The Evolvement of Chinese Stereotypes Representative in Hollywood Movies
analytical Essay
1806 words
Film, as a traditional and beloved media, has been influential on people's life. We spend time in the cinema to be entertained, touched, scared and experience romantic love story and exotic places. As one of the most famous film industry base in the world, Hollywood, produces and sell their movie products all over the world.
During the process of globalization, countries are about to understand others’ culture as well as to realize how one’s culture compares and contrasts with other. Media globalization stands for the process in which film companies deliver images of national cultures to the whole world. In fact, the process of globalization increased the number of global cinema audiences; their aesthetic is having a profound effect on the way that Hollywood films are being made. Traditionally Hollywood is unfair and pernicious in its portrayal of Asian, but things get changed. According to recent figures from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to almost 70% of the studio’s annual revenues from box office now come from international markets. Potential overseas customers nowadays determine the style, cast and characters image of a film.
However, historically reviewing the perception of Chinese in Hollywood movies, the stereotypical Chinese still have a great impact on the rest of the world to understand China.
This paper will examine 10 major Hollywood films, one per decade between 1924 and 2013; with determining how Chinese image has been portrayed and how their portrayals have changed over time. The research also includes 3 case studies; I will select three famous Chinese actors who had achieved success in Hollywood and with reviewing their careers to examine the nature of stereotypies, as well as the power bal...
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... Dir. Ewald André Dupont. British International Pictures. 1929. Film
The Bitter Tea of General Yen. Dir. Frank Capra, Columbia Pictures 1933, Film
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service Dir. Phil Rosen, Monogram Pictures 1944, Film
Battle beneath the Earth. Dir. Montgomery Tully, Reynolds-Vetter Productions Ltd. 1967, Film
Meng Long Guo Jiang. Dir. Bruce Lee, Concord Productions Inc., Golden Harvest Company 1972, Film
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu. Dir. Piers Haggard, Richard Quine, Braun Entertainment Group, Playboy Enterprises 1980, Film
The Joy luck club. Dir. Wayne Wang, Hollywood Pictures, 1993, Film
Rush Hour 3. Dir. Brett Ratner, Metropolitan Films, New Line Cinema, 2003, Film
The Green Hornet Dir. Michel Gondry, Columbia Pictures, 2011, Film
Hollywood Chinese Dir. Arthur Dong, Center for Asian American Media, DeepFocus Productions Inc., 2007, Film
In this essay, the author
- Explains that their dissertation will examine the evolution of chinese stereotypies representative in hollywood movies from the year 1924 to contemporary time. the research question is too broad to be answered.
- Opines that it is important to evaluate the personality characteristics of chinese people, even related to the topic of racism.
- Analyzes how stereotypes have an impact on the audiences. as more countries watch hollywood blockbusters for entertainment, the values conveyed by these movies will impact their audience.
- Explains that the soft power of china and globalization will be adopted in their formal writing. orientalism is another important element that affects stereotypes in movies.
- Describes benshoff, harry m and griffin, sean. america on film: representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies
- Cites wilson, clint, gutiérrez, félix, and chao, lena.
- Describes the hollywood chinese dir. arthur dong, center for asian american media, deepfocus productions inc., 2007.
- Explains that hollywood produces and sells its movie products all over the world. the paper will examine how chinese image has been portrayed and how their portrayals have changed over time.
- Analyzes how the chinese stereotypes have been changed over time and why the change will occur. political disputes and conflict in international affairs will lead to the unreasonable chinese image appearing in films.
- Explains that the film text is the key source for analysis and for us to comprehend the concealed information. the chinese exclusion act of 1882 and immigration act of 1924 were demonstrative of occidental prejudices and fears.
- Explains that they selected three successful chinese-american actors and reviewed their careers to better demonstrate the change in movie stereotypes.
- Narrates the films meng long guo jiang and the fiendish plot of dr. fu manchu.
Related
- analytical
- Ever since the establishment of cinema in the early 1900s, Hollywood has continuously recreated elements of history to reenact for its future generations. In order to clearly broadcast a specific theme or message to relay to viewers around the world, Hollywood executives tend to embellish real life events, in order to provide a “fairytale” aspect to a seemingly not so “happily- ever-after” story from history. As part of this “fairytale” aspect, Hollywood tends to delegitimize as well as provide a more disrespectful and more comical version of societies and cultures in the specific time frame that the film is being set. Through the art of story telling, the movies Mulan and Kung Fu Panda, depict the two sides of Hollywood, the falsifying and mockery making of Chinese people, their society, beliefs and true events of history and that of an accurate portrayal.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how disney's version of the story of mulan depicts her as a young girl in medieval china studying and memorizing the rules by which she is expected to live.
