How Does Film In the U.S Influence People Perception of Chinese Culture - Annotated Bibliography Example

How does film in the U.S influence people perception of Chinese culture? Annotated Bibliography Chan, Kenneth. Remade In Hollywood. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009. Print. The goal of the research is to evaluate and analyze the effect of media on the perception of Chinese culture and how it portrays this culture. This article discusses about the most popular movies which depicted the Chinese culture by indulging in the themes of Wuxia and martial combat. The movies talked about in the article involve Crouching tiger, hidden dragon (2000), Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The films received a negative review in China where the people actually perceive it as the wrong portrayal of the Chinese culture imposing a negative image of their culture. This article serves as my primary source. Kenneth Chan is an associate professor and a director of film studies in the Department of English at the University of Colorado. His area of interests includes the Chinese cinema, Asian American films, cultural studies and the various movie genres. He is also on the editorial board of Journal of Chinese Cinemas. This makes him a credible source of information. The theme of Wuxia which is being implemented in the American movies is not a clear portrayal of the culture and often falls far from the branch. This is the reason that although these movies have received various awards in Hollywood industry yet they have failed to get appreciation from the Chinese audience. The only possible reason behind this might be because the director created the movies by keeping the audience in mind and did not pay attention to the cultural details and the sensitivity of the genre of the movie. Wuxia genre is governed by certain rules and regulations which only a true Chinese might understand and hence most of these movies are criticized by the purists. The paper is written with a clear set of mind and explains as to how the Wuxia tradition is shown in various Hollywood movies. The popular movies which are based on the Wuxia theme also show a misrepresentation of the Chinese culture as if the movies were directed keeping the audience in mind and not thinking about the Chinese people. This certainly creates a misconception among the viewers of such movies. The Wuxia culture is more than just fights and combats and hence these movies should have been made with a bit more research of the themes. This paper will help us to form a strong base regarding our research. Xie, Tianshi. "Asian Stereotypes In The Mass Media: A content analysis of Asian minority portrayals in the U.S. Films." Michigan State University.Dept. of Communications. 2007. Print. Xie’s book gives examples of the various films that show Asian stereotyping that takes place in the media and visual art. Tianshi Xie conducted an analysis on portrayal of Asian minority in US films which emphasized on the problems of racism and discrimination that the Asian Americans have to face which eventually lead to public outrage and political negotiations (Xie, 5). According to the author, the Asian people are mostly represented as knowledgeable, hardworking and bearing good moral principles (Xie, 7). The authors work will help the research to build up a solid foundation as it easily helps to understand as to the how the implementation of strategies and tactics help change the perception of people regarding a culture. Therefore, this will serve as the primary source of analysis for the paper. The paper analyzes films based on yellow peril trait and model minority trait. A majority of the lead characters portrayed in this movie were intelligent and had a sharp mind. This is seen in many movies wherein the Chinese people are mostly geeks and are represented as being good at solving mathematical and technical problems The other common trait seen in the Chinese character of these movies were involved in fraudulent behavior. Chinese characters in Hollywood movies are also seen displaying acts of martial arts and handling of weapons, this is commonly seen in action movies. Various famous Chinese actors of Hollywood, such as Jackie Chan, Jet li are mostly seen in action movies. Examples of these movies include the expendables, the one etc. The female Chinese characters are portrayed as being sexually seductive such as in Lethal Weapon in which various girls belonging to the Asian ethnicity are trained to kill people after seducing them. But the Asians are also shown as good people in many other movies in which they are polite and are sometimes represented as being shy or quiet people (Xie, 27). The book is a thesis paper written by Tianshi Xie and was published for the Michigan State University department and serves as primary source for my research. The book is credible enough as the research is based on various models which justify how the media represents the Chinese culture and then how this affects the perception of people regarding the Chinese culture. This book serves as a secondary source for the research paper as it contains the detailed explanation of how the Asians are portrayed in the movies which are based in the US and helps the audience to gain an understanding as to how the Asians are misrepresented in the movies. Media Action Network for Asian Americans. "Restrictive Portrayals Of Asians In The Media And How To Balance Them."MANAA. 