“Yellowface” in movies: a survey of American academic collections

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate if collection developers in American academic libraries have added predominantly "yellowface" movies to their collections, or have actively sought out movies created and acted by Asian and Asian Americans, to balance out their libraries' collections. Design/methodology/approach -In total, ten acknowledged "yellowface" movies and ten critically acclaimed Asian and Asian American movies were chosen. The collections of 157 academic libraries throughout the entire USA were then surveyed, including geographical areas that have had very few Asians or Asian Americans in their populations throughout their histories. Findings -The results show that neither "yellowface" movies nor Asian and Asian American movies are overtly dominant in the collections of American academic librarians, and one can conclude that the collection developers actively sought to find a balance between movies in both categories, no matter the geographical locations of their libraries. Social implications -No matter how unsavory is our racist past, representations of past bigotry and discrimination should be available for scholars of history, cultural studies, and sociology. However, interpretations of Asians defined with this jaundiced eye must be balanced with movies of Asians and Asian Americans defining themselves. Originality/value -The area of Asian and Asian American movies is rather small and arcane, yet the results of this survey show that there are no academic areas too small or narrow that do not demand the attention of a knowledgeable collection developer.

American Indians in feature films: beyond the big Screen

“…Although they did not go far enough in bringing authentic representations of American Indian experiences and are few and far between, they do reflect some shift in representations. Masuchika's (2013) article notes that there are not many studies of this type for films about minorities; this paper is my attempt to continue to work toward that end with respect to feature films by and about Native Americans.…”

“…One notable exception of the latter is the National Museum of the American Indian's Native Networks (2005) Web site, which I will discuss later. This paper is most closely modeled after the article "'Yellowface' in Movies: A Survey of American Academic Collections", by Masuchika (2013) for Collection Building, which compares holdings for "Yellowface" films versus critically acclaimed films about Asians and Asian Americans. Masuchika's (2013) survey focuses on library collections within a specific geographic location chosen based on Asian versus non-Asian demographics.…”

“…This paper is most closely modeled after the article "'Yellowface' in Movies: A Survey of American Academic Collections", by Masuchika (2013) for Collection Building, which compares holdings for "Yellowface" films versus critically acclaimed films about Asians and Asian Americans. Masuchika's (2013) survey focuses on library collections within a specific geographic location chosen based on Asian versus non-Asian demographics. I use a quantitative analysis to examine whether WorldCat library holdings reflect a breadth of representations.…”

How Popular North American Movie Represents Chinese

“…A well-known historical example in movie is the Dr. Fu Manchu movie series that began in 1923 and ended in 1969 featuring white male actors in Yellowface to play Fu Manchu. Although examples of Yellowface being acceptable in media are fading, it still took nearly a century for this minor shift to occur (Masuchika, 2013). Ghost in the Shell was released in 2017 with Scarlett Johansson as the lead character in the movie"s recreation of a Japanese anime.…”

La popularité du film nord-américain représente le chinois

“…Un exemple historique bien connu dans le film est la série de films Dr.Fu Manchu qui a commencé en 1923 et s'est terminée en 1969 avec des acteurs masculins blancs dans Yellowface pour jouer Fu Manchu. Bien que les exemples de Yellowface acceptables dans les médias s'estompent, il a fallu encore près d'un siècle pour que ce changement mineur se produise (Masuchika, 2013). Fantôme dans la coquilleest sorti en 2017 avec Scarlett Johansson comme personnage principal dans la recréation d'un anime japonais du film.…”