Demetrius Leach: Proposal for Paper on Hero

I chose this movie because of the visual stimulation that one receives upon viewing due to the color as well as the incredible martial arts scenes. Being a martial artist though not even close to the same realm as those in the film, I enjoy watching and to an extent can relate to the incredibility of some of the actions and sequences are to perform as well as having an appreciation for the time it requires learning them. I believe that this is leaning toward the Wu Xai “fantasy” style of martial arts film rather than a Bruce Lee sort of flick, since it is almost like a dream when one is watching it. For this I intend to examine elements of the films cinematography, which was excellent, as well as the editing style and other aesthetic elements that stand out in the film.

I plan to examine the director’s purposes for the color schemes used in each of the film’s stories since anyone that isn’t color blind can attest that viewing “Hero” is like seeing a series of immaculate images which are some of the most visually stimulating in recent film. I have noticed somewhat of a similar trend within a few Chinese films from recent years, such as “The House of Flying Daggers”, that display this vibrant use of color and immensely sized shots and will try to learn whether or not this is or has become a specific style or possibly about the techniques used and ideas behind them. The countless blogs written about this film all acclaim the visuals and effects used, while many also refer to the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. I have not seen this film, but I intend to in order to make a comparison, while I also intend to research other films under direction of Zhang Yimou like “Raise The Red Lantern”, “Red Sorghum”, and also “Yellow Earth”, a film not under his direction, yet his cinematography was said to be excellent as it is in my proposal film (Cornelius 43).

I would like to reflect upon the director himself as Yimou is said to fall into the “new wave” category of Chinese film makers who are attempting to avoid the censorship limitations while displaying their pain and questions of a tradition destructed, mass life taking, and education disrupting culture which has affected vast numbers of everyday Chinese citizens(Cornelius 3). These men also were known as the fifth generation of Chinese film directors, working on films from 1983 -1989 that depicted errors within a contemporary socialist environment and of his group Yimou was highly recognized yet not considered to be the most prominent role player from this era of Chinese film as Huang Jianxin is considered the only important Fifth Generation film maker (Pickowicz 57). These Fifth Generation films were a strong contrast to all previous works in China and were widely criticized creating a large amount of turmoil surrounding them. Does “Hero” possess any of these Fifth Generation characteristics or is it more traditional to Chinesse film?

I would also like to discuss how this film compares to past martial arts films of China and to those of America, since “Crouching Tiger” was made for American audiences. I am curious of the differences, which many blogs claim are obvious. Further I plan to examine the meanings that lie within the film such as the representations of each character like courage or leadership and to look into the meaning of what it is to be a calligrapher and the ways which it is tied to the film. Last, but not least one should look into what it is to be a hero, if this film meets that quality, and to what degrees. Which seem to be the defining characteristics of a Chinese film hero contrasted to those common of American cinema?

References

Cornelius, Sheila, and Ian Haydn Smith. New Chinese Cinema"Challenging Representations. 1st ed. London: Wallflower Press, 2004.

Browne, Nick, Paul G. Pickowicz, Vivian Sobchack, and Esther Yau.New Chinese Cinemas: Forms, Identities, Politics. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.