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. This article written by MANAA will serve as a secondary source for my paper. The paper discusses as to how the Chinese people are most often shown in negative roles such as drug dealers, gang members. This not only creates a negative image in the minds of those watching the movie but also tarnishes the image of Chinese culture on the whole. This article exemplifies various movies which wrongly portray the Chinese culture and the characters which are being shown in the movie are very far from the actual Chinese culture. Chinese are seen as people who do not fit in America and are often shown as aliens to the country where they do not belong (MANAA). The main reason as to why Chinese people do not seem to fit in the American society is due to the language barrier that they face and the trouble they have to go through while communicating with other people. The accent that the Chinese people are shown to speak in different movies is actually a false description and there are many Chinese who speak English language fluently and without any accent. The article is a reliable piece of information as the information mentioned in the article is a collection of the results obtained from various surveys. These surveys concluded that the films made in the US often show Asian males in a negative or villain role while the women are shown in a seductive manner and prove to be good partners for white men, an example of this can be seen in the movie Lethal Weapon. This evidence is sufficient enough to proof the influence of media and how sexuality of the Chinese people is being exploited in the movies based in US. This article will help to analyze the portrayal of sexuality of both the genders in movies and how the women are comparatively shown in a positive role as compared to men. This is necessary to help evaluate the various roles that the male and female actors are portrayed in various movies and how these portrayals help create a perception of who they are as compared to what they actually are in the Chinese society. Stein, Friedrich. 'U.S. Media Impact On Asian Cultures'. Sites.google.com. N.p., 2006. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. The Asians in most of American movies are portrayed as being harmful, deceitful or conniving and are always seen playing a negative, exotic or erotic role instead of being shown in a posiive manner. The Asians do realize that the image being portrayed by the Americans regarding Chinese culture is seen throughout the world and hence also tarnishes their image in the minds of others. There were certain ads that were taken out from the market as being harmful to the image of the Chinese people. But certain political parties consider this as being vital to their success and as a result of this the Chinese started showing the US as their enemy. This serves as my secondary source, written by Friedrich Stein. Although no such information is available about the author yet, the author has clearly described the various ways in which meia impacts the Asian cultures. The author has utilized various sources in order to prove his point. The paper helps to establish as to how the US media wrongly describes the culture of other people, and this concerns not only the Chinese but also other Asians of the world. The impact that the US media has on the minds of people makes it even more dangerous as the Chinese people know that their portrayal of the Chinese culture will evidently create an impact and the main reason behind the negative image of America by the Chinese people is considered a backfire by the Chinese people on showing their negative image on television. Barrow, Sarah, Sabine Haenni, and John White. The Routledge Encyclopedia Of Films. Print. The authors talk about how the movies based on Chinese cultures are although disliked by many and criticized by the critics are still popular among the Western countries. The movies House of flying daggers was partially filmed in Ukraine while its production company was based in China. But the Chinese movies are made keeping in mind the competition that they have to face with the Hollywood movies and hence such Chinese movies are termed as global Chinese-language film. The Wuxia genre is movie is however quite different from the martial arts and Kung-fu theme. The Wuxia theme is directed in time that it was produced. But these movies are certainly open to changes and deviation from the usual film setting hence; it can be watched by everyone. Some directors have a certain desire to break free from the social and cultural norms and create a movie by instilling a little changes of their own. The book is edited by three well known editors: John Whiter serves as a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University in Film and media department, Sarah Barrow works as the head of the Lincoln school of Media and University of London whereas Sabinne Haenni serves as an Associate professor at Cornell University in Film and American Studies Department. All of them have edited another book titled Fifth Key British Films and also have books of their own which are based on moves and cinema. The book helps us to understand as to why the authors deviate from showing the actual culture of China in their movies and this is done only to attract viewers and by putting a touch of their own the essence of the true Chinese culture does not remain the same. However, there are certain directors who plan on showing more than just fights and swords for which Chinese movies are famous for and hence show other aspects of the movies such as romance. But the romance showed is more of a Western style and hence the narrative changes yet again towards the American side. There should be more shown to these films which should all relate to the Chinese culture and cinema in one way or another. Szeto, Kin-Yan. The Martial Arts Cinema of The Chinese Diaspora. