thoughts about Romance and the Yellow Peril

this book is very erudite and makes me reconsider some films and aspects of the history and politics of how films are presented. Marchetti's thoughts about gender and racial identity are revealing. i picked up on some of these aspects in the films she analyzes, yet she goes far beyond anything I have thought. the nationalistic contexts which the films are set really makes me look deeper into the film and to wider implications for the politics of the film. for instance she makes the statement that Japanese propoganda during the war simply became propoganda reformulated in post-war Japan. In her analyses of Sayonara, a film I had never heard about before, she talks about how the film deals with gender roles of the main character. How she is saved from gender bending in the name of male domination and the continuing of heteronormativity in not only Japan but the US.

She also talks about the three relationships int the film between white and non white, japanese in this instance. she says that marlon brando and miko taka relationship could survive becasue they are rich. in the case of red buttons and his japanese lover they committ double suicide because red buttons doesn't have the money or power to fight the US military. the question occurred to me, why doesn't buttons serve out his time, then come back to Japan as a civilian if he loves her so much? I guess that would be a cop out in some way.

there are several other films that deal with prejudice against asians. like the rape fantasy in DW Griffiths Broken Blossoms and The Cheat by De Mille. These films don't allow any interaction between White and non -White. If they did there might be a riot at the theater. Further on it is allowed in the Love is a Many Splendored Thing and the World of Suzie Wong William Holden kisses the Asian Woman on the mouth. Times changed . in Love the character of Jennifer Jones represent the city of Hong Kong. She is half Chinese and half Asian. Which will she choose to be Chinese or European? Unlike Hong Kong she gets to decide.

The films are great and deal with Asian history and politics from the beginnings of film to the early eighties. I have about sixty pages and five films left to watch.