The film Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou and released in 2002, is
widely regarded as the first globally successful indigenous Chinese
blockbuster. A big expensive film with multiple stars, spectacular
scenery, and astonishing action sequences, it touched on key
questions of Chinese culture, nation and politics, and was both a
domestic sensation and an international hit. This book explores the
reasons for the film's popularity with its audiences, discussing
the factors which so resonated with those who watched the film. It
examines questions such as Chinese national unity, the search for
cultural identity and role models from China's illustrious
pre-communist past, and the portrayal of political and aesthetic
values, and attitudes to gender, sex, love, and violence which are
relatively new to China. The book demonstrates how the film, and
China's growing film industry more generally, have in fact very
strong international connections, with Western as well as Chinese
financing, stars recruited from the East Asian region more widely,
and extensive interactions between Hollywood and Asian artists and
technicians. Overall, the book provides fascinating insights into
recent developments in Chinese society, popular culture and
cultural production.
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