Edited by
Franklin Ng California State University Fresno
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
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Library o f Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data C h m , Jachinson. Chinese American masculinities ; from Fu Manchu to Bruce Lee / Jachinson Chan. (Asian Americans) p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-8133-4029-X (alk. paper) 1. Chinese Americans in the mass media. 2. Masculinity 3. Mass media-United States. 1.Title. 11. Series. P94.3.C37 C48 2000 00-061706 302.23'089'95 1073-dc21 -
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
Asian Americans Reconceptualizing Culture, History, Politics Franklin Ng, Series Editor
The Political Participation ofAsim All~ericar~s:Voting Behxior ill Souther11 Califor~iia Pei-te Lien The Sikh Diaspora :Tradition ~ i i d Change in an Iimnigra~~t Con1111~1nity Michael Angelo Cl'~in~iiig Chinese Idelitin Eliome L.W. Belden Trmsr~atioiialAspects of Iu-Mien Rehgee Identity Jeffery L. MacDomld C x i r ~ gfor Cm~bodiar~ Ainericms: A Multi-disciplir~qResource for the Helping Professions Sharon K. RdiTT Im'lgir~ir~g the Filipino Ainericaii Diaspora : Transnatio~lalRelations, Identities, and Conm~unities JonathanY. O k m ~ u r a Mothering, Education, m d Ethnicity: The Transformation of Japanese American Culture Susan M a t o h Adler Dy~lamicsof Ethnic 1dentity:Three Asian American Con~munitiesin Philadelphia Tae-Hyup Lee
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
The Hmor~gReiugee Experience in the United States: Crossing the Rn-er hies hliyares Beyond Ke'eaumoku: Korans, N~tioii~lisi11, ~ i i dLocal Culture ill H'lnai'i Brenda L. I<\\-or~ Asim Alnericm Culture on St~ge: The History of the East West Pl'lyers Yuko I
of O~lklaiid'sChinese C o n ~ i ~ m r ~ i t y L. ER Armelitrout Ma Chinese An~ericmM'~sculinities:froin Fu Maiichu to Bruce Lee Tachillion C h m
CHINESE AMERICAN MASCULINITIES From Fu Manchu to Bruce Lee
Jachinson Chan
Routledge New York & London Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
Preface
have spent about 15 years in Hong Kong and 15 years in California. Since I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I consider myself a Chinese American man. However, I spent my early years in Hong Kong and I a m very much a product of Hong Kong's culture. Ever since I started doing research on Asian American issues, I have been intrigued by the ways in which Chinese Inen are represented in various media both in Hong Kong and the United States. The diverse representations of Chinese lnasculinities in Hong Kong are inversely proportional to the lack of depth and diversity in America's representation of Chinese masculinities. As an academic in the field of Asian American studies, my research as well as my personal interest gravitated towards a project that tried to understand the historical conditions from which these American images of Chinese men emerged. As I became further involved in this project, new questions began to arise which I could not ignore. Specifically, I wondered if the term masculinity was adequate because I was no longer sure if any one definition would be able to encompass the multiple perspectives on what it means to be a man, much less a Chinese American man. As my roles changed from being a son to a lover, spouse, and father, the meaning of manhood began to change. I became more interested in studies done by profeminist Inen ~ 1 1 0were engaged in critiquing patriarchy and normative models of masculinity. I soon realized that while the historical conditions surrounding various representations of Chinese American men were important, I was also interested in imagining alternative models of masculinity that I could adopt on a more personal level. Who were my own role models and how can I become a more self-critical man? My father seldom talked about issues of ~ n a n h o o dand just when he started to open up to me on a more emotional level, he passed on. Not only do I miss his physical presence, I miss dearly the conversations we did not have.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
The model of masculinity espoused by my father, I came to realize, was embedded in deeds as opposed to words. His silent actions were balanced by cinematic and dynamic characters on screen: from comedic country bumpkins, working-class heroes, and romantic fools to conflicted martial artists, glorified triad society leaders, and the rise and fall of powerful and affluent men. The world of fantasy p r o ~ i d e dendless dreams of masculine heroics while in reality my father taught me the simple truths of honest!; responsibility, respect for others, and a sense of humor. When I came to California to pursue my graduate studies in 1985, I quickly realized that my ethnicity and gender were constantly under scrutiny. The Asian American literary texts I read did not have interesting male characters and the debate between Maxine Hong Kingston and Frank Chin seemed to revolve around the same arguments. The issues surrou~ldingAsian American masculinities resurfaced, howevel; when I started to teach at the Uni~ersityof California, Santa Barbara, as my Asian A~nericanmale students wanted to know more about "men's issues" since there were several courses in the Asian American studies department