The Heroic Cinema Traditions - Movie Review Example

Introduction The heroic cinema traditions within East Asian cultures tend to bring out altruism of society members in a bid to protect their cultures, their territories and in a way to introduce a “new” way of life or approach to their common/historic atrocities. Based on their cultural enrichment of martial arts, they take it to be the source of leadership, they way or a virtue to be emulated by the majority of the society members who value their culture, and/or would love to have certain sentiments in their life or of their descendants be cultured or remembered. They later form the leadership tables in the kingdoms and dynasties, regarded as heroes, master’s, kings and so forth , but do these titles come with social, economic, cultural or political obligation to the beholder? In other words, what is the role of social relationships and other human interactions and how do the titleholders or the leaders approach the sometimes-conflicting obligations that come with the titles? William Deresiewicz’s ideas on leadership and the sacrifices that one has to make in order to change the position he is in and/or change the society’s perception over a phenomenon can is an analytical tool to evaluate the heroic traditions in these films. In addition, by evaluating the role of social relationships and their sometimes conflicting obligations will help us understand the real cost of heroism and the consequences involved in case the hero/the leader misses a point in his words or actions (Finch, 2). For instance, in Seven Samurai, the conflict of the chief and the village elder on their social/security obligation to defend the farming village creates a row between the residents of the village on the best strategy to apply. Deresiewicz’s view on the kind of leadership that the society requires is based on solitude and independent thought, which may not favor every party in a particular setting. For instance, the chief decides to spare marauding bandits until the harvest because he had attacked the mountain before while on the other hand the village elder declares they must find a samurai to protect the village (Seven Samurai Video). Each of the decision had the better part of it and repercussion but which one was more prudent, timely and comprehensive from a leader to his fellow followers? The role of social relationships and the sometimes conflicting obligations will take preference in this case in that for the village elder’s decision to find hungry samurai since they have nothing to offer but food, which is about to be destroyed by the bandits. Deresiewicz’s view on the other hand, would term the whole process as bureaucratic and time wasting as the villagers take time to find samurai to protect their village, with which these villagers could have taken the initiative of protecting their village and more so their livelihood. To this point I will agree with Deresiewicz’s view on the timely management and/or offering a solution/change to a problem that has a long term effects to the society than following the procedures and the rules set by the society. Despite the social relationships have a personal touch and a sense of society’s continuity; the conflicting obligations coupled with lengthy bureaucratic procedures have adverse effects especially on sensitive matters such as security and warfare. For instance, all of the seven samurai die in the battlefield with the bandits and even Kyuzo, the hero, dies in the process. This could have been comprehensively dealt with by the villagers to triumph without risking the lives of seven samurai; necessitating the need of independence in the way we think and approach issues in our lives. According to Deresiewicz, a leader is one who can think for themselves and formulate a new direction for their country, college or the people they serve, and this can only be achieved if we can indulge ourselves in creative thinking and cultivating independence of mind. The role of social relationships on the other hand, would call for interactive session, which to some extent according to Deresiewicz would conflict with the requirements to nurture leadership in individuals. For instance in the Hero film, the independent thoughts by Nameless of lying to the King of Qin that he had killed Long Sky (Hero Video), who had attempted to assassinate the king on several occasions, shows the importance of independence thoughts no matter how weird they are. Deresiewicz argues that to be a thinker one is motivated by courage, which he categorizes it into physical and moral courage in a bid to gather confidence on what one does or what one believes in to a point that he/she can consequently stand by (Deresiewicz, 24). For instance in the film, Sword gathers confidence to justify his failed assassination mission by standing by the stand that the only way to achieve peace was to unite the states under a common dynasty. At this point, the role of social relations will take preference but the conflict associated with obligations s witnessed when the king orders Nameless’ execution after Sword was killed by Snow. Intellectually, the king applied Deresiewicz’s view on the Nameless’ execution in a bid to unify the world, and despite Nameless’ heroic burial, sacrifices that have to be made by leaders irrespective of social relations are sometimes weird but they must give a new direction to their people. To this point I concur with Deresiewicz’s view on the importance of the courage required by the leaders in a bid to formulate new directions to their people and the social relations and the sometimes conflicting obligations in a bid to match the interest of their followers and maintain the group’s image or adherence to the set standards. The aspect of heroism and the sacrifices/challenges that come along facing leadership is demonstrated in this film with which can be applied in the real political and economic phenomenon. Social relationships are characterized by cohesiveness of the society members, loyalty and honor to their leaders with which they expect policies by these leaders which would promote the peaceful coexistence within themselves and the neighbors in return and material prosperity of the people (Hillier, 2). The application of this can be found within one-self irrespective of loyalty and honor they have for their leaders in that for material prosperity one has to be his own leader by finding his/her reality and personal worth. Deresiewicz argues that for leadership to be perfectly transferred in the society one has to find his own reality by deeply thinking on his/her potential and trying to apply it in the physical world. For instance, in the film Battle of warriors, Ge Li, a mohist, comes to liang to help defend the city without the permission from the mohist leaders, which from Deresiewicz’s point of view it was acts of altruism which were encouraged by realization of his potential. I agree with him more so based on the fact that Ge Li he helped save the city of Liang from Zhao army and on the social responsibilities and the conflict of obligations as Ge Li becomes the hero despite the atrocities he faced alone in a bid to protect the city. However, the consequences of the relationships and the conflict of obligations is witnessed when the king asks Ge Li to take him hostage in a bid to buy time for him to escape but unfortunately he gets killed with the same arrows he had triumphed the Zhao army with (Battle of Warriors Video). From my opinion this rules out the appropriateness of decisions made by leaders in to protect their own countrymen thus crediting Deresiewicz’s approach of self- reality in a bid to pursue one’s destiny. Conclusion Leadership is a complex phenomenon in the society and calls for sacrifices by individuals which according to Deresiewicz may involve much of solitude and not to be confused with introspection. Morality, mortality and honor on the other hand help to guide our social interactions which at times may involve weird decisions by our leaders or within ourselves which are unavoidable in some instances. Works Cited Hero. Dir. Zahng Yimou. Miramax Films. 2002. DVD Battle of Warriors. Dir. Jacob Cheung. Sundream Motion Picture. 2006. DVD Seven Samurai. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Columbia Pictures. 1954. DVD Deresiewicz, William. "Solitude and leadership." The American Scholar (2010): 20-31.Print Read More