Hollywood Chinese

By Tim | Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 9 Comments

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Most PBS stations will air tonight (May 27, 2009) a 90 minute showing of American Masters, titled Hollywood Chinese, produced in 2008. The film covers a century of Chinese involvement in Hollywood cinema. The film is produced, directed, written and edited by Academy Award nominated filmmaker Arthur Dong (former San Franciscan and current resident of Los Angeles).

A short description from the PBS website:

American feature films often portray the Chinese as exotic and devious characters – or simply the “other” – reflecting the entertainment industry’s inherent racial prejudices as well as its fascination with the Far East. Hollywood Chinese features candid interviews and back lot stories from artists in front of and behind the camera, including Joan Chen, James Hong, David Henry Hwang, Nancy Kwan, Ang Lee, Christopher Lee, Justin Lin, Luise Rainer, Amy Tan, Wayne Wang, and BD Wong.

The documentary chronicles the full gamut of Chinese representation in Hollywood. It brings to light the controversial yellowface casting of Luise Rainer in The Good Earth (1937) and the stereotyped caricatures played by Chinese American actors such as James Hong in Bloodsport 2 & 3 (1996 and 1996). It also addresses the eventual trend of Asian empowerment in films such as Flower Drum Song (1961) staring Nancy Kwan and the film-adaptation of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (1993) directed by Wayne Wang.

This documentary has already received positive reviews, and should be well worth watching if you have an interest in Asians in cinema.

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http://www.jozjozjoz.com jozjozjoz

I saw this last year when it was released theatrically at a screening with a Q&A with Arthur Dong.

I looked up the review I put on Flixster:

I thoroughly enjoyed this complex, well-researched and nicely put-together film. Arthur Dong did an amazing job of interviewing the subjects and telling a fascinating story of 100 years of Asians (Chinese) in Hollywood. Particularly compelling interviewees were Joan Chen, Ang Lee, B.D. Wong, Nancy Kwan and Justin Lin.

Also, Arthur somehow got ahold of footage from the infamous Sundance shouting match at the end of the BETTER LUCK TOMORROW screening where Roger Ebert stands up and defends the Asian Americans for portraying Asian Americans on film however they wanted to do so. Worth watching this film for this alone.

Sadly, tonight is the end of the theatrical run in NY, SF, and LA, but jump if you get a chance to watch it when it comes out on DVD (or hopefully) PBS.
http://www.jozjozjoz.com jozjozjoz

PS – This isn’t about “Asian cinema,” which would imply movies made in/by Asians (in Asia).

This is a documentary chronicling Asian American (specifically Chinese Americans) in the Hollywood system, including a really interesting delve into the earliest known Chinese American film made in 1916.
http://gayparenthood.blogspot.com Tim

@Joz: I fixed the post to read “Asians in cinema”

I was able to catch this showing tonight, and have to say it was impressive in its coverage of Chinese in Hollywood Cinema. It brought up a lot of films I’ve known about but haven’t seen and now have a desire to watch. There was one quote by B.D.Wong I’d like to write an entire post about, and will save it for a future article. The other surprising thing about watching it, was that it was followed immediately with a screening of the “The Slanted Screen: Asian Men in Film and Television”, the 2006 documentary by Jeff Adachi
http://www.jozjozjoz.com jozjozjoz

Glad you caught it. You’re lucky that you’re in the Bay Area where they did that “double feature.”

I thought THE SLANTED SCREEN was also quite good. It’s great to see more recent documentaries about Asians in the media. Quite a lot has happened since the late 90s.

And I got tired of seeing SLAYING THE DRAGON (1988) over and over again in my Asian American Studies classes.
JC

Things aren’t any better today. Don’t they usually make a documentary when things are vastly different today?
johns

Why would any “asian”use the title “Slanted Screen”? A real Japanese or Chinese or Korean should sue Adachi, just as native Americans sued a football team for using “Redskins”.
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