that addressed "women's issues." I started to do some preliminary research and I found very few in-depth studies done on the topic of Asian American masculinities. This book represents an attempt to articulate different models of Chinese American masculinities and conceptualize alternative models of masculinities that resist the tendency to reciprocate racial, gendel; sexual, and class hierarchies. In my own personal search for an anti-sexist and anti-homophobic model of masculinity, I have been pleased that many of my friends thought that I was gay when they first met me and that an Asian American women's group at UCSE decided that I was "woman enough" to he their faculty advisor. I have chosen to focus on Chinese American masculinities for political reasons. The term Asian American has been used since the 1960s as a way to unify the disparate Asian groups in America and to empower a community by rejecting the term "Orientals" and adopting Asian Americans as a panethnic coalition. Howevel; the impulse to homogenize Asian A~nericansas a monolithic group has been questioned by Lisa Lowe in her seminal book, Imwzigmnt ~ c t s . 'Although there may he similarities in the ways in which representations of Asian men from other ethnic subgroups are contained and controlled, the historical specificity of each group differs significantly. I would like to posit that Asian American studies has reached a critical moment in the field in which it would he more theoretically or politically appropriate to focus on more specific monikers oriented towards particular racial or ethnic categories. As Richard Fung points out, "there are contradictory sexual associations based on nationality. So, for example, a person could he seen as Japanese and somewhat kink!; or Filipino and 'a~ailable.'The very same person could he seen as 'Oriental' and therefore sexless."' Fung's observation points to the uniqueness in the ways each ethnic group is percei~edbut these perceptual differences are also collapsible and easily reduced to an "orientalist" generalization that Asian
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
American Inen are desexed. At the risk of being limited in scope, I helieye that the discourse on ethnic specific masculinities needs to be articulated in a historically specific context before a more comparative analysis is made.
NOTES 1. Lisa Lowe, Iininigrant Acts (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996). 2. Richard Fung, "Looking for My Penis: The Eroticized Asian in Gay Video Porno," in H o w D o I Look? Queer Video and Film, ed. Bad Object-Choices (Seattle: Bay Press, 1991), 147.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
Acknowledgments
T
he stories behind the production of this boolz read like a mystery novel. I a m glad that the plot is coming to an end. Thanlzs to Mark Henderson and Franlzlin N g for having enough faith in my work to publish it. Michael Kimmel's comments and support have been invaluable: his own writings have stimulated my intellectual endeavors, which rely heavily on his theoretical framework and its activist underpinnings. I am also grateful to my colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Sucheng Chan, JOII Cruz, Diane Fujino, Kip Fulbeclz, Paul Spiclzard, and Nolan Zane for giving me the support I needed at critical moments. In particular, Sucheng Chan has been a mentor and a friend. Through many twists and turns, Sucheng has been my anchor. I truly appreciate her honesty and constructive criticism. Peter X. Feng, lilzewise, pointed out mistakes and weaknesses. This boolz is better because of his insights. To Vince Aihara, Tim W L ~and , Robert Sams, I thank them for the laughs, conversations, and martinis. Ed Park's enthusias~nfor the field of Asian American Studies and for fishing has been infectious. Steve Ino, thanlzs for listening. When I was at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I met some fellow Asian American graduate students who introduced me to Asian American literature. If it had not been for them, I would have missed out on the intellectual and emotional rewards of Asian American studies. Many thanlzs to Leslie Bon7, Elena Creef, Barbara Ige, and Nora Cobb. Thanks also to my advisors Michael Cowan, Forrest Robinson, Paul Slzenaz!; Julia Simon-Ingram, and James Clifford. Part of the reason I enjoy teaching so much is that my students at U.C. Santa Barbara have made my job meaningful and enjoyable. They have energized me with their enthusiasm and passion for learning and I thank them for reminding me why I teach for a living.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
xii
Acknowledgments
O n a more personal note, I thank my partner Gladys for reminding me that no matter how much I may talk about gender equalit!; I still d o not do enough at home. When Casey (two years old) and Jamie (5 months old) smile and laugh for no particular reason, I know that I'ye been blessed. My Aunt Helen has given me sound a d ~ i c esince I was a kid and I thank her for putting a positive spin on eyerything. My Uncle Walter continues to serye as my role model and I only wish that he had set the bar a little lower. And finally, I have to thank my Inom and sister for pushing me towards the finish line.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
Contents
