I have just seen Hero. Count me wow-ed.

[permetaform]

DUDE. I've squee'd about this movie when I first saw the trailer.

I am SO GOING TO VID THIS. yes. I've already started plotting it.

I just need a song...and I know I'm going what seems like ass-backwards in choosing source and reason *before* the song but.

I think I did that for practically every vid I've currently made/am making...the source and a connecting idea that I want to express through a vid has to be in place while I'm choosing the song, even though the song itself dictates the structure of the vid. It's like the Zeroth Law for me or something.

Anyways, I *loved* Hero. I loved the magical realism, the historical opera (complete with greek chorus!), the legend and the mythology of it, the Nameless Citizen and the Son of Heaven. The translations were fairly good even though it still missed the boat impact-wise, some nice wire-work, very neat motion and storytelling.

Speaking of which, dude, the *colors*. Neat stuff with the storytelling, it very much seems as if it's 'tinted' world views...literally, POV's made visual.

for instance:
black-white-gray-yellow = outsider POV, objective POV, 'truth' POV
red = Nameless' POV
blue = Emperor's POV
green = Broken Swords' POV

This says interesting things about the story told at the moment, when taken in context of the whole story with Nameless as Every Man ie. Average Joe and the issues of People = Country. What is Our Land if not the sum of the people?

Who is trying to kill the emperor if not the People (the Country) themselves?

Supposing that hypothesis is true (take all these words as argument and discussion, not any statement of fact), then the scenes in red is Nameless' view of the country as affected by the Emperor...it's his 'truth', it's the story he tells, the story he *repeats* (ie. gossip/hearsay), there is blood imagery, the people are turned against one another, there's the students and the *truth* that remains whole in the midst of the battle, and with the camera shots (the turning hallways) and imagery (washes of red, hair in disarray) implying anger/chaos. This view is of a country, of a people, turned against one another, being torn apart and ridden with hate. The red view is raw, close; it's the People of China, and everyone dies (because of the emperor).

Then we have blue; as cool and distant as an emperor is by default to his people, bloodless, sanctified, deified, Heaven's Son. We have the emperor's view of a melodrama of a romance, of a people that makes sacrifices for each other and for a greater good, swords that lie together, hair that's perfecly in place, a fight on water that is more honor and dance than it is about fury and hatred and actual intent to kill. Even though he knows these people are trying to kill him, there is the sense of admiration, respect, this is a country and a people that is loved by the man who is trying to unite them. There is no blood. The killings done in blue never show up on the clothes, whereas the killings in the red POV bleeds into *everything* and the killings in the black/white/grey just turns brown and is isolated or is cut away/ignored/moved beyond. Death is a necessary component of the blue POV, but it's graceful instead of awkward (compare them to those of the red death scenes), and there's always renewal and rebirth lingering around the corner (water, the fake fight, the fact that two lives on). Blue is heaven.

Then we have green; it's cool, but glowing. It's *change* and Broken Sword's intent to change, intent for growth, for betterment of himself and his country. It's him and her finding each other (in blue, blessings of heaven?), them growing together in and through the sand (the cradle of china), it's him and her in green fighting through this sea of black and grey and red to get to the emperor, and they're there, in this sea of change, in this hall of green, and...then Broken Sword *realizes* and all his dreams come crashing down, like the green (curtains torn down by the emperor himself), because he *realizes* and he *can't* kill the emperor, but this destroys the change that he thought he was making and the goal that he thought he was working towards. This is hope, this is change, this is the dream that both Broken Sword and the Emperor share, and during the battle between them, Broken Sword finally recognizes that they share the dream. Death, the country's and the people's, does not exist in the green POV. (faceless military don't count, don'tcha know ;) ) And so green is a sort of hope and a peace.

And yellow is the land, is the origin, and the black and white and grey is the truth, is an ending, is *uncolored* by people's views. It's stark and, yes, Sky was killed in the first act as assuredly as if he'd actually died, the 'parents' die (the old view?) but the child lives on. And Nameless exits in red, Middle Kingdom's colors, bright against the black, Nameless because he is every name, faceless because he is every face...and he is a hero.

God, I need icons.

~

A historical note (that may help with understanding these wacky chinese historical operas): You know that sandy/hilly area that's shown a lot? That's the Yellow river basin aka. the cradle of Chinese culture aka. the birthplace of the soul of the country. (more info here)

~

And! bangles has made a vid of the movie already, to E.S. Posthumus' Ebla! It's available [here], and makes great use of movement and reaction shots and is editied beautifully to the music and uses the colors *wonderfully*.

~

[edit] More meta! (spoilers!)

guede_mazaka discusses the history of it in the comments here.

sockkpuppett discusses her reaction here.

Any more out there? ::pokeity::

~

[edit2] Just got off the phone with my mom chatting and ravind about Hero. Pretty much went over everything discussed but she commented that apparently the movie caused a lot of controversy in China, because it gave a more sympathetic view of the book-burning emperor. Heh, that's POV for you.

[]

Happy Birthday aesc, aetherius, akioohtori, courtney_beth, and isiscolo! May your years be filled with color!

Comments

[permetaform]

clarification:

...the emperor has no perspective.

I more specifically meant that he has no perspective on the average people.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Okay, you've convinced me :-) Like you say, the end result of what we're thinking isn't all that different.