Zhang Zhi Mou's Hero and Fascism

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Anyone want to read some serious film commentary, you should look at the articles in Academia.edu. Stephen Teo gives exceptional background and contrast to the martial arts and action genre, and it is all high level. He's one of the few that have seen all the Cathay films, etc, that can comment on those and many others, as well as the transition of Shaw Bros-Golden Harvest-New Wave-to today!

Here is another article about how Zhang sold out to the PRC to tell a revisionist history of Qin, that is basically a fascist fairytale of sacrifice to "unify China", which really just meant the Emperor of Qin got to have all the land and wealth as he slaughtered 100,000's of peasants and soldiers. But hey, you got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. 

https://www.academia.edu/6804676/Zhang_Yimous_Hero_and_the_Temptations_of_Fascism?email_work_card=thumbnail

[Writ]

Really good read and thanks for the link! I'll definitely be checking out Stephen Teo's papers - I remember reading a paper of his on Johnnie To and the amount of research he does is incredible. I'm a fan of Zhang Yimou - not just his martial arts films, but his films in general. Many people see Hero as the turning point in his career where he went full on commercial which I agree with, but I don't think it made him any "worse" of a filmmaker. I think the paper, similar to how it talks about Zhang dancing around censors, also dances around liking the film and disagreeing with it's politics. I'm of the opinion that you do not need to agree with the politics of a film to like it and I find it sometimes disingenuous (pretty much justify yourself!) to dislike a film solely for it's politics so I appreciated that about the paper. Zhang's films are spectacular, beautifully filmed and even at his "worst" (The Great Wall), his excellent craft makes his films worthwhile. If one can't appreciate Hero for it's revisionist history in favour of the current political climate in China, besides it's technical excellence, one can at least appreciate it for it's character's unwavering values which is a more universal experience.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

1 hour ago, Writ said:

Really good read and thanks for the link! I'll definitely be checking out Stephen Teo's papers - I remember reading a paper of his on Johnnie To and the amount of research he does is incredible. I'm a fan of Zhang Yimou - not just his martial arts films, but his films in general. Many people see Hero as the turning point in his career where he went full on commercial which I agree with, but I don't think it made him any "worse" of a filmmaker. I think the paper, similar to how it talks about Zhang dancing around censors, also dances around liking the film and disagreeing with it's politics. I'm of the opinion that you do not need to agree with the politics of a film to like it and I find it sometimes disingenuous (pretty much justify yourself!) to dislike a film solely for it's politics so I appreciated that about the paper. Zhang's films are spectacular, beautifully filmed and even at his "worst" (The Great Wall), his excellent craft makes his films worthwhile. If one can't appreciate Hero for it's revisionist history in favour of the current political climate in China, besides it's technical excellence, one can at least appreciate it for it's character's unwavering values which is a more universal experience.

Right now the super rich are asking the people that sweat for a living to make sacrifices while they live like kings. Some things never change. My intro to him was this film, and it's about what it's about, killing yourself for the sake of a tyrant who murdered a lot of people so "he could make China stronger" (which was his property). It's why I can't watch movies from the mainland. Not big on movies with the CIA as the good guys, or FBI either, so it isn't just a China thing, it's a tyrant thing. But hey, it is a pretty movie.

Also, Gong Li is one of the most overrated actresses I have ever seen. She's pretty too, though.