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2011. Print. Another one of my secondary sources explains how the genre of Wuxia is more than just sword fighting and also includes the themes of loyalty and honor. Other themes that may be incorporated in this genre are of individualism and heroism. This is exemplified by citing the majority of the characters which are played by a famous Chinese character wherein he always plays as a loyal friend to his partner. Crouching tiger, hidden dragon is another example, in which the story line is based on the rescue of a girl by the lead actor (Szeto, 145). The author has critically analyzed various movies and how these movies are usually based around themes of masculinity and sword play which presents the Chinese culture in a limited fashion and the audience is left with the wrong perception of Chinese and their culture. Dr. Kin- Yan Szeto is an associate professor of Theatre and Dance at Appalachian State University. Her areas of interests include; dance, film and visual studies. She is interested in comparative literature involving Chinese films and culture. She has a pH.D. in performance studies from NorthWestern University in Illinois and also has previous education in relevant field. She has also peer reviewed various articles based on Chinese culture, films etc such as visual anthropology, Modern Chinese literature and culture. This makes her quite a reliable source of information. This book helps to analyze the themes which are mostly shown in Wuxia movies. This also complies with the primary source of information as both the authors mention the gender description of Chinese cultures in US films. Apart from talking about movies, the author has also successfully discussed about the prominent characters of Chinese based movies such as Jackie Chan. The facts and figures which the author has criticized is similar to our primary source of information and hence this helps to strengthen our research in a much better way. The two factors as to why the Chinese cultures is portrayed in wrong manner may be because of a number of factors such as the political situation, the amendments made by the directors themselves etc. Huang, Ying. Multiple Interplays. 2006. Print. The author explains as to the two movies House of flying daggers and Hero although were blockbuster movies are a reflection of how the Chinese culture is. The theme of marital arts have been liked by the people in the US and therefore are a great source of gaining popularity among the audiences. But the reason for popularity of these movies based of Wuxia theme is not clear. Both hero and house of flying daggers are placed at third and sixth position with respect to the gross earned from these movies till date. The directors of these are both fifth generation directors who talk about the politically disturbed china and include a lot of landscape in the movie. The author of this book is Yin Huang is master of the arts student and the research is conducted for B.L. Fudan University situated in Shanghai. The research conducted talks about how and why the movies are popular and the reason behind it. The author also utilizes credible sources to base his facts upon. The book will help to understand why the two movies are famous even though they are disliked and criticized by many. The article shows the history of china film industry and how it went from down to up. This history also saw the rise of the fifth generation actors which focus most of their movies on the political turmoil of the past and hence due to globalization of such movies, they are like far and wide by many and although the Chinese people are proud that their movies are a hit on the blockbuster they still feel that the movies should have created the true picture of Chinese culture. But if the movies would have portrayed the true Chinese culture, would they have been so famous? Rawnsley, Ming Yeh. 'Book Review: Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition (2011)'. Academia.edu. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. The last secondary source explains how the display of martial arts in various movies helps to create awareness among the general audience, making them know more about the Chinese culture and the people of China. The amount of martial arts skills being shown in the movies makes it nothing out of the ordinary. However, martial arts and Wuxia are two different genres. An example of a movie based on martial arts includes Burning Lotus Temple. An advancement of Wuxia is known as Wuxia Shenguai Pian. The article is written by Dr Ming Yeh Rawnsley who is currently a research associate at University of London. East Asian Cinema, media in China are principle areas of interests. She has written various articles on Chinese culture and media and hence this article of hers is reliable enough. This research has helped to gain a better understanding of the genre and the various advancements that have taken place in the genre. The theme of Wuxia is gradually finding its way into the American film industry but no longer complies with the original Wuxia culture that originated in China. Read More