The Yellow Peril: How Asians Were and Are Represented in the Media

Asian Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, make up 11.9 million, or 4.2 percent of America's population. Yet, while African-Americans and Hispanics clamor for more visibility in the entertainment media and press coverage, Asian-Americans are almost a silent minority. This essay proposes to examine some of the perceptions of Americans toward Asians in the media, and the changes in such perceptions over the years from before, during, and following World War Two to the 21^st century.

To many Americans, the Chinese in the movies either stem from the B-movies of Charlie Chan and his Number One son, or the martial arts films of Bruce Lee, Jet Li as well as the humorous adventures of Hong Kong's Jackie Chan. Of course, Asian films that are imported to America include the Japanese historical Samurai dramas of Kurosawa and the adventure films and dramas such as are now emerging from "sensitive" Chinese directors. However, as we will discover in this research, Asian personalities (actors, actresses, et al) have not made a positive impact- that or role model- according to the media in which Asians and Asian-Americans are represented. No wonder that Asian-Americans find it difficult to get work in media presentations. We know Margaret Cho, the Korean comedienne, whose sitcom series failed. And we know George Takei, of "Star Trek" fame. Even he found it difficult at first. He maws told "...as a Japanese, the kind of roles available to you will be limited" (Takei 141).

The depiction of Asians in the movies began, of course, in the silent era, where they were portrayed as servants, laborers, and laundrymen. In the pre-war era, there was no American Asian actor portraying an Asian "hero". Charlie Chan was portrayed by white Americans, Warner Oland and then Sidney Toler, while his "Number One son" a subsidiary and comic role was played by Keye Luke, an Asian. Asian women, on the other hand, became stars. Earliest was Anna May Wong. But, still, in the Fu Manchu movies of the Nioneteen-0Thiorties, the female "Asian" lead was played by Myrna Loy. South Sea island "natives" also were not Asian: Joan Crawford and Dorothy Lamour were far from natives. Even the very German Marlene Dietrich was cast as an Asian.

The image of a kindly servant or detective, or a glamorous siren was ended when Pearl Harbor turned the Japanese into cruel and inhuman militarists. Now Japan was depicted as "an enemy of unexampled ferocity and greed...'Yellowbellies', 'yellow bastards', 'yellow monkeys' were all standard phrases" (Dower 159-160). The movies, of course, played on the heartstrings of Americans in the many Pacific War movies that depicted the Japanese as utterly without morals and killers even of prisoners and the wounded, as well as women and children. While China was our ally, the movies and print media saw the Chinese as "our little brothers". The media- both informative and entertainment made certain that the American public realized that "the Japanese dared to challenge the dominant white establishment..." (Dower 171). By depicting them so sadistically, the media made certain that the Japanese, in particular, would be looked upon as an inhuman, or sub0human, uncivilized race. This image persisted until after Hiroshima and Nagasaki felt the terror of an atomic bomb, and Japan surrendered.

Soon, the perception of Asians, especially the Japanese, changed in blockbuster movies, such as Sayonara. Now, a series of movies dramatizing the plight of Asian females became popular. Critic Gail Marchetti points out that in the films "The World of Suzie Wong" and "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" "Suzie's and Suyin's sexuality and Asian-ness are subsumed and tamed by their loves for the white American (which implies that they are actually choosing the superior American, or Western, culture over their inferior Eastern one)." (Kamitaki 206). While Nancy Kwan was Oriental in Suzie Wong (as was Myoshi Umeki in Sayonara) Jennifer Jones played the lead in Many Splendored Thing.

Until recently, there was no Asian or Asian-American "hero" in movies. Perhaps one could consider Sessue Hayakawa (who was actually a silent film star) in Bridge Over The River Kwai. However, "...The desexualization of the Asian-American male is closely bound with the inability to form a family with his female counterparts because of racially specific barriers erected by the state" (Hamamoto 10).

While more and more films come from China and Japan, and now even from Vietnam, American-made films still lack Asian stars. One exception is the 1993 film, based on a best-selling novel, "The Joy Luck Club". "The significance: Just a scant 12 years ago, the idea of a major American movie packed with Asian stars was a milestone in itself. Actually, it still is" (Vognar 1). This bias was again demonstrated in the movie Majority of One, featuring a middle-age romance between an American widow (Rosalind Russell) and a Japanese gentleman played by the very British Alex Guinness.

