Keep in mind that this film was partially financed by the Chinese communist government and they never finance any movies unless the movies promote their political agenda.
So, answer the following two questions:
- For you, what is the theme of Hero?
- What did you notice about how color was used in the film. Do you have any thoughts about how the use of color emphasizes or drives home the theme you wrote above?
C.J. Barrett: A theme present in Hero is... how do I put this, the profound effect of action, and how important it is to debate the different options available to you for each action. Sure, let's go with that description.
ReplyDeleteI say this because the entire movie is littered with action, much of it acted out on impulse, in Nameless' story, for the most part. When Snow decided to kill Sword, when Moon goes after Snow, etc... But then, on the other hand, throughout all of Qin Wang's (the Qin Kingdom's ruler, Wang means "King" in Chinese) retelling of events, the group thinks out all their options, predicting and weighing each outcome. Then, with about five to ten minutes remaining, most of the Nameless Hero's screen time (in the present time, in Qin Wang's throne room) is spent weighing the options of preforming the un-blockable move, killing Qin Wang, or to let him live.
I can't be too sure as how the colour used in the film relates heavily to the theme I described, as I chose a theme a bit out of the ordinary, however there was plenty to be noticed about color in this film. As we discussed in class, Red can traditionally be correlated with luck, or good fortune in China, but whenever red is present, there seemed to be all but good fortune going on. In the Nameless Hero's telling of events, the Zhao Kingdom is almost completely dressed in red. This was also where the Qin army showered that town with arrows, Snow killed Sword, and then later Moon. So, I think Irony was a bit of a theme in correlation with the color.
I really like this theme a lot. Thank you for sharing it and for providing such great examples from the film.
DeleteAlso, thank you for writing with a personal voice that is so pleasant to read. See my comments on Randi's response to Iron Monkey.
I like the little cultural gems you share with us here such as the meaning of "Wang" and the meaning of the color red. I love to learn this kind of stuff from you.
Your post got me thinking about how the colors might symbolize the theme that you chose but I am not sure. Forgive me brainstorming as I write right now but freewriting is one of the best ways I know to figure something out. The colors change according to each version of reality that is presented. In each version of reality, the characters make choices with big consequences (we use the term "high stakes" in screenwriting) and sometimes debate those more than other times. So ... the colors might not symbolize the idea of debating choices with high stakes but they do differentiate each choice. But that's not really directly related to this theme. Hmmm .... I think I need to think about this more.
This was a very well made movie, I really really enjoyed it!! The theme to this movie I think would be, that anyone can see the good in people, if you atleast try. This was a very strong, and lifting movie, and it was very interesting at the same time. I also thought it was extremely cool, that they found a way to stab someone, without injurying them badly, and they could be able to be healed.
ReplyDeleteI apprecaited they way they used color in this movie, and I'm very new at this whole color thing, since I just learned about it. But I loved the way they used the contrast of lights and darks, I loved the color brightness when the couple at the end died together (sorry, I don't remember the names :o), although it was a very sad moment, it was beautiful at the same time.
-Bambie T
I like how you are noticing how the colors can go against the mood (beautiful use of white during a scene where one lover kills another and regrets it). It reminds me of how some movies use music that goes against what we're seeing (like playing happy music during a sad or violent moment). That is a cool example of one way that color can be used. Thank you for sharing.
Delete-Tommy kiter
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this movie. It held alot of action and kept listeners to keep watching untill it was the end of the movie.
The Theme of this movie would be, not all people are bad and not all people are good everyone should deserve a second chance. What bambie said it was cool you could stab them without injuring them badly. That to me was pretty cool.
I appreciated this movie by the way the people acted how the action played out. Also, the color It kept me intrested to see the color they have in movies compared to the color we have in movies in the United states. Parts of the movie was sad but then Other parts made it good. I really thought it was a good movie, and i really appreciated it.
What specifically did you notice about the color in this film that is different to how you've seen color used in standard Hollywood films?
Delete-Randi Ralston :3
ReplyDeleteFor me, the theme to this movie was don't judge a book by it's cover. Because even though the king's actions killed thousands of people, nobody knew his true cause was to only bring peace. Everyone judged him as the bad guy when all he was trying to do was stop the fighting in China. Only Broken Sword could see what he was really trying to do. The choice was either to have thousands of people die over time and still have war, or have thousands of people die at the same time and bring peace. Unfortunately, nobody understood that.
