Multi-perspectival Reading of Hero

Hero is an ambitious film written, directed and produced by Zhang Yimou. The film is so popular that apart from having grossed over US$ 170 million in the box office worldwide, it has been frequently discussed and cited by both critics and audiences. As Zhang said, it is a commercial Chinese film aimed at a worldwide audience (Lau, 2007). I propose to view the film with a multi-perspectival approach. People with different cultural backgrounds will have different perspectives to understand it. The story is about how several assassins planning to assassinate the King of Qin. In the beginning of the film, the assassin Nameless had the chance to meet the King face-to-face and gained his trust by telling the story of how he managed to finish off the other three assassins. Then the King saw through his lies and guessed what the real assassination plot was. Finally Nameless revealed the truth that it was another assassin who did not wish the King to be killed and asked Nameless to abandon the plan. The reason was that if the unified ruler (i.e., the King eventually became the first Emperor of China) is dead, “tianxia” (the world) would be in constant war and choas. In the end Nameless spared the King’s life and sacrificed his own for the sake of future peace for all. The use of color in the film is provocative and pivotal. Apart from expressing different emotions through colors, they also differentiate various versions of the story. Like the classic film “Rashomon”, Hero adopts a similar technique to tell a story in contrasting ways. The multi-perspectival understanding of the film is not restricted to the story content only, but can be extended to the viewers’ interpretations of the film itself. Hero has received generally positive reviews from the West. However, many Chinese critics held negative views towards the film regarding its political ideology. According to Hall’s (1980) audience reception theory, different viewers decode media messages with their own cultural positions without necessarily accepting the message creator’s ideas. To the western audiences, the plot in the film seems logical and acceptable. It is more about the stunning visual scenes and martial art action sequences that captured their attention. They are fascinated by various Chinese cultural elements portrayed in the film, such as how swordsmanship and martial art can be related to other forms of high art like music, chess and calligraphy (Louie, 2008). To some Chinese audience, its political connotation is objectionable. The Emperor Qin is viewed traditionally as a brutal tyrant, while the assassins served as heroic symbol of rebel for justice. Now the film advocates a completely reversed conceptualization of the King, and that attainment of peace is only possible through killing. To the Hong Kong audience in particular, many of them would have one additional interpretation. In the movie, it was a painful decision for the King to execute Nameless but he had to do it. The June 4th massacre in 1989 would evoke a parallel thought. The righteous Beijing students were like the assassins, and the Qin Emperor mirrored the Chinese Communist Party/Government. For the sake of “tianxia” (the world, or the whole of China), the Government was said to be justified in brutally cracking down on the student protest in order to secure long-term social stability. To some viewers, Zhang tried to justify the drastic action taken by the King (and the current Government). Was Zhang the great thinker who could see things more profoundly? Was his unique interpretation of hero a “correct” one? Who was the hero? Nameless, the King, or even Zhang himself (in the modern Chinese context)? To whom is the person a hero? These can all be interpreted differently by various people. There is a line in Hero saying, “You think about a person too simplistically.” So while watching Hero, we should not see things in a superficial way. Hero is an interesting film because it invites people to think about some issues. It is like an open text that is up to the readers to interpret. The film is successful in combining commercial interest and artistic appreciation. It tells an ancient Chinese story in a fascinating and stylish way to the West, and at the same time provides an opportunity of reflection for its local audiences. References Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/decoding. In Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (Ed.), Culture, media, language. London: Hutchinson. Lau, J. K. W. (2007). Hero: China's response to Hollywood globalization. In Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. Retrieved February 26, 2012 from ejumpcut.org. Louie, K. (2008). Hero: The return of a traditional masculine ideal in China. In C. Berry (Ed.), Chinese films in focus II (pp.137-143). New York: BFI/Palgrave Macmillan. Vincent So Hoi Sing

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