone. However, if the kingdoms remained, there would have been more wars and conflicts. It is hard to say if it would have been better if the kingdoms remained.

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