Assignment

Response Paragraph: Hero vs. "Jing Ke, Assasin"

Deadline: Due in class on January 19, 2005

Format: Typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 points, one paragraph, no more than an A4 page. To be printed out and submitted in class. No emailed assignment will be accepted.

Write a response paragraph in relation to one of the questions below.

Question 1: How is the hero -- archetypal patriot assassin -- portrayed in Hero and in Sima’s narrative? What kind of man is JING?

Question 2: How was the ending interpreted differently and why? Why does the assassin fail (or abandon) his mission?

Question 3: We discussed the concept of "power" and identity in the first week of class. You will remember that the twentieth-century French philosopher Michel Foucault argues that "power is a whole complex of forces; it is that which produces what happens. Thus even a tyrannical aristocrat does not simply wield power, for he is empowered by discourses and practices that amount to power." After watching Hero, what do you think would be the discourses and practices that the Emperor (and incidentally Broken Sword) employs to establish the argument of absolute power for the king? Why is it unacceptable to kill a king, even when the king is a tyrant, according to the film?

Question 4: Can you detect any overall “agenda” in Sima’s supposed objective narrative and in Zhang’s cinematic interpretation of this intriguing case of the assassin and the emperor?

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