- Analyzes how disney makes a mockery of chinese society through the symbols of transvestites. disney displays themes of self identity and gender as performance to fit in as part of cinematic tradition.
- Analyzes how disney's depiction of the ballad of mulan was a flop in china, citing the baltimore sun. mushu mocks the belief of family guardians in chinese art.
- Analyzes how dreamworks animation studios' kung fu panda explores the theme of self-identity, as the movie demonstrates po transforming himself into "the dragon warrior" who saves china from the evil snow-leopard, tai-lung.
- Analyzes how mark osbourne's kung fu panda accurately represents chinese culture and beliefs.
- Cites davis, amy m., good girls & wicked witches- women in disney’s feature animation.
- Analyzes shelly kraicer's article, "chinese vs. hollywood: the bbc world service talks to me".
- Analyzes ann hornaday's "a charming view of chinese myth review: 'mulan' is fun. disney does it again." the baltimore sun.
- Analyzes nancy chen's "panda kung fu’s his way around the world". us china today.
- Analyzes maureen fan's article, "‘kung fu panda’ hit’s a sore spot in china".
- Analyzes andrew lam's article, "chinese culture and the politics of "kung fu" panda". one vietnam.
- Analyzes how hollywood executives embellish real life events in order to broadcast a specific theme or message to viewers around the world. the movies mulan and kung fu panda depict the falsifying and mockery making of chinese people, their society, beliefs, and true events of history.
- Analyzes how hollywood portrays the negative and positive effects of chinese culture, beliefs, and society by modeling movies after historical events.
1201 wordsRead More - Asian American Representation In Hollywoodanalytical essay...enshoff et al. (2009), it is important to mention that films that are produced by Hollywood are first and foremost strictly business. To Asian viewers, it may be easier to detect these faulty portrayals, but whether Hollywood casts a Korean to play a Japanese role, or a Chinese to play a Korean, it is all the same because Hollywood uses what works to sell its product well.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how asian american communities are marginalized and misrepresented in mainstream media. asian actors are rarely cast for central roles and form only 3% of prime-time characters.
- Analyzes how asian stereotypes are often exaggerated, such as martial arts masters and nerds or geeks. the negative theme of asians is "yellow peril."
- Analyzes how positive stereotypes portray asians as more submissive or desired. geisha girls/china dolls, vixen, and nerds have been perceived in both negative and positive ways.
- Explains that asian roles are usually deemed foreigners, and that the foreigner aspect has acculturated the masquerade of nonsensical "ching chong" language and asian eye taping amongst the white-american community.
- Analyzes shah's analysis of hollywood stereotypes of asians on film. he argues to find "liberating" images that are not confined to the stereotypical images created by hollywood.
- Analyzes how hollywood film industry fails to properly represent asian americans by racially lumping all asian subgroups under one umbrella and ignoring their interracial differences.
- Explains that hollywood isn't picky about who plays what role. they point out that films produced by hollywood are first and foremost strictly business.
- Explains that hollywood's attempt to expand its target audiences is constrained due to negative feelings about asian americans prevalent in american culture. hollywood may not portray successful asian characters for fear of provoking its mainstream audiences who hold prejudice against asians.
868 wordsRead More - Hollywood Case Studyanalytical essayWhile watching movies, we are not simply relaxing or enjoy a leisure period of time. What’s more, we are learning things at the same time, such as how people from other ethnicities are like. In this way, movies formatting our concepts of people even before we actually know them. For example, even though a mysterious Asian woman character who acts as a sexy allurement may escalate a movie’s enticement and exoticism, it leads to a misrepresented image of the Asian women which are portrayed to be submissive, low self-esteem, and “eager for sex” (Hagedorn, para. 5). In the movie The World of Suzie Wong (1960), the Asian female protagonist is described as a prostitute who is a “cute, dancing sex machine” (Hagedorn, para.3), and eagerly wants a man’s love, which describes Asian women as sexuality objects and tragic individuals. Unfortunately, these stereotypes of Asian female will lead to the discrimination and disrespect to them which even result in insult and sexually abuse again Asian women. Thus, movies are definitely not just entertaining methods but are responsible in forming people’s conceptions and understandings, which will bring numerous societal
In this essay, the author
- Argues that hollywood screenwriters and directors have a social responsibility to avoid stereotyping ethnic characters.
