Geisha Girl/Lotus Blossom/China Doll
Example: Zhang Ziyi's Sayuri in Memoirs of a Geisha, Cio-Cio San from Madame Butterfly
This archetype is perhaps the most famous and oldest of archetypes for Asian women. The polar opposite of the dragon lady, the lotus blossom is the docile, obedient, elegantly beautiful "perfect wife." Her appearance is almost always highly exoticized; most lotus blossoms are clad in traditional Asian clothing (Chinese qipao, Japanese kimono, Korean hanbok) with delicate features, like those of a porcelain doll.
It is possible that the lotus blossom archetype stemmed from a "mystical sexual fascination" with Asia (Prasso 10). Prasso claims that most identify Asia with femininity, thus "assigning the region and its people attributes typically associated with femininity" (11). As a result, the depiction of Asia as "feminine" causes a "romanticization" of both the country and its women, who are already considered "mysterious creatures" (Prasso 11). In addition, the rise and popularity of the lotus blossom could arise from the idea of imperialism. The "masculine" West, seeing itself as more modernized and technologically advanced, views itself as the conqueror over the feminine, exotic East. Thus, the femininity and submissiveness of the lotus blossom becomes synonymous with the East, and the lotus blossom is seen as a beautiful object to be conquered.
One of the first lotus dolls in literature and film was Cio-Cio San of Madame Butterfly. A beautiful Japanese woman who was completely devoted and in love with an American sailor, she commits suicide when the sailor leaves her for a white woman in the hopes that her son with the sailor will have a better life in America. Critics claim that the appeal of Cio-Cio San was from her endless devotion to a "white devil" who was "unworthy of her love" (Prasso 83). After all, what man, especially one with an imperialistic view of Asia, would not want a woman so completely devoted to him, so loyal, with so much undying love, that she commits the ultimate sacrifice by killing herself?
The intrigue and beauty of the Oriental lotus blossom still persist today in the form of films set in old Asia. As Prasso states:
"The West has a continual appetite for the image of sweet, gentle Japanese-child women; the Memoirs of a Geisha, which again took aspects of real truth and fictionalized them into what has now become a century-old tradition of Western men writing fiction about Japanese women... A 2005 production by Steven Spielberg... promises us yet another permutation of a child-like, pining, devoted Japanese woman on screen in the form of that book's heroine geisha, Sayuri." (87)Clearly, then, the fantasy of the perfect, exotic, obedient, reverential Asian lotus blossom still holds a certain appeal and fantasy for the West. In modern times, she can still be seen in the "shy, demure Asian girl" archetype.
Charlie Chan - The Male Submissive?
After complaints and criticisms from various Asian governments against Fu Manchu, Hollywood began to try to portray Asians more positively through archetypes like Charlie Chan. Depicted as a "plump, portly, rosey-cheeked" benevolent detective, Charlie Chan's appearance is supposed to be reminiscent to that of Buddha's (Hawley). Charlie Chan has almost a cherub-like appearance, an appearance that, in contrast with Fu Manchu, is completely non-threatening.
Ultimately, the character of Charlie Chan tends to reinforce traditional, typical Asian stereotypes that also underlie the idea of white supremacy. He is unable to speak English without an accent. He has a nature that is "overly tradition-bound and subservient," which emphasizes the stereotype of Asians being "impassive and stoic" (Hawley). However, even though he holds traditional beliefs, Charlie Chan is proud that some of his sons will obtain American citizenship (Hawley). As a result, Charlie Chan's portrayal becomes that of a subservient, effeminate Asian man that seems to almost be there in order for the white characters to look better in contrast. As the opposite to Fu Manchu, he is the closest archetype that fits that of a "submissive Asian man."
References
Hawley, Sandra M. "The Importance of Being Charlie Chan." America Views China: American Images of China Then and Now.
1991: n. page. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.enotes.com/earl-derr-biggers-essays/biggers-earl-derr/sandra-m-hawley-essay-date-1991>.
MANAA, . "Restrictive Portrayal of Asians in the Media and How to Balance Them." Media Action Network for Asian Americans. N.p.. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://www.manaa.org/asian_stereotypes.html>.
Prasso, Sheridan. The Asian
Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, & Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient.
1st ed. Cambridge, MA: PublicAffairs, 2005. Print.
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