Bruce Lee: The Great Asian American Action Superstar

Kick: Bruce Lee Song by K-pop band.

Inaccurate portrayals of Asians have and continue to affect how people view Asian Americans. Indeed, Jessica Hagedorn, a Filipino American writer, calls the movies of Hollywood a type of God. Thus, their power is omnipotent in framing how Westerners think of Asians.

Yellowfacing has had a powerful impact on framing the Western mindset on what it mean to be Asian. Yellowfacing occurs when White actors portray Asian characters. White actors did the same for other minorities. Many became famous for Blackfacing which was part of minstrel shows.

For example, "Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan," a sort of yin and yang of good and evil stereotypes, were always portrayed by White actors. Indeed, Warner Oland (1879-1938) played both in his career and could be called the King.

David Carradine (1936-2009) portrayed Kwai Chang Caine in the "Kung Fu" series (1972-75), a role denied to Bruce Lee. Indeed, he created the idea. Elements of Charlie Chan can be felt in David Carradine's fortune cookie wisdom when yellowfacing Kwai Chang Caine on television.

Madame Butterfly as one of the most famous operas of all time was often portrayed by White female singers.

Two powerful gods or images of the Western mind emerged as popular characters in Hollywood: Dr. Fu Manchu (created by Sax Rohmer, the evil and ugly Asian, who wants to rule the world) and Charlie Chan (created by Earl Derr Biggers, the good and ugly detective, who wants to solve a case). Charlie Chan films can be found at many local video stores.

Another strong image is the submissive woman: Madame Butterfly. Rising above and beyond such popular stereotypes becomes a very difficult obstacle. Both characters started as stereotypes in pulp fiction and became best selling film series.

Based on a novel by Richard Mason (1919-1997), Suzie Wong, this character is a Hong Kong prostitute with a heart of gold. It was adapted into a play with William Shatner, and film starring William Holden and Nancy Kwan. Later the Broadway play "Miss Saigon" (1989) would contain elements of both Madame Butterfly and Suzie Wong.

Though born in San Francisco as an American citizen, Bruce Lee had problems becoming a star in Hollywood even though Bruce Lee though he was friends with some key power figures. Ultimately, he had to travel to Hong Kong where he had been a child film star to become a super star because he could not convince Hollywood to finance any major films for him.

He could not break down the barriers which did not allow Asian actors to play leading Asian roles. To Hollywood, the postcolonial mindset only allowed white actors to play the leading Asian roles because they could best perpetuate the stereotypes of how Asians act. Thus, roles which were first literary figures, like Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan were always played by non-Asian actors.

While Bruce Lee was making Hong Kong films, the leading role in Kung Fu, the television series, originally developed for Bruce Lee, would be played by David Carradine who acted as Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk traveling the country.

A decade later, in an ironic choice of roles to break into Hollywood with, Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee's son, would play Kwai Chang Caine's son in a revised version of Kung Fu. Brandon also started his career in Hong Kong films.

Only after Bruce Lee was the greatest star in Asia and his films were becoming the biggest grossing Asian films up to that time was Hollywood willing to make a movie starring him: Enter the Dragon. Bruce Lee became the first Asian American International film star allowed to be play the lead role, something Anna May Wong never did. Other Asian stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li would follow. Did Bruce Lee help to create a new Asian stereotype: the martial arts action hero?

Forgive my writing, I had cancer and am relearning English. Korean is my first language. I prefer to write and read in Spanish.

Above > > . Alexa, singer, Korean-Russian, born in Oklahoma.

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