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Portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater

August 23, 2023

"Yellowface" redirects here. For other uses, see Yellow Face.

Portrayals of East Asians in American film and theatre has been a subject of controversy. These portrayals have frequently reflected an ethnocentric perception of East Asians rather than realistic and authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, colors, customs, and behaviors.[1][2][3]

Yellowface, a form of theatrical makeup used by European-American performers to represent an East Asian person (similar to the practice of blackface used to represent African-American characters),[1] continues to be used in film and theater.[1][2] In the 21st century alone, Grindhouse (in a trailer parody of the Fu Manchu serials), Balls of Fury, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Crank: High Voltage, and Cloud Atlas all feature yellowface or non-East Asian actors as East Asian caricatures.[4]

Early East Asian American film actors

Sessue Hayakawa

The Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa began appearing in films around 1914.[5] Signed to Paramount Pictures, he had roles in more than 20 silent films including The Wrath of the Gods (1914) and The Typhoon (1914), and was considered to be a Hollywood sex symbol.[5] When Hayakawa's contract with Paramount expired in 1918, the studio still wanted him to star in an upcoming movie, but Hayakawa turned them down in favor of starting his own company.[5] He was at the height of his popularity during that time.[5] His career in the United States suffered a bit due to the advent of talkies, as he had a heavy Japanese accent. He became unemployable during the World War II era due to anti-Japanese prejudice. He experienced a career revival beginning in 1949 in World War II-themed films, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Bridge on the River Kwai.[5]

Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong, considered by many to be the first Chinese-American movie star,[6] was acting by the age of 14 and in 1922, at age 17, she became the first Chinese-American to break Hollywood's miscegenation rule playing opposite a white romantic lead in The Toll of the Sea. Even though she was internationally known by 1924, her film roles were limited by stereotype and prejudice. Tired of being both typecast and passed over for lead East Asian character roles in favor of European-American actresses, Wong left Hollywood in 1928 for Europe.[6] Interviewed by Doris Mackie for Film Weekly in 1933, Wong complained about her Hollywood roles: "I was so tired of the parts I had to play."[7][8] She commented: "There seems little for me in Hollywood, because, rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans, American Indians for Chinese roles."[9] In 1935, she was considered for the leading role in The Good Earth, which went to German actress Luise Rainer. Wong refused the role of the villainess, a stereotypical Oriental Dragon Lady.

Keye Luke

Keye Luke was a successful actor, starring as the "Number-One Son" Lee Chan in the popular Charlie Chan films, as well as the original Kato in the 1940s Green Hornet, and Detective James Lee Wong in Phantom of Chinatown (1940), a role previously played by the English actor Boris Karloff.

Philip Ahn

Korean-American actor Philip Ahn, after rejection for speaking English too well, braved death threats after playing Japanese villains. Ahn would go on to have a prolific career.[citation needed]

Some East and South Asian-American actors nonetheless attempted to start careers. Merle Oberon, an Anglo-Indian, was able to get starring roles after concocting a phony story about her origins and using skin whitening make-up. There were others pioneering East Asian-American actors like Benson Fong (who played the Number Three son in the Charlie Chan films), Victor Sen Yung (who played the Number Two son in the Charlie Chan films), Richard Loo (who also played many Japanese villain roles), Lotus Long (known for her role as Lin Wen opposite Keye Luke in the Phantom of Chinatown), Suzanna Kim, Barbara Jean Wong, Fely Franquelli, Chester Gan, Honorable Wu, Kam Tong, Layne Tom Jr., Maurice Liu, Rudy Robles, Teru Shimada, Willie Fung, Toshia Mori and Wing Foo, who all began their film careers in the 1930s and '40s.

With the number of East Asian-American actors available, author Robert B. Ito wrote an article that described that job protection for Caucasian actors was one reason Asians were portrayed by Caucasians. "With the relatively small percentage of actors that support themselves by acting, it was only logical that they should try to limit the available talent pool as much as possible. One way of doing this was by placing restrictions on minority actors, which, in the case of Asian actors, meant that they could usually only get roles as houseboys, cooks, laundrymen, and crazed war enemies, with the rare "white hero's loyal sidekick" roles going to the big name actors. When the script called for a larger Asian role, it was almost inevitably given to a white actor."[10]

Recent East Asian American film actors

The 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians starred Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Harry Shum Jr., Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang, Jimmy O. Yang, Ronny Chieng, Remy Hii, Nico Santos, Jing Lusi and Carmen Soo, among others.

The 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once starred Michelle Yeoh as main lead, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Harry Shum Jr., and James Hong as supporting actors.

European actors who have played East Asian roles

The Welsh American Myrna Loy was the "go-to girl" for any portrayal of Asian characters and was typecast in over a dozen films, while Chinese detective Charlie Chan, who was modeled after Chang Apana, a real-life Chinese Hawaiian detective, was portrayed by several European and European-American actors including Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, and Peter Ustinov. Loy also appeared in yellowface alongside Nick Lucas in The Show of Shows.

The list of actors who have donned yellowface to portray East Asians at some point in their career includes Lon Chaney Sr., Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni, Loretta Young, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Anthony Quinn, Shirley MacLaine, Katharine Hepburn, Rita Moreno, Rex Harrison, John Wayne, Mickey Rooney, Marlon Brando, Lupe Vélez, Alec Guinness, Tony Randall, John Gielgud, Max von Sydow, Linda Hunt, Eddie Murphy, David Carradine, Joel Grey, Peter Sellers, Yul Brynner, and many others.

Madame Butterfly

"Madame Butterfly" was originally a short story written by Philadelphia attorney John Luther Long.[11] It was turned into a one-act play, Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan, by David Belasco. Giacomo Puccini re-made the play into the Italian opera Madama Butterfly, set in 1904.[12] The 1915 silent film version was directed by Sidney Olcott and starred Mary Pickford.[13]

All the versions of Madame Butterfly tell the story of a young Japanese woman who has converted to Christianity (for which she is disowned by her family) and marries Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a white lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. For him, the marriage is a temporary convenience, but Butterfly's conversion is sincere, and she takes her marriage vows seriously.[14] Pinkerton's naval duties eventually call him away from Japan. He leaves Butterfly behind and she soon gives birth to their son. Pinkerton eventually meets and marries a white American woman (the fact he stopped paying the rent on Butterfly's house amounted to a divorce under Japanese law at the time).[14] Pinkerton returns to Japan with his new wife, Kate, to claim his son. Butterfly acquiesces to his request, and then kills herself as Pinkerton rushes into the house, too late to stop her. In the story by Long, Butterfly is on the point of killing herself when the presence of her child reminds her of her Christian conversion, and the story ends with Mr and Mrs Pinkerton arriving at the house the next morning to find it completely empty.

Pre-2010s film

Americans have been putting Asian characters into films since 1896; however, it was historically common to hire white actors to portray Asian characters. Although some Asian characters are played by Asian actors in early films with an Asian story or setting, most of the main characters are played by white actors, even when the role is written as an Asian character.

See also: Racism in early American film

Mr. Wu (1913)

Mr. Wu was originally a stage play, written by Harold Owen and Harry M. Vernon. It was first staged in London in 1913, with Matheson Lang in the lead. He became so popular in the role that he starred in a 1919 film version. Lang continued to play Oriental roles (although not exclusively), and his autobiography was titled Mr. Wu Looks Back (1940). The first U.S. production opened in New York on October 14, 1914. The actor Frank Morgan was in the original Broadway cast, appearing under his original name Frank Wupperman.

Lon Chaney Sr. and Renée Adorée were cast in the 1927 film. Cheekbones and lips were built up with cotton and collodion, the ends of cigar holders were inserted into his nostrils, and the long fingernails were constructed from stripes of painted film stock. Chaney used fishskin to fashion an Oriental cast to his eyes and grey crepe hair was used to create the distinctive Fu-Manchu moustache and goatee.

The Forbidden City (1918)

The Forbidden City is a 1918 American silent drama film starring Norma Talmadge and Thomas Meighan and directed by Sidney Franklin. A copy of the film is in the Library of Congress and other film archives.The plot centers around an inter-racial romance between a Chinese princess (Norma Talmadge) and an American. When palace officials discover she has fallen pregnant she is sentenced to death. In the latter part of the film Talmadge plays the now adult daughter of the affair, seeking her father in the Philippines.

Broken Blossoms (1919)

The film Broken Blossoms is based on a short story, "The Chink and the Child", taken from the book Limehouse Nights by Thomas Burke.[15] It was released in 1919, during a period of strong anti-Chinese feeling in the U.S., a fear known as the Yellow Peril. Griffith changed Burke's original story to promote a message of tolerance. In Burke's story, the Chinese protagonist is a sordid young Shanghai drifter pressed into naval service, who frequents opium dens and whorehouses; in the film, he becomes a Buddhist missionary whose initial goal is to spread the dharma of the Buddha and peace (although he is also shown frequenting opium dens when he is depressed). Even at his lowest point, he still prevents his gambling companions from fighting.

