What Makes You So Good To Me, Chinky?

The first time the "Yellow Man" appeared in Broken Blossoms, I laughed aloud. The absurdity of trying to pass off this white actor as Asian, was just too much, especially because this introduction comes immediately after a series of shots of real Asian extras. Today (or at least to those of us inclined to take an "Asian-Americans in Pop Culture" class), Richard Bethelmess and the various actors who played Charlie Chan are completely unconvincing, looking painfully like white men squinting their eyes. Could Griffith's audiences possibly have been "convinced"? I suppose one make the excuse that many viewers may not have seen an Asian person before-- why, then, did the practice of yellowface continue long after blackface had become taboo? One of this country's most cherished Hollywood movies, Breakfast at Tiffany's, features Mickey Rooney in full Yellow Man garb, complete with slanted eyes, buck teeth, thick glasses, and a horrible, horrible accent. (The film was made in 1961, about twenty years after Executive Order 9066, more than forty years after Broken Blossoms.) Not to mention Jonathan Pryce's 1990 yellowface performance in Miss Saigon. Search for "yellowface" on YouTube and you'll find several examples from the last few years.

Why have racist impersonations of Asians in mainstream American media been so acceptable for so long? Perhaps it's because, as we discussed briefly in class, Asians are viewed as less threatening, less likely to lash back. If so, this stereotype both feeds and is fed by unbecoming portrayals of Asians in the media. Or maybe it has to do with the Asian-American's position as the perpetual foreigner; maybe if he weren't so strange he wouldn't be the center of such ridicule. If only the "dear little man," as Audrey Hepburn calls Mr. Yunioshi, would learn to be like the rest of us!

Inventing the Oriental: The Twist

Artificial constructs of the Asian male stereotype arose from the historical, male-oriented perspective of Western societies.  White males, as the dominating force behind the creation of an emasculated Asian male image, attempted to invent specific attributes which would superficially define the Asian man in the West.  Many factors led to such a creation as we have discussed in class, ranging from the protection of White womanhood to the exaggerated crisis of White masculinity in the face of an ever-changing world.   The shifting of once rigid gender roles in society and disruption in the continuity of preexisting social norms were countered in the creation of stereotypes such as the aforementioned Asian male figure.  The "Yellow Man" Cheng Huan in D.W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms is a model visualization and portrayal of such an Asian or "Oriental" male stereotype.  Through cinema, as a new medium of communication, art and entertainment, directors and writers were able to evolve fiction into reality, or at least what appeared to resemble reality on screen.

Surprisingly, Asian males living in Western societies did not always attempt to dispel the foreign and meek stereotype.  Some Asians twisted a perceived negative characterization into a helpful facade.  Cheng Huan appeared defenseless and hopeless against Battling Burrows, but was able to defeat the brutish father/boxer towards the end of the movie.  The weapon of choice (the concealed pistol) may elicit a negative connotation (perhaps cowardice against a man using an axe) towards the audience's perception of Cheng Huan. Nevertheless, the end result was the death of Battling Burrows at the hands of a "Yellow Man". Other Asian males have similarly used negative stereotypes for their own benefit.  The Chinese cook in Chan is Missing and even Chan himself provide a somewhat more modern example of hiding the unique, true personalities of Asian male individuals.  Some interpreters, modern day AAPI activists and film critics may argue that hiding behind this type of "mask" is cowardice, but there is a possibility that using the stereotype as a type of shield is an alternative method in "maneuvering around" societal restraints without directly challenging such norms.  

Peter Feng touches upon the notion of excessive sensationalism and how Chinese males residing in New York City's Chinatown were able to play into a cultural farce of Oriental vice (think of the opium dens).  The 1908 film The Deceived Slumming Party (26) showed that Asian males were playing into an artificial stereotype purely for economic benefit from slumming tours.  The concept of putting on a show for tourists calls into question what each individual perceives in daily life, particularly on excursions (mainly tours and vacations) to foreign lands.  How can someone determine what is culturally authentic and what is purely a deceptive show?  Even amongst our everyday lives in the United States, individuals continue to choose to hide behind a stereotype for personal benefit.  Asian males are no exception.

For the Sake of my Health, I Should Stay Away from Internet Forums

As viewed by a group of Brown University students (taking a class on Asian Americans and pop culture, no less), Broken Blossoms smacks of racism. Cheng Huan, as portrayed in yellow-face by Richard Barthelmess, is a meek, de-sexualized, hunched-over caricature. Although it may be unfair to judge Broken Blossoms out of its own historical/socio-political context, I think we reserve the right to be unhappy.

