Asian-Americans (Asians) in Hollywood Movies

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It will not be much of an exaggeration, on our part, to suggest that there is a certain trend in how Hollywood movies portray the representatives of every particular ethnicity, even though the principle of racial stereotyping has been officially declared as being inappropriate. Yet, it appears that the majority of ordinary citizens could not care less about the fact that they should be more “open-minded” while assessing multicultural reality, which is why they strongly relate an individual’s behavioral traits to his or her racial affiliation. The validity of this statement becomes particularly evident when we focus on the analysis of Hollywood movies where characters of Asian descent play an important role in the plot. One of the striking features of these movies is that, even though they portray Asian characters as being entitled with strong willpower, courageousness, and quick mindedness, after having watched these movies, viewers come to the conclusion that Asian immigrants can never easily integrate into American society, simply because of their existential mode being strikingly different from the existential mode of Whites or

African-Americans. Apparently, despite the fact that the majority of Hollywood movies officially promote the idea that race does not matter; viewers are being instilled with an entirely opposite idea – “race does matter”, as a result of watching these movies. In this paper, we will analyze 1997 “Red Corner”, 1998 “Lethal Weapon 4”, and 1991 “Showdown in Little Tokyo” as movies that strengthen racial stereotyping of Asian-Americans and Asians, in general, as people spiritually alien to the metaphysical essence of Western civilization, as we know it.

The movie “Red Corner” tells the story of American businessman Jack Moore (Richard Gere), who has been framed for the murder of one of China’s influential politicians’ daughters, while he was trying to conduct business in China. After having been arrested by Chinese police and accused of murder, Moore begins to realize that only a miracle could result in him being acquitted of all charges in the Chinese Court of Law because it is not only that all the circumstantial evidence was pointing out at him as a murderer, but there were just too many people interested in seeing him executed. During the course of criminal investigation, Moore has even been denied his right to contact the American embassy: “I have the right to contact my embassy – You have no rights – I have a right to contact the embassy – Your case will be tried according to the Laws of the People’s Republic of China – I want to talk to the American Embassy! – First the investigation” (Drew’s Script-O-Rama 2002). Nevertheless, Moore is still being assigned a defense lawyer as a gesture of pure formality (Moore has been assumed guilty, even before the official trial was going to take place). This lawyer turned out to be a young woman of strong democratic convictions – Shen Yuelin (Bai Ling). Even though that she initially did not have doubts as to the fact that Moore was guilty of murder, as the movie’s plot unravels, Yuelin begins to understand that Moore has simply been framed and she decides to do her best to help him. Eventually, Moore manages to avoid being sentenced to death, but it appears that this had to do more with his extraordinary luck, than with Yuelin’s professional effectiveness as a lawyer. The movie ends on rather a positive note – Yuelin and Moore say goodbye to each other in such a way that viewers are being left with no doubts as to the fact that it was only a matter of time before Yuelin would join Moore in America as his wife – thus, becoming a Chinese-American: “Something did happen. My Life has changed. You have opened me up. You are a part of my Life now, Jack Moore” (Drew’s Script-O-Rama 2002). Let us analyze hidden messages on the subject of Chinese mentality, “Red Corner” conveys to viewers: 1) The overwhelming majority of Chinese citizens are best described as “people stuck in time” – they do not change, they do not progress, they still subject their lives to various social and religious prejudices that are thousand years old. 2) It is not only that there is no justice that can be found within the Chinese legal system, but that ordinary Chinese are simply incapable of understanding what such abstract concepts as justice, freedom, and civil rights stand for. When Moore talks about these things to his guards, they look at him as if he was an idiot. 3) The only reason why some Chinese appear to be more opened-minded than the others (Shen Yuelin), is because deep inside, they hate their own culture as being oppressive in its very essence: “I always assumed the worst about you. I have never questioned. I have always accepted things. It is the same as when I was a child. Why? I was blind. I was mute. I watched my father be humiliated (during the Cultural Revolution), and I said nothing. I watched my father be spat on. I did nothing” (Drew’s Script-O-Rama 2002). 4) It is only establishing close social contacts with White people that might help a few selected Chinese to broaden their intellectual horizons because the movie portrays them as being quite incapable of doing it on their own. 5) The notions of formal logic are of very little use to Chinese. As Bruce Bower in his article “Cultures of Reason” says: “In a variety of reasoning tasks, Chinese take a “holistic” approach. They make little use of categories and formal logic and instead focus on relations among objects and the context in which they interact. People in the United States, on the other hand, adopt an “analytic” perspective. They look for the traits of objects while largely ignoring their context” (Bower p. 57). 6) There is only one way for progressive Chinese citizens to fully realize their existential potential – to immigrate into Western countries, because according to “Red Corner”, China is nothing but hell on Earth. 7) Chinese women are being attracted to White men much more than to Chinese men, because White men do not take sadistic pleasure out of abusing their wives physically and because they are simply better “equipped”, in the sexual sense of this word.

