Hero, Hero, Where Are You?

Abstract

This paper tries to elaborate the rhetoric differences concerning all under heaven (天下)between the two sides, the story teller of the movie, Hero, and the Chinese who adores wisdom, virtue, and goodwill. The ”Hero” uses wars in his realization of the unification of all under heaven; the mist (儒家) and daoist (道家), on the other hand, value love and peace. As the movie reveals, the king of Qin is a hero because of the Enthymeme-unification of all under heaven (天下). In order to persuade the audience, the Hero movie tries to embody all three of Aristotle's differentia of persuasion-s-ethos (practical wisdom, virtue, and goodwill), pathos (emotional appeal), and logos (reasoning). However, it is argued that the king is not qualified as a hero because of his missing virtue, lack of wisdom, and good will. In conclusion, the rhetoric of Hero is superficial in that the ”hero” has nothing to say except for unification of all under the heaven, and is without moral substance because there's no good will toward its targeted audience.