Message from jpena

[Anonymous]

Even though many history teachers shy away from playing Hollywood films about historical topics in their classrooms, I have found that some Hollywood films, though they may be historically inaccurate, may still be able to help students understand important historical themes and basic concepts while still keeping them entertained and engaged. Take for instance the film “The Last Samurai” starring Tom Cruise. So many educators have rightly criticized the film for its historical inaccuracies. However, certain scenes in the film are able to vividly show the Japanese values of bushido and the honor/ shame culture that pervaded a samurai society.

I am of the opinion that we should not censor a Hollywood film for its failure to be 100% historically accurate if it can highlight key themes or ideas of historical relevance.

I have used the movie Hero starring Jet Li to engage students in a discussion of the policies of unification undertaken by emperor Qin. There are a several scenes in the film that present students with emperor Qin’s arguments for unification while also raising counter-arguments to emperor Qin’s expansionist policies. In the film, the emperor confesses to the protagonist, Jet Li, that the attack on the province of Zhou was just the beginning of his military campaign. The emperor confesses his desire to conquer all the neighboring lands. The emperor shares his disgust for the diversity in languages within the land and his abhorrence for the diversity in weights and measures across the provinces. He feels all this local variation is illogical and problematic to his desire for unification. The film also raises the issues of loss of identity and assimilation. The destruction of the calligraphy school in this movie demonstrates the destruction of local culture at the hands of a powerful military-bureaucratic regime bent on unification.

Students and teachers can use this film to talk about the pros and cons of unification policies as well as the pros and cons of identity and assimilation.
The discussion of unification raised by this film can be tied to the construction project of the Great Wall of China under the Qin dynasty as well.

I recommend educators use a DVD version of the film to play selected scenes that raise important topics for historical discussion.

On a side note, I have also used specific scenes in “Hero” when teaching students about Chinese calligraphy (a 7th grade standard). The connection between sword play and the art of calligraphy is beautifully portrayed in this film.