Virtuality, Nationalism, and Globalization in Zhang's Hero.

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  • Author(s): Zhu, Ping1
  • Source:
    CLCWeb: Comparative Literature & Culture: A Web Journal. Jun2013, Vol. 15 Issue 2, preceding p1-9. 10p.
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
      Chinese martial arts; Martial arts in motion pictures; Zhang, Yimou, 1951-; Spatiotemporal processes; Narratives; September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001
    • Abstract:
      In her article "Virtuality, Nationalism, and Globalization in Zhang's Hero" Ping Zhu examines how Yimou Zhang's martial arts film dislodges the historical tale from its spatiotemporal context by creating virtual images, characters, narratives, and ideologies, and presents the virtual idea of tianxia (天下) (all under heaven) as an active mode of participation in the virtual global. Amidst the surge of virtuality in its cinematic space, with Hero Zhang aims to eclipse the national by a higher order: a homogenizing and harmonizing order that originates in traditional Chinese culture and that is compatible with the post-9/11 world order. However, Zhu argues that in the film the homogenizing global force is ruptured by local culture, history, and politics and creates more disjuncture and difference at the level of the local. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]