The Wuxia Films of Zhang Yimou: A Genre in Transit

Abstract

Kinane’s chapter examines the role of the modern xia warrior as a figure of change and transition both within the historical continuum of the wuxia genre itself, and as a harbinger of cinematic transnationalism in the twenty-first century. In particular, Kinane analyses three wuxia films by Zhang Yimou which have successfully transitioned from the Asian market to an international audience: Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). Kinane suggests that the successful—and commercially profitable—assimilation of the distinctly Eastern Wuxia genre into the cinematic landscape of the West is representative of the rejection of certain Western political values: by embracing the xia as a liminal figure, a figure of political resistance, the Wuxia genre offers itself as a transitional platform for anti-hegemonic thought and cultural change to a disillusioned and increasingly dissenting Western world.