Forbidden City

Initially, Alex’s ideas on heroism are fairly limited. As a Canadian, he admires Chinese history from a distance. He is a fan of military history, so he admires generals and expert tacticians on the battlefield. He sees his reporter father as somewhat foolish. Ted has no interest in politics, and Alex considers his father’s efforts to constantly get the full story as just daredevil stunts. During the massacre, however, he himself is put in that position of needing to get the full story. Alex begins to see the heroic possibilities in journalism. Moreover, he sees the heroic possibilities in engaged citizenry. The student protesters inspire him because they face the tanks, armed only with their deeply felt convictions. 

Alex is astonished by how quickly the Chinese government cracks down on reporters inside the nation. Rather than telling any iota of truth, the Communist Party’s paper—the People’s Daily newspaper—begins to spin lies, ones that further engage the student protesters. Alex comes to realize that telling the truth is dangerous work. He sees this more closely when it is up to him to get the camera and the story out of the country and out to the rest of the world. Whereas Alex used to view his father’s commitment to capturing a story as foolish, he now understands firsthand how freedom of the press quite literally can mean life or death for those in politically tumultuous countries.