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Yellowface
Portrayals of East Asians in American film and theatre has been a subject of controversy. These portrayals have frequently reflected an ethnocentric perception of East Asians rather than realistic and authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, colors, customs, and behaviors. Yellowface, a form of theatrical makeup used by European-American performers to represent an East Asian person (similar to the practice of blackface used to represent African-American characters), continues to be used in film and theater. In the 21st century alone, ''Grindhouse'' (in a trailer parody of the Fu Manchu serials), ''Balls of Fury'', '' I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry'', '' Crank: High Voltage'', and ''Cloud Atlas'' all feature yellowface or non-East Asian actors as East Asian caricatures. Early East Asian American film actors Sessue Hayakawa The Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa began appearing in films around 1914. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackface
Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a global perspective that includes European culture and Western colonialism. Blackface became a global phenomenon as an outgrowth of theatrical practices of racial misrepresentation, racial impersonation popular throughout Britain and its colonial empire, where it was integral to the development of imperial racial politics. Scholars with this wider view may date the practice of blackface to as early as Medieval Europe's mystery plays when bitumen and coal were used to darken the skin of white performers portraying demons, devils, and damned souls. Still others date the practice to English Renaissance theatre, English Renaissance theater, in works such as William Shakespeare's ''Othello''. However, some scholars see blackface as a specific pract ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna May Wong
Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio. Born in Los Angeles to second-generation Taishanese Chinese American parents, Wong became engrossed in films and decided at the age of 11 that she would become an actress. Her first role was as an extra in the movie '' The Red Lantern'' (1919). During the silent film era, she acted in '' The Toll of the Sea'' (1922), one of the first films made in color, and in Douglas Fairbanks' '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1924). Wong became a fashion icon and had achieved international stardom in 1924. Wong had been one of the first to embrace the flapper look. In 1934, the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York voted her the "world's best dressed woman." In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cloud Atlas (film)
''Cloud Atlas'' is a 2012 epic film, epic science fiction film written and directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer. Based on the Cloud Atlas (novel), 2004 novel by David Mitchell (author), David Mitchell, it has multiple plots occurring during six eras and features an ensemble cast who perform multiple roles across these time periods. The film was produced by Grant Hill (producer), Grant Hill and Stefan Arndt, in addition to the Wachowskis and Tykwer. During its four years of development, the producers had difficulties securing financial support. It was eventually produced with a budget between US$100 million and US$146.7 million provided by independent sources, making it one of the most expensive independent films ever produced. Filming for ''Cloud Atlas'' began in September 2011 at Babelsberg Studio in Babelsberg, Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany. It premiered on 8 September 2012 at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, 37th Toronto International Film Festival, and was pub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethnocentric
Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of using the standards of the particular culture involved. Since this judgment is often negative, some people also use the term to refer to the belief that one's culture is superior to, or more correct or normal than, all others—especially regarding the distinctions that define each ethnicity's cultural identity, such as language, behavior, customs, and religion. In common usage, it can also simply mean any culturally biased judgment. For example, ethnocentrism can be seen in the common portrayals of the Global North and Global South, Global South and the Global North. Ethnocentrism is sometimes related to racism, Stereotype, stereotyping, discrimination, or xenophobia. However, the term "ethnocentrism" does not necessarily involve a negati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Pitch Accent
Japanese pitch accent is a feature of the Japanese language that distinguishes words by accenting particular morae in most Japanese dialects. The nature and location of the accent for a given word may vary between dialects. For instance, the word for "river" is in the Tokyo dialect, with the accent on the second mora, but in the Kansai dialect it is . A final or is often devoiced to or after a downstep and an unvoiced consonant. The Japanese term is , and it refers to pitch accent in languages such as Japanese and Swedish. It contrasts with , which refers to stress. An alternative term is which contrasts with . Standard Japanese Normative pitch accent, essentially the pitch accent of the Tokyo Yamanote dialect, is considered essential in jobs such as broadcasting. The current standards for pitch accent are presented in special accent dictionaries for native speakers such as the ''Shin Meikai Nihongo Akusento Jiten'' () and the ''NHK Nihongo Hatsuon Akusento Ji ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kato (The Green Hornet)
