One of the biggest hits of 2018, Crazy Rich Asians was not the easiest movie to make. However, it proved that Hollywood and its audiences are invested in more diverse stories. It tells the story of Rachel Chu who travels to Singapore to meet her boyfriend, Nick’s extended family and coming to terms with his immense wealth and the clientele it attracts.

In early stages of production, a producer suggested the character of Rachel Chu be played a white actress. While that idea was ultimately scrapped, it was not the only issue amidst conception. Netflix initially offered the filmmakers a release deal, but it was ultimately decided that the movie would be released with Warner Brothers, which would guarantee the film would reach a wider audience and ultimately led to its widespread success.

“Crazy Rich Asians” was the first mainstream film in 25 years to feature an all asian cast, following in the footsteps of the 1993 adaptation of Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club.” The lives of different Asian and Asian Americans are explored, yet problems arise within the setting of the film. Rachel’s upbringing as the daughter of a single immigrant mother immediately singles her out from the aristocratic lifestyles of Nick’s family. This leads to discussions about who is and is not acceptable to invite into the Young’s world and the prejudice that plagues Asian communities around the world.

As groundbreaking as the film is, the majority of it is focused on this 1% group of Asia’s foremost millionaires. Greed and pride get in the way of the storyline, and most of the characters are asked to reevaluate what it means to be a successful individual of Asian descent, and figures out ways in which it can help or harm your personal life. Some critics felt that it glorified the extravagant lifestyles of these individuals and did not accurately represent the multiple backgrounds of East Asians that could be represented on the big screen. 

“Crazy Rich Asians” provided a platform for us to discuss the classism that plagues Asian community and highlighted the complex lives of the Chu and Young families. It also highlighted the double standard that is played against the children of immigrants and those individuals that were born and raised in Asia. 

When news broke that the popular Japanese manga “Ghost in the Shell” would be adapted into a live action movie, fans simultaneously cheered and squirmed. Not long after the announcement, it was made known to the public that Scarlett Johansson would be cast in the lead role of Major Mira Killian. Johansson’s casting was immediately panned by critics and fans, as the Japanese character was not being played by a Japanese actor. 

The film also chose to present Johansson’s character as a Japanese teenager’s soul placed into a white woman’s body as a part of a Government experiment to test out cybernetic bodies. Supporting characters in the film, both white and asian, were also given Japanese names and the theatrical poster borrowed from asiatic themes, as evidenced by the samurai mask and Japanese symbols in the background.

The negative critiques impacted the movie’s box office, grossing only $169 million against a $110 million budget. Reviews also criticized casting, as exploiting Johansson’s top billing star status as a means to make more money. Director Rupert Saunders has stood by his controversial decision, stating that Johansson had the “cyber punk aesthetic already baked in” to her personality and that she is easily the most talented actress of her generation. Although Johansson did not physically don yellowface in “Ghost in the Shell”, her casting overshadowed one of the most successful Asian stories in the media and stripped Asian actors from being featured in the platform.

Ghost in the shell borrowed from asian culture, but almost refused to acknowledge that the main character was a Japanese woman. The cluttered plot caused the message to be misconstrued and further discussion on whitewashing to be brought to Hollywood.

The stories of the Gold Age of Hollywood mostly focused on the stories of Americans  of European descent and rarely gave “exotic” minorities a proper means of exploring their own stories. That is, until Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song was adapted into a movie musical. The story follows Mei Li, a Chinese woman who immigrates to San Francisco to fulfill an arranged marriage to a nightclub owner who, unbeknownst to her, is already involved with one of his singers.

While the film did a great job at enhancing Asian culture’s presence in America, the film was criticized for portraying Asian individuals as overdrawn stereotypes and barely fleshed out caricatures. Nancy Kwan, who played nightclub singer Linda Lo, was also criticized for her the dragon lady characteristics that played against Miyoshi Umeki’s mild submissive Mei Li.

