Hollywood Chinese (2007)

Directed by

Arthur Dong

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 30m

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary traces how Chinese people have been shown in American movies over the years. It uses film clips and interviews to discuss stereotypes, landmark roles, and contributions by Chinese American filmmakers.

informativehistoricalinsightfulthoughtfuleye-openingreflective

What happens

Hollywood Chinese: The Chinese in American Feature Films is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Academy Award-nominated director Arthur Dong. From early films like the 1900s Beheading the Chinese Prisoner to Ang Lee's triumphant Brokeback Mountain in 2005, Dong uses clips of more than 100 films and interviews of prominent Chinese Americans to create a thorough overview on the depiction of Chinese in mainstream Hollywood films. He hits many major points such as white performers who portray Asians in both The Good Earth and Fu Manchu series, Nancy Kwan's roles in The World of Suzie Wong and Flower Drum Song, Bruce Lee and the emergence of martial arts films and Justin Lin's take on his film Better Luck Tomorrow. People interviewed include Christopher Lee, Wayne Wang, James Hong, Nancy Kwan, Luise Rainer, Amy Tan and B. D. Wong. Dong also spends time talking about his discovery of two reels of the 1916-17 silent film The Curse of Quon Gwon, which is considered to be the first feature film made by an Asian American. The documentary was also broadcast on PBS on May 27, 2009. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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