Hollywood & Stereotypes Joanne Shum, Nisha Borshettar & Cindy Wong CMNS 452 Week 5

Representation & The Media Stuart Hall Image vs. reality Our culture is saturated in images Represents a meaning that is already there “Stand in for” – taking the place of Distortion of what reality really is

Orientalism Orient is integral part of European material civilization and culture The term is less preferred today Relationship between the Occident and the Orient is a relationship of power, domination and a complex hegemony Westerner never loses his position as the upperhand “Us” against the Whites

Stereotyping Asian Americans

The Model Minority Evaluated positively, said to help turn around negative stereotypes Originally constructed in the 1960’s Revived in the 1980’s under global and local contexts because of trade conflicts with Asian countries Produces “colourblind talk”

Colourblind Talk “Furthers racial power not through the direct articulation of racial differences, but rather by obscuring the operation of racial power, protecting it from challenge and permitting ongoing racialization via racially coded methods.” “Constitutive from model minority stereotype because Asian American ‘success’ is used to deny the existence of institutional racism and to ‘prove’ that U.S. society is reasonably fair and open for minority groups to move up the ladder.”

Racial Triangulation

Charlie Chan

Chan, despite his good qualities, is one- dimensional, and that, further, Chan is portrayed as effeminate and subservient to whites Chan's character embodies the stereotypes and stigmas of Chinese Americans

Yellow Peril Term can be traced back to Medieval times (Genghis Khan) The West feared the yellow race as a menace Asians were perceived as inassimiable foreigners Was justification and rationale for continual westward expansion by the U.S. Pearl Harbour inflated this stereotype

Fu Manchu

In Hollywood, Fu Manchu served to enhance the yellow peril stereotype “Possessed superhuman intellect and ambition” “Subhuman in his immorality and ruthlessness” Built upon racist and imperialistic assumptions about Manchurian Chinese Tied entire Asian race as a physical representation of the yellow peril

Yellowface The films were only successful when they were "the domain of white actors who impersonated slant-eyed, heavily-accented Asians” Where Asian actors are portrayed by White actors I.e. Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, The Last Airbender, 21

Existing Representations Why do you think Eurasian American actors associated themselves more as American, rather than Asian? Is it because they are more accepted by the media? What do you think?

Do you think movies, like “Harold & Kumar,” are made with the intention of bringing awareness to racial stereotypes? Or do you think racial stereotypes are reinforced for the purposes of comedy?

Romance & Yellow Peril Hollywood has long been fascinated by Asian or Asian themes Favours romances with White males and Asian females Asian men often depicted as rapists or asexual eunuch figures

Salvation Story Storyline that demonstrates the power of the White supremacy over Asians

Lost in Translation The Darjeeling Limited

Cartoons?

Superheroes?

Do you think the movie “Crash” impacts people about the ways they think about racial stereotypes? If so, how?

Debate Do you think the people of India have the right to be upset over the depictions of this movie? Why? How does this movie illustrate the image vs. reality concept? What do you think??