Which is why I am surprised (kind of) to see this: My Students Called This 'Racist' -- Your Response? I have culled a few of my favorite responses:

"My response is that your students have been brainwashed by political correctness. Blame their professors who want to reduce all art to disguised propaganda of whatever power structure was current at the time. I'm glad there are a few teachers like you who are trying to undo the damage. These days, I think an intelligent viewer who hasn't taken a lot of humanities classes is in the best position to appreciate a film like Broken Blossoms."

"GET BETTER STUDENTS!"

Interestingly, Broken Blossoms has an IMDB rating of 7.7 out of 10 (as opposed to Birth of a Nation's 7.1/10). Also interestingly, only 1.5% of viewers/voters gave Broken Blossoms a rating of 1/10 (while Birth of a Nation: 11.5%).

I will concede that Broken Blossoms seems conflicted about its portrayal of Asians. On the one hand, Cheng Huan is the protagonist of the film, noble and kind (a fact that many use to rebut the claim that the film is racist). On the other hand, he is emasculated to the point of pity--indeed, his character bears much resemblance to Lucy (note the similarity in the scenes where Cheng Huan leans against a wall and Lucy sits forlornly on the pier).

Perhaps the ambiguity in the film (and to the reception of the film) stems from the nature of the formation of the Asian male stereotype, the reaction of white men to a foreign sexual predator who cooks and cleans, just like a woman.

The Yellow Man and the Girl

Most of the movies assigned so far I had never watched before; Broken Blossoms was no exception. There was little in the title, which implied what the film was about. Then I saw the title screen, a flickering stream of gray and white that read "The Yellow Man And The Girl." I still could not infer much about the movie, but at that moment I had an inkling that "the girl" was probably white. It is not "The Man And The Girl;" no that title would be too plain. Upon watching that screen, our eyes are transfixed to the word, "yellow." The title projects some vague sense of controversy, placing the strange label of yellow man next to the normal girl.

Initially I was not sure how the protagonist was going to be portrayed. The general idea that had always been pounded into my head was that media portrayal from the past was rarely ever kind in regards to those who weren't caucasian. So yeah, I assumed the worst. I had watched D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" back in high school. That film featured a black man lustfully chasing after a white nurse, a chase which ended with her death. What would this "yellow man" do to the woman? What sadistic and savage machinations would the writer instill in the character's mind? So imagine my surprise when watching the man solemnly standing in a Buddhist temple. This astonishment soon turned into a nagging sense of confusion; perhaps I was better off not trying to find any specific meaning in the Chinese man's character. To successfully find such meaning would require a good understand of Griffith's intention. And unfortunately, this is difficult as the silent film does not expand on much of the characters (beyond their two dimensional represenations). It instead almost entirely plays off on this "crazy" idea of a Chinese man spending time with an English woman. Many of the bloggers below touched on this platonic relationship, one that might not even constitute to any real sense of love. I wonder if Griffith intentionally did this because he didn't want to push any boundaries, or if he felt it was more in tune to the man's emasculate personality to not be able to kiss the girl. What was he trying to point out about the man's personality, especially with his use of a hangun at the end? Did he finally become a man, or instead did he let the savageness of England overwhelm him? Essentially is his use to defend himself a positive or negative?

I did not find the effect of the film to be intentionally racist. Rather most of the racist connotations it portrays to a 21st century mind seem to be a result of the film's simplicity. It oversimplifies Buddha's teachings of peace, with its brief paragraph texts. It is too simple that it depicts all Chinese foreigners are those with a love for opium. And yet, isn't that where popular culture resides? In the accessible and simple? Surely a film based solely on accurate depictions of religion, much like opera or a scientific textbook, would not be categorized as pop culture. Perhaps we could expand on our definition of popular culture. On a final note, pianist William Perry was amazing. To be able to play nothing but minor arpeggios (during those ~40 minutes depicting London and Burrow's viciousness towards his daughter) without going insane is nothing short of talented.

films on race: boan v broken blossoms

I am always particularly interested by the portrayals of gender roles and intersectionality with race. i was surprised at first when i first noticed this was a dw griffith film, because only 4 years before the release of blossoms, birth of a nation portrayed racism in a very different way. BOAN had a more complex plot, probably due to white america's familiarity with the african american population at the time. the fact that blossoms had a simpler plot seems to support eugene franklin wong's claim that "the american film industry's early feature-length productions and serials depicting asians, asian americans, and various asian themes reflected american society's general ignorance of the people and thematic materials depicted" (53).

