HISTORY, LEGEND OR FANTASY. FILM PORTRAYALS OF THE FIRST EMPEROR OF CHINA (Historia, legenda, fantazja. Filmowe portrety Pierwszego cesarza)

• Authors: Helman Alicja
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

When the terracotta army was found in 1974 within the burial complex of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, previously familiar mostly to sinologists, entered popular imagination. The authoress presents the life of Qin Shi Huang, the man responsible for the creation of this incredible necropolis. She also describes myths and legends associated with the emperor (the construction of the Great Wall of China, assassination attempts, his descent etc). It is the assassination attempts that proved to be most inspiring to film directors and people responsible for the creation of TV series about Qin Shi Huang. Romance was also an essential element of the story. The authoress describes the most important films, which feature the First Emperor. She points out that with the exception of Zhang Yimou's Hero, where Qin Shi Huang is shown as a great ruler, in other films he is usually portrayed as a cruel and ruthless tyrant, devoid of human emotions, a megalomaniac desiring to be God. The storylines of these films are a mix of facts, legends and pure fantasy created by the scriptwriters.

Keywords

EN

CHINESE CINEMA; FILM HISTORY; QIN SHI HUANG - FIRST EMPEROR OF CHINA

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Sztuki PAN
• Journal: Kwartalnik Filmowy
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 69
• Pages: 79-94
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Helman Alicja

• Alicja Helman, Uniwersytet Jagiellonski, Instytut Sztuk Audiowizualnych, ul. Pilsudskiego 13, 31-110 Kraków, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

10PLAAAA085414