Chinese American Women : The Hollywood Of The 20 Centuries

On March 29, 2016 our class was visited by guest speaker Endia Beal, who gave a presentation titled Visual Art/Artists during the Harlem Renaissance. To begin the discussion, Beal showed the class depictions of blackface. Blackface was used by whites to negatively portray Black people in theater as they were not allowed to perform with whites. Examples of black caricatures were Jim Crow and Zip Coon. Whereas Jim was poor, Zip was utilized to mock free Black people.

The common features of the female characters in Chinese film are usually being victimize, they always

Asian American actors and actresses are portrayed in Hollywood movies as always being the silent and yielding foreign victims to social injustice and prejudice. Whether or not these depictions are true, they are nonetheless stereotypes that Hollywood producers have come up with. According to the US Census in the year 2000, Asian Americans make up 4.2% of the entire American population, and knowing that most Asian Americans live on the west and east coast of the United States, many Americans living in central parts of this country have not really been exposed to any Asian Americans. Because of this fact, it is highly probable that most Americans get their exposure to the Asian American lifestyle only through television and movies. Even if

In the world we live in today we understand that experiencing different things is OK. The black and white in the film is represented by a more traditionalist value which is how most of the world was. It was when people’s personalities were kept hidden from the rest of the world and even family members. Later in the Pleasantville show, some characters were starting to change color

Firstly, a brief background of Early Black cinema is important to note. In 1915 The Plantation Genre (form of genre) came about with the release of Birth of a Nation an overtly anti-black film, which included three main mythic stereotypes. These included the “unlawful slave” who represented black slaves as unpredictable, cunning and violent; this representation was used as reasoning for whites sustaining control. The “subordinate slave” stereotype, which represented blacks as dependable, loving and accepting of their position; this allowed white audiences to displace any guilt about slavery. Additionally, there’s also what is known as the “clown entertainer” which included characteristics of innate humor and the

Blackface performances were popular in American theaters for roughly 100 years, beginning around the 1830’s. In 1950’s blackface minstrel shows, white and black performers were not able to share the stage therefore they opted to paint their faces black with polish. These “black” characters were always portrayed as either villains or comedic. Blackface had been used to make arguments for slavery and why African Americans should not be given full human rights. These are narratives created by white men that were made to oppress and dehumanize an entire race of people. The minstrel show clip titled “Cotton and Chick Watts Blackface Minstrel Show Comedy” we are shown a very degrading performance put on by two white

Different archetypes have been used to represent black people through television, live performances, and film. These stereotypes consisted of “Coon”, “Mulatto”, “Mammy”, and “Tom” (site—Johnson). Prior to films and television, African American’s were depicted by white actors wearing “blackface” in which white people entertained audiences through plots that portrayed African Americans in stereotypical ways that had prevailed since the time of slavery. “Coon” for instance, was created as a from of comedy and amusement for white individuals, as this image allowed for comic relief through idiocy. “Coons” had, in essence, a low level of intelligence with minimal common sense. Their dull-wittedness advocated the view that African American people were unintelligent beings who were incompetent and unable to formulate intelligible thoughts. This further reinforced the idea that African American people were in need of instruction and guidance from white individuals—just as they did during slavery—in order for African Americans to sustain and remain alive, or else they would be damaged by their own incapabilities. Similar to the “Coon”, Mammy was also a common character who was portrayed as an obese and grumpy woman who also provided comic relief to white folks. Mammy’s creation was

Three sources analyze the racial conflicts of white actors playing colored parts, and all agreed that it was not a trivial situation, for audiences, or actors. Racial tensions are very popular with the media. While there is some minor tension today, the movies and plays of Othello top the charts for most racial conflicts. First, The article, “Othello: the role that entices and engages actors of all skin colours,” by Andrew Dickson shows the history of the actors that played Othello, and when the actors were black, they were either not cast, due to segregationists, or were criticized in their performance for the same reason. Also, this article uses diction to convey the seriousness of white vs. minority crisis. Next, the video, “SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED White Actors Playing Othello” by PBS, shows the performances of many Othello actors that were white. Additionally, the video shows one white actor who used makeup to make himself more than than black. The video uses hyperbole to describe the absurdity of Othello movies. For example, Laurence Olivier, the 1964 Othello was black-top showing how far film industries will go to cover-up racial tensions, and the narrator describes the makeup as ridiculous,and dramatic. Finally, the last article, “Aladdin: putting a white character in Disney’s live-action remake is offensive,” by Hannah Flint displays that film industries feel obligated to please a white audience, keeping the minorities second fiddle by adding characters white people

