In 1928, Chinese film actress Anna May Wong, who abandoned Hollywood for her native country, lamented, ôWhy is it on the screen the Chinese are nearly always the villain of the piece, and so cruel a villainùmurderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass. We are not like thatö (Nga, 1995, p. 38). Three-quarters of a century later, successful mainstream cross-over Hollywood director John Woo offers on Hollywood, ôI feel honored, grateful and excited to work in HollywoodàIt fulfilled my dream of colbining East and West and making a good filmö (Nga, 1995, p. 38). The polar views on Hollywood are the result of what many label the ôAsian Invasionö of the worldÆs capitol of cinema. Asian talent like Woo, Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Jet Li and others have become major players in Hollywood and global cinema. This analysis will discuss the growing multiculturalism in Hollywood cinema and the increasing success of Asian talent in cross-over to mainstream, global audiences in some of the film industryÆs biggest hits.
According to Hemant Shah (2003, p. N) in Simile, conventional Hollywood films offered four primary stereotypes of Asians that persisted well into the 1960s and even 1970s in American cinema: 1) ôYellow Peril;ö 2) ôDragon Lady;ö 3) ôCharlie Chan;ö and 4) ôLotus Blossom.ö Such images were controlling images because they provided justification for social inequities experienced by Asians. However, during the 1960s a strong movement developed among Asian American filmmakers that is referred to as ôtriangular cinema,ö a strategy of filmmaking designed to build community, increase political mobility, and help fashion an Asian esthetic of cinema (Shah, 2003, p. N).
As the worldÆs markets and economies were subjected to increasing globalization during the 1980s and 1990s, an increasing number of Asians were able to use the gains fostered by ôtriangular cinemaö by experiencing unprecedented success ...