AS AM 5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Florence Owens Thompson, Igorot People, Dorothea Lange
Document Summary
Using literary and artworks to understand a historical period. Familiar representations of asians--always unalterably alien--as helpless heathens, comical servants, loyal allies and, only in the case of women, exotic sex objects inbued with an innate understanding of how to please, serve, and titillate (197). In particular, film has played a large role in creating the tropes of asian american subjectivity: Example: warner oland as fu manchu and charlie chan. A fictional character created by the english writer. Represents the archetype of the evil genius: secretive, vengeful, symbolic of yellow peril . Chin: king of the tongs and bent on genocidal revenge on the white race for the opium war. In many ways, the opposite of fu manchu. A chinese-american detective: non-threatening, benevolent, portly, asexual. Chin: the perfect image of the chinese-american as a self- destructive . Often played the role of sexy kitten. Rejected in china for being too american; never fully embraced in.