If a movie of this sort had such an emotional impact on me, it is no wonder people embraced these ideas back then. The use of new and popular media methods in those days was more than adequate in transferring the black inferiority ideas to the general public. Beginning at the early 19th century with the happy, dancing, toothless, drunken Negro with big, bold and white lips to the image of the mid 21st century African-American, the media has always used these images to convey inferiority. These images implied inherent traits in the black community. This whole community was represented in the new media as one who can not be collateralized and integrated in to society without being happily enslaved. Most of these images had great commercial values that made it all the more impossible for the rest of the nation not to embrace the African American stereotypes.

The history of Asian women has many facets. I am about to touch on two key monumental points over a sixty year span that have shaped the views of Asian women in the eyes of Americans. As a brief overview, from as early as the 1940s, Asian women were recruited to serve their soldiers during World War II as sex slaves. Forty years later, the dawning of the 1980s brought about the desire of Asian women into American households and sparked the mail order bride phenomenon. The beginning of a new century has altered the lives of Asian women, in parts of Asia as well as in the United States of America. I will give you a glimpse into their every day lives in their home country and site observations to their strides

Tye Leung Schulze became the first Chinese American woman to vote when she bravely casted a ballot in San Francisco on May 19, 1912. Schulze was also the first Chinese woman hired to work at Angel Island. She is a designated Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project. She learned to speak English, studied Christianity, and helped rescue Chinese slaves by acting as an interpreter. Leung was the first Chinese American to pass the civil service examinations and she was hired to work as an assistant to the matron at the Angel Island Immigration Station. There she would work with Chinese immigrants who were detained for physical examinations and interrogation upon their arrival.

Equally important, in Color Adjustment present the racism, the stereotypes and the negative portrayals of African American. Back in the time, the White doesn’t want black people integrate into their life and they seem the Black as second-class citizens. So the old ideas influenced time by time,” the images of black people in primetime television dominated the news is being torture and beaten and abused (Riggs)” that is how television history remember African American. As mentioned earlier, “Good time” is a successful show in 1970s, but the character JJ shows up with “minstrel and coon images (Riggs)” The audiences love it but for the Black people, this is not a humorous thing at all. They made this one traditional minstrel character with

     Asian Americans only make up a small percent of the American population. Even more significant is that this percentage live mostly on the west and east coasts of mainland United States and Hawaii; leaving the rest of the American population to most likely get their exposures to Asians through television and movies. However the exposure they have receive throughout the history of cinematography has been hardly flattering. Throughout the course of history Asians in film have been portrayed as evil or the "yellow peril" as described by others. If Asians are not being classified as evil in this picture then they are most likely the comic relief, with their lack of coordination or grasp of the English

Hollywood and the media continues to promote social stereotypes as the white male is portrayed as upper-middle-class professional who is family-oriented while African Americans are depicted as thugs, funny, maids, best friends, and servants. The media sacrifices objective depiction of races to gain better ratings and earnings. Further, in most movies, blacks are depicted as foolish, lazy, submissive, violent, animal-like, and irresponsible. The 1915 film The Birth of a Nation was one of the first films to feature a strong stereotype by portraying blacks as subhuman.

The film world is often known for borrowing content from the actual events that occur on Earth. Popular genres such as documentaries, historical dramas, and war films generally draw directly from real-life events, even if the characters or dialogue may be imaginary. However, these realistic pictures are not the only way that real-life leaks into the on-screen world - filmmakers and producers often borrow from contemporary issues such as incarceration, addiction, human trafficking, etc. to draw attention to often ignored topics. Directors Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love) and Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden) are two such directors that have highlighted gender issues in East Asia