Back to me being surprised. in BOAN, griffith's infamous blackface controversial film, we see the beginnings of the 'hypermasculine' stereotype of black males. in blossoms, we get an introduction to the emasculating stereotypes brought on asian males. both films show the crafted sexual inferiority of a race, serving as racist propaganda against miscegenation, but the two do it in very different ways.

in BOAN, the african american character gus gets portrayed as a sexual predator who tries to rape a white female protagonist. played by a white man in blackface, gus drives the young white woman to jump off a cliff rather than be taken advantage of. similarly in blossoms, the yellow man lusts after a 'pure white woman' as he idolizes her in a completely opposite way. being passive and possessing more traditionally feminine characteristics, this character also played in yellowface treats the 'broken blossom' as almost a holy being, something he always desires for but knows he can never touch.

this points out a very important reality of the politics and influences of 'popular culture.' it seems as the time, the popular culture was to make political films about race; whether they were based on actual knowledge or pure ignorance, they were critical in impacting the image of ethnic minorities for generations to come. these films, ironically 'silent' as they are, seem to deprive the minority of a voice but usurping the faces and widely projected images of their cultures. we know that in 1919, many poorer-class americans were illiterate due to lacking educational resources, and many immigrants couldn't read or understand english. though there is power with the ability to influence a literate audience, we also know from these silent films that images can speak louder than words. what does this say about the power of popular culture to direct the progress, good/bad, of social consciousness?

Broken Blossoms or the power of silent films or why didn't they give the protagonist a name or the piano player must have been really tired by the end

I must confess that I watched Broken Blossoms not knowing what genre of movie it was nor who was D.W. Griffiths (but thanks to my classmates, now I know he directed The Birth of a Nation). As a silent film I kind of expected Mary Pickford to jump in at any second but in all honesty, I don’t know that much about silent films nor D.W. Griffiths. With this in mind, I disagree with some of my classmates who found the movie to be slightly positive. Much of the argument that proposes Broken Blossoms as positive is that the protagonist is Chinese (does he even have a name? Cheung Huan?) I would hardly call him a hero considering how the actor, Mr. Richard Barthelmess, physically portrayed him, that is to say, the never-really-named-outright protagonists (let’s call him NRNO because I refuse to call him the Yellow Man) is portrayed with stooped over with a slightly hunched back with his hands constantly together in front of him. Furthermore, the strict film codes of the time prevented NRNO from being romantically linked to a white girl, as exemplified by Anna May Wong’s career. The closest he is shown to the girl (how old is she? What is the age difference between them?) is when he appears that he is going to kiss her. The music playing demonstrates that a kiss would be devastating so instead NRNO kisses her sleeve. This gesture reminded me of a scene in Ethan Frome when Ethan kisses Maddie’s ribbon instead of kissing her and we all know how that book ends.

I also want to point out a minor detail in the opium den scene. The black man is obviously someone in black face and of course NRNO is someone in yellow face. What are the implications of these characters? The extras in the movie are Asian. Furthermore, as a silent movie with no spoken dialogue, the music plays a crucial role in interpreting the movie much like music for a ballet. Obviously the piano resorts to clichéd Chinese sounding music but more importantly the music can push an audience to react a certain way. I think some of my classmates were swayed to find NRNO as a hero since he rescues Lucy because the theme for Lucy pushes you to be incredibly sympathetic to her and therefore, whoever “rescues” her is to be admired but that begs the question of why is she portrayed in this manner? It’s not like there were no strong women characters of the time, one recall’s Falconetti in Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc. Also interesting is that NRNO commits suicide at the end of the film. With the opening title, it very, very briefly reminded of the mood of Madama Butterfly and though the film’s plot does not mirror Puccini’s opera, the last scene was, nevertheless, reminiscent.

On a final note, I am trying to make a connection to Haenni’s essay “Filming ‘Chinatown’: Fake Visions, Bodily Transformations” to the film. Though the film does not completely take place in Chinatown, what fascinates me is the scene where Lucy puts on the robes and touches the goods the NRNO offers her. Is this a sexual statement? Is this some sort of transformation? But really, why didn't they give him a proper name?

-Christopher Huynh

Response to Broken Blossoms

Despite the expected stereotypical portrayal of the Asian character, I was very impressed by Broken Blossoms. Of course I can recognize the racist portrayal of the emasculated Asian male, the typical "Oriental" themes like the Opium Den, but the relationship between "the Yellow Man" and Lucy Burrows is worth a close examination. The fact that "the first [Lucy] has ever known" comes from a "Yellow Man," the fact that the protagonist saves her from a dangerous man in the Limehouse district, and the fact that he is the most human and sympathetic character in the movie are enough to convince me that this movie has portrayed Asians in a somewhat positive manner.

