Erasure of Asian-Americans in Hollywood

of MANAA, stating “Many in
Japan have been so brainwashed
by Western culture that they’ve
developed an inferiority complex
about their own. They assume
that for an American film to
be successful, it has to star
a white actor.”³⁹
Furthermore, the issue of
whitewashing is some of
these whitewashed roles are
not removing Asian identities
entirely, but mimicking them.
Chinoiserie was popular in the
18th century, and it was the
design of making an object,
mainly dinnerware and furniture
seem East Asian⁴⁰. Whitewashed
films do this with The Good
Earth and Dragon Seed placing
white actors and actresses in
inauthentic China and Chinese
clothing. Chinoiserie also
includes yellow-face, where
non-Asian people attempt to
look Asian⁴¹. Hollywood recreates
an idea of Asia and not
Asia itself.
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