The film also presented a problem on the main screen that many native American citizens had never considered: giving up your culture in order to accepted. The younger cast of this movie very much embraces lavish American lifestyle ideals and look to push past the stereotypes in favor of submitting to the new norms in order to be accepted. Mei Li is seen as a plain woman who does not deserve the love of her arranged husband and Linda Lo’s own sexuality is used as a weapon in order to get what she wants. It also makes it harder for cultural traits to be presented in a positive light as it seems that many of the characters are trying to escape their “asian-ness”.

Despite the negative critiques, Flower Drum Song was used a platform for many Asian American actors. Nancy Kwan went on to star in many film and television roles, most notably Hawaii Five-0 and The Girl that Knew Too Much. Miyoshi Umeki rode the wave of stardom from Flower Drum Song and other roles, including Joshua Logan’s “Sayonara” for which Umeki won the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first and as of 2019 only Asian woman to achieve this honor. Having a large platform for which to showcase these actors and actresses and explain their stories has made Hollywood more conscious of exploring diversity in future projects. 

Among the Asian and Asian American actors and actresses that were trying to diversify the homogenized Hollywood, Yellowface reared its ugly head in an attempt to maintain top billing with bigger names in Hollywood. Similar to black face, yellowface is the practice of applying makeup to white actors and actresses to make them appear as if they are of Asian descent. One of the most well known examples of yellow face is from the widely celebrated movies of all time, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Mickey Rooney’s role as I.Y Yunioshi in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is very small but made a huge impact on how we approach the issue of diversity in Hollywood. Rooney’s face was adorned with makeup and he was asked to wear a prosthetic mouthpiece in order to achieve an exaggerated caricature of an asian man. Yunioshi barks at everyone, mostly his neighbor, Holly Golightly, and stomps clumsily around his apartment while speaking in broken english that is almost unintelligible. 

The portrayal of Yunioshi as clumsy and unlikeable Asian men to that of the butt of jokes and causes a rift to be torn between what is and is not proper representation in film. Because there are so little instances in which the spotlight is placed on characters of Asian descent, the few we are given, such as Yunioshi, can and will be interpreted as factual. This pushes stereotypes further throughout mainstream culture and doesn’t allow for Asian and Asian American actresses to have their stories told or have their characters completely fleshed out. 

While Rooney is considered one of the best actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s is widely helmed as cinematic feat, both realized how this character should have been omitted from the film. “looking back, I wish I had never done it,” Rooney said, “and I would give anything to be able to recast it."

Sources: Morgan, T. (2018, August 20). Casting White People in Asian Roles Goes Back Centuries. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/yellowface-whitewashing-in-film-america

Among the blonde haired blue eyed bombshells of early Hollywood, Anna May Wong stood out as an alternative to the stereotypical Hollywood. Born Liu Tsong to second generation Chinese immigrants, Wong’s interest in film began with the movie nickelodeons in her Los Angeles neighborhood. Although her parents insisted she think of a “realistic” career, Wong insisted on pursuing her interests and becoming an actress.

Due to the intense racism brought on the hostility towards Asian countries, the “yellow peril” kept Wong from scoring big roles. Chester Franklin’s 1922 drama “The Toll of the Sea” in which Wong achieved her dream of becoming the leading lady in a major motion picture. The was the first film to feature a woman of Asian descent in a starring role and skyrocketed to one of the most celebrated careers in Hollywood.

Despite her overwhelming success in film, television and radio, Wong faced racial discrimination from the industry that made her famous. Wong was considered for the lead role in Sidney Franklin’s “The Good Earth”, but was prohibited from playing the love interest of a white actor due to the Hays Code that was implemented in the early days of movie making. This code set forth a system of moral guidelines that instructed what was and was not appropriate for the big screen. The code also implemented anti-miscegenation laws that prohibited interracial couples from kissing on screen. Because of this, the role was offered to German born Luise Rainer, despite the storyline of the movie focusing on Chinese farmers. Wong was offered a smaller role in the film but turned it down, commenting, “You're asking me – with Chinese blood – to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters.”