Tea House of the August Moon (1956)[16]

The original story of this film was from a novel written by Vern Sneider in 1952. The Tea House of the August Moon film was adapted in 1956 from the play version in 1953, written by John Patrick. This American comedy film is directed by Daniel Mann. The plot concerns the concept of the United States military government trying to establish power and influence over Japan, specifically in Okinawa, during wartime. Although the cast does include Japanese actors and actresses for the roles of the Japanese characters in the film, such as Machiko Kyō, Jun Negami, Nijiko Kiyokawa, and Mitsuko Sawamura, the main character, Sakini, is played by a white American actor, Marlon Brando.

Flower Drum Song (1961)

Flower Drum Song is a 1961 film adaptation of the 1958 Broadway play of the same title. This adaptation tells the story of a Chinese woman emigrating to the U.S. and her subsequent arranged marriage. This movie featured the first majority Asian cast in Hollywood cinema, setting a precedent for the following The Joy Luck Club and Crazy Rich Asians to have a majority Asian casting. It became the first major Hollywood feature film to have a majority Asian cast in a contemporary Asian-American story.

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

The Joy Luck Club is a 1993 American drama directed by Wayne Wang. The story is based the novel of the same name by Amy Tan. This movie explored the relationship of Chinese immigrant mothers and their first-generation Chinese-American daughters. This movie was only the second in Hollywood cinema to feature an Asian majority casting.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)

Better Luck Tomorrow is a 2002 American crime-drama film directed by Justin Lin. The film is about Asian American overachievers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and material excess. Better Luck Tomorrow introduced film audiences to a cast including Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan and John Cho.

Saving Face (2004)

Saving Face is a 2004 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Alice Wu. The film's Wil (Michelle Krusiec) is a lesbian, but she is too afraid to tell her widowed mother Hwei-lan (Joan Chen) or her strict grandparents. She is shocked to discover that her 48-year-old mother is pregnant, and that she is not the only member of her family with romantic secrets. Hwei-lan is kicked out of her parents' house and forced to live with Wil, straining Wil's growing friendship with the out and proud Vivian (Lynn Chen).

2010s in film

Gook (2017)

Gook tells the story of Asian Americans during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. It was released in 2017 with its director Justin Chon, David So, Sang Chon, Curtiss Cook Jr. and Ben Munoz.

Ghost in the Shell (2017)

Ghost in the Shell is a 2017 American adaptation of the Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow. It was directed by Rupert Sanders and featured Scarlett Johansson as the main character. This movie was set in the future and revolved around a story of a cyborg discovering her past. This film was controversial due to the fact that the casting featured a Caucasian with the movie being accused of racism and whitewashing in film. After the controversy erupted, it was reported that Paramount Pictures examined the possibility of using CGI to make Scarlett Johansson appear "more Asian".[17]

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Crazy Rich Asians is a 2018 film adaptation of the book by the same name by Kevin Kwan. Despite being a critical and commercial success, the film received controversy over the casting of mixed race actors and non-Chinese actors in ethnically Chinese roles, as well as portraying the characters speaking British English and American English instead of Singaporean English.[18][19][20] The movie was also criticized for its lack of diversity, with critics stating that the movie did not properly depict the variety of ethnic groups in Singapore.[21][22][23] Lead actress Constance Wu responded to criticisms, stating that the film would not represent every Asian American given that the majority of characters depicted in the movie were ethnically Chinese and extremely wealthy.[24] Time magazine also noted that the film was the "first modern story with an all-Asian cast and an Asian-American lead" since the release of the 1993 film The Joy Luck Club.[25]

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)

To All the Boys I've Loved Before is a 2018 Netflix Original movie based on the book by the same name by Jenny Han. The film stars Lana Condor and Noah Centineo and has been credited along with Crazy Rich Asians as helping to garner more representation for Asian Americans in film.[26] Of the film, Han stated that she had to turn down initial offers to adapt the book, as some of the studios wanted a white actress to play the main character of Lara Jean.[27] Ironically, none of the film adaptation of the romantic comedy's five male love interests were of Asian descent, despite changing the ethnicity of at least one love interest from the book, which was seen as a perpetuation of the emasculation of Asian men in Hollywood media.[28]

The Farewell (2019)

The Farewell is a 2019 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Lulu Wang, based on a story called What You Don't Know that was initially shared by Wang on This American Life in April 2016.[29][30] Based on Wang's life experiences, the film stars Awkwafina as Billi Wang, a Chinese American who upon learning her grandmother has only a short time left to live, is pressured by her family to not tell her while they schedule family gathering before she dies.[31] The film received critical acclaim; the film was nominated for two awards at the 77th Golden Globe Awards including Best Foreign Language Film and Awkwafina winning for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy, making her the first person of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe Award in any lead actress film category.[32]

2020s in film

The Half of It (2020)

The Half of It is a 2020 Netflix Original movie written and directed by Alice Wu. The Cyrano de Bergerac spin-off is about Ellie Chu, a shy, introverted student helps the school jock woo a girl whom, secretly, they both want.[33] They find themselves connecting and learn about the nature of love.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a 2021 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Shang-Chi, produced by Marvel Studios and set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Starring Simu Liu as Shang-Chi and Tony Leung as Wenwu, the film is Marvel's first superhero movie tentpole franchise with an Asian protagonist. A film based on Shang-Chi was planned in 2006, but development did not begin in earnest until December 2018, following the success of Crazy Rich Asians.[34][35] The film modernizes the problematic elements of Shang-Chi and the Mandarin's comic book origins, which depicted negative stereotypes of East Asians.[36][37] According to producer Kevin Feige, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings features a cast that is "98% Asian" and is "much more than a kung fu movie."[38]

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 film directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (a.k.a. The Daniels), and produced by A24. Starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Harry Shum Jr., among other actors, it is an absurdist action-comedy film where an aging Chinese-American immigrant must save the world by exploring other universes and reliving the lives she could have led.

2010s television

Fresh Off the Boat (2015–2020)

Fresh Off the Boat is an American sitcom created by Nahnatchka Khan, a loose adaptation of author Eddie Huang's Fresh off the Boat. This show followed the life of an Asian-American family in the early 1990s. It is the first Asian-American sitcom to be featured prime-time in America. It was released in February 2015 and has been renewed several times, ending with a two-part finale on February 21, 2020.

Dr. Ken (2015–2017)

Dr. Ken is an American sitcom created by actor and writer Ken Jeong. This show followed the story of an Asian-American doctor and his family. This show aired between October 2, 2015, and March 31, 2017.

Kim's Convenience (2016–2021)

Kim's Convenience is a Canadian TV series adapted from Ins Choi's 2011 play of the same name. This show revolves around the life of a family and their family-run convenience store located in Toronto. It debuted in October 2016 and has since been renewed for a fourth season. This show has been globally brought to attention with Netflix securing rights to broadcast it outside of Canada.

Warrior (2019–present)

Warrior is an American action-drama television series executive-produced by Shannon Lee and Justin Lin,[39][40] based on an original concept and treatment by Lee's father Bruce Lee.[41][42][43] The show follows a martial arts prodigy and his involvement in the Tong Wars of 1870s San Francisco. Bruce Lee developed the show in 1971, but had trouble pitching it to Warner Bros. and Paramount.[44] The show premiered on Cinemax on April 5, 2019, and was subsequently renewed for a second season.[45]

Classic Hollywood cinema

Dr. Fu Manchu

In 1929, the character Dr. Fu Manchu made his American film debut in The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu played by the Swedish-American actor Warner Oland. Oland repeated the role in 1930s The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu and 1931's Daughter of the Dragon. Oland appeared in character in the 1931 musical Paramount on Parade, where the Devil Doctor was seen to murder both Philo Vance and Sherlock Holmes.

In 1932, Boris Karloff took over the character in the film The Mask of Fu Manchu.[46] The film's tone has long been considered racist and offensive,[47][48] but that only added to its cult status alongside its humor and Grand Guignol sets and torture sequences. The film was suppressed for many years, but has since received critical re-evaluation and been released on DVD uncut.

Charlie Chan

Main article: Charlie Chan

In a series of films in the 1930s and 1940s, Chinese-Hawaiian-American detective Charlie Chan was played by white actors Warner Oland, Sidney Toler and Roland Winters. The Swedish-born Oland, unlike his two successors in the Chan role, actually looked somewhat Chinese, and according to his contemporaries, he did not use special makeup in the role. He also played East Asians in other films, including Shanghai Express, The Painted Veil, and Werewolf of London (decades later, Afro-European American TV actor Khigh Dhiegh, though of African and European descent, was generally cast as an East Asian because of his appearance, and he was often included on lists of East Asian actors).