Preface Xclznowledgments Part One
1. American Inheritance: Chinese American Male Identities 2. Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu: Scrutinizing the Inscrutable
3. Charlie Chan: X Model Minority M a n 4. Bruce Lee: A Sexualized Object of Desire 5. Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Part Tlvo
6. From Eoyhood to Manhood 7. Toward a Masculinity of Inclusion Epilogue: Contemporary Asian Ainerican Men's Issues Bibliography
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
Part One
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
CHAPTER ONE
American Inheritance: Chinese American Male Identities
I
nside a space ship, Shang-Chi ltnoclts Fu Manchu down and shouts, "I swore to oppose you. Denounce you. Destroy you! Non7, my father, you Die!" ShangChi's face is determined, with beads of sweat dripping from his muscular upper body while Fu Manchu stares back with feac This scene, depicted on the cover of Marvel's comic boolt, Master of Kung Fu,' encapsulates competing fictional models of masculinities. Shang-Chi, the son of Fu Manchu, is a character created by Marvel Comics that appropriates Bruce Lee's image and Charlie Chan's role as the defender of justice. In this comic boolt series, the conflation of Bruce Lee and Charlie Chan into Slung-Chi reveals the ambivalent role of Chinese Inen in American popular culture. Shang-Chi must commit patricide in order to redeem his sense of justice and honor. The rejection of his biological father and the acceptance of America as his new home parallel a common theme in the larger Asian American experience. An individual must choose between hislher Asian heritage or American values, as if these options were mutually exclusive. In the more specific context of men's studies, these stereotypical images frame the way in which Chinese American masculinities are constructed and they become conceptual obstacles-as manifested by my Asian American male students who insist on challe~lgingnegative stereotypes-that preclude a more critical analysis of the construction of masculinities itself.? Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu, Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan, Bruce Lee's cinematic image, and Marvel's Slung-Chi represent cultural signs that are a part of what Michael Omi has called a "system of racial meanings and stereotypes."3 These racial meanings, however, cannot be separated from their gendered meanings. Fu Manchu is represented as a sexual threat to White women and a political threat to Western civilization as he attempts to rule the world.%e tries to achieve his goals with evil machinations while his physical body is paradoxically de-sexualized and
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
4
Chinese American Masulinities
reduced to a breeder of superior genetic offspring. Charlie Chan, a defender of American laws, is also drained of any form of sexualit!; diminishing his threat of engaging in miscegenational relationships. The lack of sexual power also reduces him to an e~nasculatedbreeder of eleven children. Eruce Lee and Shang-Chi signal a significant representational shift in how Chinese men are represented, as they are both physically superior to other men. The racial and sexual shift, howevel; contain inherent contradictions in the for~nulationof Chinese American male identities. While Shang-Chi's heteromasculinity' enables him to attract female characters consistently, Eruce Lee does not overtly display a heteromasculine identity. O n one hand, Lee's masculinity is represented as ambiguous while Shang-Chi's heteromasculinit!; on the other hand, is contained by his voluntary departure from Western civilization." This book is a thematic study of how Chinese men in America are represented in yarious media: literature, films, and comic books. My approach is not a comprehensiye reyiew of Chinese images represented in these media, as other scholars have coyered this area of inquiry extensiye1y;- rather, I haye been selectiye in choosing "archetypal" Chinese images in order to proyide a discursive foundation from which the construction of Chinese American masculinities can be critiqued. More importantly, this hook attempts to borrow sociological models of masculinities in order to create an analytical framework that co~nplicatesthe privileging of one form of masculinity over others. Sociologists have argued that there are multiple forms of masculinities that are historically and socially constructed, and this study will examine the imbrication of historical contexts and selected representations of Chinese masculinities with the understanding that male identities are social constructs and they change according to historical transitions. My primary concern is to offer informed close readings and critical analyses based upon Sau-Ling Wong's notion of textual coalition.Wong uses the term textual coalition to identify the political need to consider Asian American literary texts collectiyely as a part of an Asian American literary tradition. While Wong's main concern is to establish an Asian American literary tradition, I would like to extend the notion of textual coalition to include films and comic books as texts. My extension of Wong's term, from textual coalitions to a coalition of cultural texts, has potential drawbacks as well as benefits. The