I definitely payed more attention to the colour since Josh told us to, and I have to say it was really cool! After Snow and Moon got in that intense fight, the colours were so sweet when the surroundings changed from red to yellow. It was like red was a fighting colour, and yellow was death or something. There were a lot of blue and yellow hues which I thought was cool too :) I also noticed how besides that, most of the movie up until Nameless and Broken Sword died had a kind of greyish tint to it. After they died though, the colours were brighter for some reason. To me at least. I'm not sure what it means, but I just thought it was really weird! o:
Brighter colors after Nameless and Broken Sword die might symbolize that their choice to die brought new life to the world. Just a thought.
DeleteThanks for sharing. My mind is blown by the background on the lake scene. Filmmakers are crazy! But I am glad that we can enjoy the beautiful results of their craziness!
ReplyDeleteChris, be sure to also post about the theme.
ReplyDeleteThis movie was so, so, so uber ridiculously amazingly awesome. Everything about it was just… Wow. It is most definitely my favorite of the Hong Kong films we watched. But, maybe I’m being unintentionally biased, because this film felt extremely Americanized. Maybe I’ve just seen too many American Jet Li movies, but the intensity that was there throughout the whole movie, and also just the style in which it was shot, seemed to have given it a very “Hollywood” type quality. Or, maybe this just comes with the higher budget.
ReplyDeleteThe possible themes of this movie are directly correlated with the colors that are used. For me, the color red in the first scenario symbolized that it was a story of passion. The color blue in the second scenario symbolized that it was a story of honor. The color white in the third scenario (and later on used at the end of Broken Sword and Snow’s story) symbolized that it was a story of nobility. The color green that was used in the story for the first assassination attempt symbolized grace.
The only color I have a hard time deciding on is the black that is used while they are telling the stories. All of those parts had a very somber quality to them. Perhaps, it symbolized death. Either way, one of them was going to die. They both knew it. So yeah, black would give that underlying bleak quality.
I just looked up the meaning of the colors in Chinese culture. And though you can tell I slightly Americanized the ideas behind them all, I wasn’t too far off.
DeletePlease tell me more. What do the colors symbolize in Chinese culture? How does this compare to your original thoughts about the color symbolism?
DeleteAlso, I agree with you that this film feels more Americanized. It's not so intentionally silly like other Hong Kong films. I want to know more about this shift in Hong Kong cinema but suspect it is the result of the popularity of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which gained international acclaim because it was more accessible to Hollywood viewers.
DeleteThe theme of Hero is "necessity". The movie involves Nameless, Flying Snow, Broken Sword, Sky, and the Warlord all have to make rough choices in this movie. All out of NECESSITY! Some of them give up their lives, because they think it's necessary to kill the warlord. Nameless sacrifices his life because he deems it necessary that he even get near the warlord. The warlord makes the necessary choice to be a better, stronger ruler.
ReplyDeleteThe color in this film is so amazing and symbolic! It was eye candy! They were all so vivid told a story within itself! Gah! The color makes me happy. It really drives home good and evil and stuff.
Cool theme. How would you expand it into a theme statement?
DeleteTayia Groesbeck-
ReplyDeleteDid you know This movie is the most expensive Chinese movie to date.
I noticed at the beginning when Nameless first walks into the courtyard and the camera pans back and forth you can clearly see the line of soldiers is only a couple of people deep. You can see daylight between their legs, however when shot is shown from above the fact the entire scene is filled with soldiers would have made this impossible
Cool. I didn't know it was the most expensive Chinese film. It really shows in the quality of the production design and cinematography.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great observation about the trick with the number of soldiers.
Ashton Bowers:
ReplyDeleteI think this movie's theme is about not judging someone mainly by their actions, but mostly by their intentions. but sometimes what you do to get there isnt worth it. The king had a war that killed alot of people but he was just trying to bring them all together.
I noticed that the colors were all different in each story that was told. and how all the trees turned from white to red because someone just died, and at the water fight scene it was a nice peaceful blue because they werent trying to kill eachother just in honor of snow.
I agree with your theme statement and like your analysis of the color.
Delete