In an interesting memo, various Asian motion picture stereotypes are listed: "Asian Americans as foreigners who cannot be assimilated...Asian cultures as inherently predatory...Asian racial features, names, accents, or mannerisms as inherently comic or sinister...Asians relegated to supporting roles in projects with Asian or Asian American content....Asian male sexuality as negative or non-existent...Unmotivated white-Asian romance...Asian women as 'China dolls'...or 'dragon ladies'...Asians who prove how good they are by sacrificing their lives....'Asianness' as an "explanation" for the magical or supernatural....Asian Americans as the 'model minority' (Anon 2-3).

As for television, can anyone name one sitcom or serious drama series that has an Asian as a lead? Never mind George Takei on STAR TREK. That's an entirely different century. "When represented at all, Asian Americans on network television programs exist primarily for the convenience and benefit of the Euro-American players" (Hamamoto 206). Hamamoto (206) also states that Asians are seldom examined on their own merit and whatever problems they may be facing in their lives. The only series with an Asian lead was (as mentioned earlier) the Margaret Cho show, which was cancelled. It was (a) not funny and (b) not watched. One really has to wonder why someone has not taken an Asian character, as they did with Bill Cosby, and created a meaningful character with a family and problems that are solvable. Hamamoto (238) mentions the late Keye Luke as perhaps the only recognizable character of Asian descent in the movies and television, including his appearances on the Kung Fu series. Harry-O (1974-76) and Sidekicks (1986-87). "With few exceptions, (his) career was predicated upon his ability to portray the stock array of Asian domestic servants, laundrymen, mystics, gangsters, and enemy soldiers" (Hamamoto (238).Of course, a fairly biased representation f Asians and Asian-Americans also takes place in the news and the press. "In fairness, the media never portrays anybody the way they want to be portrayed. It's simply a truism that everybody feels that the media is unfair. But I think the media has been particularly unfair in its treatment of Asians and particularly of Asians in this country" (Cowan 1). Cowan and others criticize the handling of the news about Wen Ho Lee, a Los Alamosd scientist, who was accused, even charged and jailed as being a spy for mainland China. The case was never proved, and he was exonerated, even though he and his family suffered embarrassment and vilification that none of them will ever truly forget. Cowan says: "There is a serious lack of knowledge in the American press. There's this assumption that, well, he is Chinese, so of course he's going to give the secrets to the Chinese government. They don't ever stop to think, 'Hey, wait a minute, he is Taiwanese...' (*Cowan 2). Lee himself writes: "After 278 days of solitary confinement without benefit of a trial...I was finally being freed....I was not officially charged with spying, but my accus3ers spoke through government leaks and innuendo in the media..."(Lee 1).

The media often reports about the infiltration of defense industries and the like by mainland China "spies". In fact, the one positive image of a mainland Chinese in the news media was that picture of the lone Chinese man standing in front of a tank in Tianamen Square.

As for the entertainment media, especially films, one can only sum up the viewpoint of Asians by Peter Feng: "I predict that the long-0established Asian archetypes opf model minority and Yellow Peril, Lotus Blossom and Dragon Lady, will persist. (Feng 16). Except for a few memoranda to Hollywood producers and television production companies, Asian-Americans do not seem well-organized enough to foment a change that depicts them as they are, not as fanciful writers assume them to be.

REFERENCES:

Cowan, Geoff (Director Annenberg School of Communications) (2005): "Image of Asian Americans and Asians in the Media" www.china.org.cn/english/OP-e/6338.htm

Dower, John W. (1986)War Without Mercy: Race and Power in The Pacific War New York: Pantheon Books\

Feng, Peter X. (2002): Screening Asian Americans

New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press

Homomoto, Darerll Y. (1994): Monitored Peril: Asian Americans and the politics of TV Representation Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

Kamitaki,L. Y. (1996): "Romance and the 'Yellow Peril': Race, Sex, and the Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction".

Women's Studies, Jan 1996 v25 n2 p205(3)

Lee, Wen Ho (2001): My Country Versus Me New York: Huyperion Books

Takei, George (1994): To The Stars New York: Pocket Books

Vogner, Chris: "The changing faces of Asians in American films"

The Dallas Morning News (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service), June 30, 2005

No author listed: "Restrictive Portrayals of Asians in the Media and How to Balance Them" Burbank CA: Media Action Network for Asian Americans www.manaa.org/articles/stereo.html

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