Liú Yìfēi (刘亦菲)
in Disney’s Mulan (2020)
Abstract
This article
discusses common tropes and depictions of Chinese people and Chinese culture in
popular North American Movie. Drawing on examples of homogenizing (East, South
East) Asian identities, appropriation of Chinese cultural symbols or practices,
Yellow-face as a common practice for playing Asian characters, and both the
hyper-masculinization and emasculation of Chinese men, this paper argues that
while there is a slow shift in Hollywood to address these issues, the context
of anti-Chinese racism is prevalent in the mainstream movie industry.
Keywords: yellow-face, Chinese representation
in movie, typecasting, miscasting, cultural appropriation
This
narrative article will discuss the misrepresentation of Chinese people in North
American popular culture and analyze examples in movie to look at the ways in
which these misrepresentations can significantly impact one’s existing schemas.
Presently, the term “Asian” is often used as a blanket term that includes many
subgroups in Asia. This could include people from Indonesia, Korea, Iran,
India, and many more countries but, people in North America generally assume
“Asian” refers to Chinese people. By assuming that the usage of “Asian” in
North American popular culture refers to Chinese people, other groups in Asia
are overlooked and misrepresented. Representation of Chinese people in popular
culture can highlight the barriers and struggles they face in Western
countries. For example, characteristics of femininity have been seen to
misrepresent the concept of being a “woman” as it limits their options of
expression. By restricting one’s options, an individual’s development is
limited, and therefore oppressed. The same concept can be applied to what North
American society considers “Asian”, since an individual’s options for expression
are limited by the misrepresentations in popular culture, other expressions of
being “Asian” are erased.
Chinese
representation in North American popular culture has garnered increased
attention through movies like Crazy Rich Asians (which focused on Singaporean
and Chinese cultures), where East Asian people have seen a rise of more
accurate representations in popular movie. However, this article aims to
explore depictions of Chinese people that have been normalized in Western
popular culture: (1) the blurring of distinct Asian identities into one
homogenous and easily replaceable Other; (2) the appropriation of Chinese
stories retold through the narrative lens of Western media; (3) the portrayal
of Chinese men as either hyper-masculine or through an emasculated lens to fit
the perception of an undesirable Other; (4) casting white actors to play Asian
characters.
Popular
opinion is heavily influenced by cultural representations in the media that
depict people’s race or ethnicity inaccurately
How
does misrepresentation affect Chinese people in North America and their own
self-perception of their culture and identity? While Chinese culture is
prevalent in many media contexts, there seems to be a confusion when it comes
to differentiating different “Asian” cultures in the media. A common mistake is
confusing Chinese culture with Japanese culture in pieces that are written by
American authors. East Asian cultures seem to blend together and this shows a
large misunderstanding that is constructed with these inaccurate
representations. Such misrepresentations foster misunderstanding among the
general public where the audience is exposed to inaccurate information that
could contribute to their existing schema of what they think to be true of
Chinese culture or any Asian culture
In Crazy
Rich Asians, actress Sonoya Mizuno plays a Chinese character, Araminta Lee.
Sonoya is of half Japanese and half British descent which creates an inaccurate
representation of the movie’s character that is misleading to the audience. The
normalized culture that a Japanese person can act as a Chinese person, vice
versa, or casting a person from another Asian culture entirely further blurs
the lines between distinct Asian identities and makes them easily replaceable
Others.
The
animated Disney movie, Mulan, is a great popular example of cultural
appropriation that set precedent of how Chinese values were shown from its
release in 1998. The movie inappropriately depicts traditional Chinese symbols
for comedic effect. For example, one of the characters is a lizard-sized dragon
named Mushu, whose name is the same as an ethnically Chinese dish. It would be
equally illogical to have a cowboy named “Cornbread” in a Western movie. Ethnic
aspects of the movie were altered to portray a Western “dominant” culture with
feminist values. Many male characters in the movie were shown as cruel and
suggested a heavily patriarchal society. To appeal to a Western audience,
aspects of the ‘Other’ were highlighted to make Chinese culture more exotic and
different than Western culture. The movie, which was adapted from the original
Ballad of Mulan poem which focused on loyalty, feminism, and filial piety – a
concept in which elders are respected and supported by their children or
younger generations, is warped and distorted in Disney’s adaptation. Mulan
focused on individuality which is a widely Western concept, it highlights that
the female characters are exotic rather than recognizing that they were strong
females, and portrays Chinese society as backwards by emphasizing patriarchy in
the altered male roles
Chinese
men in Hollywood movies are often portrayed as either hyper-masculine or
through an emasculated lens to further the concept of Otherness. Bruce Lee is a
well-known actor that became the icon of Chinese masculinity that would be
attractive to white female protagonists. In other popular movies such as Sixteen
Candles with Long Duk Dong’s portrayal of an “Asian” student, he is at
times portrayed in an emasculated manner or as aggressive to fit the perception
