Shortly after the birth of the film industry, Asian actors and actresses, or so called

yellowfaces, began appearing in various roles, providing a visual representation of

how the race was perceived during these times. The early 20 th century was a
difficult time for Asians as the racial tension between Americans and immigration as
a whole was at its high. Asians especially were ridiculed for their culture, and
general characteristics, many of which are displayed in the films consolidated for
us. [1] One actress in particular was of interest. Anna May Wongs career as an
Asian American actress defied many odds, and while being subjugated to racism,
her performance was rather contradictory to many stereotypes imposed on Asians.
While characterized by obvious stereotypes, Wongs description is far from what a
stereotypical Asian immigrant would be during that time. She is a second
generation Asian American, relatively tall, pursuing an acting career since a young
age, lacks a typical accent, attended an American public school, etc. [2] Her
persona as a whole, even for modern times, would be considerably more American
than she is Asian. These characteristics are definitely prevalent during her
performance in Daughter of the Dragon.
Wongs performance in Daughter of the Dragon, was interesting to say the least.
Aside from the entitlement of the term exotic, her role as the protagonist did not
seem specifically stereotypical. Her character alone could have been supplemented
with a difference race, and I believe that the general plot of the story would not be
impacted much. I found that the environment that she was placed in brought out
the stereotypes found in this era. The clothing she wore was stereotypically Asian
with an abundant mix of flowers and dragons, the temple was retrofitted with
bamboo, and the nuisance of a gong being rung before every dramatic scene was
surely intentional. But besides these qualities, Wongs rhetoric did not display many
stereotypes that I expected to see during this period in time.
Contrary to Wongs performance in Daughter of the Dragon, her character in The
Toll of the Sea was the complete opposite. Portrayed as a semi-heartless murderer
and wooing all the male characters with lust in the Daughter of the Dragon, her role
in The Toll of the Sea was a weak, helpless and unloved female caught with the
burden of love. In the film, racism was significantly more prominent than in the
previous film. Stereotypes were constant, and inclusive of the characters this time.
In the film, I found it particularly interesting that they chose to impose crude broken
English for all of the Asian actresses, while the white male and female characters
had grammatically perfect subtext. This seems contradictory to Wongs
performance in the previous film, as she had fairly clear and accurate linguistic
skills. I also found it ironic how she was described in the first few segments of the
film as the little Chinese girl, while she was nearly the same height as Barbra, and
significantly taller than the other female Asian characters. I did find it interesting
that she was ostracized from the rest of her community, which is symbolic to Wong
in reality where shes stuck in limbo, accepted neither by the Chinese community
nor in Hollywood. [2] Throughout the film, she seems to be crying more often than
not, while she had not even shed a tear during her death in Daughter of the Dragon.
The stereotypes in clothing and the depiction of Asian households continues
throughout both films. Flowers are everywhere, literally every scene, and bamboo

hats with raincoats seems to be the only attire the male Asian characters have. Also
towards the end of the movie where she gives up her child, it seems indicative to
the idea that white Americans should be segregated from the Asian population,
which is supported by the birth of Chinatowns.
The films presented to us were graphically different in nature, with one being black
and white with some clarity issues, while the other was in Technicolor, but silent
(with awful stereotypical cover music). These different techniques definitely added a
unique perspective to the character development. For the silent film, the added
context almost forced you to impose your own Asian stereotypes, while for
Daughter of the Dragon, stereotypes were much less oblivious. After watching both
films, The Toll of the Sea definitely instituted more of a negative connotation for
Asian stereotypes than did Daughter of the Dragon for me.

Bibliography
[1 A. M. Wong, "I Am Growing More Chinese Each Passing Year!," Univeristy of
] California Press, pp. 177-181, 1934.
[2 Arts and Entertainment, "Saturday Review: Arts: Lady defiance: Anna May Wong
] was determined to act. But the only role she could find in Hollywood was that of
an exotic, villainous snake. So she fled to Europe and became a star," The
Guardian , p. 18, 2004.