primary limitation is that this study will not coyer the disciplinary distinctions among film studies, literary studies, and the study of comic books. These distinctions would involve an interdisciplinary approach to these texts. It is my intention to employ a more modest critical approach that is multidisciplinary in order to articulate a partial archeology of Chinese masculinities in America. The potential benefit of a more generous interpretation of textual coalition lies in the possibilities of forming coalitions that would otherwise be separated by disciplinary propriety. Since my goal is thematic, I am more interested in how these texts contribute to the discourse on masculinity than how literature, film, and comics relate to each other as distinct cultural forms. Given these discontinuities, the thematic links across various media are eyen more
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
American Inheritance
5
striking. My analysis of Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, Eruce Lee, and Shang-Chi begins with the understanding that these images emerged from a historical materiality.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT According to Ronald Takaki, the decrease in work available for Chinese farm laborers, miners, and railroad workers led to a shift from a predominantly rural group in the nineteenth century to a primarily urban group in the twentieth century. Takaki points out that in the 1920s, "58 percent of the Chinese were in services, most of them in restaurant and laundry work, compared to only 5 percent for native whites and 1 0 percent for foreign whites."Y The Chinese men formed hachelor societies because of the lack of johs for Chinese men, forcing them to live and work in Chinatowns, and laws that barred Chinese women from entering America, most notably the Page Law of 1875. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Chinese women comprised only 3 to 5 percent of the total Chinese population in the United States. Eachelor societies were formed not because of "natural social forces" hut as a consequence of "immigration and naturalization policies that discriminated against the Chinese as a people in general and against specific classes among them in particu1ae"fi~ Historian Sucheng Chan argues that "the number of Chinese females entering the country each year during the six decades when Chinese exclusion was in effect numbered in the hundreds rather than the thousands."ll More importantly, Chinese women were denied entry into the United States before the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed. Although there are admittedly other explanations for why so few Chinese women immigrated to the United States (patriarchal cultural values, , hazardous conditions in the sojourning mentalities, differences in cost of l i ~ i n gand American West), Chan has argued that a more important factor was the effort made by the American g o ~ e r n m e n to t restrict the immigration of Chinese women based upon common misconceptions. Specificall!; many Americans belie~ed that all Chinese women were prostitutes and therefore should he barred from entering the United States. As Chan states, "when the hostility against prostitutes became generalized, an exclusion campaign was launched against all Chinese women as an integral part of the larger anti-Chinese movement."" Thus, immigration laws limited the chances of Chinese immigrants to create families and to settle down in America by systematically separating Chinese men and women. Media studies scholar Darrell Hamamoto comes to a similar conclusion: "In sum, the 'bachelor societies' formed by early Chinese immigrants to a large extent is the material outcome of antidemocratic tendencies within American republican rule."" The combination of exclusion laws and discriminatory socio-economic practices that refused jobs to Chinese men effecti~elyemasculated the Chinese men. They were treated as inferior men who could not demonstrate their heterosexual identities and they could only find johs that were deemed by mainstream American society as feminine work. Cultural critic Lisa Lowe argues that "Chinese male immi-
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
Chinese American Masulinities
6
grants could he said to occupy, before 1940, a 'feminized' position in relation to white male citizens."14 Thus the Chinatowns in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century are socially enforced institutions that emasculated Chinese men in America. The emergence of bachelor societies and Chinatowns enabled inainstreain American society to view Chinatowns with schizophrenic lens: "Chinatown confirmed views of the Chinese as unhealth!; inassimilable, and undesirable iininigrants, yet this same negative imagery opened the way to the developinent of Chinatown as a tourist center."" O n one hand, Chinese inen in Chinatowns were perceived as dangerous and mysterious. O n the other hand, mainstream Americans were attracted to Chinatowns because of those same qualities. After the earthquake and fire of 1906, Sail Francisco's Chinatown had to he rebuilt and the inainstreain media promoted the "Oriental Quarter" as a modern place that was also inysterious and exotic. In an effort to support the economic viability of the tourist industry, the Sail