Thus, we can say that “Red Corner” is actually being filled with so many stereotypes, in regards to Asians, that it makes one wonder how this movie was being allowed for release in the first place. It is important to understand that this movie does not simply reflect the objective socio-political realities in China – it implies that these realities derive out of particularities of Chinese mentality. In other words, the movie promotes the idea that the new social environment might only have a little effect on the behavior of Chinese immigrants in Western countries. This is the reason why “Red Corner” is being held in very low regard by the members of the Chinese community in America, because of its subtly racist properties.

The movie “Lethal Weapon 4” can be referred to as such that promotes mentioned above stereotypes, regarding Asian-Americans, to an even further extent. In it, LAPD detectives Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), find themselves being confronted by the members of the Chinese-American mafia, which smuggle people out of China to work in America’s underground sweat-shops.

Both detectives’ greatest nemesis Wah Sing Ku (Jet Li) appears to be an individual who absolutely refuses to even consider the notions of conventional morality while dealing with existential challenges. Even though he possesses American citizenship (and probably citizenships of other countries), Wah Sing Ku is being presented to us as the very embodiment of an “evil alien”, whose very presence in this country causes many people to suffer. Throughout the movie, Wah Sing Ku almost does not speak at all, while giving everybody dirty looks. This is because he rightly considers those that oppose him as being overly-naïve individuals, incapable of understanding that in this world only money has a universal value. However, when he does open his mouth, his words hit the target with utter exactness (much like his hands and legs): “America has many laws. Made by men. Money can change anything” (Lethal Weapon 4 Script 1998). Ku came to America to exploit this country rather than to benefit it. For him – it is all about the money. He is shown to us as being absolutely deprived of even the traces of Western “humanity” – he never hesitates to kill his own people, when they stand in his way. And the most important – he does not seem to understand why Murtaugh and Riggs refuse to be bribed so that they would leave him alone. Thus, we can say that movie strives to instill in readers the idea that one cannot become an American by simply having an American passport in its pocket. It is now being commonly assumed that what has always been attracting potential immigrants in America is the fact that in this country, they could enjoy their existential freedom, to the full extent of this word. Of course, they could also make more money, while in America; however, the prospects of financial enrichment alone could never motivate European immigrants to leave their countries and to come to America. By immigrating to America, they were declaring their desire to live as truly free people. However, “Lethal Weapon 4” describes newly arrived Chinese illegal immigrants as being solemnly preoccupied with making money, as if they could not care less about anything else. Even the most sophisticated Chinese character in the movie – Hong, says that the only reason he came to America is simply because of his love for his children, rather than his love to this country, as it should have been the case: “I’m old. But in America, my children have chance to make good life” (Lethal Weapon 4 Script 1998). By the time LAPD officers bust one of the sweatshops, Chinese slaves look at their “liberators” with utter contempt – they do not want to be freed, simply because of their atrophied sense of freedom. Thus, regardless of whether the movie’s producers wanted it or not – “Lethal Weapon 4” does promote the idea that for some people, being slaves is their natural calling. While talking to a suspected “snakehead” (smuggler of Chinese illegals) Uncle Benny, Riggs and Murtaugh fail to convince him to begin cooperating with them, simply because he does not understand why the death of a Chinese slave is being perceived by LAPD cops as such a big deal: “One dead Chinese? Billions more where he came from” (Lethal Weapon 4 Script 1998).

In “Lethal Weapon 4”, The Chinese community in Los Angeles is shown as “society within a society”. Its members have nothing to do with the rest of American citizens, and it is not solemnly, due to the fact that they cannot speak English, but because they are “others”. Therefore, even though that movie’s producers simply wanted to increase the levels of public awareness as to the hardships, Chinese immigrants are being put through, after they reach American shore, these producers had only succeeded in making viewers of non-Asian descend to wonder whether this country benefits in any way at all, out of allowing Chinese immigrants to obtain legal status.

The movie “Showdown in Little Tokyo” is another example of Asians’ racial stereotyping being utilized in Hollywood films. Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren) and Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee) are the LAPD detectives who are being entrusted with the mission of investigating the criminal activity, which is suspected to be taking place in one of the Japanese restaurants in L.A. During the course of performing their professional duties, Kenner and Murata gradually begin to realize that just about any Japanese–American can be suspected of wrongdoing. After having entered a Japanese restaurant, Murata says to his partner: “We’ve got a problem here. There are more bad guys than we’ve got bullets”, then Murata pulls out his Police badge, shows it to people that sit at the tables and says: “Cop. Policeman, Understand? It’s bad to shoot me. He is a cop too. It’s bad to shoot him” (IMDb 1991).