The Good Earth

 
American actor Luise Rainer as O-Lan in 1937 film The Good Earth

The Good Earth (1937) is a film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive.[49] It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the play by Donald Davis and Owen Davis, which was itself based on the 1931 novel The Good Earth by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin, Victor Fleming (uncredited) and Gustav Machatý (uncredited).

The film's budget was $2.8 million, relatively expensive for the time, and took three years to make. Although Pearl Buck intended the film to be cast with all Chinese or Chinese-American actors, the studio opted to use established American stars, tapping Europeans Paul Muni and Luise Rainer for the lead roles. Both had won Oscars the previous year: Rainer for her role in The Great Ziegfeld and Muni for the lead in The Story of Louis Pasteur. When questioned about his choice of the actors, producer Irving Thalberg responded by saying, "I'm in the business of creating illusions."[50]

Anna May Wong had been considered a top contender for the role of O-Lan, the Chinese heroine of the novel. However, because Paul Muni was a white man, the Hays Code's anti-miscegenation rules required the actress who played his wife to be a white woman. So, MGM gave the role of O-Lan to a European actress and offered Wong the role of Lotus, the story's villain. Wong refused to be the only Chinese-American, playing the only negative character, stating: "I won't play the part. If you let me play O-Lan, I'll be very glad. But you're asking me—with Chinese blood—to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters."[51] MGM's refusal to consider Wong for this most high-profile of Chinese characters in U.S. film is remembered today as "one of the most notorious cases of casting discrimination in the 1930s".[52]

The Good Earth was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Direction (Sidney Franklin), Best Cinematography (Karl Freund), and Best Film Editing (Basil Wrangell). In addition to the Best Actress award (Luise Rainer), the film won for Best Cinematography.[53] The year The Good Earth came out, Wong appeared on the cover of Look magazine's second issue, which labeled her "The World's Most Beautiful Chinese Girl."[54] Stereotyped in America as a dragon lady, the cover photo had her holding a dagger.[citation needed]

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Main article: I. Y. Yunioshi

The 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's has been criticized for its portrayal of the character Mr. Yunioshi, Holly's bucktoothed, stereotyped Japanese neighbor. Mickey Rooney wore makeup to change his features to a caricatured approximation of a Japanese person. In the 45th-anniversary-edition DVD release, producer Richard Shepherd repeatedly apologizes, saying, "If we could just change Mickey Rooney, I'd be thrilled with the movie".[55] Director Blake Edwards stated, "Looking back, I wish I had never done it ... and I would give anything to be able to recast it, but it's there, and onward and upward".[55] In a 2008 interview about the film, 87-year-old Rooney said he was heartbroken about the criticism and that he had never received any complaints about his portrayal of the character.[56]

Sixteen Candles

The 1984 American film Sixteen Candles has been criticized for the character of Long Duk Dong. This Asian character became an "Asian American stereotype for a new generation".[57] Long Duk Dong displayed a variety of stereotypes in the film such being socially awkward and difficult to understand, and the "lecherous but sexually inept loser".[57] The idea of Asians being more feminine and therefore "weaker" is further exemplified through Long Duk Dong's romantic relationship with one of the characters in the film. He assumes the more feminine role while the American girl becomes the more masculine of two in the relationship.

Theater

Yellowface in theatre has been called "the practice of white actors donning overdone face paint and costumes that serves as a caricatured representation of traditional Asian garb."[58] Founded in 2011, the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) works in an effort to "expand the perception of Asian American performers in order to increase their access to and representation on New York City's stages." This group works to address and discuss yellowface controversies and occurrences.[59][non-primary source needed]

Miss Saigon

Main article: Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon, a musical with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. and book by Boublil and Schönberg, is a modern adaptation of Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly. Miss Saigon tells the story of a doomed romance involving a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier set in the time of the Vietnam War.[60]

When Miss Saigon premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on September 20, 1989, Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce wore heavy prosthetic eyelids and skin-darkening cream in playing The Engineer, a mixed-race French-Vietnamese pimp.[61]

Once the London West End production came to Broadway in 1990, Pryce was slated to reprise his role as The Engineer, causing a major rift in American theater circles and sparking public outcry. Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang wrote a letter to the Actors' Equity Association protesting this portrayal of a Eurasian character being played by a White actor.[62]

Despite these protests, Pryce performed the Engineer to great acclaim and Miss Saigon became one of Broadway's longest-running hits.[63]

The Mikado

Main article: The Mikado

The Mikado, a comic operetta with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, premiered in 1885 in London and still performed frequently in the English-speaking world and beyond.[64][65] In setting the opera in a fictionalized 19th-century Japan, Gilbert used the veneer of Far Eastern exoticism to soften the impact of his pointed satire of British institutions and politics.[65][66]

Numerous 21st-century U.S. productions of The Mikado have been criticized for the use of yellowface in their casting: New York (2004 and 2015), Los Angeles (2007 and 2009), Boston (2007), Austin (2011), Denver (2013), and Seattle (2014)[67] The press noted that the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society cast the 10 principal roles and the chorus with white actors, with the exception of two Latino actors.[67]

In 2015, the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players cancelled a production of The Mikado that was set to feature their repertory company of mostly White actors, due to complaints from the East Asian-American community.[68] The company redesigned its production in collaboration with an advisory group of East Asian-American theater professionals and debuted the new concept in 2016,[69] receiving a warm review in The New York Times.[70] After Lamplighters Music Theatre of San Francisco planned a 2016 production, objections by the East Asian-American community prompted them to re-set the operetta in Renaissance-era Milan, replacing all references to Japan with Milan.[71] Reviewers felt that the change resolved the issue.[72][73]

The King and I

Main article: The King and I

The King and I is a musical by Richard Rodgers (composer) and Oscar von Hammerstein II (lyricist). Based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, the story illustrates the clash of Eastern and Western cultures by relaying the experiences of Anna (based on Anna Leonowens), a British schoolteacher hired as part of King Mongkut of Siam's drive to modernize his country. The relationship between the King and Anna is marked by conflict and constant bickering throughout the musical, as well as by a love that neither can confess.

The 2015 Dallas Summer Musicals' production of the musical caused controversy in the casting of a European-American actor as King Mongkut. In an open letter to Dallas Summer Musicals, the AAPAC criticized the choice, saying "the casting of a white King dramaturgically undermines a story about a clash between Western and Eastern cultures"; moreover, "Asian impersonation denies Asians our own subjecthood. It situates all the power within a Caucasian-centric world view."[74]

Asian representation in American animated films

Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944)

Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips is an 8-minute animated short directed by Friz Freleng and produced through Warner Bros. Cartoons as part of the Merrie Melodies cartoon series. It portrays Japanese stereotypes of the Japanese Emperor and military, a sumo wrestler, and a geisha through Bugs Bunny and his interactions with a Japanese soldier on an island.[75]

Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp (1955)

Lady and the Tramp is an animated musical film directed by Clyde Geronimi Wilfred Jackson. Voice actors include Peggy Lee, Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Bill Thompson, Bill Baucon, Steve Freberg, Verna Felton, Alan Reed, George Givot, Dallas, McKennon, and Lee Millar. Although this animation is about dogs, the portrayal of the Siamese cats with buck-teeth and slanted eyes was criticized by many who believed that it was a racist representation of stereotypical Asians. The exaggerated accents were also mocking of the Thai language.[76]

Mulan (1998)

The animated film Mulan was produced by the Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures in 1998. It is based on an old traditional Chinese folktale about a young girl, Hua Mulan, who disguises as a man to take her father's spot in the army. It boasted international popularity and distribution. This film was so successful that in 2004 Mulan II, its sequel, was produced. However, this is not the first or only animation to adapt Mulan's story. In 1998, United American Video Entertainment produced an animation called The Secret of Mulan [cy; zh], that uses six-legged caterpillars to represent the characters in a friendlier way for young children.[77][78]

Bao (2018)

Bao is one of Pixar's animated shorts produced in 2018 and directed by Domee Shi. It portrays the importance of family and culture in a Chinese Canadian community. The plot concerns a story about a Chinese Canadian mother who creates a baby dumpling that comes to life to help her cope with the loneliness and grief in missing her son who has grown up.[79]

Other examples in Western media

Main article: Examples of yellowface
 
Actors Nancy Kwan and David Carradine in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu

A prominent example of the whitewashing of Asian roles is the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, in which the leading character—a Chinese monk and martial arts master who fled China after having accidentally slain the emperor's nephew—is portrayed by European-American actor David Carradine. The film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story describes to some extent the struggles that ensued when Hollywood moguls attempted to cast Bruce Lee in the starring role of Caine but were overruled. American actress Emma Stone played a half-Asian character in the film Aloha. In the film Cloud Atlas every major male character in the Korean story line was played by a non-Asian actor made up in yellowface makeup.[80]