of an undesirable ‘Other’. The portrayal of Chinese people as someone to
ridicule or as dangerous further builds the image of white men being superior
in many ways. Other Chinese representations of ‘cool’ kung fu masters include
Jackie Chan in the Rush Hour series and Jet Li in many other action movies
in the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Although these male leads were
characterized as being heroes, there are still many stereotypes and racist
‘jokes’ that are in the movies. In Rush Hour, Jackie Chan plays a police
officer seen as a protagonist yet he is referred to as the “Chung King cop”
because he is Chinese. This undermines the legitimacy of his character as a
police officer and emasculates his abilities in comparison to other non-Chinese
officers in the movie. The subtle ‘jokes’ that reinforce Chinese stereotypes
throughout the movie enforce white supremacy. In a way, the portrayal of these
Chinese men and their masculinity contradict each other since on one hand they
are this cool, fighting hero but on the other hand, they are still reduced to ‘jokes’
with stereotypes
Hollywood
movies have a history of casting actors that are not Asian to play “Asian”
roles, described as Yellowface, by which white actors have makeup applied to
mimic “Asian” features such as yellow skin and smaller eyes. A well-known
historical example in movie is the Dr. Fu Manchu movie series that began
in 1923 and ended in 1969 featuring white male actors in Yellowface to play Fu
Manchu. Although examples of Yellowface being acceptable in media are fading,
it still took nearly a century for this minor shift to occur
In
2016, Matt Damon was the male lead in The Great Wall where he played a
European character instead of the movie having a lead Chinese actor and
character. Other supporting male roles were played by well-known Chinese actors
that could have played the male lead. But yet again, in order to appeal to the
Western market, it seems a white male protagonist was still needed. Many felt
this casting decision took away many opportunities for Chinese actors in the movie
industry and did not allow for accurate representation. Disney’s decision to
have Liu Yifei, a Chinese-American actress, play Mulan in their live-action remake
of Mulan can be interpreted as an attempt to correct the previous
whitewashing of characters in popular culture that has become extremely
controversial. The news that a Chinese actress was cast into a Chinese role led
to plenty of positive feedback from viewers in 2017. However, this small
victory sparks the question of why people should be relieved in the first place
to see someone of the same race cast to play a character consistent with the
actor’s race. We should not need to celebrate accurate portrayals of race today.
Along
with the shift of an increase in accurate portrayals of race, Hollywood is hit
with the movie Crazy Rich Asians in 2018 that changed the lens of
“Asian” people in popular culture. This movie has a predominantly Chinese and
South Asian cast and is celebrated by many as a large step forward in breaking
stereotypes of Chinese people by having accurate representations of “Asian”
people as most of the characters in the story are Chinese. Although the
ingrained ideals of emasculated or hyper-masculine Chinese men still exist, women
found “Asian” men to be less attractive than the average man. However, by
casting a Malaysian-British as the lead male in a romantic role, the
stereotypes of “Asian” men being undesirable and uninteresting could eventually
be negated and seen as equally attractive compared to white males. The
depictions of characters in movie is only a sliver of reality, if it carries
any truth at all, but is often believed by those outside of the depicted
cultural group especially if they do not have real life examples to counter
those depictions. With increasingly accurate depictions of cultures in
mainstream popular culture, individuals of the portrayed race could feel less
pressured and stereotyped by the inaccurate depictions.
In
light of casting actors of the correct race to play lead roles, Simu Liu
received a lot of hate when he was cast to play Shang-Chi in Marvel’s movie Shang-Chi
and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Yet again, the effects of a history of
emasculating and hyper-masculating Asian men are seen as many people deemed he
was ‘too ugly’ to play the role of Marvel’s first “Asian” superhero. These
criticisms bring forth the connotations of attractiveness that our society has
built. The measures of attractiveness that many of the criticisms are
suggesting are influenced by Eurocentric and Western beauty standards. Simu Liu
has publicly spoken against these criticisms and has expressed that he will not
allow other’s views to define who he is. This empowering drive that he has
shown can help drive Chinese people in North America to disregard the
misrepresentations in popular culture and create their own accurate narrative.
Our
society is heavily influenced by our histories which often carry concepts that
people don’t necessarily agree with but they are hesitant to change their
existing schemas. With the slow changes seen throughout the years, further
activism to raise attention to the homogenization of Asian identities is needed
for different groups to be recognized. Work still needs to be done to put a
stop to cultural stereotyping, appropriation, and whitewashing in Western
popular culture through further education to correct existing and future schemas.
Acknowledgement
This
article is dedicated to my role model Surotul Ilmiyah, of her amazing inspiring
& motivating not for her endless shaping my mindset. Surotul Ilmiyah will
be defending her final examination for the Ph.D. degree on November 25, 2020 in
Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University (CSU). So amazing, proud,
and lucky to be her mentee.
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