Hollywood Asian: Philip Ahn and the Politics of Cross-Ethnic Performance (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781592135158)

From silent films to television programs, Hollywood has employed actors of various ethnicities to represent Orientalcharacters, from Caucasian stars like Loretta Young made up in yellow-face to Korean American pioneer Philip Ahn, whose more than 200 screen performances included roles as sadistic Japanese military officers in World War II movies and a wronged Chinese merchant in the TV show "Bonanza." The first book-length study of Korean identities in American cinema and television, "Hollywood Asian" investigates the career of Ahn (1905-1978), a pioneering Asian American screen icon and son of celebrated Korean nationalist An Ch'ang-ho. In this groundbreaking scholarly study, Hye Seung Chung examines Ahn's career to suggest new theoretical paradigms for addressing cross-ethnic performance and Asian American spectatorship. Incorporating original material from a wide range of sources, including U.S. government and Hollywood screen archives, Chung's work offers a provocative and original contribution to cinema studies, cultural studies, and Asian American as well as Korean history.

Author: Hye Seung Chung
ISBN-10: 1592135153
ISBN-13: 9781592135158
Publisher: Temple University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/01/2006
Pages: 248
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.34w x 0.80d