Orientalism: Once again, rice chasers on a pedestal
So I told several people that Princess of Nebraska, a brand new film by Wayne Wang, was being released on YouTube. I announced it privately because it’s a big statement when a famous director, Asian American or not, releases a brand new film on YouTube for free. Having not liked Wayne Wang’s previous work, I sent it out with nary a thought of whether the movie was good or bad. I found this e-mail in my box:
I saw the princess of Nebraska. It was blatant pandering to the west audience, political sound bites and the most unlikely yet twisted sex….The balloon scene is sooo cliché! It’s a flop artistically and otherwise. It reflects the complete lack of diligence and imagination of the filmmaker. I feel sorry for Yiyun Li, the author of the original story.
I just saw the trailer for Princess here, and…gosh, if I had seen it before, I would’ve never sent it out. The e-mail is spot on; it’s the same old play on Asian sexual stereotypes for a Western audience. For those who like to play the Crabs in a Bucket scorecard: no, I haven’t seen it, but yes, this does seem to be the case of pandering to the west. Am I going to waste my time with this movie? No. It’s clear from the movie and from the review that it’s the same old tired stereotypes created for a brand new YouTube generation. It’s as if these Chinese/Chinese American directors and writers are out of ideas. How can they be out of ideas when they’ve hardly ever produced anything of quality?
As I might have thought, I was also told that Wayne Wang pushes the envelope on interracial/homoerotic sex. Yes, we know black men and Asian women are hypersexualized at both extremes, so it adds a pornographic touch that will probably get more hits when you put a young fobby Asian chick in a trashy sex scene with an old black guy (see Robert Jensen’s critique on the duality here). Yes, we know lesbian sex is hot, and so you also get more traffic when you put the same fobby Asian chick in a scene with another woman. Yes, we know that America loves Asian prostitutes, especially when they fulfill Western fantasies of a submissive, feminine Orient. But for goodness sake, it would be nice to see Asian directors produce something that pushes the envelope on thought or art rather than lewdness or orientalism. What ever happened to normal Asian people who aren’t prostitutes, or who don’t define themselves by who they sleep with in how many positions? They seem to be somewhat absent from the world of Asian American art and literature.
Somehow Asian people have skipped over the stage of just being normal. I say we need to bring that stage back. And yes, I think we also need to stop promoting stuff like this…even if it’s created by other Asian Americans. We don’t have to boycott, but we can vote with our feet (or our computer mice, in this case).
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I agree with everything you said. About #1…I think...
After reading this, I’m glad I couldn’t bear watching it after 5 minutes.
Ahhh…another form of perpetuating the objectification and hypersexualization on specifically asian women.
I do believe Asian Americans in general will be empowered in society and the media and most of the stereotypes will slowly disintegrate in due course, but it will not be done through films like these.
Just looking at the photo above already gives me the skeeves.
It’s sad because we don’t have anyone at the Wayne Wang level who seems to take seriously our complaints about objectification and hypersexualization of Asian American women. There are Asian Americans on Wang’s level both on the business and creative side, but they tend to be silent when confronted with these stereotypes. Or else they’ll complain, right before taking a role or producing the exact same thing.
I do think that there is a community-based solution to this though. I’m wondering if it’s possible to extend that community through the web.
Think about this…part of the success in getting us to see and hear messages in movies like this is dependent upon us not being able to discuss it and voice our displeasure. We have no rep in the news media. People don’t know we’re tired of it because they don’t hear us, and we don’t hear ourselves.
Due to the regular occurance of such themes in Hollywood, and other mainstream media conduits, don’t you think that it would become all to regular for us and our outcry?
Its not that I don’t want to see it happen, it’s just that I think it’d be ignored fairly fast.
Only thing I can think of is encouraging Asian American Actors/Actresses to really consider the roles that they pick to play. But of course, they need to pay their bills too.
I’m reminded of how I find Disney a blatantly racist corporation, and it being unfortunate the amount of power they have over the next generation of the US now. You can tell most people that but unless they think and trust you as credible, they’ll stop you and say “But it’s Disney”
Oddly though, I find the entertainment value in Disney movies way too high, that I usually still enjoy them.
Jason,
I’m thinking more along the lines of having an infrastructure where information passes more freely. If you have time, check out Bowling Along by Robert Putnam. It talks about community and social capital. I think it’s the antidote to big media.
Hmmm…. I understand your points entirely. And I do agree that sometimes we do promote stuff that we usually like from a particular artist (as I have with Wayne Wang) we are familiar with without having seen or heard it personally. You must keep in mind that Wayne Wang has slowly transformed himself into a mainstream director. This man did do a lot for Asian American films so I think it’s important that we support him if we AT LEAST agree that he has been a trailblazer, and scold him later when we’ve actually had time to review his work. That’s not to say the man hasn’t made a bunch of floppy movies. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I’ll hold my judgment until I’ve actually reviewed the entire flick. Let’s be frank, this shit was for free and hopefully no one was expecting it to be Oscar-worthy.
minoritymilitant,
That “shit” was definitely for free, and it definitely looks like shit!
(I’m saying this with half a smile!)
I think the hard part about rating art is that we, as minorities affected by the art, take it very seriously and personally. And sometimes it’s hard to separate the art from the creator. I’ve not seen his movie “Chan is Missing,” but I’ve heard from people I respect that it was excellent, and I can respect him for that contribution.
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