Taoism in “Hero”

Zhang Yimou’s film “Hero” is a Chinese martial arts work depicting events surrounding

an assassination attempt on the King of Qin. Having been given permission to approach the

King, a character only known as Nameless gives an account of how he defeated three other

assassins. No one else was able to rid the kingdom of these assassins before, so the King lived in

constant fear of getting killed. So, permission to approach the throne would be given to

whomever killed these assassins as a great honor and reward. Nameless uses this to his

advantage to make his assassination attempt. But after Nameless finishes telling his tale. the

King reasons that Nameless is lying and slowly uncovers the truth.

The greatest tip-off to the King was the lie about Broken Sword and Flying Snow’s acting

out of jealousy. He explains that when he saw the two of them attempting to kill him, he knew

they had a great bond and could not have any other affairs. The representation of lies seems to

be greatly tied up with how people deal with feelings, as actions will follow the feelings of the

person. In Nameless’ made-up story, there’s a sequence in which feelings of loss and grief

makes two characters act in very different ways. Zhang employs color shifts and the framing of

two opposing characters to portray contrasting Taoism’s tenants of the flow of nature and the

nature of a person’s actions in regards to one’s feelings.

The two characters in this sequence are Flying Snow and the assistant of Broken Sword,

Moon. In Nameless’ lie, Snow is said to have secret feelings for another character, so Broken

Sword becomes jealous and has sex with Moon to spite Snow. Snow then kills Broken Sword,

but still feels grief afterwards. The sequence in which Snow and Moon fight happens during the

day amongst a grove of trees, with many orange leaves on the ground.
 As the sequence unfolds, both are feeling grief but show it in different ways according to

how the camera angles work together. When Snow is first attacked by Moon, Snow jumps and

is seen from a low angle, twisting out of harm’s way. This shot characterizes her self-perception

of superiority over Snow, symbolizing her confidence in her strength. She has power and

control over her situation, as she feels it is unnecessary to fight against Moon and thus doesn’t

have anything to prove to herself in regards to Moon. But in her desire to not bother with

Moon, it also characterizes her despondency. She feels out of sorts for killing the man that she

cared deeply for, as she is not able to reconcile her conflicting feelings. Furthermore, acting out

on her anger towards Broken Sword did not give her any satisfaction. So, in trying to deal with

herself in relation to her feelings, her actions coupled with the low camera angle transforms

Snow’s emotional state from powerful to being unfulfilled.

Not long after, the different camera angles create tension to establish the opposition

they have with each other. Moon’s incessant attacks are represented by a number of low

camera angles with varying close-up, medium, and long shots. The low camera angles on Moon

here reflects her dual despair and anger. Seen from below, she appears more imposing and

passionate in her fierce anger to harm and exact revenge on Snow. In this small chase, Moon is

shown with multiple medium shots interspersed with a closeup and a long shot, then once

again with a close-up. Varying the shot lengths on Moon gives the impression of a back and

forth movement, one urged on by great passion. A teaching of Taoism is that a person should

act in accordance to nature, or that one should not act with intention. Whereas the shots

portray a natural order of things of going back and forth, it is juxtaposed to Moon’s

singlemindedness to kill.
 One high angle on Moon reveals the problem she has in killing Snow. The high angle has

Moon reaching up with her dual blades, but is unable to hit Snow who has ducked underneath

the blades. This angle emphasizes Moon’s powerlessness to get what she wants by the sword,

characterizing the ineffectiveness of the sword as an instrument to obtain desire. Furthermore,

the image of the sword here actually reveals the hollowness of what Moon wants, as Snow’s

death would not give any fulfillment to Moon.

Their opposing goals and ideals clash visually in the Dutch angle when Snow decides to

stand her ground. This jarring angle shows Moon falling towards Snow with her sword in front

of her, while Snow stands still underneath her. Since Snow is now standing still, her character is

more foreboding. Her standing still indicates that she is changing her tactics of just avoiding

Moon, thinking of what she will do next. The Dutch angle indicates an emotional instability in

Snow, hinting that she will now start acting out of passion instead of disinterest.

Coupled with the fact that this angle is unnatural, it relates to the themes of Taoism by

acting out of passion rather than following tenants of acting without intention. Also, it reveals

the concept of duality in Moon’s backdrop of the sky in contrast to Snow’s background of the

ground. Just as the sky and earth are vastly different, so also are the fighting women. The sky is

open and ethereal while earth is substantial and solid; Moon is vocal and aggressive, while

Snow is tepid and quiet. Despite all these differences, the one element that is shared in the sky

and on the ground are leaves. The women are also greatly tied together in their fight as they

both have grief over Broken Sword’s death, and they could only fight now because of past

actions of the other. Their existence in this duel can only come about because of the other, just

like the Taoist idea of existence arising from the combination of opposites.
 Snow draws her sword and repulses Moon’s downward attack with a gust of air, sending

Moon away landing on the ground. When Moon lands on the ground, the camera tilts up from

her feet. Soon after, the camera pans to follow Snow leaping over Moon. These two shots

embody the continued duality of the pair. Tilting the camera up as Moon stumbles away

suggests a time of reflection, a certain shift in attitude. The action reflects how a person would

look up to consider something new. It also somehow demands attention to the movement of

her feet, since the tilt begins with a closeup of her feet and tilts up to include her body. This tilt

highlights the difference in Moon’s situation, particularly in her instability in dealing with

Snow’s change. Power shifts from the aggressor to the assaulted.

The vast difference in their power is expressed in the camera pan following Snow’s leap

over Moon. Snow’s fighting style incorporates wind attacks when she swings her sword,

scattering leaves at the same time. She embodies control over the situation as the pan follows

her actions, and the whole shot depends on where she goes. Especially as she can repel Moon’s

attacks with the wind alone. Furthermore, the image of the leaves at this part obscures Moon,

blocking her from view and diminishing her importance in the shot. The power no longer

resides in the aggressor but the cool and collected character.

As mentioned before, the image of the sword exposes an inadequacy in achieving desire

but reveals more when contrasted to the image of leaves. With her wind attacks, Snow sends

many leaves flying through the air to repel Moon’s attacks. Leaves are transformed to a type of

weapon, one of obscuring the efforts of the opponent but especially showing the transitory

nature of swords. Weapons are a reflection of the wielder’s desires, only a shadow of a

person’s real desires.