AAST 355 midterm readings

Film by Desai main argument

Early Asian American film scholarship critiques racist and imperialist stereotypes that portray Asians as the “racial other.”

Asian Americans use film to rewrite representation, claiming control over how their communities are seen.

Film becomes both a political tool and cultural home for Asian American identity and belonging.

Film by Desai methodology

Cultural and film analysis of representation and ideology.

Historical tracing of the Asian American and Third World movements.

Examines documentaries, autoethnography, and narrative film as self-representation strategies.

Film by Desai evidencce base

Documentaries: Slanted Screen, Slaying the Dragon—analyze Hollywood’s stereotypes.

Asian American activist and artist networks forming their own film collectives.

Feminist, queer, and postcolonial scholarship challenging “positive vs. negative” binaries.

Film by Desai significance

Shows how film shapes public opinion and racial identity.

Expands “citizenship” to include cultural visibility and community representation.

Positions film as central to Asian American belonging and political empowerment

In Search of Asian American Cinema — Feng main argument

The idea of a unified “Asian American cinema” is unstable and contested because “Asian” itself is a Western construct that erases cultural differences.

Categorizing all Asian films together homogenizes diverse histories, languages, and identities.

Challenges the film industry and festivals for flattening distinctions between Asian American, Asian Canadian, and Asian films

In Search of Asian American Cinema — Feng methodology

Discourse analysis of film industry practices, terminology, and cultural labeling.

Examines language, classification, and festival circuits to expose institutional racism in categorization.

In Search of Asian American Cinema — Feng evidence

Examples of critics lumping together all “Asian” films.

Debates over whether films must center Asian American issues to qualify as “Asian American cinema.”

Nihei’s distinction between Asian American filmmakers vs. Asian American cinema.

In Search of Asian American Cinema — Feng significance

Argues for self-definition and specificity within Asian American cultural production.

Reveals how labels reproduce colonial hierarchies and marginalize difference.

Advocates dropping the hyphen (“Asian-American” → “Asian American”) to emphasize belonging and reject foreignness.

Making Movie Magic — bell hooks argument

Film is not just entertainment—it’s a space of learning, identification, and shared experience where audiences confront issues of race, class, and gender.

Viewers are active interpreters who can find pleasure and critique simultaneously.

Films mirror and reinforce social hierarchies but can also challenge them.

Making Movie Magic — bell hooks methodology

Cultural criticism using feminist and audience theory.

Focus on spectatorship—how viewers interpret films through personal and political experience.

Making Movie Magic — bell hooks evidence

Analysis of audience engagement and interpretive freedom.

Examples of films that produce critical thought and emotional identification.

Making Movie Magic — bell hooks significance

Shifts focus from filmmakers to audience agency.

Argues for critical enjoyment—viewers can love films while analyzing power structures.

Positions film as a democratic site of dialogue on race and identity.

“The Other Question” — Homi K. Bhabha

Argument

Colonial discourse relies on “fixity”—defining racial “Others” as unchanging, yet unstable and contradictory.

Stereotypes are ambivalent: they produce both desire and fear, creating control through repetition.

“The Other Question” — Homi K. Bhabha

Methodology

Psychoanalytic and poststructuralist theory (Foucault, Lacan).

Deconstructive reading of colonial discourse and stereotypes.

“The Other Question” — Homi K. Bhabha

Evidence

Analysis of language and imagery in colonial texts.

Examples of racial stereotypes (e.g., "Asiatic duplicity").

“The Other Question” — Homi K. Bhabha

Significance

Introduces ambivalence and hybridity as key postcolonial concepts.

Moves beyond moral judgments (“good/bad” images) toward studying how power and resistance coexist.

Reveals agency within subjection.

“Color as Hue and Color as Race” — Peng

Argument

Color cinematography in early Hollywood (e.g., Toll of the Sea) shaped racial perception by linking color to race and hierarchy.

“Natural color” was not neutral—it privileged whiteness and exoticized Asianness.

“Color as Hue and Color as Race” — Peng

Methodology

Film and visual culture analysis; technological history of early color film.

Examines how film technology encoded racial difference

“Color as Hue and Color as Race” — Peng

Evidence

Toll of the Sea (1922): analyzed for color palettes and representation of skin tones.

Historical development of the two-color system—prioritized flesh tones for white actors.

Reviews praising color for “Chinese backgrounds” reveal orientalist fascination.

“Color as Hue and Color as Race” — Peng

Significance

Exposes the racial bias in film technology itself.

Connects aesthetics (color, ornament, “naturalness”) to racial ideology.

Shows how whiteness became an aesthetic standard in cinema.

Made-Up Asians," "Indian Accents," & "Whitewashing the Movies" — Lee, Dave, Oh

Argument

Hollywood practices whitewashing—casting white actors in Asian roles—erasing Asian identity and history.

“Asianness” is treated as costume or aesthetic, not as lived experience.

White-centered narratives use Asian settings for exotic spectacle while keeping white characters central.

Made-Up Asians," "Indian Accents," & "Whitewashing the Movies" — Lee, Dave, Oh

Methodology

Media industry analysis and critical race theory.

Examines casting practices, marketing, and representational politics.

Made-Up Asians," "Indian Accents," & "Whitewashing the Movies" — Lee, Dave, Oh

Evidence

Case studies of whitewashed films; examples of executives' decision-making.

Social movements (#OscarsSoWhite) challenging exclusion.

Made-Up Asians," "Indian Accents," & "Whitewashing the Movies" — Lee, Dave, Oh

Significance

Connects whitewashing to colonial power and cultural erasure.

Argues for authentic representation and Asian agency in storytelling.

Exposes how whiteness remains the cinematic norm and limits diversity.

"The Hypersexuality of Race" & "Straitjacket Sexualities" — Shimizu

Argument

Asian/American women’s hypersexualization is both oppressive and politically productive.

Sexuality is unavoidable and can be reclaimed as power and critique.

“The Hypersexuality of Race” & “Straitjacket Sexualities” — Shimizu

Methodology

Feminist cultural studies and performance theory.

Case studies of performers (Margaret Cho, Tracy Quan, etc.) and historical racialization of sexuality.

"The Hypersexuality of Race" & "Straitjacket Sexualities" — Shimizu

Evidence

Film, stand-up, pornography, and performance art.

Historical examples: Page Law, "war brides," mail-order brides

"The Hypersexuality of Race" & "Straitjacket Sexualities" — Shimizu

Significance

Reframes sexuality as a site of resistance, not only trauma.

Rejects moral panic in feminist critique.

Advocates for “race-positive sexuality” that embraces pleasure and complexity.

“Bruce Lee and Anti-Imperialism” — Vijay Prashad

Argument

Bruce Lee symbolized anti-imperialism, racial pride, and polyculturalism.

His films resisted Orientalist stereotypes and connected Asian identity to global anti-racist movements.

“Bruce Lee and Anti-Imperialism” — Vijay Prashad

Methodology

Cultural history and political theory; analysis of Lee's films through anti-imperialist and multicultural lenses.

“Bruce Lee and Anti-Imperialism” — Vijay Prashad

Evidence

Films: Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon—depict resistance against Western domination.

Political context: Asian American activism, Third World solidarity, Yellow Power movement.

“Bruce Lee and Anti-Imperialism” — Vijay Prashad

Significance

Redefines multiculturalism as polyculturalism—cultures mix, influence, and resist together.

Bruce Lee becomes a transnational symbol of self-determination.

Challenges model minority myth by celebrating Asian rebellion and emotion.