Sessue Hayakawa plays the under world boss Baron Kimura.5
1950s was the era after World War 2 when Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps and where people grew many opposing sentiments towards Japan. In that sense, many of Americans impression towards them were sneaky, violent, and more negative stuffs, as seen in most of the films in 1950s. Just because Japan was the enemy during WW2, many films following WW2 contains many negative aspects on Japan especially
From "Asian in the Media: The Shadows in the Spotlight," Jesse Quinsaat says that distorted images of Asians prevalent in newspaper, television, and radio clearly suggest that Asian Americans "do not have controlling interest" in media corporations.
Richard Loo plays Sergeant Tanaka in the first film to highlight on Japanese internment camps and Jim Crow Laws.2
One of the first films with an Asian American ensemble cast. The movie follows the story of Japanese-American soldiers who fought in Europe during World War II.1
During the wars, many Asian-Americans served for military, fighting for America. Even though, the country treated them poorly and even sent their families to internment camps, Asian-Ameircan soldiers fought for the country and their family. The Steel Helmet in one aspect respects Asian-Americans devotion to the war but it still shows how poor Asian-American soldiers perform in the military.
Sessue Hawakawa plays Inspector Kito, a protagonist. The film is about cruel Tokyo gangsters trying to rob the weapon transportation train.3
This musical film stars Yul Brynner, a Russian-American actor, as the King of Siam (King of Thailand).4
The significance of this movie was that a non-Thai actor played the King of Thailand. For America, at this time, it was considered that white Americans played Asian American roles better and naturally than Asian American Actors. This was a controversial issue at that time where anti-Asian American sentiment become a huge problem after World War II. Moreover, the play is about this woman civilizing the King of Thailand, who has many wives and abnormal behaviors. This issue arised between showing the public whether or not Asian Americans would play characters true to their self, or true to the stereotypes. This misrepresentation allowed to add media to add even more stereotypes to Asian America.
Whether or not you have seen the films mentioned in this decade, in which films is there yellowface?
Asian-American actors played mostly villainous, sneaky, sinister roles. There was also the insinuation that Asia was rather uncivilized. Asian-American soldiers were portrayed as silly and absurd. Asian women were depicted as diabolical, sneaky and mean, sexually alluring, and corrupt. There was also continued use of yellowface in lead roles.