Citing films of Chinese American actress Anna May Wong, from Toll of the Sea (1922) to Shanghai Express (1943), as significant markers of racist portrayals of Asians on the silver screen, [Anthony Chan] showed a clip from the Rogers and Hammerstein production of Flower Drum Song, which featured an almost all-Asian American cast. He noted that the part of Mademoiselle Leong was given to Juanita Hall, an African American, because Anna May Wong--who was chosen for the role--had died.
Though the film was a smash hit and considered a breakthrough in casting, Chan observed that it was actually Hollywood's way of "fake acceptance" of Asians in American society. "If you can become (white) American, everything will be fine."
[Karen Lin] shared that one of her goals is to put more Asian American actors to work. "It's been very frustrating to watch feature films, and not see representations of Asian Americans on the screen because... when I look around every day that's what I see. How come they're not there?"
A panel of Asian American film and video makers met with a small audience attending the Northwest Forum on Asian-American Images in Media: Film, to examine issues related to the way in which Asian Americans are portrayed in the media. The forum, which was free to the public, was held at the Northwest Asian American Theater on Oct. 2, to coincide with the Northwest Asian American Film Festival.
The Seattle and Lake Washington chapters of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and the Northwest Asian American Film Festival sponsored the forum, organized by Sheldon Arakaki and Joy Shigaki, president-elect of the Seattle JACL chapter.
Author, journalist, and filmmaker Anthony Chan presented excerpts from American films that cast Asian American actors in stereotypical roles. Chan, who is also associate professor of communications and international studies at the University of Washington, showed a series of film clips tracking some 80 years of Hollywood's portrayal of Asians.
Author of a recently released book, Perpetually Cool -- The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (Scarecrow Press), Chan explained his theory that there are two distinct levels of portraying Asian Americans in Hollywood films: racist and non-racist. The first level, labeled as "racist," he said, began during the infancy of motion pictures in the early 1900s.
Citing films of Chinese American actress Anna May Wong, from Toll of the Sea (1922) to Shanghai Express (1943), as significant markers of racist portrayals of Asians on the silver screen, Chan showed a clip from the Rogers and Hammerstein production of Flower Drum Song, which featured an almost all-Asian American cast. He noted that the part of Mademoiselle Leong was given to Juanita Hall, an African American, because Anna May Wong--who was chosen for the role--had died.
Though the film was a smash hit and considered a breakthrough in casting, Chan observed that it was actually Hollywood's way of "fake acceptance" of Asians in American society. "If you can become (white) American, everything will be fine."
The beginning of the second level of portraying Asians on the American screen was finally reached in 1982, according to Chan, with writer/director Wayne Wang's Chan Is Missing. "It had an Asian American sensibility; it had a lot to do regarding Asian Americans."
Fellow panelist Wes Kim, a Seattle filmmaker and award winning writer/director, screened his cleverly designed video short, Vision Test, which both examined and spoofed the way Asian Americans measure against non-Asians in a preference test. Kim was also the director of the Northwest Asian American Film Festival.
X. Dean Lim, a Los Angeles transplant from New York, showed The Yellow Truth, a biting satire about a Hollywood casting session. The short piece mocks a Caucasian producer who scrapes for every possible excuse to not hire a great looking "hunk" of an Asian actor that shows up at his casting interview. Lim also screened a recent public service announcement directed by him, to get out the Asian American vote.
Los Angeles filmmaker Karen Lin unveiled her beautifully executed 35mm short film, Perfection, featuring Ming-Na Wen, one of the stars of the hit television series ER. Lin's film traces the dutiful pursuit of an Asian American from childhood to womanhood, as she strives to master the violin.
Lin shared that one of her goals is to put more Asian American actors to work. "It's been very frustrating to watch feature films, and not see representations of Asian Americans on the screen because... when I look around every day that's what I see. How come they're not there?"
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