Michael Derrick Hudson, an American poet, used a Chinese female pen name.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Winfrey, Yayoi Lena (November 19, 2012). "Yellowface: Asians on White Screens". IMDiversity.
  2. ^ a b Kashiwabara, Amy, Vanishing Son: The Appearance, Disappearance, and Assimilation of the Asian-American Man in American Mainstream Media, UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
  3. ^ Chin, Frank; Chan, Jeffery (1972). "Racist Love" (PDF). In Richard Kostelanetz (ed.). Seeing Through Shuck. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 65.
  4. ^ , by Vickie Rozel, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in the Works
  5. ^ a b c d e www.goldsea.com Sessue Hayakawa: The Legend
  6. ^ a b Chan, Anthony B. Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (1905–1961). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8108-4789-2 pp. xi, 42.
  7. ^ Leong, Karen J. The China Mystique: Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong, and the Transformation of American Orientalism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005. ISBN 0-520-24422-2. pp. 83, 187.
  8. ^ Wollstein, Hans J. "Anna May Wong." Vixens, Floozies, and Molls: 28 Actresses of late 1920s and 1930s Hollywood. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1999. ISBN 0-7864-0565-1. p. 252.
  9. ^ Parish, James and William Leonard. "Anna May Wong." Hollywood Players: The Thirties. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers, 1976, pp. 532–538. ISBN 0-87000-365-8.
  10. ^ www.brightlightsflim.com Archived December 12, 2010, at Archive-It A Certain Slant
  11. ^ "Analysis of John Luther Long's 'Madame Butterfly'". logos-verlag.de.
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Further reading

  • Hodges, Graham Russell (2004). Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Marchetti, Gina (1993). Romance and the "Yellow Peril" Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Ito, Robert B. "A Certain Slant: A Brief History of Hollywood Yellowface". Bright Lights Film Journal. Archived from the original on May 3, 2014. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  • Metzger, Sean. "Charles Parsloe's Chinese Fetish: An Example of Yellowface Performance in Nineteenth-Century American Melodrama." Theatre Journal 56, no. 4 (2004): 627–651. JSTOR 25069532
  • Moon, Krystyn R. (2006). Yellowface: Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performance, 1850s–1920s. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
  • Paul, John Steven (Spring 2001). "Misreading the Chinese Character: Images of the Chinese in Euroamerican Drama to 1925 (review)". Asian Theatre Journal. University of Hawai'i Press. 18 (1): 117–119. doi:10.1353/atj.2001.0006. S2CID 162327661.
  • Prasso, Sheridan (2005). The Asian Mystique: dragon ladies, geisha girls, & our fantasies of the exotic orient.
  • Wang, Yiman (2005). "The Art of Screen Passing: Anna May Wong's Yellow Yellowface Performance in the Art Deco Era". In Catherine Russell (ed.). Camera Obscura 60: New Women of the Silent Screen: China, Japan, Hollywood. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. pp. 159–191. ISBN 978-0-8223-6624-9.
  • Young, Cynthia Ann. "AfroAsian Encounters: Culture, History, Politics (review)." Journal of Asian American Studies 10, no. 3 (2007): 316–318. doi:10.1353/jaas.2007.0033.

External links

  • , a 2007 documentary film about the portrayals of Chinese men and women in Hollywood productions
  • "Yellowface: Asians on White Screens", by Yayoi Lena Winfrey, IM Diversity.com
  • "A Certain Slant" by Robert B. Ito, Bright Lights Film Journal
  • "Monitoring Asians in the American mass media" at Asian American Media Watch
  • "Asian Images in Film: Introduction" at TCM
  • "Roundtable: The Past and Present of 'Yellowface'", at NPR
  • "I am not a Fetish or Model Minority" by CAPE and Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

