Criminalization/Assimilation

Criminalization/Assimilation traces how Classical Hollywood films constructed Americas image of Chinese Americans from their criminalization as unwanted immigrants to their eventual acceptance when assimilated citizens, exploiting both Americas yellow peril fears about Chinese immigration and its fascination with Chinatowns. Philippa Gates examines Hollywoods responses to social issues in Chinatown communities, primarily immigration, racism, drug trafficking, and prostitution, as well as the impact of industry factors including the Production Code and star system on the treatment of those subjects. Looking at over 200 films, Gates reveals the variety of racial representations within American film in the first half of the twentieth century and brings to light not only lost and forgotten films but also the contributions of Asian American actors whose presence onscreen offered important alternatives to Hollywoods yellowface fabrications of Chinese identity and a resistance to Hollywoods Orientalist narratives.