This was part of a larger project last year where we had to make a website on a particular movie. We chose to do Hero - so we had to make up a 20 page website dedicated to just that. It was actually quite challenging...
Only just over a decade ago, Asian cinema came into significant prominence, with a number of movies including Infernal Affairs and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon gaining credibility outside Asia. While these movies have made a significant impact on Hollywood cinema, the stereotypes of Asians within western films have not changed much since the post-war times. With more Asian movies gathering interest from outside Asia, many Asian actors and actresses were imported into Hollywood to work on films in Hollywood. Actors, actresses and directors such as Ang Lee, Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh and Jackie Chan have all bridged the gap between Asian and Western cinema, and in effect have helped to influence the different styles between the two genres. Yet there are still many racial stereotypes which exist in Western films about Asians – which include casting them in insignificant or villainous roles, or lumping all the Asians together in one generic group. While this stereotype has not changed much in the past 50 years or so, it probably draws all the way back to the early 20th century, when the stereotypes of the ‘orient’ was first starting to arise.
Early in the 20th century, the stereotypes of “Asians” were presented in TV and film – that the Asian people were generally noble and hard working. However there were also other films made in the west that portrayed Asians typically as villains, or in a negative light. The Post war situation in America helped to change America’s view on the Asian people especially the Japanese, who are seen very negatively in films made after the 2nd World War. Consequently, many Asian nations received similar treatment by the American film industry due to the resulting stereotype of the Japanese people. The stereotype which evolved from these wars as well as other major events in Asia was of Asian nations as violent and repressive, as well as backward thinking and medieval. Events around the world such as the cultural revolution of China and civil wars in many Asian countries even today shape the outside world’s view on Asia. This is evident, in movies such as Apocalypse Now, The Killing Fields and Pearl Harbor. Even in cult classics such as The Beach, the general Asian stereotype of mystery, backward-ness and danger is portrayed in the film. Orientalism can be seen as a way for the West to define themselves against other ethnic cultures, and with the emerging threat of globalization in the movie market, this may force some Asian films to conform to this oriental view so it will be accepted in the west.
Miller also states that “…Westerners were often unable to fathom…” the “stark differences between Eastern and Western cultures…” in films and this is probably true today too. Chinese cinema is usually one which also involves the Chinese culture – and this appeals to the wider Chinese and mostly Asian audience. Especially in China and Hong Kong, martial arts films and films portraying ancient China are common genres, where culture is interwoven into it. To the western audience this might be an entirely new experience, or something that they cannot relate to. Recent movies such as Memoirs of a Geisha and The Last Samurai have also been made in accordance to the Asian stereotype. In Memoirs of a Geisha, the casting of non Japanese actors for Japanese roles are also an example of how Hollywood sees Asia as one entity, without no real boundaries in itself. This is typical of Hollywood cinema, which groups a lot of Asians into one single stereotype – which in effect lessens the diversity of Asia in western films.
Cult Asian icons such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan who have starred in martial arts films and themselves practice martial arts have assisted in the generic stereotype of Asians in western films. The martial arts genre popularity in Asia though has helped to influence the Asian stereotype in the west, as well as influencing popular films today such as the Matrix and Kill Bill. The styles of Asian cinema, along with the popularity of action/martial arts/kung fu films in Asia have helped strengthen the stereotype in America of Asians. The massive amount of gangster/mob films in Asia have also helped to shape the stereotype of Asians in America as violent and murderous. This in effect fuels a lot of typical Asian models in western films, where the Asians are usually killed off, or acting as the villain.
Vice versa, the westerners in Asian films are often portrayed as clever, cunning and elusive – they are also portrayed as stupid, gullible and villainous. The differing stereotypes in Asian films are probably the result of colonialism in many of the Asian nations, as well as the aspiration by some to be like the west. In some stereotypes in Asia, the west is seen as having a better standard of living, and in a far superior position to the East. Western films may also provide a medium for imagination for the Chinese for a different life to aspire to. Whatever the case, like in western cinema with Asian roles, Asian cinema hardly contains any roles for westerners. Instead, films focusing on Asia’s historic and cultural issue are made, and thus averts the stereotypes of the west in films.
The stereotypes seen of the different ethnic groups in both the east and the west have a significant impact on how people view the film Hero. While the film might appeal to the audience in Asia, in the west people might rather be frustrated or lack any knowledge of the real Asia to relate to any of it at all, due to the stereotypes portrayed by Hollywood. This in effect produces mixed reactions about the message of the film, and with the stereotypes different reactions and thoughts on the film itself.