Summer 07: Feminist Film Studies

My paper was analytical of Yimou Zhang's body of work in Asian foreign films, two of which I analyzed in-depth, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, released in 2002 and 2004 respectively.

Both films were set in China and cover a great deal of historical content concerning the history of China which serves as a background to the movies and why the events are taking place. For those that have seen these films, you already know that they both deal with assassins, a common theme in Zhang's work, the idea of social tension between state and citizens and how the citizens (assassins) want this change to come about (killing officials). Zhang executes his films by including extensive fight scenes that are interpreted not only as a battle, but as a dance of sorts, something to be marveled at and admired. The director points to scenes that need special attention by slowing time, amplifying sound and changing color schemes, for example, in Hero, the story goes through several revisions each of which take on a different color to help the audience differentiate between one story and the next. Zhang also includes a variety of gazes in his film, as a film would be difficult if it did not have any gazes whatsoever. In his film House of Flying Daggers, however, one character is a blind girl, Mei, who has a displaced gaze for the majority of the film and to show her 'alternate gaze' Zhang has chosen to have the camera follow her hands and listen to sounds to make up for what vision Mei does not have, the audience is able to construct her gaze through what they also feel and hear.

Zhang's use of gender takes an interesting standpoint because all of his soldiers are male while dancers and musicians tend to be of the female gender. One can argue that Zhang has taken a sexist standpoint, but must also realize that, given the historical background in the introduction of the movie, to make soldiers and guards only male and dancers and musicians only female would only be historically accurate--a creative choice on Zhang's behalf to create a 'real' film. Hero sends the audience in an imperialistic direction when the emperor claims he is going to unite the 6 kingdoms and suppress all other rebellious states, later unifying the land through one language and law--thus the reasoning for the assassins to kill the emperor.

Both extremely interesting and beautiful films to watch, I would argue that, though Zhang tries to keep both films historically accurate, there are many decisions besides these that would show the director's creative choices and express his ideas and opinions otherwise.