But it is important that acknowledge that the "Yellow Man" is still emasculated, portrayed as a complete antithesis of the Battling Burrows character. Although "Yellow Man" is a man, neither his physical appearance nor his characteristics carry a sense of a strong dominant male. In fact, when he takes care of Lucy in the room above his store, he serves her in a manner she would serve her father. In other words, "Yellow Man" is closer to a child who serves, who child who serves another child. The moment he attempts to kiss her, somewhat comical, reveals his childishness, unable to carry out the action that typical white males on screen should be able to carry out. Perhaps the scene serves to relieve the white audience from fear of miscegenation, but at the same time it is important to remember that "Yellow Man," despite the emasculation, is still a man. He is a grown up man, and Lucy is a child. The "Yellow Man" is not Humbert Humbert from Lolita (meaning he's not a pedophile), and I think the film tries to say that the "Yellow Man" has the morality to discern right from wrong. Instead of portraying him as a monster like Dr. Fu Manchu and others that Haenni mentions in her essay, the movie chooses to portray him as a morally conscious man. After all, he left for the West to spread the word of Buddha, take the "glorious message of piece to the barbarous Anglo-Saxons, sons of turmoil and strife."

Another scene from the movie that I want to draw attention to is the moment the "Yellow Man" briefly meets a British man who "leaves for China to convert the heathens." Here, I think D.W. Griffith comments on both worlds' (the East and the West) attempts to convert each other, believing in their superiority of their cultures, unable to reconcile or tolerate the differences. The "Yellow Man" comes to the West trying to spread his religion while the Brits go to China to spread their religion. Maybe the film is critiquing the parochial tendencies of missionary acts, and maybe it is also suggesting that the two worlds are very different and their powers should be balanced.

Haenni suggests that the use of white actor to portray Asian male reinforces the idea that the Asia on screen is unreal, purposely made unreal so that audience does not identify themselves with the people on screen, perpetuating the idea that Asia is a world imagined. Maybe her idea can be applied to Broken Blossoms since the actor obviously does not really look Asian, and Asian districts are characterized with Opium dens, where one could travel to the East on an imaginary magic carpet. But at least I like to believe that the film does its due diligence to emphasize the goodness of Asians with its portrayal the "Yellow Man." Honestly, I was very surprised that an Asian character in a 1919 film was portrayed with sympathy.

Week 3 Response to Broken Blossoms

My interpretation of “Broken Flowers” was similar to that of Shiyin’s. The “Yellow Man” stands in as a figure of foreign and otherness, who ultimately fails to survive Western society. While his intentions of bringing peaceful Buddhism are good, in the end he resorts to the violent ways of harsh, modern Western society. Here the ways of the East and West are portrayed as incompatible, which, for me personally, insinuates that there is no Asian American identity: you are either White or Asian. The “Yellow Man” never assimilates into society nor does society learn anything about him or his culture. While I am sure one can account for the majority of the racist stereotypes utilized within the film as products of their time, I wonder what the initial reception of the film was like. Did Asian Americans see the film? If so, what were their reactions? Were there outcries from within the Asian American community? Or as a marginalized group, were Asian Americans glad that they were even represented (albeit inaccurately) on the big screen?

I am really excited that Geolani mentioned the film “Freaks”. It is a really great film, and she is right in drawing numerous parallels in how the “freaks” and Asians are portrayed as foreign and different. But because both films have such violent endings I feel that they are not really portraying these marginalized groups in a positive light. Both films seem to say: yes, these outsiders are essentially good people, but they are also capable of very bad things. On a side note, I find it interesting that the group of ‘freaks’ banded together and formed a very tight-knit community despite their various disabilities. Something that has been brought up in the other films we have seen in class is the lack of (or I guess you could say the slow accumulation of) a strong singular Asian American community. Maybe my memory is fuzzy, but I don’t remember ‘Yellow Man’ spending time with the other Asian Americans; he spent most of his time sulking around town in the corners or sitting in his shop smoking a pipe. There were some Asians that were grouped together in opium dens, but other than that there wasn’t a singular Asian community. What does “Broken Blossoms” communicate about Asian Americans as a community? As a marginalized group of people, how much progress have we made in achieving accurate, non-racist representations since this film?

“What makes you so good to me Chinky?”

First of all I can’t believe that people could sit through an entire movie without any dialogue and such limited information about the plot. I went back and forth between laughing and being offended by the movie. I couldn’t believe that Richard Barthlemess could pass as Asian. I guess back in 1919 all of the other Asian actors were busy in other films. The role didn’t win Cheung Huan an Oscar apparently.

