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Running head: THEATER 220 FINAL PAPER 1

Theater 220 Final Paper

This paper is a discussion on the film Hero, originally titled Ying Xiong, to find an

overarching idea or theme. Hero is a movie brought into the United States primarily through the

efforts of Quentin Tarantino. This movie was originally filmed and debuted in China in 2002,

and August of 2004 for the United States. This film is about a man, in the time before china was

united into one country who in the guise of a loyal citizen of Qin is able to approach the king due

to his defeating and killing three of the most prominent assassins who are trying to kill the king

of Qin. This film is a representation of the theme of how a single idea or ideal is more powerful

than a single person, the ability to no matter their background or agenda change even the most

sacred and core beliefs of a person.

The main protagonists name is ironically Nameless; he is a member of the enemy

kingdom of Zhao and is an assassin who has found a way to get close to the king of Qin to

finally exact the revenge he has been searching for, for the last 10 years. He is able to get close to

the king of Qin by killing the three most skilled and prominent assassins that have been trying to

kill king. The assassins Sky, Snow, and Broken Sword, were overcome by what they saw in

Nameless. Nameless was able to demonstrate that he had a technique that if used within 10 paces

of a person could not be blocked and was surgically precise, guaranteeing that the person would

die, because of this demonstration they faked their deaths so that he may get close to the king.

Throughout the film it becomes apparent that Nameless has devoted the majority of his

life to exacting revenge upon the king of Qin for killing his family. This desire for revenge is so

strong he trains for 10 years to develop the means to remove a tyrant and a mass murder in

Namelesss eyes. The movie is a series of flashbacks and stories as Nameless recounts his tale to

the king of Qin on how he defeats the other assassins. Further into the movie the king realized

that Namless is an assassin sent to kill him, in one scene in particular this king asks nameless

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why he chose Broken Sword to write the calligraphic symbol for sword. Nameless replies that

the 20th

variation of sword would show where his martial artist skill originates from. The king

proclaims that it is no wonder people cannot communicate if there are at least 20 variations on a

single word. This begins to show what the king of Qin would like to do with the surrounding

lands by uniting them he can determine the language and all facets of life. Eliminating or trying

to eliminate the hostilities that continue in abundance at that time.

In the final sequence of the film the king asks Nameless what Broken Swords last words

were. Nameless replies that Broken Sword did not in fact want Nameless to assassinate the king

because of what the king of Qin was trying to accomplish and he believed that he was capable of

achieving such a large goal. He wanted to unite all the surround lands to stop the fighting and

have everyone united under a single ruler with a unified language and structure. This pursuit of

unification had already caused a great many deaths and would cause a great many more, however

it would be less deaths overall. Once the king heard this he stood up and gave his sword to

Nameless and told him he would welcome his death and would not fear it because a man like

Broken Sword was able to see his true intent, he did not want to be a tyrant he simply wanted all

the killing and the useless squabbling to end so that a period of peace and stability could reign.

As Nameless takes the sword from the king and moves to kill him, he remembers Broken Sword

telling him one final idea. Our land. This final plea is what stayed the hand of Nameless

allowing the king to live even though he desperately wanted to take his revenge he realized that

the pain of a single individual does not compare to the pain of the many.

Hero is a complex movie, at first it seems as though it is just an amazing martial arts

movie about the assassination of a ruthless king, once you look past this you find that it

represents how even the smallest simplest idea can have dramatic effects on a person. The idea

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of having a land that is unified is more important that Namelesss, Skys, Snows, or Broken

Swords pain.