Francisco Chronicle wrote that the Chinese were "honest and law-ahidi i ~ g . " ' ~The conflicting message promoted by the tourist industry suggests that Chinese men were engaged in criminal activities among themselves but would not threaten tourists. The tourist industry effectively manipulated the way in which Chinatown was represented and tourists were set up to expect elements of danger in a protected and controlled environment: Tourists were shown a fantasy land, a strange place they had read about in s Fu Manchu and Bret Harte's stories and had seen in Hollywood i n o ~ i e about Charlie Chan . . . The tourists were told about dark, underground tunnels filled with opium dens, ga~nblingjoints, and brothels where slave girls were imprisoned. They were even taken to fake opium dens . . . they were also shown "false lepers". . . . The guides hired Chinese and put on shows for their guests: in one performance, "opium crazed" Chinese men fought with k n i ~ e sin a battle oYer a slave girl.'; Many early twentieth century Chinatowns were essentially elaborate stages in which Chinese men and women were forced to follow a script that was imposed upon them by the tourist industry. The staging of Chinatowns in New York and San Francisco parallels the ways in which films and novels depicted the Chinese. The historical conditions, manifested in discriminatory laws and labor practices, provided a foundation for mainstream Americans to create stereotypes based on the promotion of Chinatowns by the tourist industry. Fu Manchu represents the xenophobia towards Chinese laborers while Charlie Chan conceals the underlying ethnic-specific racism in American culture by upholding a model minority group while vilifying other racial minority groups in the 1920s and 19.30s. Stuart Hall argues that popular cultural forms have an "ideological effect" upon the complex organizing structures and mechanisms within a social o r d e r . ' W o r e specifically, Patricia Hill Collin points out in her analysis of representations of Black women:
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
American Inheritance
7
Portraying African-American women as stereotypical mammies, matriarchs, welfare recipients, and hot mommas has been essential to the political economy of domination fostering Black women's oppression. . . . These controlling images are designed to make racism, sexism, and poverty appear to be natural, normal, and an inevitable part of everyday life."Iy This form of oppression has a structural similarity to how Chinese American Inen have been depicted. Stereotypical representations of Chinese men in American popular culture naturalize social hierarchies based on race, class, gender, and sexual identity. In both instances, stereotypes marginalize specific racial groups in order to sustain the superiority of the dominant group. The images of Fu Manchu, and Charlie Chan are controlling images in which selective racism, xenophobia, and class divisions are justified and naturalized. As Darrell Hamamoto explains, "images of control are used as an iconic shorthand to explain, justif!; and naturalize the subordination of Asian Americans within a society that espouses formal eq~ialityfor all."'" The correlation between public policy and the elnasculation of Chinese men in popular culture seem to be compatible strategies to contain or control the ways in which Chinese male identities are constructed in relation to their White male counterparts. O n a more subtle level, Bruce Lee's film career in the late 1960s and early 1970s illustrates how the dominant culture has additional means of co~ltrolsuch as coopting alternative modes of representation. Bruce Lee's cinematic image is utilized not to include Asian Americans in the mass media but to further marginalize them. Bruce Lee was the first Chinese American male to break through cultural and racial barriers in the United States to become a martial arts hero during the era of the civil rights movement. His cinematic image dismissed previous stereotypes of the yellow peril and model minority. Bruce Lee's emergence in the 1960s also represents a salient shift in the discourse of Chinese American masculinities. Through his cinematic display of his martial arts, Lee countered the desexualized Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan archetypes. Lee's rise in popularity coincides with the beginning of the Asian American movement. According to William Wei, Asian American activists emerged throughout the country to engage in politically in a variety of campus and community concerns, the tra~lscendentissue for them as well as for other political acti~istswas the Vietnam War. . . . Although the antiwar m o ~ e m e n tpoliticized a generation of Asian Americans, the Black Power movement moved them toward the goals of racial equality, social justice, and political empowerment.?' In the context of an emergent Asian American movement, the popularity of Bruce Lee's image as a martial arts hero who fights for the worlting class and against Japanese imperialism intersects with the goals of activists who demanded political empowerment for marginalized groups and critiqued the imperialist overtones of
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
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Chinese American Masulinities