August 23, 2023
portrayal, east, asians, american, film, theater, yellowface, redirects, here, other, uses, yellow, face, portrayals, east, asians, american, film, theatre, been, subject, controversy, these, portrayals, have, frequently, reflected, ethnocentric, perception, e. Yellowface redirects here For other uses see Yellow Face Portrayals of East Asians in American film and theatre has been a subject of controversy These portrayals have frequently reflected an ethnocentric perception of East Asians rather than realistic and authentic depictions of East Asian cultures colors customs and behaviors 1 2 3 Yellowface a form of theatrical makeup used by European American performers to represent an East Asian person similar to the practice of blackface used to represent African American characters 1 continues to be used in film and theater 1 2 In the 21st century alone Grindhouse in a trailer parody of the Fu Manchu serials Balls of Fury I Now Pronounce You Chuck amp Larry Crank High Voltage and Cloud Atlas all feature yellowface or non East Asian actors as East Asian caricatures 4 Contents 1 Early East Asian American film actors 1 1 Sessue Hayakawa 1 2 Anna May Wong 1 3 Keye Luke 1 4 Philip Ahn 2 Recent East Asian American film actors 3 European actors who have played East Asian roles 4 Madame Butterfly 5 Pre 2010s film 5 1 Mr Wu 1913 5 2 The Forbidden City 1918 5 3 Broken Blossoms 1919 5 4 Tea House of the August Moon 1956 16 5 5 Flower Drum Song 1961 5 6 The Joy Luck Club 1993 5 7 Better Luck Tomorrow 2002 5 8 Saving Face 2004 6 2010s in film 6 1 Gook 2017 6 2 Ghost in the Shell 2017 6 3 Crazy Rich Asians 2018 6 4 To All the Boys I ve Loved Before 2018 6 5 The Farewell 2019 7 2020s in film 7 1 The Half of It 2020 7 2 Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2021 7 3 Everything Everywhere All at Once 2022 8 2010s television 8 1 Fresh Off the Boat 2015 2020 8 2 Dr Ken 2015 2017 8 3 Kim s Convenience 2016 2021 8 4 Warrior 2019 present 9 Classic Hollywood cinema 9 1 Dr Fu Manchu 9 2 Charlie Chan 9 3 The Good Earth 9 4 Breakfast at Tiffany s 9 5 Sixteen Candles 10 Theater 10 1 Miss Saigon 10 2 The Mikado 10 3 The King and I 11 Asian representation in American animated films 11 1 Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips 1944 11 2 Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp 1955 11 3 Mulan 1998 11 4 Bao 2018 12 Other examples in Western media 13 See also 14 References 15 Further reading 16 External linksEarly East Asian American film actors EditSessue Hayakawa Edit The Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa began appearing in films around 1914 5 Signed to Paramount Pictures he had roles in more than 20 silent films including The Wrath of the Gods 1914 and The Typhoon 1914 and was considered to be a Hollywood sex symbol 5 When Hayakawa s contract with Paramount expired in 1918 the studio still wanted him to star in an upcoming movie but Hayakawa turned them down in favor of starting his own company 5 He was at the height of his popularity during that time 5 His career in the United States suffered a bit due to the advent of talkies as he had a heavy Japanese accent He became unemployable during the World War II era due to anti Japanese prejudice He experienced a career revival beginning in 1949 in World War II themed films and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Bridge on the River Kwai 5 Anna May Wong Edit Anna May Wong considered by many to be the first Chinese American movie star 6 was acting by the age of 14 and in 1922 at age 17 she became the first Chinese American to break Hollywood s miscegenation rule playing opposite a white romantic lead in The Toll of the Sea Even though she was internationally known by 1924 her film roles were limited by stereotype and prejudice Tired of being both typecast and passed over for lead East Asian character roles in favor of European American actresses Wong left Hollywood in 1928 for Europe 6 Interviewed by Doris Mackie for Film Weekly in 1933 Wong complained about her Hollywood roles I was so tired of the parts I had to play 7 8 She commented There seems little for me in Hollywood because rather than real Chinese producers prefer Hungarians Mexicans American Indians for Chinese roles 9 In 1935 she was considered for the leading role in The Good Earth which went to German actress Luise Rainer Wong refused the role of the villainess a stereotypical Oriental Dragon Lady Keye Luke Edit Keye Luke was a successful actor starring as the Number One Son Lee Chan in the popular Charlie Chan films as well as the original Kato in the 1940s Green Hornet and Detective James Lee Wong in Phantom of Chinatown 1940 a role previously played by the English actor Boris Karloff Philip Ahn Edit Korean American actor Philip Ahn after rejection for speaking English too well braved death threats after playing Japanese villains Ahn would go on to have a prolific career citation needed Some East and South Asian American actors nonetheless attempted to start careers Merle Oberon an Anglo Indian was able to get starring roles after concocting a phony story about her origins and using skin whitening make up There were others pioneering East Asian American actors like Benson Fong who played the Number Three son in the Charlie Chan films Victor Sen Yung who played the Number Two son in the Charlie Chan films Richard Loo who also played many Japanese villain roles Lotus Long known for her role as Lin Wen opposite Keye Luke in the Phantom of Chinatown Suzanna Kim Barbara Jean Wong Fely Franquelli Chester Gan Honorable Wu Kam Tong Layne Tom Jr Maurice Liu Rudy Robles Teru Shimada Willie Fung Toshia Mori and Wing Foo who all began their film careers in the 1930s and 40s With the number of East Asian American actors available author Robert B Ito wrote an article that described that job protection for Caucasian actors was one reason Asians were portrayed by Caucasians With the relatively small percentage of actors that support themselves by acting it was only logical that they should try to limit the available talent pool as much as possible One way of doing this was by placing restrictions on minority actors which in the case of Asian actors meant that they could usually only get roles as houseboys cooks laundrymen and crazed war enemies with the rare white hero s loyal sidekick roles going to the big name actors When the script called for a larger Asian role it was almost inevitably given to a white actor 10 Recent East Asian American film actors EditThe 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians starred Constance Wu Henry Golding Michelle Yeoh Gemma Chan Lisa Lu Awkwafina Harry Shum Jr Ken Jeong Sonoya Mizuno Chris Pang Jimmy O Yang Ronny Chieng Remy Hii Nico Santos Jing Lusi and Carmen Soo among others The 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once starred Michelle Yeoh as main lead Stephanie Hsu Ke Huy Quan Harry Shum Jr and James Hong as supporting actors European actors who have played East Asian roles EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed January 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Welsh American Myrna Loy was the go to girl for any portrayal of Asian characters and was typecast in over a dozen films while Chinese detective Charlie Chan who was modeled after Chang Apana a real life Chinese Hawaiian detective was portrayed by several European and European American actors including Warner Oland Sidney Toler and Peter Ustinov Loy also appeared in yellowface alongside Nick Lucas in The Show of Shows The list of actors who have donned yellowface to portray East Asians at some point in their career includes Lon Chaney Sr Edward G Robinson Paul Muni Loretta Young Boris Karloff Peter Lorre Anthony Quinn Shirley MacLaine Katharine Hepburn Rita Moreno Rex Harrison John Wayne Mickey Rooney Marlon Brando Lupe Velez Alec Guinness Tony Randall John Gielgud Max von Sydow Linda Hunt Eddie Murphy David Carradine Joel Grey Peter Sellers Yul Brynner and many others Madame Butterfly Edit Madame Butterfly was originally a short story written by Philadelphia attorney John Luther Long 11 It was turned into a one act play Madame Butterfly A Tragedy of Japan by David Belasco Giacomo Puccini re made the play into the Italian opera Madama Butterfly set in 1904 12 The 1915 silent film version was directed by Sidney Olcott and starred Mary Pickford 13 All the versions of Madame Butterfly tell the story of a young Japanese woman who has converted to Christianity for which she is disowned by her family and marries Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton a white lieutenant in the U S Navy For him the marriage is a temporary convenience but Butterfly s conversion is sincere and she takes her marriage vows seriously 14 Pinkerton s naval duties eventually call him away from Japan He leaves Butterfly behind and she soon gives birth to their son Pinkerton eventually meets and marries a white American woman the fact he stopped paying the rent on Butterfly s house amounted to a divorce under Japanese law at the time 14 Pinkerton returns to Japan with his new wife Kate to claim his son Butterfly acquiesces to his request and then kills herself as Pinkerton rushes into the house too late to stop her In the story by Long Butterfly is on the point of killing herself when the presence of her child reminds her of her Christian conversion and the story ends with Mr and Mrs Pinkerton arriving at the house the next morning to find it completely empty Pre 2010s film EditAmericans have been putting Asian characters into films since 1896 however it was historically common to hire white actors to portray Asian characters Although some Asian characters are played by Asian actors in early films with an Asian story or setting most of the main characters are played by white actors even when the role is written as an Asian character See also Racism in early American film Mr Wu 1913 Edit Mr Wu was originally a stage play written by Harold Owen and Harry M Vernon It was first staged in London in 1913 with Matheson Lang in the lead He became so popular in the role that he starred in a 1919 film version Lang continued to play Oriental roles although not exclusively and his autobiography was titled Mr Wu Looks Back 1940 The first U S production opened in New York on October 14 1914 The actor Frank Morgan was in the original Broadway cast appearing under his original name Frank Wupperman Lon Chaney Sr and Renee Adoree were cast in the 1927 film Cheekbones and lips were built up with cotton and collodion the ends of cigar holders were inserted into his nostrils and the long fingernails were constructed from stripes of painted film stock Chaney used fishskin to fashion an Oriental cast to his eyes and grey crepe hair was used to create the distinctive Fu Manchu moustache and goatee The Forbidden City 1918 Edit The Forbidden City is a 1918 American silent drama film starring Norma Talmadge and Thomas Meighan and directed by Sidney Franklin A copy of the film is in the Library of Congress and other film archives The plot centers around an inter racial romance between a Chinese princess Norma Talmadge and an American When palace officials discover she has fallen pregnant she is sentenced to death In the latter part of the film Talmadge plays the now adult daughter of the affair seeking her father in the Philippines Broken Blossoms 1919 Edit The film Broken Blossoms is based on a short story The Chink and the Child taken from the book Limehouse Nights