Yellowface: Portrayal of Asians in Hollywood

Yellowface: Portrayal of Asians in Hollywood

By: Jennifer Zhou

Introduction

            Appearance is a floating signifier of our ethnicity. In everyday life, we will preconceive a person’s ethnicity as soon as we see their face. Because of this preconception we tend to stereotype people by their ethnicity and how they look. For example, Asians typically have small eyes; they wear glasses. Therefore, they are good at courses like math, engraining, chemistry, physics, etc. Due to these preconceptions of Asian’s appearance, Hollywood has used the theoretical makeup technique of “yellowface” to portray the looks of Asians in Hollywood movies. Yellowface is the use of theoretical makeup to make a white actor look like an Asian person. However, many of the times the use yellowface dehumanizes the appearances of Asian characters in the movies.

Research

            Beginning with Mary Pickford’s Cio-Cio San in the 1915 movie Madame Butterfly, the white Canadian actor portrayed a pregnant Japanese maiden who has been abandon by her white American navy lieutenant. The movie has been criticized for its use of yellowface and the perpetuating notion of white male dominance over Asian female. Asian women have often been “portrayed as cunning "Dragon Ladies" -- aggressive or opportunistic sexual beings or predatory gold diggers. Non-threatening stereotypes include servile Lotus Blossoms, China dolls, and Geisha girls” (staff, n.d.).

a) b)

SOURCES: a) Google Images: Wikipedia Mary Pickford. b) Google Images: IMB.

Perhaps the most famous example of an actor donning the yellowface in a Hollywood movie is Marlon Brando’s character Sakini (an interpreter) in the 1956 movie The Teahouse of the August Moon directed by Daniel Mann. In the movie, Brando “attempts an ‘authentic’ Japanese accent (he even speaks some Japanese, but it’s all in that unique Brando voice). Standard prosthetic eyepieces and makeup, made all the more noticeable because he is the only actor in yellowface in a sea of Asian extras and secondary characters” (Ito, 2014).

a) b)

SOURCES: a) Google Images: a). Old Time Radio Downloads. b) BlogSpot: susan-fama.

In the 1944 war drama film Dragon Seed, Katharine Hepburn plays the character Jade. Jade was a woman living in a peaceful Chinese village that was later being invaded by the Japanese Army during World War II. Jade later leads her village in fighting off the Japanese’s invasion. The role of Jade seems to be righteous and heroic, however “as forward thinking as the film's gender politics may have been, it still presented the sorry spectacle of a cast of western actors made up, not always convincingly, to appear Chinese or Japanese” (Miller, n.d.).

a) b)

SOURCES: Google Images: a) Elle. b) Jezebel.

Considered to be the worst yellowface, the famous white actor Mickey Rooney’s cranky Japanese landlord Mr. Yunioshi in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s was “complete with ‘slanted eyes,’ thick glasses, and buck teeth, doing the ‘Jap thing’…and the hysterical Jap accent” (Ito, 2014).

a)  b)

SOURCES: Google Images: a) Pictures of Celebrities. b) U.S. - Wall Street Journal.

            In the movie, Aloha Emma Stone portrays the Asian-American Allison Ng. This Asian- American has “alabaster skin and strawberry blond hair, and emerald eyes and freckles” (Lee, 2015). This new form of “yellowface” is a “phenomenon wherein white actors are cast to portray what were originally non-white characters is called ‘whitewashing.’ Instead of using yellowface makeup, the filmmakers change the race or origin of the characters” (staff, n.d.).

SOURCE: Google Images: Vulture

Other Examples of Yellowface in Hollywood Movies

• ·       Wang Lung (Paul Muni), O-Lan (Luise Rainer), and all the lead roles – The Good Earth (1937)
• ·       Chang Tai (Anthony Quinn) - Island of Lost Men (1939)
• ·       Mr. James Lee Wong (Boris Karloff) - The Mystery of Mr. Wong (1939)
• ·       Temujin (John Wayne) - The Conqueror (1956)
• ·       Koichi Asano (Alec Suinness) - A Majority of One (1961)
• ·       The Emperor Ming (Max von Sydow) - Flash Gordon (1980)
• ·       Chiun (Joel Grey) - Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)
• ·       Asian Minister (Rob Schneider) - I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)
• ·       The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) - Doctor Strange (2016)

Personal

            I chose the occurrence of yellowface in Hollywood movies because as an Asian American I feel that it is unfair for our community to be seen as how Asians are being portrayed in the Hollywood movies. It is very disrespectful, especially nowadays, for the filmmakers to use an actor of another race to portray an Asian character (and their history) because there are plenty of Asian or Asian-American actors who could perform the Asian role without the ridiculous yellowface makeup. Vox video explained the phenomenon of yellowface in the following quote: “It’s how all of these casting decisions combined, dating back to the earliest days of Hollywood, have made Asians invisible at best, and at worst, the butt of a cruel joke” (2016). It is sarcastic that Hollywood has always been trying to convey the message of unity, diversity, acceptance, and multicultural. In real life, however, these ideologies can never be achieved with the existence of yellowface still reappearing 2016 Hollywood films.

Solution

            The solution to this issue is fairly simple. The filmmakers should just give the Asian roles to a person that actually looks Asian. Therefore the sarcastic yellowface will no long have to be put on a white actor. Some may question that this solution may limit the variety roles that Asian actors can perform. However, what I would like to say is that this is only the first step, if Asian and Asian-Americans can’t even have the “Asian” roles in a movie, then ever expect that they will gain other major roles in a movie. We can never expect, and never should expect, a Hollywood movie to portray how Asians (or that of any other race) should look, however, the least it can show us how a normal person should look.

Community Members in Support

      

References

Ito, R. B. (2014, May 02). “A Certain Slant”: A Brief History of Hollywood Yellowface. Retrieved                November 13, 2016, from Bright Lights Film Journal: http://brightlightsfilm.com/certain-                    slant-brief-history-hollywood-yellowface/#

Lee, C. (2015, May 29). I'm not buying Emma Stone as an Asian-American in Aloha. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from Entertainment Weekly: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/29/im-not-buying-emma-stone-asian-american

Miller, F. (n.d.). Dragon Seed. Retrieved November 18, 2016, from Turner Classic Movies: http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/87858%7C0/Dragon-Seed.html

staff, Y. w. (n.d.). Yellowface! Retrieved November 10, 2016, from Yellowface: http://yellow-face.com/

Whitney, E. (2015, August 03). Yellowface Is Still A Thing In Hollywood And Really Needs To Stop. Retrieved November 27, 2016, from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hollywood-yellowface-east-asians_us_55bfaa11e4b0d4f33a0382ad