No More "Yellows" in the Media?

In an article from the Sundial of CSUN, "The Yellow Peril." The author Hansook Oh mentioned about the Yellow Peril and Fu Man Chu stereotypes created another strange representation of Asians in the media called "Yellow Face." This yellow face means the media replace Asian roles with White actors. This term is very close-related to Fu Man Chu and Charlie Chan. "This stereotype was the basis for the television show “Fu Manchu,” which was about an insidious, evil Asian man who wanted nothing but destruction for the white race" (Oh).The opposite of of Fu Man Chu which is the "nice guy" Asian is Charlie Chan who is also acted by a white actor. In fact, both characters Fu Man Chu and Yellow Peril are acted by the same actor Warner Oland.

By replacing Asian actors by white actors to play Asian characters limits the appearance of Asian Americans in the media. “Not only do Asian-American actors find this a displacement of their ability to work as laborers, as performers in these sort of roles – they also find this an affront to their identity, to their work to overcome racism and be seen as legitimate actors" (Ono). It is important to keep the ethic of the characters because Asians are not allowed to present their identity.

One of the recent example of this whitewashing Asian Americans actors is The Last Airbender. This movie is a parody for more favorable television cartoon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. The actors for each of the lead roles are replaced by white actors, except for one. The only "important" Asian actor in this film is the villain--Prince Zuko (Dev Patel). Here comes another Fu Man Chu, in this modern society.

The lack of Asian Americans actors in this popular media is already an issue to the accurate representations of Asians, but now film producers and directors are eliminating Asian actors to play the "their" role (Asian characters). Movie roles for Asian American actors are limited, only roles such as martial artist or professionals are offered to them. There is a "bamboo ceiling" for Asian actors and the rest of the Asian community. The term "bamboo ceiling" refers to "an invisible barrier that maintains a pyramidal racial structure throughout corporate America, with lots of Asians at junior levels, quite a few in middle management, and virtually none in the higher reaches of leadership" (Paper Tigers). John Cho and Kal Penn in the Harold & Kumar series is a significant example of Asian Actors breaking the ceiling. After the debut of the first Harold & Kumar movie, both actors' acting career got a big boost, especially John Cho who plays an American role named, Daniel Casey, in a recent high budget Hollywood film, Identity Thief.