by Thomas Burke 15 It was released in 1919 during a period of strong anti Chinese feeling in the U S a fear known as the Yellow Peril Griffith changed Burke s original story to promote a message of tolerance In Burke s story the Chinese protagonist is a sordid young Shanghai drifter pressed into naval service who frequents opium dens and whorehouses in the film he becomes a Buddhist missionary whose initial goal is to spread the dharma of the Buddha and peace although he is also shown frequenting opium dens when he is depressed Even at his lowest point he still prevents his gambling companions from fighting Tea House of the August Moon 1956 16 Edit The original story of this film was from a novel written by Vern Sneider in 1952 The Tea House of the August Moon film was adapted in 1956 from the play version in 1953 written by John Patrick This American comedy film is directed by Daniel Mann The plot concerns the concept of the United States military government trying to establish power and influence over Japan specifically in Okinawa during wartime Although the cast does include Japanese actors and actresses for the roles of the Japanese characters in the film such as Machiko Kyō Jun Negami Nijiko Kiyokawa and Mitsuko Sawamura the main character Sakini is played by a white American actor Marlon Brando Flower Drum Song 1961 Edit Flower Drum Song is a 1961 film adaptation of the 1958 Broadway play of the same title This adaptation tells the story of a Chinese woman emigrating to the U S and her subsequent arranged marriage This movie featured the first majority Asian cast in Hollywood cinema setting a precedent for the following The Joy Luck Club and Crazy Rich Asians to have a majority Asian casting It became the first major Hollywood feature film to have a majority Asian cast in a contemporary Asian American story The Joy Luck Club 1993 Edit The Joy Luck Club is a 1993 American drama directed by Wayne Wang The story is based the novel of the same name by Amy Tan This movie explored the relationship of Chinese immigrant mothers and their first generation Chinese American daughters This movie was only the second in Hollywood cinema to feature an Asian majority casting Better Luck Tomorrow 2002 Edit Better Luck Tomorrow is a 2002 American crime drama film directed by Justin Lin The film is about Asian American overachievers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and material excess Better Luck Tomorrow introduced film audiences to a cast including Parry Shen Jason Tobin Sung Kang Roger Fan and John Cho Saving Face 2004 Edit Saving Face is a 2004 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Alice Wu The film s Wil Michelle Krusiec is a lesbian but she is too afraid to tell her widowed mother Hwei lan Joan Chen or her strict grandparents She is shocked to discover that her 48 year old mother is pregnant and that she is not the only member of her family with romantic secrets Hwei lan is kicked out of her parents house and forced to live with Wil straining Wil s growing friendship with the out and proud Vivian Lynn Chen 2010s in film EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed June 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message Gook 2017 Edit Gook tells the story of Asian Americans during the 1992 Los Angeles riots It was released in 2017 with its director Justin Chon David So Sang Chon Curtiss Cook Jr and Ben Munoz Ghost in the Shell 2017 Edit Ghost in the Shell is a 2017 American adaptation of the Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow It was directed by Rupert Sanders and featured Scarlett Johansson as the main character This movie was set in the future and revolved around a story of a cyborg discovering her past This film was controversial due to the fact that the casting featured a Caucasian with the movie being accused of racism and whitewashing in film After the controversy erupted it was reported that Paramount Pictures examined the possibility of using CGI to make Scarlett Johansson appear more Asian 17 Crazy Rich Asians 2018 Edit Crazy Rich Asians is a 2018 film adaptation of the book by the same name by Kevin Kwan Despite being a critical and commercial success the film received controversy over the casting of mixed race actors and non Chinese actors in ethnically Chinese roles as well as portraying the characters speaking British English and American English instead of Singaporean English 18 19 20 The movie was also criticized for its lack of diversity with critics stating that the movie did not properly depict the variety of ethnic groups in Singapore 21 22 23 Lead actress Constance Wu responded to criticisms stating that the film would not represent every Asian American given that the majority of characters depicted in the movie were ethnically Chinese and extremely wealthy 24 Time magazine also noted that the film was the first modern story with an all Asian cast and an Asian American lead since the release of the 1993 film The Joy Luck Club 25 To All the Boys I ve Loved Before 2018 Edit To All the Boys I ve Loved Before is a 2018 Netflix Original movie based on the book by the same name by Jenny Han The film stars Lana Condor and Noah Centineo and has been credited along with Crazy Rich Asians as helping to garner more representation for Asian Americans in film 26 Of the film Han stated that she had to turn down initial offers to adapt the book as some of the studios wanted a white actress to play the main character of Lara Jean 27 Ironically none of the film adaptation of the romantic comedy s five male love interests were of Asian descent despite changing the ethnicity of at least one love interest from the book which was seen as a perpetuation of the emasculation of Asian men in Hollywood media 28 The Farewell 2019 Edit The Farewell is a 2019 American comedy drama film written and directed by Lulu Wang based on a story called What You Don t Know that was initially shared by Wang on This American Life in April 2016 29 30 Based on Wang s life experiences the film stars Awkwafina as Billi Wang a Chinese American who upon learning her grandmother has only a short time left to live is pressured by her family to not tell her while they schedule family gathering before she dies 31 The film received critical acclaim the film was nominated for two awards at the 77th Golden Globe Awards including Best Foreign Language Film and Awkwafina winning for Best Actress Musical or Comedy making her the first person of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe Award in any lead actress film category 32 2020s in film EditThe Half of It 2020 Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed November 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Half of It is a 2020 Netflix Original movie written and directed by Alice Wu The Cyrano de Bergerac spin off is about Ellie Chu a shy introverted student helps the school jock woo a girl whom secretly they both want 33 They find themselves connecting and learn about the nature of love Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2021 Edit Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a 2021 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Shang Chi produced by Marvel Studios and set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Starring Simu Liu as Shang Chi and Tony Leung as Wenwu the film is Marvel s first superhero movie tentpole franchise with an Asian protagonist A film based on Shang Chi was planned in 2006 but development did not begin in earnest until December 2018 following the success of Crazy Rich Asians 34 35 The film modernizes the problematic elements of Shang Chi and the Mandarin s comic book origins which depicted negative stereotypes of East Asians 36 37 According to producer Kevin Feige Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings features a cast that is 98 Asian and is much more than a kung fu movie 38 Everything Everywhere All at Once 2022 Edit Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 film directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert a k a The Daniels and produced by A24 Starring Michelle Yeoh Stephanie Hsu Ke Huy Quan James Hong Harry Shum Jr among other actors it is an absurdist action comedy film where an aging Chinese American immigrant must save the world by exploring other universes and reliving the lives she could have led 2010s television EditFresh Off the Boat 2015 2020 Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed November 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Fresh Off the Boat is an American sitcom created by Nahnatchka Khan a loose adaptation of author Eddie Huang s Fresh off the Boat This show followed the life of an Asian American family in the early 1990s It is the first Asian American sitcom to be featured prime time in America It was released in February 2015 and has been renewed several times ending with a two part finale on February 21 2020 Dr Ken 2015 2017 Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed November 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Dr Ken is an American sitcom created by actor and writer Ken Jeong This show followed the story of an Asian American doctor and his family This show aired between October 2 2015 and March 31 2017 Kim s Convenience 2016 2021 Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed November 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Kim s Convenience is a Canadian TV series adapted from Ins Choi s 2011 play of the same name This show revolves around the life of a family and their family run convenience store located in Toronto It debuted in October 2016 and has since been renewed for a fourth season This show has been globally brought to attention with Netflix securing rights to broadcast it outside of Canada Warrior 2019 present Edit Warrior is an American action drama television series executive produced by Shannon Lee and Justin Lin 39 40 based on an original concept and treatment by Lee s father Bruce Lee 41 42 43 The show follows a martial arts prodigy and his involvement in the Tong Wars of 1870s San Francisco Bruce Lee developed the show in 1971 but had trouble pitching it to Warner Bros and Paramount 44 The show premiered on Cinemax on April 5 2019 and was subsequently renewed for a second season 45 Classic Hollywood cinema EditDr Fu Manchu Edit In 1929 the character Dr Fu Manchu made his American film debut in The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu played by the Swedish American actor Warner Oland Oland repeated the role in 1930s The Return of Dr Fu Manchu and 1931 s Daughter of the Dragon Oland appeared in character in the 1931 musical Paramount on Parade where the Devil Doctor was seen to murder both Philo Vance and Sherlock Holmes In 1932 Boris Karloff took over the character in the film The Mask of Fu Manchu 46 The film s tone has long been considered racist and offensive 47 48 but that only added to its cult status alongside its humor and Grand Guignol sets and torture sequences The film was suppressed for many years but has since received critical re evaluation and been released on DVD uncut Charlie Chan Edit Main article Charlie Chan In a series of films in the 1930s and 1940s Chinese Hawaiian American detective Charlie Chan was played by white actors Warner Oland Sidney Toler and Roland Winters The Swedish born Oland unlike his two successors in the Chan role actually looked somewhat Chinese and according to his contemporaries he did not use special makeup in the role He also played