From Ling Woo to Mulan: We are not “Dragon Lady” and “sex doll” anymore
Disney recently released the first trailer for its live-action film — Mulan. The trailer got a lot of positive feedback from audiences and have obtained extremely high views.
Mulan makes many East Asian women feel excited because they consider that Mulan’s independence personality can change people’s perception of East Asian women.
As people can see, in Hollywood movies, east Asian women are often portrayed as sex toys — like “Ling Woo” or “Suzie Wong”. The white audiences seem happy to see the stereotype of Asian female character on the screen. They prefer to watch the sloppy side of Asian women.
However, this phenomenon is being changed, and more people in western society can hear Asian women’s voice. More and more Independent Asian female characters appear on the screen.
From “Ling Woo” to “Mulan”, how do audiences gradually accept the active Asian female role?
You can find the answer in this article.
The Stereotype of Eastern Asian Female Character
Hollywood, as the largest film industry based in the world, produced a lot of classic films, such as Ally McBeal, Chaplin, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. However, audiences are hard to see the existence of Asian female characters. Until now, the distinctive role of East Asian women is rare in Hollywood. Even if there have East Asian female characters in the film, they are commonly described as “sex dolls” and “prostitutes”. As Sam Levin (2017) mentioned, Asian actors and actress always complain that they rarely have opportunities to audition the main characters in the film and even if their audition was successful, they are often secondary, which were portrayed as rude or aggressive.
According to a recent report from UCLA, Asian character made up only 4.3% of roles in the films in 2017. The Asian actresses have fewer choices than Asian actor. UCLA’s report exhibited that for the most racial group, women significantly underrepresented than man and only 12 Asian actresses got the main character in Hollywood.
Also, Asian women are always portrayed as exotic, sexualised. Tajima mentioned that Asian women in Hollywood film are passive and a person who exists to serve as a doll for White men or as a partner in crime of Asian men (as cited from Dwight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hébert, 2006). In the Hollywood film, Asian women always are trivialised or be seen as different (Jessica Hagedorn, 1994). If Asian women are “good”, they will be described as a submissive dumb girl, If they are outgoing, charming, Asian women will be demonised as well as be considered as a cunning, deceitful, sexual provocateur (D wight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hébert, 2006). Taking Ally McBeal as an example, the only Asian female character — Ling Woo is the stereotypical Asian female character. This character is a successful entrepreneur and lawyer. Although this character’s social status is high, she still is stereotypically constructed as ‘the Asian fantasy woman”. She is blunt, rude but she is the seductive temptress and expert in eroticism. This is a typical “dragon lady” character and “dragon lady” is a stereotype of an East Asian female as mean, deceitful, oppressive, or mysterious. Ling Woo was well-received by white men as well as hated by white women because this kind of “exoticism of Asian American women” is according to white male aesthetics. It results that many white people still subjectively think that Asian women are very submissive, and they are some sexual object or thing (Sue, Bucceri, Lin, Nadal, and Torino, 2007). This “stereotype” makes Asian women extraordinarily dissatisfied because they also are modern women with independent and unyielding characters. However, in Hollywood movies, they are still be described as a “thoughtless sex dolls”, and this stereotype even affects their real-world life.
Who has responsibility for this?
The answer is Hollywood writers and directors. Hollywood writers and directors can avoid stereotyping ethnic characters appearing because they have the power to shape attitudes, interpret the values of films, even influence people (Jessica Hagedorn, 1994). As Hagedorn (1994) described, films have enormous influences for the establishment of social values because they can use their creative artistic image, touching a story to affect to manipulate people. The movie takes advantage of the story, which they want the audience to see, and the film will influence their audiences. Many people will consider that these stereotypes for Asians are real as well as may insist that all Asians are submissive or hypocritical after they watch films. White audiences establish a subjective mind to Asian people and consider that they always look like the Asian character that they see on movies. Their opinion which hurt Asian as well as makes them feel discriminated and undervalued. Thus, Hollywood’s casting directors have a responsibility because they can choose actresses and determine the character’s personality. Also, Hollywood writers should be accountable for the roles in the films, and they prefer to describe the Asian female style as a “sex doll” or “lascivious lady”. They completely ignore the real characteristics of Asian women and shape the image of Asian women according to their subjective aesthetic.
Why “Mulan” is essential and why she can be widely accepted?
Mulan is a pillar of feminism, and she is the “saver”, not the traditional princesses who need to be saved by prince (Molly Donovan,2018). She is a charming, witty and brave girl, and she does not accept the destiny of women in her time. Also, at the end of the film, she uses sharp wit to assist the emperor in winning the war. She proves the fact that women are not porcelain dolls, and they can be a brave soldier as a man. Also, in the film, people can see that she is tired to fulfil the role of conservative femininity, and she even said she would never be the perfect bride or a perfect daughter. It makes her look different, and it fits the minds of modern women. Mulan is a positive Asian female character, who encourage Asian women to fight for their right and refuse to be silent when they face unfair treatment. This character allows audiences to know the positive side of Asian women and then break the Asian women stereotypes from Hollywood.
The rise of the Chinese market is also the reason why East Asian independent character like Mulan has gradually appeared in Hollywood. As Yv ette Tan & Heather Chen (2019), now, 70% of Hollywood studios’ income currently come from overseas, and the Chinese audiences become the primary oversea customer of Hollywood movies. Thus, some Hollywood directors and screenwriters began to produce films according to the preferences of Chinese viewers. The Mulan live-action movie was also born for this reason. It reflects that sometimes business can change everything.
Overall, Asian women are fed up with Hollywood screenwriters and directors portrayed them as sex dolls and Dragon lady. It is time to see more character like “Mulan” on the big screen. As for characters like Ling Woo, they can be discarded by audiences and Hollywood writers because they are no longer up to date fits the trend of social development.