I was offended on multiple levels. The depictions of Cheung Huan as a rat-like “sensitive yellow man [who] shrinks in horror” (a broken blossom); the images of China as a place full of opium smokers, images of Buddha, American sailors, and bamboo pushcarts; the force that Battling Burrows felt justified exerting over Cheung Hang and Lucy; the use of Chinky as a term of endearment (Broken Blossom Lucy: “What makes you so good to me Chinky”)

Ironically, the movie attempts to make the audience sympathize with the miscegenation of the “interracial” couple and the injustice of racism. There’s history here though. The director of the film, D.W. Griffith, was also the director of “Birth of a Nation” (the racist propaganda film that glorifies the KKK and vilifies blacks). Was “Broken Blossoms” Griffith’s response to the racist remarks made about “Birth of a Nation?” If it was his attempt to clear his racist conscious, I think he missed the boat.

Net Gross for “Broken Blossoms:” $1 million
Net Gross for “Birth of a Nation:” $18 million [the most profitable film for two decades]

Response to Broken Blossoms

Before I began viewing D. W. Griffith’s film Broken Blossoms, I held a lot of preconceived notions about what I expected the film to be and what type of message I thought it would try to send to the audience. Because I knew that Griffith had also produced The Birth of a Nation, which depicted Klu Klux Klan members as a group of heroes, I assumed that this film would be depicting anti-Asian sentiments. Although the film still firmly showed Asians in a stereotypical fashion, the film was not as anti-Asian as I thought it would be. In Peter X Feng’s Introduction in Screening Asian Americans, he writes that Dorothy Jones believes that in Broken Blossoms, “philosophy and the way of life of the Far East were given an extremely favorable portrayal” (Feng 4). I was pretty surprised by the end of the movie because I thought that Burrows and his white male friends were going to kill Cheng Huan, but instead Burrows surprisingly beats his daughter Lucy to death. In my own opinion, Broken Blossoms seems to instead display white men and not Asians in a negative light since Cheng is the kind man who cares for Lucy and Battling Burrows is the white alcoholic father who kills his frightened daughter. I find this intriguing that the way in which Griffith directed the film causes the audience to sympathize with the Asian character and not with the white American male since the film was released in 1919 during a time in which there was great “Yellow Peril alarmism” (Wong 54).

Although Griffith didn’t portray Cheng as the Fu Manchu evil villain, I still discovered significant Asian stereotypes while I watched the film. Eugene Franklin Wong describes how Sax Rohmer found Chinatown to be “a living mystery filled with the enchantments, dangers, and wonders of the ancient East” (Wong 57). I believe that Griffith held a similar attitude because often when Griffith shows scenes of the Limehouse, where many Asians lived and frequented, it is dark and mysterious with a fog flowing throughout the shot. There is an air of mystery when Griffith presents these scenes. Asian stereotypes are also present with Griffith shows the opium dens where Asians are smoking opium. One Asian is shown playing an instrument with long, witchlike fingernails, giving him the appearance of being almost not human. However, the grossest exaggeration of Asians I saw is the depiction of Cheng. He is referred to as the “sensitive yellow man” during the film and is perceived as being extremely shy and timid. His body language (he is hunched over and crouching most of the time) suggests that he is subservient and is only around to take care of Lucy who is a white woman.

Broken Blossoms: Response

I must admit that Broken Blossoms is not quite what I expected. Given its early production date (1919) and its connection with D.W. Griffith--the man responsible for the overtly racist The Birth of a Nation--I was expecting to see a grossly stereotyped portrayal of Asian people, and to a large extent this was the case. The character of Cheng Huan--as portrayed by the white actor who plays him--is depicted as being feminine, weak, and addicted to opium, not to mention the stereotypical way in which he carries himself and articulates his face. All this I was prepared for, although still deeply horrified by it.

What I was not expecting, however, was Griffith's decision to cast Cheng Huan as the hero of the story, and even to hint at a meaningful and caring interracial relationship. I cannot say that this is atypical for the time period; in Filming "Chinatown": Fake Visions, Bodily Transformations, Sabine Haenni argues that the fantasies of racial miscegenation were implicit in many early films about Chinatown, and certainly her desciption of The Deceived Slumming Party suggests that Asian characters were sometimes the heroes, or at least the characters who got the last laugh. Even so, I found Cheng Huan's gentleness and the way he was juxtaposed with the girl's brutish and completely unsympathetic father surprising. Additionally, I was impressed by several comments made in the titles that bordered on being progressive (when the titles observe that the one thing the girl's father can't stand is people who don't happen to be born in the same "great" country as him, for instance, seemed to be using sarcasm to make an argument against intolerance).

