Asian stereotypes in western movies

Asian stereotypes in western movies

In The Cheat, we get a glimpse of the one of the first portrayals of Asian Americans in western cinematography. Arakau is portrayed as controlling, emotionless, and violent, characteristics which came to become associated with toxic Asian masculinity.

The Toll of the Sea gives birth the primordial stereotype associated with Asian American women in western culture: the symbolism of the Lotus Flower, the submissive, feminine and ephemeral woman. Furthermore, the movie blends the new technology, Technicolor, in order to distinctively display the differences between eastern and western civilization. For instance, Technicolor accentuates the stereotypes surrounding Lotus Flower, such as always seen wearing makeup, dressing in traditional Chinese attire, and standing in Chinese gardens.

In My Geisha, we are introduced to the idea of Yellowface, the practice of wearing makeup to imitate the appearance of Eastern Asians.

In both The Toll of the Sea and My Geisha we see the connection that Asian women are often hypersexualized, being associated with heavy usage of makeup, as well as subservient and benevolent natures.

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Daughter of the Dragon is the first movie that gives us a wider array of Asian leading central characters. Anna May Wong strays away from her depiction of the Lotus Flower, becoming the "Dragon Lady", a powerful, mysterious, and alluring Eastern Asian woman. As Liu described, asian women are "victims of internalized racism or sexism" (Liu, 25), as they are depicted as being on completely opposite spectrums, taking the mantle of either being the Lotus Flower, or the Dragon Lady. Another extreme shown in the movie is the depiction of the Asian male characters as well, on one side of the coin we have Ah Kee, who is shown as being gullible and subservient to the white man, and on the other side of the coin we have Fu Manchu, who is shown as being evil, imposing, and an enemy of the white man.

Toxic asian masculinity has shown its roots in both The Cheat and Daughter of the Dragon. Similarly to how Asian women have been portrayed so far in western film, Asian male characters need to be exaggerated; they can either be villainous, controlling, and violent, or submissive and gullible.

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In The World Of Suzie Wong, Suzie is an objectified Asian woman, falling under the stereotype of being nothing more than a submissive, naive woman, who "embodies desirable feminine attributes"(Feng, 42), and awaits the rescue of her white man.

The theme of Asian women needing rescue from white men, the theme of submission

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Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon is the first Asian male lead we've watched in class. His portrayal of Lee introduced the world to the idea that Asians did not have to be either villains, or model minorities, but could also be heroes. He also introduced the idea of Eastern Asians being associated with martial arts. However, the movie also includes the one-dimensional Asian villain, who is nothing short of being a text copy of toxic Asian masculinity.

Theme of Yellow Face, My Geisha showing obvious Yellow Face with the lead actors dressing as an Asian female, while in Daughter of the Dragon we have subtle racism in Fu Manchu being played as a white male, despite being an Asian villain

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The theme of toxic male masculinity

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Better Luck Tomorrow introduces the idea of model minority myth, the idea that Asian Americans are high-achieving, hard-working and wealthy.

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The Fall of the I-Hotel showcases the poor treatment of wester society towards Asian workers, and portrays how submissive and disposable Asian workers can be to them.

Although previously we've only seen that Asian women are submissive and disposable, The Fall of the I-Hotel shows that western society is willing to discard not only Asian women but also Asian workers

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One of the prevalent themes in the movie is the idea behind the white savior, from the defenseless Asian population. Sue is seen as hypersexualized as the Dragon Lady, needing a savior in the form of the white man, and Thao is emasculated, being unable to protect his family and relying on the assistance of the white man.

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parental approval

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model minority myth

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