I much preferred Hero over House of Flying Daggers. Both were gorgeously filmed and art directed but the love story in House was too much for me. A friend at work pointed out that there was a love story in Hero as well. But there was a huge difference between that love story and the one in House.
Thanks. I agree. Nice to see I'm not alone in that. And that is the reason I preferred Hero as real.
The love story in Hero was more of a subplot, so understated, and yet in my opinion more real. More emotionally gut-wrenching. I cried for that love story in Hero. I laughed at the one in House, which was an odd reaction I know. My difficulty with the one in House was it played on so many of the romantic cliches - "I'll kill you before I'll let you be with him." Come on. If you really loved her, you'd just be happy she was alive. OR - "we can't ever be together because we are on opposite sides and I owe my ex-lover for saving my life." Then of course - they all keep popping up again after we think they've died. I liked the twists in House, but the love story didn't work for me - I rolled my eyes during it. In Hero, the love story was between the two assasines who'd spent their lives together, who were literally husband and wife - their conflict wasn't something so cliche as another lover - that was the mislead, in fact in Hero they scoff at the idea that either assassin would be so petty as to fall victim to jealousy - their love was more trusting and adult. No the conflict between them was their beliefs or ideology. One believed they needed to kill the Emperor for both vengeance and the sake of their country, the other took a more pacisfist approach and believed killing the Emperor would just make it worse and it was better to spare him.
It's interesting because some people prefer House because it doesn't have the ideology Hero did. Their main problem with Hero was the ideology (just like so many people disliked The Incredibles because of ideology - it rubbed them the wrong way.) The whole plot in Hero about how you shouldn't kill the Emperor because he is uniting the country - even if he is doing it violently. The ideology of Hero turned them completely off, (I think because the Emperor uniting the country with violence bore too close a resemblance in their minds of other more recent and equally nasty dictators and any movie that showed support of that as being mildly a good thing was anathema. ie. It hit a raw wound..) - they disliked the movie because of it's politics.
I guess I'm odd, because the ideology of Hero really didn't bother me that much. Don't get me wrong - I'd hate that message if I saw it in the film, but I didn't. I did not read the film in the same way they did. To me - the message was violence does not stop violence. Killing the Emperor will not solve the problem, it will just make it worse. If we don't kill the Emperor and show the Emperor that violence is not necessary to accomplish a task by our actions - then perhaps he will figure it out. It is a risk, but it is not as bad as killing him - only to have someone as bad or worse taking his spot. All we can do is let our actions be our example. If we choose violence than we justify his actions, if we choose peace, we don't. That was the message I saw in Hero. I did not see and still don't see the message others saw, including many critics, that it was a propaganda film about how bringing the country together for the good of all is the most important thing no matter the cost. I also did not appreciate people scolding me for not seeing that message and telling me that I was wrong and they were right. And making me feel guilty for liking a movie and not seeing the facist propaganda that they did. (sorry for the off-topic there..., but seeing House again reminded me of that argument.)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2005-01-09 07:15 am (UTC)Thanks. I agree. Nice to see I'm not alone in that. And that is the reason I preferred Hero as real.
The love story in Hero was more of a subplot, so understated, and yet in my opinion more real. More emotionally gut-wrenching. I cried for that love story in Hero. I laughed at the one in House, which was an odd reaction I know. My difficulty with the one in House was it played on so many of the romantic cliches - "I'll kill you before I'll let you be with him." Come on. If you really loved her, you'd just be happy she was alive. OR - "we can't ever be together because we are on opposite sides and I owe my ex-lover for saving my life." Then of course - they all keep popping up again after we think they've died. I liked the twists in House, but the love story didn't work for me - I rolled my eyes during it. In Hero, the love story was between the two assasines who'd spent their lives together, who were literally husband and wife - their conflict wasn't something so cliche as another lover - that was the mislead, in fact in Hero they scoff at the idea that either assassin would be so petty as to fall victim to jealousy - their love was more trusting and adult. No the conflict between them was their beliefs or ideology. One believed they needed to kill the Emperor for both vengeance and the sake of their country, the other took a more pacisfist approach and believed killing the Emperor would just make it worse and it was better to spare him.
It's interesting because some people prefer House because it doesn't have the ideology Hero did. Their main problem with Hero was the ideology (just like so many people disliked The Incredibles because of ideology - it rubbed them the wrong way.) The whole plot in Hero about how you shouldn't kill the Emperor because he is uniting the country - even if he is doing it violently. The ideology of Hero turned them completely off, (I think because the Emperor uniting the country with violence bore too close a resemblance in their minds of other more recent and equally nasty dictators and any movie that showed support of that as being mildly a good thing was anathema. ie. It hit a raw wound..) - they disliked the movie because of it's politics.
I guess I'm odd, because the ideology of Hero really didn't bother me that much. Don't get me wrong - I'd hate that message if I saw it in the film, but I didn't. I did not read the film in the same way they did. To me - the message was violence does not stop violence. Killing the Emperor will not solve the problem, it will just make it worse. If we don't kill the Emperor and show the Emperor that violence is not necessary to accomplish a task by our actions - then perhaps he will figure it out. It is a risk, but it is not as bad as killing him - only to have someone as bad or worse taking his spot. All we can do is let our actions be our example. If we choose violence than we justify his actions, if we choose peace, we don't. That was the message I saw in Hero. I did not see and still don't see the message others saw, including many critics, that it was a propaganda film about how bringing the country together for the good of all is the most important thing no matter the cost. I also did not appreciate people scolding me for not seeing that message and telling me that I was wrong and they were right. And making me feel guilty for liking a movie and not seeing the facist propaganda that they did. (sorry for the off-topic there..., but seeing House again reminded me of that argument.)