Even so, I felt that the film did not go far enough to be hailed as being ahead of its time. I was very conscious of the fact that Cheng Huan and the white girl never share so much as a kiss, and while his love for her is obvious, the nature of her feelings for him are never made clear. If Griffith really wanted to make a statement about racial equality, he could have had Cheng Huan and the girl run away together and live happily ever after, or even just have made it clear that his advances were welcome, but instead he made the girl's feelings ambiguous and then made it impossible for them to ever be together by killing her off (somewhat improbably). Moreover, it struck me that, while the movie featured several actual Asian faces, the main Asian character still had to be played by a white man, as if it would have been too controversial to have an actual person of Asian descent in such close proximity to a white woman. Finally, although Cheng Huan's gentleness was arguably one of his most attractive features (especially when compared to the girl's raging father), it also served to "sterilize" him for a white audience. If Cheng Huan is gentle and pure, then he is rendered harmless and fears of rape and racial miscegenation can be allayed. Furthermore, his gentleness--when seen in contradistinction to the rowdy and aggressive nature of white men pictured in the film--marks him as unmanly and as an "other" (I'm thinking here not just of the girl's father but of the sailors at the beginning of the film, whose fighting merits the title: "Just a sociable free fight for the Jackies, but the sensitive Yellow Man shrinks in horror"). As such, while I do admit that I was surprised at the way Broken Blossoms gestured toward being progressive, I think the deep-seated racism of the age was still present and explicit.

Broken Blossoms, a.k.a. the Chink and the Child

To start off, I looked up the movie and found that there were several other titles of the movie, "the Chink and the Child" being one of them. As a first-time viewer of a silent film I realized that there is a beauty in such films that is absent in today's action- and graphics- riddled flicks meant for mindless entertainment. It forces one to pay attention to the acting and the real message the film is trying to convey, which in this case I have to admit is a little bit mixed. While on the surface Broken Blossoms seems to be a story of acceptance of "different" people, the film to me turned it into somewhat of a Romeo and Juliet story that's been played out time and time again. Taking the story back to its time in history however, I can see how revolutionary and controversial it must have been. For this reason, I see why Griffith had to paint the picture of a "kind and benevolent" Chinese man. It is only with the foil between the "yellow man" and Lucy's abusive father that the audience would have been able to justify an interracial relationship that was frowned upon and even forbidden at the time. Had Lucy been from a caring family, I can see how the Chinese monk could have quickly turned into a villain in the movie. It is only with his rescue of Lucy that made the forbidden relationship a bit more acceptable in the audience's eyes. To me, the film was conveying the message that all foreigners are not evil, and that they are often kind people who are also capable of falling in love. This is not to be confused with the message that they are to be considered equals, which many films are attempting to achieve today. For this reason I think that Broken Blossoms, while not flawless in its portrayal of an interracial relationship, took great strides in the path of tolerance with which we still struggle today.

Broken Blossoms

The movie "Broken Blossoms" is outdated for our time. Made in the early 1900s when interracial marriages were taboo and perhaps illegal, this movie no longer stirs the controversy it once did. Instead, in the context of the present, I believe this film plays on racial stereotypes to tell a "not so" love story.

The first racial element of the movie was the choice of actor for the main character. This Chinese character, instead of being played by an Asian man, is played by a Caucasian individual. To assume the role as an Asian, they dress him in Chinese robes and he sags his eyelids to give the illusion of "small, squinty eyes". Racial slurs are utilized throughout the movie as they refer him to be the "Yellow Man" or a "chink". The film also utilizes images of the passive, gentle Asian as the main character acts meek and demure. In the beginning of the film, while still in China, the main character is beaten by a pack of white men, and he does not defend himself. Instead, he describes the instance as proof that "the great nations across the sea need the lessons of the gentle Buddha".

A foil used to complement the main character is Battling Burrows, the white man. He is the epitome of white male society. He is large and dominant, as opposed to the Asian who is small and passive, just as the stereotype for the "white man" describes. This stereotypes not only disfavor Asians, but also show injustice to whites as well, as Battling is shown as an "abysmal brute".

The movie "Broken Blossoms" can hardly be labeled as a love story. In the movie, the main character has fallen madly in love with Lucy, however, is this love ever reciprocated? Although she is thankful for his kind-nature, she never shows her actually love or even approval. At one point in the movie, he leans in for a kiss, but Lucy shrinks in terror. This is not a sign of love. This is a one-sided love story, with the possible message, "Can interracial love truly exist?"