Wong also fell victim to the two stereotypes that have plagued Asian Actresses: the dragon lady and the lotus flower. She was not afraid to use her sexuality to her advantage in film roles, and this image shocked Chinese conservatives. She was painted as a oversexed vamp in roles like that of “Daughter of the Dragon”, and the meek and timid foreigner in roles like “The Toll of the Sea”. She was often known solely for her beauty and not for her quick wit and smart business mind which led to her becoming the first Asian American lead in an American television show with “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong.”

Anna May Wong will forever be remembered for her talent and looks, but the struggles she faced in order to gain international stardom can be attributed to racial stereotypes and overblown fears of the Yellow Peril.

Sources: Sakamoto, E. (1987, July 12). ANNA MAY WONG AND THE DRAGON-LADY SYNDROME. Retrieved April 29, 2019, from https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-12-ca-3279-story.html

Crowther, L. (2016, March 08). Anna May Wong: Dragon Ladies and Butterflies. Retrieved April 29, 2019, from http://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/article/anna-may-wong-dragon-ladies-and-butterflies

The homogenized Hollywood that we associate with the silent era gives little credit to one of its earliest heartthrobs: Sessue Hayakawa. A Japanese man that began his acting career completely on accident, Hayakawa had intended on joining the army in his home country before being told that a ruptured eardrum would hinder his enlistment. After a suicide attempt, his family thought it best to send Hayakawa to study in the United States so that he could become a banker. After graduation, while awaiting a job, he became acquainted with the Japanese Theatre in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles and fell in love with acting and plays.

Hayakawa’s career took off thanks to “The Typhoon” (1914), in which the actor plays a Japanese diplomat that begins a love affair with an American woman. This set the stage for how Hayakawa would be portrayed in many Hollywood films, often being the source of great tension and growing more and more sinister as his career progressed. However, this did not stop women for falling head over heels for him as an exotic alternative to white protagonist he normally competed against. His sharp features and Japanese background perfectly encapsulated what a villain could and would look like on screen and, despite his success, Americans grew even more fearful of the land of the rising sun.

One of the most notorious of Hayakawa’s starring roles was Cecille B. Demille’s “The Cheat” (1915) in which Hayakawa portrayed Haka Arakau, a wealthy Japanese man that assaults the main heroine of the story after he loans her money. The scene of her attack is graphic, as Hayakawa holds down Fannie Ward’s Edith Hardy and brands her with an iron rod. In “The Cheat”,  Hayakawa’s role as a dangerous foreigner perpetuates the dangerous stereotype that was rampant during the early 1900s. The Naturalization Act of 1906 required immigrants to learn English before being accepted as a naturalized citizen of the United States. The 1922 court case Ozawa v. United States created further tension between Americans and the Japanese by denying Takao Ozawa U.S naturalization because he had been born in Japan and only lived in the United States for 20 years.

Sessue Hayakawa’s portrayal as a dangerous exotic other perpetuates the fears of the policy makers that enacted The Naturalization Act and Ozawa v. United States. Hayakawa himself was not dangerous, but struck fear into the hearts of American audiences with Hollywood’s exhaustive portrayals of him as a villain.

Sources: Yau, J., Bishara, H., Anderson, W. C., Samet, J., Weber, J., Pyne, L., & Grunthaner, J. (2018, July 14). Asians in Hollywood. Retrieved from https://hyperallergic.com/450820/asians-in-hollywood/

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=fbee04c4-ccbd-4d93-b435-143ef1a8c73b%40sdc-v-sessmgr02

My posts will be about the struggles that Asian American actors have faced in the film industry over the years and the stereotype “masks” that they are forced to wear in order to become successful. I have split my research into three categories 

Early Cinema

Mid Century Cinema

Modern Cinema