MovieChat Forums > Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919) Discussion > A white man HAD to play the asian part

A white man HAD to play the asian part

posted 18 years ago by LatinaLibra
12 replies | jump to latest

I saw in another post someone questioning why a white man would play the asian man's part. Some people, who probably have taken a film class or two, gave pretty good answers. It wasn't because there were no unknown asian actors, it was because it would be ludicrous, to people then, to even comprehend that an actual asian man would ever have the nerve to fall in love, much less interact with a white woman! THe asian actor wouldve actually been killed, and the film boycotted! Actual interracial role playing did not exist, because the actors made to fill the part would all be of one race, and made to look like another.
Oscar Micheaux, a famous African american director, made tons of interracial movies, involving a white man and black woman, or vice versa, and the "white" actor would ALWAYS be light-skinned african american. His movies were always and all-african cast.
It's a movie about racism. Stands to reason, ironically enough, that the opposite races wouldnt interact.

hugz kisses and candy
Cinthya

[–] YellowManReanimated 17 years ago

Very true, extremely ironic when one thinks of the story and message of this movie.

She wore bluuuuuuue vel-vet....

[–] ryanmcdonald 17 years ago

I think it probably works better anyway, for a white man to play "the yellow man" because it more explicitly portrays the common stereoptypes of asian peoples and addresses the issue of racism merely by not being able to have any alternate races in the film, a kind of sweet irony.

[–] LatinaLibra 17 years ago

The irony works well now, true, but what hyprocism! Hollywood was self-righteous even then! hahahaha

hugz kisses and candy
Cinthya

[–] Mickorola 17 years ago

I know! It's so insecure, and just shows how hateful the human race can be. A real Asian man couldn't play the part of an Asian man who loves a young white girl because --- why? --- they were of different racial backgrounds? Ridiculous!

And I had a feeling that a movie made so long ago wouldn't have used an actual Asian actor for the part of the Asian character (excuse how vauge I am, I still haven't learned character names yet). Then I looked at the actor's name and I thought, "Oh yea, that name is just TOO western not to be." I mean, I know an Asian man dosen't have to have a name like "Suu-Yung Chin," anyone can have any name they're either given or that they damn well please, but it was a long time ago, and imigration into America was as prominent as ever.

But all irritants aside, I'm very much looking foreward to this film airing on Turner Classic Movies on the fifeteenth. It looks touching --- something that most films just can't seem to manage these days. Plus: I'm VERY into silent films as of late!

[–] LatinaLibra 17 years ago

hey mickorola,
If you haven't seen the movie yet, pay special attention to Lillian Gish's performance in the film. That is, what her age is supposed to be, and how she acts. Then, look up her age in real life when she did the film. It absolutely blew me away the first time I noticed it.

hugz kisses and candy
Cinthya

[–] Mickorola 17 years ago

:) I'll do that.

[–] openstorage 17 years ago

I totally disagree! Sessue Hayakawa was Japanese, and playing leading man roles long before and at the time this film was made. It's also interesting that he did not usually play the stereotypical and often racist 'Oriental type' he was a modern (for the period) leading man.

I'd actually say things at present have a more racist slant, albeit quite subtle. Hollywood always seem to shoehorn in some kind of reference to an oriental actors culture, regardless of whether it fits the films story/plot or not.

You could also say the same for any other non white or non American actor nowadays.

Perhaps it's more condescending than racist, but it's still quite a backward and ignorant view to take on other cultures/races.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] peterpanlovesitalianbeef 10 years ago

In those leading man roles was there an interracial relationship portrayed? I really don't think there was, because I'm pretty sure that this was the first film that portrayed an interracial relationship. Do you not understand that the Asian man would get seriously hurt, possibly killed, in that time period for even portraying a character that is in love with a white woman? That's a dangerous situation to put an Asian actor in, and I'm glad an Asian actor wasn't chosen for the role.

[–] Devans00 17 years ago

All the way until 1985 with Short Circuit, you had a white guy playing an Asian (Fisher Stevens played an Indian guy). So if Hollywood can't find a genuine Asian or Asian American actor to play an Asian character in 1985, we shouldn't be surprised they couldn't find one in 1919.

>>Oh, well that's different. Nevermind!<<

[–] texxas-1 9 years ago

Well be fair it was 1919 after all! In america interacial marriages never became legal til the 60s.

I'm not from texas its just a name I came up with when I was a teen! ♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥★☆★☆★☆★☆

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

I was pleased to see that the Chinese extras were actually played by Asian men, women, and children. Asian actors are still the second least represented of all nationalities in Hollywood productions, after Native Americans.

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