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Criminalization/Assimilation
Chinese/Americans and Chinatowns in Classical Hollywood Film
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2019
About this book
Criminalization/Assimilation traces how Classical Hollywood films constructed America’s image of Chinese Americans from their criminalization as unwanted immigrants to their eventual acceptance when assimilated citizens, exploiting both America’s yellow peril fears about Chinese immigration and its fascination with Chinatowns. Philippa Gates examines Hollywood’s responses to social issues in Chinatown communities, primarily immigration, racism, drug trafficking, and prostitution, as well as the impact of industry factors including the Production Code and star system on the treatment of those subjects. Looking at over 200 films, Gates reveals the variety of racial representations within American film in the first half of the twentieth century and brings to light not only lost and forgotten films but also the contributions of Asian American actors whose presence onscreen offered important alternatives to Hollywood’s yellowface fabrications of Chinese identity and a resistance to Hollywood’s Orientalist narratives.
Author / Editor information
PHILIPPA GATES is a professor of film studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada. She is the author of several books, including Transnational Asian Identities in Pan-Pacific Cinemas.
Reviews
“A most informative analysis…. The main strength of Criminalization/Assimilation may be its detailed outline of the various shifts in representations that occurred over a fifty-year period, that certainly complexifies a strictly axiological appreciation of Chinatown films as either racist or non-racist.”
— Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television"Philippa Gates takes us on an engrossing journey through the Chinatown streets of Hollywood’s imagination in her comprehensive study of the ambivalent depiction of Chinese people and places on American screens. Her superlative book provides essential reading for scholars, students, and concerned readers who need to understand this history fully to critique the images and ideas that continue to shape today’s cultural landscape."
— Gina Marchetti, author of Citing China: Politics, Postmodernism, and World Cinema"Meticulously researched and laudably comprehensive, Criminalization/Assimilation explores Chinatown’s place in the lexicon of early Hollywood films. This is a unique and important contribution to film studies and Asian American studies—a highly satisfying read!"
— Karla Rae Fuller, author of Hollywood Goes Oriental: CaucAsian Performance in American FilmTopics
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Frontmatter
i -
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v Contents
v - Part I. Hollywood’s Chinese America
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1. Introduction
3 -
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2. Yellow Peril, Protest, and an Orientalist Gaze: Hollywood’s Constructions of Chinese/Americans
18 - Part II. Chinatown Crime
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3. Imperiled Imperialism: Tong Wars, Slave Girls, and Opium
53 -
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4. The Whitening of Chinatown: Action Cops and Upstanding Criminals
80 - Part III. Chinatown Melodrama
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5. The Perils of Proximity: White Downfall in the Chinatown Melodrama
105 -
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6. Tainted Blood: White Fears of Yellow Miscegenation
128 - Part IV. Chinese American Assimilation
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7. Assimilation and Tourism: Chinese American Citizens and Chinatown Rebranded
155 -
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8. Assimilating Heroism: The Chinese American as American Action Hero
183 -
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9. Epilogue
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Filmography
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Acknowledgments
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Notes
233 -
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Index
277
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 2, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780813589442
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9780813589442
Keywords for this book
Chinese; American; Chinese American; China; Chinatown; film; cinema; immigrant; Chinese immigrant; civil rights; yellow peril; Asian American; American film; international markets; representation; media; Asian American studies; film studies; gender studies; star studies; race studies; film history.; broader readership; in-depth understanding; representation of race; AsianAmerican identity; race in film; Classical Hollywood film; justice; shedding light; history; past mistakes; public; perception; changed point of view; new ideas; unwanted immigrants; tainted past; starting again; societal problems; finding solutions; responding to issues; social issues; Chinatown communities; racism; drug trafficking; prostitution; impact of industry factors; Production Code; star system; identity; fabrications; forgotton films; contributions; twentieth century
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