East Asians in other films including Shanghai Express The Painted Veil and Werewolf of London decades later Afro European American TV actor Khigh Dhiegh though of African and European descent was generally cast as an East Asian because of his appearance and he was often included on lists of East Asian actors The Good Earth Edit American actor Luise Rainer as O Lan in 1937 film The Good EarthThe Good Earth 1937 is a film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive 49 It was adapted by Talbot Jennings Tess Slesinger and Claudine West from the play by Donald Davis and Owen Davis which was itself based on the 1931 novel The Good Earth by Nobel Prize winning author Pearl S Buck The film was directed by Sidney Franklin Victor Fleming uncredited and Gustav Machaty uncredited The film s budget was 2 8 million relatively expensive for the time and took three years to make Although Pearl Buck intended the film to be cast with all Chinese or Chinese American actors the studio opted to use established American stars tapping Europeans Paul Muni and Luise Rainer for the lead roles Both had won Oscars the previous year Rainer for her role in The Great Ziegfeld and Muni for the lead in The Story of Louis Pasteur When questioned about his choice of the actors producer Irving Thalberg responded by saying I m in the business of creating illusions 50 Anna May Wong had been considered a top contender for the role of O Lan the Chinese heroine of the novel However because Paul Muni was a white man the Hays Code s anti miscegenation rules required the actress who played his wife to be a white woman So MGM gave the role of O Lan to a European actress and offered Wong the role of Lotus the story s villain Wong refused to be the only Chinese American playing the only negative character stating I won t play the part If you let me play O Lan I ll be very glad But you re asking me with Chinese blood to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all American cast portraying Chinese characters 51 MGM s refusal to consider Wong for this most high profile of Chinese characters in U S film is remembered today as one of the most notorious cases of casting discrimination in the 1930s 52 The Good Earth was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture Best Direction Sidney Franklin Best Cinematography Karl Freund and Best Film Editing Basil Wrangell In addition to the Best Actress award Luise Rainer the film won for Best Cinematography 53 The year The Good Earth came out Wong appeared on the cover of Look magazine s second issue which labeled her The World s Most Beautiful Chinese Girl 54 Stereotyped in America as a dragon lady the cover photo had her holding a dagger citation needed Breakfast at Tiffany s Edit Main article I Y Yunioshi The 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany s has been criticized for its portrayal of the character Mr Yunioshi Holly s bucktoothed stereotyped Japanese neighbor Mickey Rooney wore makeup to change his features to a caricatured approximation of a Japanese person In the 45th anniversary edition DVD release producer Richard Shepherd repeatedly apologizes saying If we could just change Mickey Rooney I d be thrilled with the movie 55 Director Blake Edwards stated Looking back I wish I had never done it and I would give anything to be able to recast it but it s there and onward and upward 55 In a 2008 interview about the film 87 year old Rooney said he was heartbroken about the criticism and that he had never received any complaints about his portrayal of the character 56 Sixteen Candles Edit The 1984 American film Sixteen Candles has been criticized for the character of Long Duk Dong This Asian character became an Asian American stereotype for a new generation 57 Long Duk Dong displayed a variety of stereotypes in the film such being socially awkward and difficult to understand and the lecherous but sexually inept loser 57 The idea of Asians being more feminine and therefore weaker is further exemplified through Long Duk Dong s romantic relationship with one of the characters in the film He assumes the more feminine role while the American girl becomes the more masculine of two in the relationship Theater EditYellowface in theatre has been called the practice of white actors donning overdone face paint and costumes that serves as a caricatured representation of traditional Asian garb 58 Founded in 2011 the Asian American Performers Action Coalition AAPAC works in an effort to expand the perception of Asian American performers in order to increase their access to and representation on New York City s stages This group works to address and discuss yellowface controversies and occurrences 59 non primary source needed Miss Saigon Edit Main article Miss Saigon Miss Saigon a musical with music by Claude Michel Schonberg lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr and book by Boublil and Schonberg is a modern adaptation of Giacomo Puccini s opera Madama Butterfly Miss Saigon tells the story of a doomed romance involving a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier set in the time of the Vietnam War 60 When Miss Saigon premiered at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane London on September 20 1989 Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce wore heavy prosthetic eyelids and skin darkening cream in playing The Engineer a mixed race French Vietnamese pimp 61 Once the London West End production came to Broadway in 1990 Pryce was slated to reprise his role as The Engineer causing a major rift in American theater circles and sparking public outcry Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang wrote a letter to the Actors Equity Association protesting this portrayal of a Eurasian character being played by a White actor 62 Despite these protests Pryce performed the Engineer to great acclaim and Miss Saigon became one of Broadway s longest running hits 63 The Mikado Edit Main article The Mikado The Mikado a comic operetta with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W S Gilbert premiered in 1885 in London and still performed frequently in the English speaking world and beyond 64 65 In setting the opera in a fictionalized 19th century Japan Gilbert used the veneer of Far Eastern exoticism to soften the impact of his pointed satire of British institutions and politics 65 66 Numerous 21st century U S productions of The Mikado have been criticized for the use of yellowface in their casting New York 2004 and 2015 Los Angeles 2007 and 2009 Boston 2007 Austin 2011 Denver 2013 and Seattle 2014 67 The press noted that the Seattle Gilbert amp Sullivan Society cast the 10 principal roles and the chorus with white actors with the exception of two Latino actors 67 In 2015 the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players cancelled a production of The Mikado that was set to feature their repertory company of mostly White actors due to complaints from the East Asian American community 68 The company redesigned its production in collaboration with an advisory group of East Asian American theater professionals and debuted the new concept in 2016 69 receiving a warm review in The New York Times 70 After Lamplighters Music Theatre of San Francisco planned a 2016 production objections by the East Asian American community prompted them to re set the operetta in Renaissance era Milan replacing all references to Japan with Milan 71 Reviewers felt that the change resolved the issue 72 73 The King and I Edit Main article The King and I The King and I is a musical by Richard Rodgers composer and Oscar von Hammerstein II lyricist Based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon the story illustrates the clash of Eastern and Western cultures by relaying the experiences of Anna based on Anna Leonowens a British schoolteacher hired as part of King Mongkut of Siam s drive to modernize his country The relationship between the King and Anna is marked by conflict and constant bickering throughout the musical as well as by a love that neither can confess The 2015 Dallas Summer Musicals production of the musical caused controversy in the casting of a European American actor as King Mongkut In an open letter to Dallas Summer Musicals the AAPAC criticized the choice saying the casting of a white King dramaturgically undermines a story about a clash between Western and Eastern cultures moreover Asian impersonation denies Asians our own subjecthood It situates all the power within a Caucasian centric world view 74 Asian representation in American animated films EditBugs Bunny Nips the Nips 1944 Edit Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips is an 8 minute animated short directed by Friz Freleng and produced through Warner Bros Cartoons as part of the Merrie Melodies cartoon series It portrays Japanese stereotypes of the Japanese Emperor and military a sumo wrestler and a geisha through Bugs Bunny and his interactions with a Japanese soldier on an island 75 Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp 1955 Edit Lady and the Tramp is an animated musical film directed by Clyde Geronimi Wilfred Jackson Voice actors include Peggy Lee Barbara Luddy Larry Roberts Bill Thompson Bill Baucon Steve Freberg Verna Felton Alan Reed George Givot Dallas McKennon and Lee Millar Although this animation is about dogs the portrayal of the Siamese cats with buck teeth and slanted eyes was criticized by many who believed that it was a racist representation of stereotypical Asians The exaggerated accents were also mocking of the Thai language 76 Mulan 1998 Edit The animated film Mulan was produced by the Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures in 1998 It is based on an old traditional Chinese folktale about a young girl Hua Mulan who disguises as a man to take her father s spot in the army It boasted international popularity and distribution This film was so successful that in 2004 Mulan II its sequel was produced However this is not the first or only animation to adapt Mulan s story In 1998 United American Video Entertainment produced an animation called The Secret of Mulan cy zh that uses six legged caterpillars to represent the characters in a friendlier way for young children 77 78 Bao 2018 Edit Bao is one of Pixar s animated shorts produced in 2018 and directed by Domee Shi It portrays the importance of family and culture in a Chinese Canadian community The plot concerns a story about a Chinese Canadian mother who creates a baby dumpling that comes to life to help her cope with the loneliness and grief in missing her son who has grown up 79 Other examples in Western media EditMain article Examples of yellowface Actors Nancy Kwan and David Carradine in the 1970s TV series Kung FuA prominent example of the whitewashing of Asian roles is the 1970s TV series Kung Fu in which the leading character a Chinese monk and martial arts master who fled China after having accidentally slain the emperor s nephew is portrayed by European American actor David Carradine The film Dragon The Bruce Lee Story describes to some extent the struggles that ensued when Hollywood moguls attempted to cast Bruce Lee in the starring role of Caine but were overruled American actress Emma Stone played a half Asian character in the film Aloha In the film Cloud Atlas every major male character in the Korean story line was played by a non Asian actor made up in yellowface makeup 80 Michael Derrick Hudson an American poet used a Chinese female pen name See also