After this episode, the movie’s plot loses its comprehensiveness (we get to see “bad japs” being shot, impaled, run over by the car and thrown into a boiling water, without producers bothering to logically interconnect these scenes together) right until the very end, when two LAPD “heroes” are being faced with movie’s main villain – the leader of the Yakuza Iron Claw clan, Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). This person is presented to viewers as the very embodiment of evil – slanted eyes that express viciousness, low height (evil midget?), and the body covered with tattoos of Japanese dragons. However, it is the fact that Yoshida has a strong sexual appetite for White women that rids viewers of any doubts as to the fact that by killing Yoshida, Kenner and Murata would do a great service to humanity. In one of movie’s final scenes, Yoshida tries to seduce a White girl Angel (Renee Griffin), who appears as not being particularly thrilled about having sex with Yakuza chief, and who makes a comment that will eventually cost Angel her life: “Japanese men have small dicks”. This infuriates Yoshida to such a degree that he drugs Angel, rapes her (while she is unconscious), and cuts of her head off. Nevertheless, Kenner and Murata manage to punish Yoshida for Angel’s death by allowing him to slowly drown in the sewer. The movie’s main motif can be described as follows: Japanese-Americans are doubled faced individuals that should not be trusted under any circumstances and that only the language they seem to understand is the language of a naked force. Their seeming politeness is a fake – they only smile, while talking to White people, when they intend to stab them from behind. White women should be especially careful, while interacting with Asians, because the small size of Japanese men’s genitals makes them psychological unstable. We can only wonder why the members of Japanese community in America had never filed a law suit against Mark L. Lester (producer) for portraying Americans of Japanese descent in such an unfavourable light. For example, had Lester dared to portray American Jews other then utterly sophisticated, sensitive and progressive individuals, with halos above their heads and wings behind their shoulders (not to say criminals), in one of his movies, he would already be doing time in jail. Yet, “Showdown in Little Tokyo” is still can be rented in just about any video store in America, as absolutely legitimate movie, even though that it is filled with hatemongering against Japanese-Americans.

The analysis of selected movies brings us to conclusion that cinematographic portrayal of Asian–Americans by Hollywood still suffers from the lack of objectivity, on producers’ part. There is only one American movie where the character of Asian descent has been shown as worthy of admiration – “Charlie’s Angels”. However, the character of Alex Munday (Lucy Liu) cannot be referred to as being fully realistic. We can also mention “Rush Hour”, with Jackie Chan playing the role of American cop; yet, given the fact that Chan’s partner in this movie was Chris Tucker; it prevented Chan’s character from being perceived with seriousness. Therefore, it comes as no surprise why only few Americans are capable of thinking about Asians as “cool people”, as opposed to Russians, Germans, French or Britons. At the same time, we cannot only blame Hollywood for failing to portray Asian-Americans as three-dimensional characters in its movies. It appears that it is often Asian-Americans themselves, who provide Hollywood producers with excuses to stereotype them. After all, it is namely Chinese-Americans that have been continuously caught, while skinning cats and dogs and serving their meat as “beef” or “chicken” to unsuspecting White customers in Chinese restaurants. It is important to understand that racial stereotypes simply correspond to the distinctive behavioural traits of a particular group of people, which are being observed over the long period of time. Asians are known for their inability to integrate into Western societies with apparent ease and this is one of the reasons why they are not being overly sensitive to the ways they are being portrayed in Hollywood movies, unlike Jews or Germans, for example. It is not a secret that many representatives of forth and fifth generations of Asian-Americans still speak with the accent, even though they were born and raised in this country. Just as it is not a secret that American Hispanics and African-Americans are known for their less then average ability to excel in academia. Therefore, it is quite natural for producers to exploit these stereotypes, during the course of movies’ production. However, there is a certain line that they are not supposed to cross, while doing it, just as we have illustrated with the example of “Showdown in Little Tokyo” movie. Given the fact that American society becomes increasingly multicultural, it appears that it is simply impossible for Hollywood to make movies that would please the representatives of all ethnicities in this country. This, however, does not mean that these movies can be deprived of any tactfulness (“Showdown in Little Tokyo”). It does not make much of a sense that there are virtually no Hollywood movies that would feature Asian-Americans as scientists, for example, (the average IQ rate of Asian-Americans is 115, as opposed to 85 of Blacks). 55% of Microsoft software programmers consist of naturalized American citizens that were born on Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Yet, according to Hollywood movies, Asian-Americans’ highest accomplishment in this country refers to their ownership of ethnic restaurants and Laundromats, while it is solemnly up to African-Americans to push forward scientific and cultural progress in America, whatever the ironic this statement might sound. Therefore, whereas we cannot refer to the racial stereotyping of Asian-Americans in Hollywood movies as such that has nothing to do with the objective reality, it would also be wrong to think of such stereotyping as being absolutely accurate, in its essence.

Bibliography

Bower, Bruce “Cultures of Reason”. Science News, 2000. (157) 4, 56-58.

Lethal Weapon 4 Script 1998. 2000. The Daily Script.

Red Corner Script – Dialogue Transcript. 2002. Drew’s Script-O-Rama. Web.

Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991). The Internet Movie Database.

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Asian-Americans (Asians) in Hollywood Movies

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