Gina Marchetti

An academic analysis of Asian-Americans in Hollywood films between 1915 and 1985, particularly those involving romance. Marchetti provides real insight into specific films or recurring themes between films, but unfortunately this is offset somewhat by a writing style that is pretty dense, and by analyses that don’t always seem balanced. With that said, the book is worth reading for a cinephile, film studies student, or anyone interested in an analysis of how the dominant culture perceived Asian-Americans (and women in general) over the 20th century, because of the depth of the analysis and how thought-provoking it is.

At its heart, the book identifies a fundamental dilemma with America that exists to this day – the clash between the desire for a “melting pot” with “liberty and justice for all,” and a belief that the country should remain dominated by white, Anglo-Saxon protestant males. The way Marchetti shows this manifesting itself either in outright racism in films or in those that are superficially tolerant but which have conservative underpinnings is very well done, particularly for the latter category. An example of this is her critical examination of James Shigeta’s character in the film The Crimson Kimono (1959), a film that is extraordinary for its tolerance and interracial romance, but as she reveals flawed in how it believes racism is either very rare or non-existent in America.

Marchetti also understands the historical context of the films, pointing out (for example) the pervasiveness of racism in the country after Reconstruction, and how the fear of the potential power of minority and immigrant voters helped get women’s suffrage finally passed. I also really liked her insight into the depiction of Asian women as being more passive and subservient as not only being stereotypical, but a response to rising feminism in America, essentially telling American women to remember what it is to be “feminine” in films like Sayonara (1957) and The World of Suzie Wong (1960).

I think where she falters a bit is in how negative she is about some films, or when she reads too much Freudian desires (e.g. castration anxiety) or homoeroticism into them. I have to say, some of the films selected, including a made for TV movie in the 1980’s were less interesting to me, though I understand the intention was to show the connective thread up the present (the book was published in 1993). I would have much rather had it cover a broader swath of older films and actors. It is a great reference for the films it does go into, including:

The Cheat (1915)
Madame Butterfly (1915)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
Shanghai Express (1932)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Lady of the Tropics (1939)
Japanese War Bride (1952)
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
China Gate (1957)
Sayonara (1957)
The Crimson Kimono (1959)
The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
Bridge to the Sun (1961)
My Geisha (1962)
The Lady from Yesterday (1985)
Year of the Dragon (1985)
An American Geisha (1986)… (meer)