White Supremacy

In many films set with themes like an Asian backdrop and Asian characters, there is an inherent feeling of "white supremacy" if white characters are present in the film.

The Last Samurai

In The Last Samurai, Tom Cruise's character, Nathan Algren, is captured by the Japanese and rises up the ranks of the samurai. In a short amount of time, Algren "learns to wield a katana and do some hand-to-hand martial arts, speak some Japanese, play with the kids of the man he killed, fall in love with the woman he made a widow, and earn the respect of the samurai who initially hated him" (Phi). In the final samurai rebellion, all of the men on the samurai side fall to cannons and machine guns,sbut Algren survives and goes on to live his life with Taka, the Asian lady whose husband he killed in the beginning of the film.

Although this film is set against an Asian backdrop with Asian themes and characters, the white man is ultimately the star of the film. After all, it is Tom Cruise who is on all the posters and other publicity materials.

Algren's impressive rise to the top reinforces the belief that the "white man can transcend all boundaries as long as his motives are 'pure'" (Phi). Phi states that the "underlying current of this belief is that the white man is the man of the future and that Asian men are obsolete." After all, Algren is able to learn how to become a powerful samurai in such a short time. The message here is that there is "nothing inherently special about Asian men that white men can't learn... and white men will be better at whatever it is because they are also inherently superior." It is, after all, a white man who survives in the end and gets the Asian girl, Taka. In addition, Algren's and Taka's relationship plays "completely into the white man's racial/sexual fantasy of Asian women: Silent, dutiful, tragic, beautiful, and completely in love with a white man even if it makes no damn sense" (Phi).

Shanghai Express

The two most "ruthless" characters in Shanghai Express, Hui Fei and Chang, were Asian and half-Asian, respectively. The actions of both characters depict how, at that time, Americans thought that the Chinese were “less civilized and less moral than Americans” (Leong 62).

Hui Fei. She kills Chang.

Henry Chang, the antagonist of Shanghai Express

Henry Chang fits the archetype of the "Asian Villain." He is cruel, unfeeling, and does not hesitate in participating in activities such as brutally blinding someone or rape. The audience never actually knows Chang's real motives. As a result, Chang seems extremely foreign, inhumane, and unrelatable. Hui Fei brutally stabs and kills Chang with a dagger. Her stoicism combined with her extreme action of killing her assailant also make her unrelatable to the audience. By depicting the "ruthless and treacherous Oriental nature" of Chang and Hui Fei, Shanghai Express portrays Asians as savage, barbaric, and less than human (Leong 64).

Hui Fei and Shanghai Lily are almost like kindred spirits. Both are "coasters," and both in the beginning were lumped together by Carmichael, who states that while “one is white and the other is yellow, both of their souls are rotten.” However, in an interesting twist, it is Hui Fei who is raped by Chang while Shanghai Lily is saved by Harvey. In the end, Shanghai Lily, through her love of Harvey, is able to "redeem" herself, while Hui Fei simply remains emotionless. Shanghai Lily, the white counterpart to Hui Fei, is made to seem like the better person in the end while Hui Fei is just depicted as an amoral, ruthless, and aggressive dragon lady.


In addition, the two main characters of the film who comprise the romantic couple are white. Their story overshadows the rest of the plot while Hui Fei is almost like the Asian character who is just there to confirm the Asian setting of the movie.


South Pacific

Cable and Liat - The doomed romance

Nellie and Emile - The happy ending couple

South Pacific frames two romances in an exotic, Asian location. However, Emile's and Nellie's relationship is the only one that persists at the end, as Cable is killed near the end of the film, leaving Liat distraught. Interestingly enough, the other interracial relationship that is mentioned in the film between Emilie and his Polynesian ex-wife also did not last, as Emilie's ex-wife died before the events of South Pacific. The failure of the two interracial relationships and the framing and dominance of the white couple leaves the impression that interracial relationships are just not meant to be. The prevalence of the white couple gives the message that it is the white people who are important and who can be happy.