- Explains that movies and tv programs open up the window for the audiences to view the world, which means inappropriate stereotypes will mislead people's understanding towards people from other communities in this world.
- Opines that movies affect people's reaction to different incidents, while some stereotypes exacerbate people’s inner hatred emotion toward those from specific ethnics.
- Argues that movie stereotypes are molding people's behavior and reactions towards others, which in turn influences how a person is treated.
- Opines that hollywood screenwriters and directors need to break the stereotypes of people, and get to know people from minority groups with acceptance and respect.
1203 wordsRead More - Hollywood's Asiansanalytical essayAccording to Gina Marchetti’s America’s Asia: Hollywood’s Construction, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction of the “Orient” (Marchetti, 37) American cinema begins
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hollywood's portrayal of asians has been influenced by political climate and propagandas from characters such as fu manchu, chinese warlord, and red menace.
- Analyzes how hollywood took advantage of america's imperialism by portraying the mysterious east as a back drop to depict american soldiersfighting in the spanish-american war.
- Analyzes wong's the early years: asians in the american films prior to world war ii, where rohmer created fu manchu based on generalization and ignorance. the ambiguity and general facelessness of asian characters led to the creation of chan is missing.
- Opines that hollywood's depictions of different ethnic asian are not always negative or evoke racism. as the news of japan’s military growth and reaches the shores of america, characters such as fu manchu and general yen disappear from the screen.
- Explains that asian american actors were passed up on thejobs and white americans were hired to play these roles.
- Explains that anna may wong, the lead female actress of daughter of shanghai, experienced orientalism as female asian american in hollywood. in her book, the hypersexuality of race: performing asian/american women on screen and scene, she set stereotypical role for asian women in films.
- Analyzes how wong, as a pioneer asian actress in hollywood, set the trend of radicalized asian women role in motion pictures.
- Cites garcia, roger, gina marchetti, wong, eugene f. the early years: asians in the american films prior to world war ii, temple university press, 2006.
1018 wordsRead More - 1990s Gay Cultureanalytical essayMimura, Glen M. "What Is Asian American Cinema." Introduction. Ghostlife of Third Cinema: Asian American Film and Video. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2009. N. pag. Pdf.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the 1990s were hard for gays to come out, while the late 90s saw celebrities coming out like ellen degeneres.
- Analyzes how the rise of queer culture in the early 1990s led to the "culture wars" of the united states.
- Analyzes how the narrative structure of ang lee's the wedding banquet shows the conflicts and struggle to satisfy old traditional parents and newer forms of beliefs.
- Analyzes how lee's film shows a pressing issue of asian american cinema of trying to keep traditional values and subtly hinting at the issue with homosexuality.
- Compares ellen degeneres's coming out as gay to rosa parks, which is a good transition within the gay culture and community.
- Analyzes how the early asian cinema of hiding gay culture and transitioning to a more open kind of culture reflects shaping the culture within the u.s.
- Analyzes how the early 1990s were depicted as strange and not understanding within the gay community and culture. popular media shows that being gay or lesbians is nothing wrong with that.
- Explains that green, robert-jay, and mccarthy, anna, "ellen: making queer television history."
1246 wordsRead More - Breaking the Stigma of Racial Dehumanization Throughout the years and generations, the word “stereotype” has become one of the most common used terms in today’s society. It is defined as a general idea, which allows society to oversimplify an individual’s appearance, ethnicity, the way he/she might look and many other facts that can be added to this term. In the article The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t die, by Matt Zoller Seitz’s, the author emphasizes the idea of the Magical Negro character that is often presented in the media and real life illustrations. Seitz also points out how Black characters in media are usually displayed in a positive way but in reality, it just benefits White characters. However, this creates a stereotypical problem, which causes a dehumanization between characters of color in the industry of films.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the term "stereotype" has become one of the most common used terms in today's society. jessica hagedorn writes about the stereotypical portrayals of asian women in film.
- Analyzes how seitz points out racial myths of black characters being negatively portrayed in movies as a way of benefiting white americans.
- Analyzes how hagedorn's article, asian women in film: no joy no luck, explains why asian women are a tragic representation of victims in films.
- Analyzes how hagedorn points out how asian women are deprived because of their physical appearance, as filmmakers do not show society with what they want.
- Analyzes how asian pacific women have been perceived by hollywood with fascination, fear and contemp. most hollywood movies either trivialize or eroticize us as people of color and as women.