An interesting aspect of the movie was the idea of barbarianism and foreignness. In the beginning, the main character wants to leave China to teach the ways of "gentle Buddha" to "barbarian" countries. However, in the streets of London, he meets an old man who says, "My brother leaves for China tomorrow to convert the heathen." To both, the idea of foreign is linked to barbarian. If they do not know or comply to the ways of their own country, the other is implied to be uncivilized and uncultured. It was interesting to see this idea expressed by both sides.

The themes of this movie are many: interracial love, Asian and white stereotypes, and foreignness and other. The question remains though, "How are these themes conveyed throughout the movie?" In my opening, although at one point in time this movie may have been brave and eye-opening, today the movie is out-dated for our society. It reinforces racial stereotypes and questions interracial relationships. "Broken Blossoms" is a movie for its time and does not have the same effects it did 90 years ago.

Broken Blossoms

After watching this movie, I was really interested in the audience for which this movie was intended. What did they think after watching this movie? What were their expectations for this movie while filing into a movie theater to watch Broken Blossoms? I definitely wasn’t expecting to watch a movie this old, and I found it very interesting and eye-opening in terms of the way Asian Americans were truly depicted in the media. For example, in the opening scene where “Yellow Man” is still in China, there are shots of a bustling city with many Chinese (who are actually Asian) going about their daily life. Then, the movie progresses to a scene in a temple, where “Yellow Man” is played by a white man. After reading about how white men always played leading roles regardless of the ethnicity in Feng’s Screening Asian Americans, I found it slightly amusing to see this manifest itself in this scene, with the actor shuffling along the street with his eyes half closed in his efforts to appear more “Chinese” on screen.

I also found it interesting that there are moments where it seems like Yellow Man is going to kiss Lucy, for he starts approaching her and then pauses, inches from her face, before pulling away. These periods seem like they were put in the movie just for the purpose of creating suspense, which shows that a Chinese man kissing a white girl was a cause for drama at the time. These racial barriers are enforced as Yellow Man does not do anything to the girl, since this sort of relationship was probably deemed too improper to explicitly show on screen.

I noticed that there is a huge difference in the mannerisms and demeanor of the Chinese characters versus the white characters in this film. “Yellow Man” is portrayed as being naïvely idealistic, which I found almost emasculated him as he pleaded with white sailors in the beginning of the movie to stop fighting, only to get knocked down as the sailors continued to beat each other up. On the other hand, Battling Burrows is introduced with scenes from a boxing match as he knocks down a man and then parades around, showing off his muscles. Yellow Man’s love for Lucy is portrayed as almost childish, as he proudly presents silk robes, dolls, and other Chinese items to her and then lovingly waits next to her bed. The fact that he gives her dolls makes it apparent that he is aware she is very young, thus making his love almost like “puppy love.” The comparison in the masculinity between Yellow Man and Battling Burrows is incredibly different, and while Yellow Man is portrayed as kind, the film does have a role in creating the sense that Chinese Americans are inherently weaker than white Americans. How cognizant were producers and directors at the time of creating such stereotypical characters?

Who is the Broken Blossom?

Broken Blossoms (1919) was made and released during a period of strong anti-Asian[-American] sentiment in the United States. It was also produced by D.W. Griffith, who directed the controversial and seminal Birth of a Nation, a film about the Ku Klux Klan's "formation" of America. I was mildly surprised that, despite this, Griffith chooses to portray Cheng somewhat sympathetically, relatively speaking. 

The use of Caucasian actors to portray the Chinese lead roles is not surprising. However, it is interesting to note Cheng's exaggerated, stoop-shouldered posture and shuffling gait, and his extreme meekness (really apparent in this line from early on in the film: "The sensitive yellow man shrinks in horror"). The portrayal of Cheng's "Chineseness" is stereotypical and rather derogatory to today's audience, but I suppose that during the era it was made, this was not an out-of-the-ordinary picture. The opium den, Buddhist temple, and various scenes of "life in China" would seem so hackneyed in a picture today, but I suppose they added an element of the exotic to Griffith's film. It's quite likely that many Americans viewing Broken Blossoms had never come into contact with an Asian-American, and relied on media to "show" them the nature of these "heathen Chinee". 

The viewer is meant to sympathize with Cheng and his unrequited, pure love for Lucy Burrows. Lucy and Cheng are similar in many ways -- Lucy's cowering and Cheng's hunched shoulders, Lucy's abuse from her father and Cheng's abuse from white soldiers, and their inability to be happy in their environment. But by being compared to Lucy, Cheng is emasculated -- he is weak and effeminate, in contrast to Battling Burrow's raging, testosterone fueled masculinity. The audience, however, is not meant to like the alcoholic Burrows. It seems rather shocking when, at the end of the movie, Cheng defeats Burrows. Cheng's suicide can be read in different ways -- an act of honor, of heartbreak, or of cowardice.

