Released early this year as the sequel to a two-part Feature Film, Red Cliff 2 completes the tale of the historic battle at red cliff between the rebels and the imperial army during China's Warring States period. Prior to its release, the film had been accompanied by a massive marketing campaign that aimed to project the epic as the must watch movie of the season. Nonetheless, most asians would surely not be strangers to the story of the Romance of the Three kingdoms, of which the plot clearly had been adapted from. In fact, critics had come forth to denounce the authenticity and accuracy of its plot due to numerous historic discrepancies that arose as the plot unfolded. Yet, this 2 part feature film remains a success. So, how exactly has it appealed to today's modern audience?
Foremost, being somewhat familiar to most asians, the storyline had already managed to sell itself and perhaps it is this familiarity that helps identify with the passive audience. Moreover, the relatively long plot has been significantly "modernised" by injecting loads of humour and tons of "wisecracking" within its dialogue. The makers of the movie obviously understand that the movie would be largely unappealing if coupled with stale, draggy dialogue.
In addition, the film appealed to the audience through the use of Cognitive Schematics and also the creation of Perceptions early in the movie. The director has successfully managed to cast the key characters as objectfully as possible. For example, Cao Cao the key villain, appeared awe-inspiring and majestic as the prime minister, almost godly with the ability to weild the power of a massive army. The rebels on the other hand, were depicted as closly-knit, un-wavering and never flinching in the face superior enemy forces. Clearly, Personal Contructs have been defined. This helps create a contrast at the climax of the movie when key character traits all fall apart as the battle is at its most intense.
The last and perhaps most appealing trait of the Red Cliff epic would perhaps be the way its plot is left hanging at key junctures. By this, i refer to the way the film causes the audience to ponder for a moment as to the particularly implicit way dialogues of actions are carried out. Many a times, strategic and tactical decisions made by the rebels seemed to defy logic yet no explanation is evident until the very moment success has been accomplished. This concept of Closure stimulates the mostly passive audience into pre-empting the movie's ending by only providing them with minimal information. Also, the film clearly employs the principle of Figure and Ground implicitly entwined in its plot as it causes the audience to largely miss the insignificant interactions while only focusing on the major battle. Needless to say, these "insignificant" details become decisive tactics at the very end.
For those of you whom have not watched this great film, well you definetly ought to. Nevetheless I don't mind letting you in a bit of the ending: the big baddie Cao Cao succumbed to defeat purely on the very Self-Serving Bias that his forces were largely indestructible and his fort, impregnable, while that of his enemies were inferior. Of course, most history buffs would already have known this but hey, its still great to be able to witness his downfall, literally! Hopefully, we are all now able to better appreciate the movie equipped with these new knowledge!
... Stay tuned for more posts!
I have watched the show too.. on the first day of preview. In fact, I have been waiting for the sequel for quite some time.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about the principles and usage of the commericiacl tactics, but I feel strongly that this is a very engaging and fascination movie. From how they kept us suspended from the first sequel, to the deploy of war tactics, to the downfall of Cao Cao's empire.. All the little details kept me thinking what will happen next.
Of course, I watched the show partially for Takeshi Kaneshiro, and the strong cast. And also for the large publicity. I believe that has also contributed to the success of the movie, don't you think so?
I know little about the history of San Guo Yan Yi. But thanks to Red Cliff, I get to know more about the history. I hope the movie industry can film more of such movies, which the teachers can use for education purpose. I think students will benefit from it too.. :)
although the film makers took the liberty of altering the story I still enjoyed the movie. Perhaps the movie red cliff is a compromise between being true to the original and as a more accessible film for cinemagoers. However I found certain battlescenes such as the roman testudo-like formations too far-fetched for my tastes and would have preferred something more realistic and true to that era of chinese warfare.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the sight of the Wei fleet massing for attack because of Cao cao's ulterior motive of taking ZhouYu's wife made me realise the similarities the story had to the Greek legend of Troy. i.e. "A face that launched a thousand ships."
Several scenes in the movie seemed to have an anti-war message, such as the scene where Sun Shang Xiang witnessed the death of her ex 'battalion commander' as well as the scene where KongMing helped to deliver the foal. At the end of the movie, the utter devastation of the Wei camp and the tired and raggard survivors did not convey a sense of victory but instead portrayed the waste and folly of war.
The last words of the Shu and Wu alliance to CaoCao (telling him to scram and get back to his country) have a rather resonating effect as people familiar with the novel would know that in the end CaoCao would be the last of the warlords who were not killed or deposed.
I don't think I would have thought of all these communication concepts while watching the move, even if I knew them. After all, why boggle myself with jargon when I'd much rather prefer gazing at the screen slack-jawed and wide-eyed?
ReplyDeleteClosure and Figure & Ground were to me the greatest tactics used in the movie. Many a times I was left confused by what was happening because the scenes did not depict the whole story. Thus I had to wait patiently until I could make sense of it all. And through the many battle sequences, one certainly had to bring their attention to the main characters and ignore the 'background' noise of countless soldiers and weapons to a certain extent. Else, we would have missed key scenes in the movie.
Oh, and I also wanted to say. CaoCao, while smart in his own right, could simply not measure up to the awesome and genius rebels! Teehee. That is all.
Haha guys, of course we tend not to relate to these communication cues and details when we were watching the movie. Afterall, we paid to enjoy! nonetheless I hope it was interesting to have been able to dissect the aspects that made the show all the more worthwhile to watch. Afterall, chinese tactics and military planning is all about strategy, and about deception; not necessarily military might!
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