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 threewuxia 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.