Core Post # 3

According to the Tasker article, Enter the Dragon is Warner Bros tentative attempt to make Bruce Lee a star; “Tentative” being the operative word. While the studio was taking a step to introduce a Chinese actor into Western society, they used various stereotypes of the Chinese, African-Americans and white Americans to do so as evident by Enter the Dragons three Heros, Bruce Lee’s ‘Lee’, Jim Kelly’s ‘Williams’ and John Saxon’s Roper.
Asian men have been feminized and desexualized in the history of Western Culture and like others forced to assimilate. Often the Asian male characters in Hollywood films are smart/wimpy or ninja/assassins/martial artists. Bruce Lee, despite his being a muscled fighting machine, is still feminized him in the film. Lee is covered up in traditional Chinese garb before he fights, so he looks like a tame feminine man, until he takes his shirt off for a fight and we see he is all muscle. When he’s not fighting or wearing traditional clothes of China, the director Robert Clouse, makes sure Lee is wearing Western suits. This is not for Bruce Lee’s level comfort but for Western audiences to be comfortable with seeing an Asian man who can fight. Lee is also desexualized as in the scene when Roper, Williams and Lee are to pick bedfellows for the night. While Roper, being a good white American picks a white woman, and Williams portraying the hyper sexualized black male role, picks four Asian Women, Lee picks one woman that he knows to be a spy. Thus the film reinforces the ideal that Asian me are asexual, feminine “men.”
In regards to Asian characters, Hollywood in the 70s in comparison to today has not made many strides. There are no Asian male stars to speak of, except Jackie Chan and I’m not sure if he is a “star” by American standards. Asian actors have been the designated side kicks, the smart/wimp, the martial artists, or the comic relief. While Bruce Lee had to succumb in a lot of ways to Western ideals of Asian masculinity (or lack thereof), Lee became a star that we haven’t seen in America in a long time.

1. Who are the Asian Male actors today? Jackie Chan?
2. What roles do the play? Martial artist/wimp/asexual
3. Is it different for Asian actresses in Hollywood?