Yellowface - The History of Asian Stereotypes in American Media

Yellowface Caricatures in Politics   In 1997, The National Review magazine published an illustrated cover of then President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. They were in stereotypical Oriental garb and featuring caricatured features, buck teeth and slanted eyes. President Bill Clinton was portrayed as a Chinese houseboy. Hillary Clinton was portrayed as a Maoist Red Guard holding a "Little Red Book." And Vice President Al Gore was dressed-up as a Buddhist priest, holding a begging bowl stuffed with money. The associated story was about concerns over campaign contributions from Asians and Asian-Americans polluting the political process. The National Review was not concerned about corporate money, or even foreign money generally, but specifically identified Asian money as a danger to the American political process. Asian Americans across the country were incensed. Daphne Kwok, executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans described the cov...

  Yellowface in Europe The most blatant contemporary example of Yellowface in Western European media is a character created by Dutch TV and later adopted by Danish TV called Ushi, a caricature of a Japanese woman, but played by white women. The sole gag running in these highly popular programs is the portrayal of a stereotypical Japanese female journalist, with buck teeth, thick glasses and a bad accent. Numerous examples of interviews can be found on Youtube. In Dutch TV the character's full name is Ushi Hirosaki in Danish TV it is Ushi Heiku. Broadcasted via RTL Group, the Dutch character last appeared in the show Ushi & Dushi in December 2009. The show was criticized for being racist, but only after she appeared in blackface, portraying a woman from Curaçao. According to the Dutch wiki page for the show, the audience averages about 2 million per episode; quite a substantial number for a country with only 16 million people.   Yellowface -- Contents Racist Asian Stereoty...

Yellowface Whitewashing A related phenomenon wherein white actors are cast to portray what were originally non-white characters is often termed "whitewashing." In these cases, the original work features non-white characters or non-white European cultural markers which are altered to cater to the perceived viewing habits of the majority Caucasian European based, society. Instead of using yellow face makeup, the film makers change the race or origin of the characters. Few examples of modern Yellowface whitewashing are as notorious as the films 21 and Dragonball: Evolution. In 21, the story of real-life Asian American blackjack players was re-cast to feature white actors in every prominent role. Dragonball's Goku, the Japanese equivalent of Superman (an alien child lands on Earth, is raised by the native culture, and becomes adopted as the champion of his new home), was likewise whitewashed with the casting of Justin Chatwin. In The Last Airbender (2010) all of the leading A...

Yellowface in Film and TV   Whites in Yellowface have a long history on screen, beginning with Mary Pickford's Cio-Cio San in Madame Butterfly (1915).  There were well-known Oriental actors at this time; in 1910, Lee Tung Foo was already known as "the most remarkable China man in the United States"ť due to his performances in vaudeville. Japanese American Sessue Hayakawa's roles in the silent films The Wrath of the Gods (1914) and The Typhoon (1914) transformed Hayakawa into an overnight success.  The first Asian-American star of the American screen was born, and during the 1920s he was as famous as actors Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. He was one of the highest paid stars of his time; making $5,000 a week in 1915 for The Cheat, and $2 million a year via his own production company during the 1920s. Hayakawa was the romantic idol of millions of American women and in many ways, he was a precursor to Rudolph Valentino. When Hayakawa's contract with Paramount...