Edit Film portalBlackface in contemporary art Covert racism Racism in early American film Reel Bad Arabs Reel Injun Whiteface performance References Edit a b c Winfrey Yayoi Lena November 19 2012 Yellowface Asians on White Screens IMDiversity a b Kashiwabara Amy Vanishing Son The Appearance Disappearance and Assimilation of the Asian American Man in American Mainstream Media UC Berkeley Media Resources Center Chin Frank Chan Jeffery 1972 Racist Love PDF In Richard Kostelanetz ed Seeing Through Shuck New York Ballantine Books p 65 The Practice of Yellow Face by Vickie Rozel TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in the Works a b c d e www goldsea com Sessue Hayakawa The Legend a b Chan Anthony B Perpetually Cool The Many Lives of Anna May Wong 1905 1961 Lanham Maryland Scarecrow Press 2003 ISBN 0 8108 4789 2 pp xi 42 Leong Karen J The China Mystique Pearl S Buck Anna May Wong Mayling Soong and the Transformation of American Orientalism Berkeley CA University of California Press 2005 ISBN 0 520 24422 2 pp 83 187 Wollstein Hans J Anna May Wong Vixens Floozies and Molls 28 Actresses of late 1920s and 1930s Hollywood Jefferson North Carolina McFarland 1999 ISBN 0 7864 0565 1 p 252 Parish James and William Leonard Anna May Wong Hollywood Players The Thirties New Rochelle New York Arlington House Publishers 1976 pp 532 538 ISBN 0 87000 365 8 www brightlightsflim com Archived December 12 2010 at Archive It A Certain Slant Analysis of John Luther Long s Madame Butterfly logos verlag de Woodward Benjamin Madama Butterfly Puccini s masterpiece transcends its age The Japan Times Madame Butterfly 1915 at IMDb a b Puccini opera is racist News24 February 14 2007 www tcm com Spotlight Broken Blossoms Lee Joann 2001 Asian American Actors in Film Television and Theater An Ethnographic Case Study Race Gender amp Class 8 4 176 184 ISSN 1082 8354 JSTOR 41675001 Sampson Mike April 15 2016 Ghost in the Shell Ran Tests to Make White Actors Look Asian ScreenCrush Lui John April 26 2017 Colourism mars Crazy Rich Asians main casting The Straits Times Archived from the original on April 26 2018 Retrieved February 5 2018 Han Kirsten August 20 2018 Crazy Rich Asians is not us say Singaporeans Stuff New Zealand Retrieved September 10 2018 Agency May 4 2018 Crazy Rich Asians criticised for being too Chinese not Singlish enough Star2 Archived from the original on June 20 2018 Retrieved August 20 2018 Banyan September 1 2018 For a different take on Crazy Rich Asians cross the Pacific The Economist Archived from the original on September 5 2018 Retrieved September 8 2018 Ives Mike August 16 2018 For Some Viewers Crazy Rich Asians Is Not Asian Enough The New York Times Archived from the original on September 4 2018 Retrieved September 10 2018 Yap Audrey Cleo August 19 2018 Crazy Rich Asians Doesn t Represent All Asians Everywhere and That s Fine Column Variety Retrieved September 12 2018 Ives Mike August 16 2018 For Some Viewers Crazy Rich Asians Is Not Asian Enough The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved May 21 2019 Ho Karen August 15 2018 Crazy Rich Asians Is Going to Change Hollywood It s About Time Time pp 40 46 Archived from the original on September 2 2018 Retrieved August 25 2018 physically published in August 27 2018 issue digitally published on August 15 Hassan Aisha August 23 2018 A golden age of Asian American rom coms is dawning Quartzy Retrieved June 11 2019 Why To All The Boys I ve Loved Before Author Jenny Han Had to Fight for an Asian American Star People Retrieved June 11 2019 Nguyen Hanh August 18 2018 To All the Boys I ve Loved Before Author Jenny Han Addresses Criticism for Not Including an Asian Male Love Interest IndieWire Retrieved December 27 2021 What You Don t Know This American Life April 22 2016 Retrieved November 8 2019 Kohn Eric July 18 2019 The Farewell Lulu Wang Made the Year s Most Exciting Hit By Refusing to Whitewash It IndieWire Retrieved November 8 2019 10 Directors to Watch Lulu Wang Shows Another Side of Awkwafina in The Farewell January 4 2019 Gonzalez Sandra January 5 2020 Awkwafina makes Golden Globes history CNN The Half of It retrieved December 14 2021 Marvel to Make Movies Based on Comic Books September 6 2005 Marvel Developing Shang Chi Movie with Wonder Woman 1984 Writer December 3 2018 Shang Chi Marvel s First Asian Film Superhero Franchise Dave Callaham Scripting Search on for Director of Asian Descent December 3 2018 How Shang Chi Could be Marvel s Next Black Panther December 4 2018 Marvel Studios Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Features Cast That is 98 Percent Asian Cecchini Mike August 22 2018 Warrior First Teaser for Bruce Lee Inspired TV Series Denofgeek Li Shirley February 8 2019 Justin Lin talks bringing Bruce Lee s passion project to life in Warrior first look photos Entertainment Weekly Retrieved March 9 2019 Andreeva Nellie June 7 2017 Bruce Lee Inspired Tong Wars Drama Warrior From Justin Lin amp Banshee Co Creator Gets Cinemax Series Order Andreeva Nellie August 30 2016 Bruce Lee Inspired Crime Drama Warrior From Justin Lin amp Banshee Co Creator Gets Cinemax Pilot Order Andreeva Nellie May 21 2015 Cinemax Developing Bruce Lee Inspired Crime Drama Warrior From Justin Lin From The Pierre Berton Show December 8 1971 comments near end of part 2 amp early in part 3 Andreeva Nellie April 24 2019 Warrior Renewed For Season 2 By Cinemax Deadline The Mask of Fu Manchu at IMDb Gregory William Mank Hollywood Cauldron 13 Horror Films from the Genres s Golden Age McFarland 2001 pp 53 89 ISBN 0 7864 1112 0 Christopher Frayling quoted in Fu Manchu in Newman Kim ed The BFI Companion to Horror London Cassell 1996 pp 131 32 ISBN 0 304 33216 X www asian studies org What s So Bad About The Good Earth by Charles W Hayford Peter Ho Davies August 25 2016 The Fortunes Hodder amp Stoughton p 140 ISBN 978 1 4447 1056 4 www asiaarts ucla edu Archived August 1 2009 at the Wayback Machine Profile of Anna May Wong Remembering The Silent Star by Kenneth Quan Lucy Fischer Marcia Landy 2004 Stars The Film Reader Psychology Press p 189 ISBN 978 0 415 27892 8 tcm com Spotlight The Good Earth Corliss Richard Anna May Wong Did It Right Time magazine January 29 2005 accessed May 22 2018 a b Breakfast at Tiffany s The Making of a Classic Calvert Bruce September 9 2008 Sacramento Bee Racism in reel life sacbee com Archived from the original on November 21 2008 Retrieved November 2 2008 a b Chow Kat February 6 2015 What s So Cringeworthy About Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles NPR Retrieved May 22 2019 Dallas Summer Musicals The King and I Casting Causes Controversy BroadwayWorld Retrieved November 25 2015 AAPAC AAPAC Retrieved November 25 2015 The Heat Is On Touring Production of Miss Saigon Met With Protests at Minnesota s Ordway Theater Playbill October 8 2013 Retrieved November 25 2015 A Certain Slant A Brief History of Hollywood Yellowface Bright Lights Film Journal Archived from the original on May 3 2014 Retrieved November 25 2015 Cauterucci Christina January 30 2014 Yellow Face at Theatre J explores Asian representation in the theater world The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Retrieved November 25 2015 Hwang David Henry David Henry Hwang racial casting has evolved and so have my opinions The Guardian London Retrieved November 25 2015 Kenrick John The Gilbert amp Sullivan Story Part III Archived January 5 2010 at the Wayback Machine Musicals101 com accessed November 11 2016 a b Steinberg Neil Updated Mikado promises to be as rousing as ever Chicago Sun Times December 6 2010 Mikado Genesis Lyric Opera San Diego a b Stereotypes in The Mikado Stir Controversy in Seattle NBC News July 17 2014 Retrieved November 25 2015 Following Outcry from the Asian Community The Mikado With Caucasian Actors Canceled Playbill September 18 2015 Retrieved November 25 2015 New York Gilbert amp Sullivan Players Reveals Concepts for Reimagined The Mikado Kelvin Moon Loh Joins Creative Team BroadwayWorld October 6 2016 Fonseca Wollheim Corinna da Is The Mikado Too Politically Incorrect to Be Fixed Maybe Not December 30 2016 The New York Times Tran Diep Building a Better Mikado Minus the Yellowface American Theatre April 20 2016 Kosman Joshua August 8 2016 Lamplighters transplanted Mikado retains its charm San Francisco Chronicle Hurwitt Sam August 8 2016 Review Guilt free Mikado unveiled by Lamplighters The Mercury News Dallas Summer Musicals THE KING AND I Casting Causes Controversy BroadwayWorld com Retrieved November 25 2015 Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips 1944 UC Berkeley Library lib berkeley edu Retrieved May 28 2020 Lady and the Tramp Walt Disney Pictures 1955 UC Berkeley Library lib berkeley edu Retrieved May 28 2020 Sharma Manisha 2016 Chapter Seven Disney and the Ethnic Other A Semiotic Analysis of American Identity Counterpoints 477 95 107 ISSN 1058 1634 JSTOR 45157189 Dong Lan 2011 Mulan s Legend and Legacy in China and the United States Temple University Press ISBN 978 1 59213 970 5 JSTOR j ctt14btd0g Here s the Tasty Recipe for the Bao From Pixar s Charming New Short Bao Time Retrieved May 28 2020 Brooks Xan October 26 2012 Cloud Atlas under fire for casting white actors in yellowface makeup The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved June 12 2019 Further reading EditHodges Graham Russell 2004 Anna May Wong From Laundryman s Daughter to Hollywood Legend New York Palgrave Macmillan Marchetti Gina 1993 Romance and the Yellow Peril Race Sex and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction Berkeley University of California Press Ito Robert B A Certain Slant A Brief History of Hollywood Yellowface Bright Lights Film Journal Archived from the original on May 3 2014 Retrieved May 2 2014 Metzger Sean Charles Parsloe s Chinese Fetish An Example of Yellowface Performance in Nineteenth Century American Melodrama Theatre Journal 56 no 4 2004 627 651 JSTOR 25069532 Moon Krystyn R 2006 Yellowface Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performance 1850s 1920s New Brunswick New Jersey Rutgers University Press Paul John Steven Spring 2001 Misreading the Chinese Character Images of the Chinese in Euroamerican Drama to 1925 review Asian Theatre Journal University of Hawai i Press 18 1 117 119 doi 10 1353 atj 2001 0006 S2CID 162327661 Prasso Sheridan 2005 The Asian Mystique dragon ladies geisha girls amp our fantasies of the exotic orient Wang Yiman 2005 The Art of Screen Passing Anna May Wong s Yellow Yellowface Performance in the Art Deco Era In Catherine Russell ed Camera Obscura 60 New Women of the Silent Screen China Japan Hollywood Durham North Carolina Duke University Press pp 159 191 ISBN 978 0 8223 6624 9 Young Cynthia Ann AfroAsian Encounters Culture History Politics review Journal of Asian American Studies 10 no 3 2007 316 318 doi 10 1353 jaas 2007 0033 External links EditHollywood Chinese a 2007 documentary film about the portrayals of Chinese men and women in Hollywood productions Yellowface Asians on White Screens by Yayoi Lena Winfrey IM Diversity com A Certain Slant by Robert B Ito Bright Lights Film Journal Monitoring Asians in the American mass media at Asian American Media Watch Asian Images in Film Introduction at TCM Roundtable The Past and Present of Yellowface at NPR I am not a Fetish or Model Minority by CAPE and Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater amp oldid 1165140686, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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