Asian American Studies: Quiz 4

Front 1

According to novelist and playwright Jessica Hagedorn, how has Hollywood generally perceived Asian Pacific American women?

Back 1

-“sleek, evil goddesses with slanted eyes and cunning ways, or smiling, sarong-clad South Seas “maidens” with undulating hips, kinky black hair, and white skin darkened by makeup.”

Front 2

How have Asian American women been caricatured in mainstream film?

Back 2

slanted, taped eyelids, “Oriental” accent

Front 3

Given the narrow confines that Hollywood has created for Asian American women, why would Jessica Hagedorn enjoy roles performed by Anna May Wong?

Back 3

-“neither servile nor passive”
-She steals the show from white actresses (Like Marlene Dietrich)

Front 4

What is it about the 1985 film, Year of the Dragon, that Jessica Hagedorn relishes?

Back 4

-The Jade Cobra girls have “hard-edged power” instead of being “I want to be your slave” female characters

Front 5

Why does Jessica Hagedorn take a dismissive attitude toward the 1993 film, Joy Luck Club?


Back 5

She was bothered by the passivity of the Asian American daughters.
-“They seemed to exist solely as receptors for their mothers’ amazing life stories. Its almost as if by assimilating so easily into American society, they lost all sense of self.”

Front 6

Jessica Hagedorn identifies an oppositional viewing strategy that involves “view[ing]
between the lines or add[ing] what is missing.” What does this viewing strategy involve?

Back 6

-Justifying the stereotyped roles of Asian women in movies by convincing themselves of deeper meaning.
-“if she is presented as a mute, willowy beauty we convince ourselves she is an ancestral ghost – so smart she doesn’t have to speak at all… “ etc (page 210)

Front 7

What are the durable derogatory stereotypes of Asian American women that mainstream film producers (i.e., “Hollywood”) continue to use?

Back 7

-Oversexualized, exoticized, submissive, wilting flower, pleasure giving
-People cannot relate to them because they are foreign, subhuman, superhuman
-Victim that needs to be saved, or dragon woman that is very powerful and sexual
-they are either invisible or available as part of a modern-day harem

Front 8

Historian Robin D.G. Kelley sees in mainstream films a “browning of faces but a whitening of character.” What do you suppose he means by this?

Back 8

-Acting white while looking “ethnic”
-The use of brown skin/racially ambiguous skin on an assimilated character.

Front 9

Regarding Disney films for young audiences, how do the filmmakers claim that “whiteness” is re-centered?

Back 9

-racially ambiguous, “folding in” the issue of color.
-Disney’s princesses are less about diversity than they are about marketing to as many little girls as possible. Different faces with the same voice.

Front 10

Where does the idea of the over-sexualization of Asian and Asian American women’s bodies come from?

Back 10

Military men who had relations with Asian prostitutes
-U.S. wars in Asia
-Asian women are usually driven into military prostitution by poverty
-leads people to believe they are submissive and sexual

Front 11

With the advent Asian Americans working as producers, writers, and directors of their own film projects, what does the documentary suggest about the difference that is made (or merely possible) in the resulting stories and characterizations about “Asian America”?

Back 11

-Challenging the status quo

Front 12

What kind of career choice did Phoebe Eng make? What were the expectations of her mother?

Back 12

She became a writer for a magazine for Asian Americans.
-Her mother expected her to be a lawyer.

Front 13

Phoebe Eng cites a study that addresses the family dynamics concerning “success” and “failure.” According to Eng, how is success and failure acknowledged differently?

Back 13

European mothers are more likely to attribute academic success to good school training, whereas Chinese American mothers were more apt to credit good home upbringing.
-If Chinese American children fail, their mothers are more likely to attribute it to poor home upbringing than their European American counterparts.
-While success is not praised or outwardly acknowledged, failure is personalized and attached to family honor.

Front 14

What does Phoebe Eng say about “filial piety”?

Back 14

“filial piety” is often synonymous with payback – daughter’s guilt and obedience in exchange for a mothers undying but tacit support.