- Analyzes how moviemakers dehumanize women of color and categorized them as negative figures, which increases the stereotype of how society sees asian women.
- Concludes that stereotypes are the number one reason why people become dehumanized. filmmakers should take into consideration the way in which they present each character.
1020 wordsRead More - Portrayal of Asian Americans in the Mediaanalytical essayI gave several examples where Asian Americans were used to play very simple characters. These roles were defined by stereotypes that exist in America. I also researched instances on counter actions taken by Asian Americans to protest against these negative images. My research also has examples of Asians that have succeeded in breaking through the racial barriers in the media.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that american media has defined the asian image to this country, and even to the rest of the world. unbalanced portrayals of asians have traditionally been the norm in the entertainment industry.
- Cites agtarap, t. and galang, e. m. (eds.). ancient chinese secrets and little white lies.
- Describes wu, f. h., "yellow: race in america beyond black and white".
- Explains that their research focused on the coverage of asian americans in contemporary mass media.
- Explains that asian americans are portrayed in a simplistic manner by the american media, which in turn, promotes stereotyping.
- Explains that asian americans have been in the united states since the 1800s, but their portrayal on film has continued to be presented as more foreign and less american.
- Analyzes how details magazine's article compared a gay man with an asian man, and sent out the message that these two groups are synonymous.
- Analyzes how a chinese american hip-hop artist named jin broke through the racial boundaries of the hip-hop scene, mostly dominated by african americans, with his title song "learn chinese".
- Analyzes how asian americans were used to play simple characters defined by stereotypes that exist in america. they also researched counter actions taken by asians to protest against these negative images.
- Opines that asians should be given a fair chance to showcase their talents in the music industry, compared to white and black americans.
- Analyzes how the karate kid portrays the asian actor as a passive, old, and broken english man. amy tan's the joy luck club reinforces stereotypes of asian men.
- Explains that they used books, magazine articles, and various internet sources for their research. the books were obtained at montgomery college library on the rockville campus.
- Opines that the american public is accepting more asian musicians, actors, and independent films.
- Recommends what asian americans can do to help create a more accurate and balanced portrayal in the media.
- Recommends supporting asian american talent in the media and promoting equal representation of asian americans.
3279 wordsRead More - White Chicks: Film Analysisanalytical essayIn Shohat and Stam’s article, Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the media (2013), they discuss the issue of racism within the media and entertainment industry, such as Hollywood films. More importantly, Shohat and Stam’s discuss the assertion of racial politics in casting within the Hollywood films industry. The interesting idea to their argument is that they suggest that for a film to become financially successful, the casting of the protagonist must consist of a white star as they are seen to be ethnically universal (Shohat & Stam, 190). They further suggest that the ethnic minority have been limited to designated roles which ultimately perpetuate their ethnic stereotype (Shohat & Stam, 190). They concern this issue by critically analysing and contrasting western Hollywood films against other ethnic films.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how pre-existing assumptions and stereotypes of other ethnicities and individuals play a large part in the way we see others. white chicks (2004) illustrates this issue through the performance of latrell, performed by terry crews.
- Analyzes shohat and stam's article, unthinking eurocentrism: multiculturalism and the media, which discusses the issue of racism in hollywood films.
- Analyzes how white chicks follows the story of two african-american fbi agents, kevin and marcus copeland, played by shawn and marlon wayans.
- Analyzes how the use of comedy in white chicks is an interesting concept to bring attention to racial stereotypes.
- Analyzes how shohat and stam suggest that black characters in hollywood films are limited to racially designed roles. latrell's physical and aural performance illustrates his animalistic desire for white women.
- Analyzes how cinematography is used to emphasize latrell's desire for eroticism, which perpetuates bogle’s racial stereotype of the “buck” and emphasizes the reference to kong.
- Argues that eurocentrism is the idea that european values judgments, beliefs and cultures as normal, natural, and ideal. white chick is played by two african-american brothers, shawn and marlon wayans.
- Analyzes how the film's exaggerated use of racial stereotypes may lead to social implications such as being seen as a product of symbolic violence.
- Argues that the use of comedy in white chicks illustrates social implications within hollywood casting.
- Opines that silver linings some strategies for the eighties: contributions to the communist university of london.
- Explains that white chicks. dir. keenan ivory wayans, perf. marlon, shawn, busy philipps, columbia tristar home entertainment.