Race, in Broken Blossoms, is really a confusing concept to me. The film portrays a taboo interracial relationship, between a white female and Asian male, no less! The threat to white female purity was certainly a major issue for many nativist Americans during the time that this film was made. Also, the racist characters in the film (Burrows, the soldiers, etc) are generally cast in a very unflattering light -- they are uncouth and unlikable. Yes, this film is still a problematic portrayal of Asians, but for its time, I think that it is actually somewhat sympathetic. What was Griffths' intended message? I'm still not sure.

Broken Blossoms

Although the portrayal of Cheng in Broken Blossoms can be seen as positive, it carries assumptions about racial identity and gender that are in fact very negative; the film ultimately suggests that Asians can't cope with modernity and that their ways are backward.

Cheng is portrayed as an effeminate man, thus equating Asianness with femininity. He looks frail and soft, in stark contrast to the rough manliness of Battling Burrows. He always stands in a way that takes up minimal space, and never asserts himself in his surroundings by taking up space--an attribute associated with masculinity.

Furthermore, he walks hunched over and with a limp--a portrayal of the physical weakness of the Asian. His frailness has more in common with Lucy than with any of the other men, and they share a bond because of this element of physical weakness.

Cheng's mission is to spread Buddhism to the West, but the treatment of his journey carries imperialistic and conquistadorian overtones. While one could read the portrayal of Buddhism as peaceful and positive, the film in actuality seems to suggest that Buddhism is idealistic and backward. The modern world, represented by the West, is rough and harsh. Once Cheng encounters the "real world" of the modern West, he's forced to take violence--his ultimate shooting of Battler represents not only his defeat of this enemy, but also the defeat of his ideals. His peaceful Buddhist ways prove to be unworkable once he leaves the Edenic East, and ultimately he loses the battle to keep his own values alive.

His missionary role is ironic, since in the end he is the one who becomes converted. I saw a parallel between this process and the colonization of the New World. Europeans, upon discovering Native Americans, found their peaceful, communitarian, spiritual ways to be backward and untenable for the modern world as defined by Europe. In the same way, Cheng finds that his own ways of peace are unworkable. If the blossom represents idyllic peace, Cheng himself is the broken blossom--his old conception of the world is shattered, but unfortunately he is a weak, effeminate Asian man who can't really make it in the real, modern world. Thus, even though he shoots Battler, he's left with a dead girl and a broken spirit. His own realization of his condition causes his suicide.

Yellow Men and Freaks

In a course last semester about disabilities and community, I scrutinized media portrayals of people with disabilities, and found that the more often lack of portrayal conveyed a message in itself. I connected the way people with disabilities are treated onscreen to the way Asian Americans traditionally have been—-members of both groups are either invisible, given minor non-speaking roles, or cast as perfectly stereotypical characters.

In the disabilities class, we watched Tod Browning’s “Freaks,” a film made in 1932. "Freaks" is about a circus group that includes Hercules the strong man and the beautiful Cleopatra, but also, of course, “freaks”: midgets, conjoined twins, and individuals with “shrunken” heads or no limbs at all. The beautiful and boastful “normal” performers treat the freaks with great disdain, although there are able-bodied characters who show kindness and befriend the sideshow characters. The midget Hans falls in love with Cleopatra, and as she toys with his emotions a tragic story develops. At the end, the “freaks” stage a violent, revengeful attack on Hercules and Cleopatra that leaves the two victims disabled as well.

Throughout “Broken Blossoms”, I continually found parallels to “Freaks” that stand stronger now as I look back on both. Filmed in 1919, “Broken Blossoms” is perhaps an earnest attempt at progressiveness in the same way “Freaks” was. The intended message is that the Yellow man is an “Other”, though with a kind heart and good intentions. He finds himself enamored with the helpless girl, Lucy, and does all he can to please her. At the end, he kills her abusive father and stabs himself in grief over her death.

In both films, the “Other” is presented as good-natured, but the difference and potential for danger looms in each (only to be realized at the end). Both stories are products of the times: mainstream audiences have explicitly prejudiced conceptions of Chinese people or people with disabilities, so the directors’ attempts to tell an alternate story are still tainted by prevailing assumptions. My question is: does the overwhelming context of prejudice surpass the overarching attempts to challenge stereotypes?