Contemplating Hero. Wuxia or worse?

Zhang Yimou’s Hero and the Globalization of Propaganda by Mark Harrison was published online for a website called "Wordpress". In the article he compares Hero to and earlier Wuxia film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but immediately points out that there is a lack of propaganda in the film. He says that Hero almost merges Chinese cinema with Hollywood cinema using all sorts of creative effects to propagandize the story in the film.

Contrasting with the muted, earthy colours of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,
Hero’s imagery does indeed a deliver a stunning looking film, wholly
unrestrained in its use of saturated colour and dramatic visual forms in ways
which few films have had the audacity to attempt. Its fight sequences are
spectacularly choreographed and staged, wielding colour, form and movement with
virtuosic skill. The cast, too, is beautiful, and A-list Chinese - Zhang Ziyi,
Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung and Jet Li.
At the same time, the film has no real
plot and no character development and its dialogue is made up of declarations of
fortune-cookie clichés. This points to empty spectacle, to a Chinese version of
the worst excesses of high-concept Hollywood cinema. However, Hero is far more
than an empty exercise in visual technology and marketing.

Zhang Yimou

Zhang Yimou is a director who uses a lot of historical context in his films. As seen in Hero, the fight between the emperors eventually leads to the building of the Great Wall. Yimou attempts to depict important events in his films. Also, as one can see, Yimou's work tends to focus on Chinese culture. It doesn't seem as though he has worked on anything but films that deal with Chinese culture. Yimou is also a fifth generation Chinese filmmaker. Finally, as seen in this article, Yimou has various achievements he has reached. One of his most recent films that has been see in the United States is House of Flying Daggers.

Yimou, a woman's man

I found this article on the IMDiversity website. The author of this article is Lynda Lin and she is giving us an overview of her interview with Yimou. The most interesting concept of this article is the fact that Lin discusses Yimou and women. According to Lin, before Hero's success, Yimou was known as a "female director," because of the women he casts in his film. I thought it was humorous that the author refers to these women as "muses."
Aside from disussing Yimou's choice of women, Lin gives a brief filmography as well as touches upon film marketing and what that means to a director and Yimou's success as a director.
In general, I found it to be very interesting and insightful. Here are a few quotes

He picks his muses carefully and then has an extended love affair with his muses by framing them exquisitely in all his films.

Returning to the discussion on his affinity to film women, he says: “I’m always interested in female stories. Maybe it’s because it’s very easy for me to capture female depression and how they fight adversity.”

Zhang Yimou: Curse of the Golden Flower

Curse of the Golden Flower is one of Zhang Yimou's most recent films and is one of the most expensive in Chinese cinema history. As with all of his previous films, Curse of the Golden Flower goes back into Chinese history, specifically to the 10th century. Zhang Yimou once again makes use of brilliant color and swordfights to ensure the success of this film. Yet, unlike the film Hero, he avoids involving China's political struggles. The link that I have provided will give you some more interesting information and opinions of the film provided by Wesley Morris. The clip below is a trailer of the film which really displays some of the great directing by Zhang Yimou.

The New York Times tells all on Zhang Yimou

I am providing a link to the Arts section in New York Times which is devoted to Zhang Yimou. This article includes a biography, filmography and an awards section. According to the article Yimou is a huge successful director within the Chinese film industry. We find out about where he was born and what his childhood was like and more importanly how he became a successful director. Within, the filmography section we find out that over the years he has not only directed, but he has also done screen writing, producing, and in the film Keep Cool he has also done some acting.

While this is the main page, the same page provides further links to more detailed versions of his filmography, biography and awards section.

House of Flying Daggers

In the article that I found, the director of Hero, Zhang Yimou, gives an interview on his latest film, House of Flying Daggers. Also in this interview Yimou answers questions pertaining to the censorship and criticism that he has faced for making many of the movies he is known for. With the People's Revolution, Chinese film directors have faced censorship by the governement, therefore restricting what they can show in Chinese culture. Many films are now more marketed towards Western audiences. Another point that he makes is how the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon affected the success of his films. Yimou also answers the question as to why his films usually feature strong female leads.

Your films always feature strong female leads.
Yimou:The feudal system that has existed in China for 2000 years is very suppressing to women, and so it is very interesting to see a woman who tries to break the mould. And the women in my films often personify a deeper allegorical meaning.