Yellow Face: Movie Analysis

roles would be lost to Caucasian actors so as to resonate with American audiences. It is

The censorship conflicts in the 1900s were extremely intriguing and intense. Around the end of the 1920s, individuals possessed immense moral shifts powered by religious groups during the Great Depression, which resulted in decisions that created a new revolution that dealt particularly with the regulation of content of films. Consequently, in 1934, at the same time that the “Golden Age of Hollywood” began, the Hollywood Production code was formally implemented. The film

Moreover, Asian roles being whitewashed in films, it remains relevant in today’s Hollywood film and television industry. For centuries, the entertainment industry has been whitewashing

Lynne, a Jewish Civil Right worker, appears in the scene and catches Truman’s attention. Meridian, who is pregnant, opts for abortion and has her tubes tied and gradually falls very sick. Truman and Lynne shift to Mississippi and lead a happy life .There is another flashback when Lynne recalls how Tommy Odds, a black man raped her. Truman doesn’t admit the truth and finally move back to Meridian. The final section of the novel ends with Truman vowing to work for the Revolution. Walker’s path of spiritual healing is guided by a philosophy combining elements of Native American and Afro-American folk beliefs and customs associated with ecology, animal rights, womanism and paganism. She has expressed her often contesting beliefs in an interview

In the past white actors would cast in non-white roles. Ever since the beginning of the film industry, minority roles have been given to white actors/actresses. Some of the most recognized are Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra and Natalie Wood as Maria in West Side Story. Also, Birth of the Nation, one of the earliest films used blackface on a nonblack actor playing the role of an African-American. Despite the fact that casting decisions like these might have been anticipated during the time of oppression and racial segregation, Hollywood has continued to make casting decisions where white actors/actresses are preferred. Further actors like, Burt Lancaster passing as a Native American in Apache and Mickey Rooney playing the role of a Japanese man.

There have been many roles that should have consisted an Asian to play the lead role, but they did not see an appearance. There have been many situations where white actors have won Oscar’s for playing Asian roles. Such as Aline MacMahon playing a yellowface role in Dragon Seed and Linda Hunt for playing as a Chinese Man in the Year of Living Dangerously (Vox, 2016). Although these two movies were in the 1940’s and 1982, this situation still hasn’t changed up to today’s date. In 2010 the Last Airbender casted white actors for their live-action movie for a famous Asian anime. In 2012 Ashton Kutcher played as an Indian for a Popchips commercial. The documentary Hollywood Chinese by Arthur Dong is about how white performers who play Asian roles (Vox, 2016). This documentary mentions how Asians have been treated unfairly in the industry.

Having a white actors cast in roles based on skin color is an interesting topic and occasionally a touchy topic. Kennell mentions using white actors in movies such as “Aloha”, “Gods of Egypt” and “Pan,” all movies that are terrible movies. These movies are not terrible due to the choice in actors but due to the scripts, production, direction and almost every aspect. Personally if I were Kennell I would just be glad that these terrible movies did not drown the careers of lesser known actors of color. The actors that are in these movies are “big name” actors that will draw in a crowd to see a terrible movie even though the movie itself is terrible. Hollywoods constant stream of B or C grade movies needs to end. Acting roles in top tier

The truth is; Caucasian movie stars have been guaranteed to have a huge hit in the box office. The water is completely safe when a movie stars a Caucasian. With an Asian movie star, the movie would most likely drown.

The Amazingly Racist Walt Disney Generations upon generations of children have grown up to the wondrous tunes of Walt Disney films. More than that, many more have even ventured to the amusement parks or purchased some type of physical memorabilia that have been created in the ever-expanding corporation known as The Walt Disney Company. But, more often than not, it seems that many social issues arise in the creation of these items and yet they are just swept under the rug or overlooked altogether. While many in today’s society view Disney films as educational and stimulating for our youth, beneath these jubilant songs, personified animals, and damsels in distress lie many racist and pro-inequality themes that are being (unknowingly) taught to the future of the world. Take for example the 1941 classic Disney film Dumbo.

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

I saw the highly promoted movie adaptation of The Hunger Games in spring of 2012, and I left the theatre wondering one thing: where were all the Asians? This is not an uncommon occurrence: as a second generation Japanese-Canadian, I have grown up surrounded by American and Canadian media that lacks representation of Asians to the point that seeing an Asian on my television is an thrilling. This is the sad reality of the state of representation of Asians on television. I have learned and experienced first hand that the lack of

Strangely according to the study done at USC it found that all speaking roles were 72% filled with white actors and in general 73.1% of actors are white. With media being so inescapable the levels of diversity are very low creating stereotypical

Who’s next? It seems that the issue about race in American history never reaches an endpoint. The intersection of race, gender, contradiction has been continually crucial to shape the identity of minority American. As early as the first wave of Asian immigrants, Chinese immigrants, arrived in west coast, Asian Americans was haunted by anti-Asian movement and intense hostility. Foreign Miners’ Tax passed in 1852 was a representative of racial campaign between whites and nonwhites. The requirement of monthly three dollars’ tax intentionally crashed the earliest American Dream of Chinese immigrants who expected to lead a better life in the US. Such Anti-Asian movement was eventually ushered into legalized level. California Supreme Court declared in People v. Hall in 1854 that Chinese migrants were not entitled to testify against the white citizens in US court based on the fact that people, other than whites, could never enjoy the same rights as white Americans. Since then, Asian immigrants were subjected to numerous social and legislative initiatives that specifically targeted them on a racial basis. In David Henry Huang’s semiautobiographical play Yellow Face, he mixed his own memory and fiction to depicting an image of Asian American racial identity. In 1990, Hwang led a group of Asian-Americans to protest the casting of a white British actor as a Eurasian character in the musical Miss Saigon. However, later in his own play Face Value, he mistakenly casted a white actor,

One of the most prevalent racial issues in America today is the representation gap: in all realms of society, from politics to music, there is scarcity of minorities in the public eye. As there has been in other industries with a significant representation gap, Broadway is being pushed to diversify. This is for two primary reasons: a social one, increasing representation of minorities and therefore decreasing ignorance based racism in society, and an economic one, drawing in new, bigger audiences by making productions more relatable to a more people. This has resulted in in movements towards non-traditional and color-blind casting, or casting which disregards the traditional race unless it is essential to the script.

Many Asian roles are extreme depictions of stereotypes: either of bumbling buffoons, heavily accented foreigners, or some comical, clueless figure. These disgusting clown-like portrayals of Asians in the media are reminiscent of the “Happy Sambo” in 19th century America, which dehumanized African Americans as smiling, brainless minstrels for consumption. Perhaps the most successful Asian-American actor in history, few have matched the legendary Anna May Wong’s star power or film appearances in the 20’s and 30’s (Chang, “Open Doors for Asian Performers”). But ultimately, Wong was defeated by the system and became a victim of typecasting, or only getting roles that reinforce a certain character, and died a shadow of her former self. Misrepresentation is no better than underrepresentation, and it should not be mistaken for