From the sexed-up Suzie Wong to the kung fu fighting Bruce Lee, THIRTEEN’s American Masters tackles issues of race and representation in Hollywood Chinese.
American feature films often portray the Chinese as exotic and devious characters – or simply the “other” – reflecting the entertainment industry’s inherent racial prejudices as well as its fascination with the Far East. Hollywood Chinese features candid interviews and back lot stories from artists in front of and behind the camera, including Joan Chen, James Hong, David Henry Hwang, Nancy Kwan, Ang Lee, Christopher Lee, Justin Lin, Luise Rainer, Amy Tan, Wayne Wang, and BD Wong.
“American Masters: Hollywood Chinese”, a 90 min documentary is produced, written and directed by Arthur Dong. It examines the extraordinary stories of pioneering Chinese/Chinese American history in Hollywood. Offering treasure troves of clips punctuated by personal accounts of the most accomplished Ch/ChAm artists in Hollywood.
It will show this Wed 5/27/09 @ 9PM (Pacific Time) on KCET/PBS.
Part of the celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month in Los Angeles.
Related content:
Of Shame and Pride: Confronting my Culture and Identity
I really appreciate your perspective. I grew up AmerAsian in a white community where as a child I felt invisible and from my teens on exoticized by men. It did some major head trips on me and how I felt about myself. I’m still dealing with it.
Thanks for posting, I truly enjoyed reading your newest post. I think you should post more often, you obviously have talent for blogging!