1681 wordsRead More - Asian American And Asian Americansanalytical essaySince the first influx of Asian immigrants to the United States, Asian Americans were never treated as an integral part of the American population. Accounting for five percent of the US demographic, often times, they are still portrayed by provincial people as outsiders who do not belong in society. Over the years, this negative mentality has transformed into the way Asian Americans are viewed in media. Though there are many attempts of reversing the trend such as diversifying the cast members, stereotypical personalities such as “the human calculator” or “undesirable partner” are still utilized for writers to infuse racial slurs into comedy skits. However, in reality especially now that many Asian Americans are second generation, none of these stereotypes pertains to all them. As a result, directors and script writers have an ethical responsibility to best portray Asian Americans as human beings who can function normally without putting negative stereotypes as the primary focus of Asian characters’ personas.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that asian americans were never treated as an integral part of the us population. they are still portrayed as outsiders who don't belong in society.
- Explains that asians were viewed as "oriental" because of the apparent difference between western and eastern cultures, and americans treated them as if they belonged to a lower social class.
- Analyzes how stereotypes of asian americans are left at the disposal of directors and script writers to produce laughable but disparaging moments in movies and tv programs.
- Analyzes how gender played in how an asian was viewed. in either stereotype of asian female sexuality, she is sexually available to white (and occasionally black) men and an acceptable partner.
- Explains that asian men are portrayed as asexual, sexually inferior, or effeminate according to western notions of sexuality. there may be no more than four instances in hollywood's entire history, where an east asian male has been allowed to consummate
- Analyzes how asians are portrayed as highly proficient in math and science, embodied in the role of a hardworking lab assistant who dutifully serves the caucasian protagonist in many television series. they are also stereotyped as poor communicators who are quiet, shy, humble, passive, non-confrontational, and lacking proper communication, social skills and cultural knowledge.
- Analyzes how the civil rights era redefined how minorities should be portrayed on film. bruce lee rejected david carradine to play the lead character in the television series kung fu.
- Analyzes how the movie the interview portrays kim jun un as a childish dictator, while in reality he is not as temperamental.
- Opines that hollywood should remind audiences that it's perfectly acceptable to take a dig at asians.
- Opines that hollywood and the media must take responsibility for the real-life consequences of their collective negative portrayals of asians.
- Explains that some directors use stereotypes to communicate the reality of the situation. the inclusion of cultural-specific attitudes and accents transforms the movie or tv show in an unidealized perspective.
1316 wordsRead More - Grandfather's American Dreamanalytical essayHollywood has for over twenty-eight years created and supplied products associated with movies to all main film studios, leisure and entertainment industries. The most revered clients recognized in the entire world include Disney, Paramount, Colombia, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros and Universal among others. For this basis, the greater part of the actors all over the world wants to labor and make a living in Hollywood. The exceptional and distinctive characters have their own customs, beliefs and cultures which aid them to pursue fame and fortune in this Dream Factory. Every talented person desires this American dream. There are numerous prospects that make life better and in Hollywood, t...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the hollywood film industry, the great depression, the theatre and the acting career had an impact on their grandfather's life. they discuss his road to success and perseverance as he journeyed to live his american dream
- Explains that hollywood's dream factory is set apart by the right mate, the perfect family, and the ideal life.
- Opines that hollywood has created and supplied products associated with movies to all main film studios, leisure and entertainment industries.
- Narrates how their grandfather, clark gable, was born in 1901 in cadiz, ohio, usa. he had many aspirations and dreams, and at the age of sixteen, he quit school and went to work at akron.
- Describes clarke gable as an interesting young man who outsmarted many in complex situations but was not showing off. the american dream principle teaches work hard never goes unpaid.
- Analyzes how the grandfather was determined to make it in the hollywood film industry. many people have been victims of the corrupt and unforgiving hollywood dream factory.
- Narrates how barrymore was signed by mgm's irving thalberg to play the co-star in dance, fools, dance. the great depression was a time when dreams were forsaken.
- Explains that hollywood was the world's film center during the 1920s. it created almost all films in the united states and received 80 percent of the revenue received from movies being watched abroad.
- Narrates how their grandfather signed up for a talent interview, nervously stepping into the stage and artistically doing what he knew was right.
- Analyzes how clark gable's life was achieved through effort and perseverance. the american dream represents the success of those dreamers who protected, worked and prayed to make their dreams come to be.
- Explains that the great depression and the culture of abundance: kenneth fearing, nathanael west, and mass cultures it the 1930’s.
1174 wordsRead More