Significance of Colors: Hero

"Hero" Mandarin (2002)

Directed by: Zhang Yimou

Cinematography: Christopher Doyle

Production Design: Tingxiao Huo & Zhenzhou Yi

Costume Design: Emi Wada

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Zhang Yimou's Chinese wuxia film, Hero is the retelling of Jing Ke's failed assassination attempt on the King of Qin in 227 BC. To be honest, I have not seen any film as visually dazzling and breathtaking as this one! The film is set at such a big and opulent scale that leaves you mesmerized by its hypnotic beauty.

The film follows the Rashomon effect by narrating multiple versions of the same event and each narrative is assigned a symbolic color. In the very beginning of the film, Nameless approaches the King of Qin and narrates the story of how he managed to defeat the king’s indomitable enemies named Flying Snow and Broken Sword. The palace is drenched in blacks right from the interiors to the costumes of the soldiers and the king himself. Black symbolizes the cold bloodiness of the King’s empire and his loneliness.

In the first version of the story, Nameless narrates the love story of Broken sword and Flying snow who are now torn apart by jealousy. This version is an emotional world painted in red symbolizing love, passion, and jealousy which leads to their destruction. In the next version, Flying snow and Broken sword are calm-minded, far from the feelings of jealousy and hate. Their decisions reflect peace and tranquility. This world is represented by calming blues that reflect courage and serenity.

The color green is used to depict flashbacks, which mark the birth of love between Snow and Broken Sword as they dream to live a beautiful life after fulfillment of their mission to kill the King. Green also marks a new life of the King when Broken Sword undergoes a change of heart and decides to forgive the King for a greater good. Finally, the color white is a metaphor and it marks the turning point of the nation, It stands for forgiveness and a victory of peace over hate, for the bigger ideas of a unified nation.

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Written by

Muskan Sharma & Moksh Jindal