Kato is a fictional character from ''The Green Hornet'' franchise. This character has appeared with the Green Hornet in radio, film, television, book and comic book versions. Kato is the Green Hornet's crime-fighting sidekick, and Britt Reid's manservant in civilian life, and has been played by a number of actors. On radio, Kato was initially played by Raymond Hayashi, then Roland Parker who had the role for most of the run, and in the later years Mickey Tolan and Paul Carnegie. Keye Luke took the role in the movie serials, and in the television series, he was portrayed by Bruce Lee. Jay Chou played Kato in the 2011 Green Hornet film. Character history Kato is Britt Reid's valet, who doubles as The Green Hornet's masked driver and partner to help him in his vigilante adventures, disguised as the activities of a racketeer and his chauffeur/bodyguard/enforcer. According to the storyline, years before the events depicted in the series, Britt Reid saved Kato's life while traveling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes and villains like Fu Manchu. Many stories feature Chan traveling the world beyond Hawaii as he investigates mysteries and solves crimes. Chan first appeared in Biggers' novels and then was featured in a number of media. Over four dozen films featuring Charlie Chan were made, beginning in 1926. The character, featured only as a supporting character, was first portrayed by East Asian actors, and the films met with little success. In 1931, for the first film centering on Chan, ''Charlie Chan Carries On (film), Charlie Chan Carries On'', the Fox Film Corporation cast Swedish people, Swedish actor Warner Oland; the film became popular, and Fox went on to produce 15 more Chan films wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keye Luke
Keye Luke (; June 18, 1904 – January 12, 1991) was a Chinese-born American actor, and a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. He portrayed Lee Chan, the "Number One Son" in the Charlie Chan films, the original Kato in the 1939–1941 ''Green Hornet'' film serials, Brak in the 1960s '' Space Ghost'' cartoons, Master Po in the television series ''Kung Fu'', and Mr. Wing in the '' Gremlins'' films. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed by RKO, Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was one of the most prominent Asian actors of American cinema in the mid-20th century. Early life Luke's father, Lee Luke, was born in San Francisco in 1880, and traveled to China several times where he married Keye's mother, Down Cook. Lee Luke established an art/import shop in Seattle Chinatown. Luke was born in Canton (Guangzhou), China, then in the Qing dynasty. Luke was raised in Seattle. He had four siblings who all moved from Seattle to California during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon Lady
Dragon Lady is usually a stereotype of certain East Asian and occasionally South Asian and/or Southeast Asian women as strong, deceitful, domineering, mysterious, and often sexually alluring. Inspired by the characters played by actress Anna May Wong, the term comes from the female villain in the comic strip '' Terry and the Pirates''. It has since been applied to powerful women from certain regions of Asia, as well as a number of Asian and Asian American film actresses. The stereotype has generated a large quantity of sociological literature. "Dragon Lady" is sometimes applied to persons who lived before the term became part of American slang in the 1930s. "Dragon Lady" is one of two main stereotypes used to describe women, the other being "Lotus Blossoms". Lotus Blossoms tend to be the opposite of the Dragon Lady stereotype, having their character being hyper-sexualized and submissive. Dragon Lady is also used to refer to any powerful but prickly woman, usually in a derogatory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer ( , ; 12 January 1910 – 30 December 2014) was a German-born film actress. She was the first thespian to win multiple Academy Awards, and the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her 105th birthday, she was the longest-lived Oscar recipient (and the longest-lived female star from Classic Hollywood), a superlative that has not been exceeded, as of . Rainer started her acting career in Germany at age 16, under the tutelage of Austria's leading stage director, Max Reinhardt. Within a few years, she had become a distinguished Berlin stage actress with Reinhardt's Vienna theater ensemble. Critics highly praised the quality of her acting. After years of acting on stage and in films in Austria and Germany, she was discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talent scouts, who signed her to a three-year contract in Hollywood in 1935. A number of filmmakers predicted she might become another Greta Garbo, MGM's leading female star at the time. Her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Good Earth (film)
''The Good Earth'' is a 1937 American drama film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the 1932 play by Owen Davis and Donald Davis, which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin, with uncredited contributions by Victor Fleming and Gustav Machaty. The film stars Paul Muni as Wang Lung. For her role as his wife O-Lan, Luise Rainer won an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Karl Freund. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture. Its world premiere was at the elegant Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. Plot In pre-World War I northern China, young farmer Wang Lung ( Paul Muni) marries O-Lan ( Luise Rainer), a slave at the Great House, the residence of the most powerful family in their villag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Typecasting
In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups. There have been instances in which an actor has been so strongly identified with a role as to make it difficult for them to find work playing other characters. Character actors Actors are sometimes so strongly identified with a role as to make it difficult for them to find work playing other characters. It is especially common among leading actors in popular television series and films. ''Star Trek'' One example of typecasting occurred with the cast of the original ''Star Trek'' series. During ''Star Trek''s original run from 1966 to 1969, William Shatner was the highest-paid cast member at $5,000 per episode (equivalent to $ in ), with Leonard Nimoy and the other actors being paid much less. The press predicted that Nim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
