Asian men are depicted as rapacious or comic foils Asian women as subservient or dragon ladies. Where did Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan come from? Why did Caucasian actors play Chan while his son was invariably played by Chinese-American actors like Keye Luke? How did Chinese-American actors feel about playing Japanese, and vice-versa? Who broke through? Who survived? How? I would’ve delved into the why of things. Saito in “The Bridge on the River Kwai” in 1957. It mentions the popularity of Sessue Hayakawa in “The Cheat” from 1915 but not his long and winding career, which reached its apogee, you could say, with an Oscar nomination for playing Col. The doc raises Anna May Wong to dismiss her. The dive is shallow: Muni and Rainer in “The Good Earth,” one of the Charlie Chans, one of the Fu Manchus (Hammer, not Hollywood), Hepburn in “Dragon Seed,” Brando in “Teahouse of the August Moon,” John Wayne in “The Conqueror,” and of course Mickey Rooney in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Then 2010s whitewashing: Tilda Swinton in “Doctor Strange” and Scarlett Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell.” Thanks for coming. But if you wanted a deep dive into the history of yellowface, you’re going to be disappointed. If you don’t know much about either, I guess this can serve as your primer. government propaganda against the Japanese during World War II-along with the internment of Japanese-Americans (a whole other topic). Halfway through, this French-made documentary turns away from the history of white actors playing Asians (which is why I was watching) and focuses on U.S. The French title is “L’ennemi japonais a Hollywood.” And therein lies the problem. The American title is the long thing above.
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