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Asian Americans in Film, . - Coggle Diagram
Asian Americans in Film
(9/5) The Cheat (1915) 
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(9/7) The Toll of the Sea (1922)
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(9/14) Daughter of the Dragon (1931)
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Stereotypes
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Setting, font, and characterizations are exaggerated versions of Asian culture
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(9/5) “The Other Question - Stereotype, Discrimination, and the Discourse in Colonialism” (Bhabha, Location of Culture)
Fixity
Stereotypes are fixity's "major discursive strategy". It is a way for people to feel like certain information about a group is already known and established. It is rigid and unchanging.
Ambivalence
Ambivalence is central to colonial stereotypes and gives its power. Neutrality or indecisiveness to racial or sexist exaggerations.
(8/31) "Film" (Desai, Keywords for Asian American Studies)
The power of film
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Filmmakers have developed different strategies or tools to respond to the politics of representation and make ways to better understand Asian American film.
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(9/7) "Color-as-hue and Color-as-race: Early Technicolor, Ornamentalism, and Toll of the Sea" (Peng)
skin tone
Anna May Wong's skin tone is not exaggerated in the film like it was in advertisements. This is partially because the Technicolor film utilized two color (red and green) coloring.
"The lack of difference in skin tone in The Toll of the Sea problematizes the period's preoccupation with an idealized representation of white femininity in colour cinematography." (Peng, p. 296)
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(9/14) "When Dragon Ladies Die, Do They Come Back as Butterflies" (Liu, Countervisions)
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(9/19) "My Geisha" (1962)
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racial stereotypes
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(53:00) Since Lucy does not know Japanese, she simply makes sounds in order to make it seem like she is speaking Japanese to those around her.
The use of yellow-face connects to the genuine yellow face which was done in Daughter of the Dragon.
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(9/26) The World of Suzie Wong
sexuality of Asian women
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Robert angrily strips Suzie's clothes off of her when he decides she looks too much like a "European street girl". However he seems to not mind when Suzie dresses in her Asian style clothing even though she is a prostitute. This indirectly shows Robert's preference for Suzie's Asian style and therefore a fetishization of Asian women.
There is a connection to be made between the depictions of sexualization of Asian women in The World of Suzie Wong and Better Luck Tomorrow. In Better Luck Tomorrow, the sexualization of Asian women is mentioned but in an almost mysterious way that serves to more empower Asian women rather than making them seem weak as in The World of Suzie Wong.
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White men as saviors
Robert is shown as self sacrificing in order to help Suzie, and will not even accept from her when she can help.
Even though Robert assaults Suzie, the film glosses over that in order to continue the plot of Robert as the hero who is helping the helpless Suzie.
(10/5) Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
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(10/3) Enter The Dragon (1973)
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(10/12) History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige (1991)
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artistic choices in film
Storytelling is done through text rolling across the screen. The only other element of the film that does the same is the announcements from the U.S. Government which explain the Japanese Relocation and the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Clip of the mother filling up a water bottle is intermittently shown throughout. This makes the story of the Japanese struggle more personal as Tajiri's mothers experience is brought back through the water filling.
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(10/17) Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1988)
racism
There are multiple instances of racism in the entire true story. One instance is Vincent Chin's death is brushed off and not taken very seriously since he is Asian. Another instance is that the cops that appear to have witnessed the event were not notified of the court case. Two of these cops were black. Would a white cop who witnessed the event have been called into court?(4:03)
Another witness of the event who was shown was a dancer, but was not called into court to provide testimony. Although it was unclear of the other dancers, the dancer interviewed was black. Were all witnesses not considered if they were black?
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erasure of Asian stories
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Ronald Ebens was given an easy sentence and is still a free man. He has even complained about the punishment he was given. He does not seem sympathetic about his actions and is erasing the trauma and sadness he caused Vincent Chin's loved ones.
Even the title of the movie echoes the message that the white men in this time period were given free reign. Ronald Ebens killed someone with multiple witnesses including cops, and there still seems to be some doubt about the event. This seems to simply be due to Ebens being a white man, Chin being Asian, and many of the witnesses being black.
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(10/31) Gran Torino (2008)
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dragon lady
(31:00) Sue is shown to be "fiesty" which gets her in trouble. Furthermore, she is sexualized by the group which is when she sharpens her attitude to defend herself.
Sue is assaulted by the gang. Yet this time she is not as defensive of herself. She does not have the same "dragon lady" fierceness since she is unable to defend herself.
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(10/26) Surname Viet, Given Name Nam (1989)
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(11/2) Saving Face (2004)
tension between races
Wil's mother is very disapproving of Wil's neighbor. She makes multiple comments about his skin tone and jokes that she will eat less soy sauce to make her baby less dark (24:30).
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filial piety
Wil's mother is encouraged to marry a man her father approves although she does not love him. Wil breaks the value of obeying elders and encourages her mother to marry the one she loves (1:19:00).
Wil's grandfather is scolding her mother throughout the movie whenever he feels shame or disrespect. Additionally, Wil finds that her mother was kicked out by her grandfather when she was pregnant due to the child being born out of wedlock
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(11/9) Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
family dynamic
Nick's mother constantly questions Rachel and makes her feel inferior. This is finalized when Nick's grandmother who Rachel had liked, also joins in on bullying Rachel about the identity of her father.
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(11/14) The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2014)
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brown peril
Fear and uncertainty around Changez is insinuated through the film. To further this effect, Changez is characterized as mysterious.
Changez facial hair changes through the film. When in cultural contexts, Changez is characterized as mysterious and has facial hair. When with Americans, Changez is cleanly shaven. This pattern suggests that facial hair on brown men characterizes them as terrorists or makes them more intimidating.
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(11/7) Mississipi Masala (1991)
racism
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The older lady looks at Demetrius with distrust but her daughter has to explain who Demetrius is a child of, and the "he's the good one". (25:59)
"Chinese don't do no hanky panky...okay sayonara" (1:00:00) This is not as greatly a sign of racism as it is a sign of not much knowledge about East Asian cultures within the Indian community. A Chinese man makes a joke about being Chinese, but the response is a reference to Japanese language.
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(11/28) Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (2022)
family roles
Gong Gong and Evelyn's hurtful past of Gong Gong cutting off Evelyn is shown. However, when he gets sick, Evelyn dutifully takes care of him in her home.
Gong Gong constantly berates Evelyn, calling her stupid and such yet she never complains. However this negative pattern is seen passing through the generations when Evelyn stops Joy to say something to her, but then tells her to watch her weight since she is "getting fat".
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(11/16) "Technologization Orientalism: An Introduction" (Roh, Huang, Niu)
techno-orientalism
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"The US techno-Orientalist imagination is thus rooted in this view of the Asian body as a form of expendable technology..." (p. 11)
Twenty-first century events like the rapid technological advancements of Japan and China, coupled with the availability of cheap labor made for a technological stereotype to be made about Asians.
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