There is inherent racism in Nellie's first attitude towards Emilie's two half-Polynesian children. The look on her face when introduced to these children was that of utter disgust. She seemed to be shocked that Emilie could have been married to a Polynesian woman, let alone father two children by her. Her subsequent behavior of distress and leaving Emilie indicate that this was a time that many white people looked down upon Asians. To people like Nellie, the idea of being in love with an Asian woman was unheard of as many whites looked down upon Asians. This idea of white supremacy and Asian inferiority is passed down through generations, as indicated in the film's song "Carefully Taught."

House of Bamboo

The white man saves the day and get the pretty Asian girl!

House of Bamboo depicts a Japan that seems to be run by some Americans. American gangsters terrorize the people, while the Japanese police force are too incompetent to protect the people. King, Poulton, and Endo state that House of Bamboo emphasized "Japan's defeat and occupation of America, hence its disciple status vis-a-vis the America-led capitalist camp in the cold war era" (153). Thus, this setting of "American imperialism" in and of itself reinforces the notion of white supremacy, as it is the whites who have the power in Japan and not the Japanese themselves.

Like The Last Samurai, the white protagonist Eddie is the one who saves the day and gets the beautiful Asian girl Mariko. Their relationship is reminiscent of the typical white soldier and Asian girl. Mariko is fetishicized as the "perfect wife" - she is submissive, takes care of Eddie, and states that in Japan, a woman is "taught from childhood how to please a man." Mariko was called Eddie's "Kimono girl," which almost seemed to degrade her into a plaything. In another scene, women dressed in traditional Japanese garb throw off their kimonos to reveal Western clothing while dancing to Western swing music. This scene may indicate the prevalence of Western culture and its dominance in comparison to Asian culture. 

Blade Runner



Portraying a more subtle view of Orientalism and white supremacy is Blade Runner, a movie set in a future Orientalized Los Angeles. Asians seem to have taken over most of what is left of Earth. Billboards flash images of Geisha girls while neon signs show Asian writing. 

During the production of Blade Runner, many Asians were migrating into the United States. The producers may have predicted that the Asian population would continue to rise and eventually take over the world, leading to the techno-Orientalism world seen in Blade Runner. Although an Orientalized world can have "superb technological efficiency and capitalist enterprise," it can become an "empty and dehumanized technological power" as well, representing an "underdeveloped or retro-grade humanism" (Sohn). Although the Asians are depicted as resourceful and technologically-proficient, the blame for the world becoming dark and dehumanized is also placed onto their hands. Again, Yellow Peril comes into play as the message is that Asians taking over the world leads to the decline of life as we know it. In addition, much of the action of the film takes place in Chinatown, a seedy, dark area filled with crime.

Another interesting note is that the Replicants of the film are all the stark presentations of whiteness, especially Roy. They were light-skinned with blonde hair and light-colored eyes. In the film, the Replicants are depicted as near perfect, with super, unhumanlike strength and endurance and high intelligence. This may have been an unconscious link stating that whites are the superior race to Asians.

Roy Batty and Priss

References

King, Richard, Cody Poulton, and Katsuhiko Endo. Sino-Japanese Transculturation: Late Nineteenth Century to the End of the Pacific War. Plymouth, United Kingdom: Lexington Books, 2012. eBook. <http://books.google.com/books?id=NJwe_40Aq8kC&printsec=frontcover

 Leong, Karen J. The China Mystique. Berkley: University of California Press, 2005. Print.

Sohn, Stephen Hong. "Introduction: Alien/Asian: Imagining the Racialized Future." MELUS. 33.4 (2008): 5-22. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. <https://sakai.duke.edu/access/content/group/d84d8264-58be-4204-8624-efc2b8ec2e65/W12 Readings/Asian new.pdf>.

Phi, Bao. "The Last Sham-urai." . Westminister, n.d. Web. 8 Dec 2012. <www.westminster.edu/staff/nak/courses/documents/Last%20Samurai%20review%202004%20KQ.pdf>.