the American military inyolyement in Vietnam. Lee's characters are consistently represented as the lone hero who fights for disenfranchised groups of people. Unfortunately, while Eruce Lee broke one set of harriers, he unwittingly created new hurdles for Asian American men. His martial arts has limited the roles Asian American can play in mainstream American media eyen in the 1990s. Russell Wong's role in the teleyision series Vanishing Son (1994), Robert Shiao's character in the film MORTAL ICOMEAT (199.51, and Byron Mann's role in the film STREET FIGHTER (1995) are all martial artists. In his play, Exit the Dragon, Chinese American playwright Eric Michael Zee suggests that it is time for American popular culture to move beyond the stereotype of the perpetual Bruce-Lee-wannahe Chinese American male.': That is to sa!; the entertainment industry needs to "exit the dragon" and consider the possibility that Asian American Inen can play non-martial arts characters." The unwillingness of the entertain~nentindustry to moye beyond racial stereotypes is determined by a logic of familiarity. Stereotypes effectiyely reduce the unfamiliar to the familiar and familiarity provides a convenient environment to minimize, or maximize, social conflicts. Consequentl!; the production of controlling images continues to exist in mutated forms even in the 1980s: Fu Manchu is manifested in images of the faceless enemy, gangsterltriad member, abusiye husband, overly successful foreign-born businessman; Charlie Chan has transformed into more comical roles such as the nerdlbuffoon, comic side-kick, wise old man, hutlerlcook, and computer scientist; Eruce Lee lives on in most second-rate martial arts video or film. Asian American men haye little control over the productions of these racial caricatures and the aggregate of these stereotypes constitutes what Stuart Hall calls the "grammar of race."" The systematic reproductions and appropriations of these stereotypes naturalizes the racial hierarchy of masculinities and the burden of praying one's worth as a man is bound by the additional burden of disarticulating the stereotypes. In other words, Chinese American men are guilty by race-association and the construction of a Chinese A~nericanmale identity is inevitably hound by refuting, denying, or rejecting these stereotypes. Anthony Chen has conducted lifehistory interviews with Chinese American men and he has identified four primary gender strategies: "cowzpensation, which is meant to undermine negative stereotypes by conforming to the image of hegemonic masculinity; deflection, which tries to divert attention away from stereotypical behayior; denial, which rejects the existence of stereotypes; and repudiation, which disayows the cultural assu~nptions about masculinity that make such stereotypes p ~ s s i b l e . " ~ ' Chen's research is significant because it proyides social scientific data that enables scholars to analyze how Chinese American Inen negotiate their identities with preyailing stereotypes. Chen's work also gestures towards the power of controlling images such as Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Shang-Chi. O n the representational level, these characters are encoded in ways that justify exclusionary discourses based on race: that the Chinese are racially and culturally incom-
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
American Inheritance
9
mensurable with Americans and they are foreigners who do not belong in America. The purpose of this book is to demystify the means of control perpetuated by popular culture in order to move beyond a critique of n e g a t i ~ eportrayals of Asian American men and open up the possibilities of a masculinist discourse that critically re-examines the racial and gendered meanings embedded in the construction of manhood.
THEORIES O N MASCULINITIES Robert Connell points to four different aspects of masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity refers to "the cultural dynamic by which a group claims and sustains a leading position in social life. . . . Hegemonic masculinity can be defined as the configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the domination of Inen and the subordination of women."2h Michael Kimmel further argues that a hegemonic masculinity is based upon homophobia, sexism, and racism, such that "the masculinity that defines white, middle class, early middle-aged, heterosexual men is the masculinity that sets the standards for other men, against which other Inen are measured and, more often than not, found ~ a n t i n g . " ~ ' Accordingly, representations of Chinese men are excluded from being a part of this elite group simply because a hegemonic masculinity seeks to define itself against Inen of color, fueling its need to constantly re-in~entor re-imagine a homogenous patriarchal identity to protect its own networks of An example of such re-inventions is shown in Susan Jeffords' work on how the Vietnam War has been represented. She argues that "it [gender representation] has been altered to produce, d i d a t e , and secure what I call here a 'remasculinization-a regeneration of the concepts, constructions, and definitions of masculinity in American culture and a restahlization of the gender system within and for which it is formulated."29 This need to remasculinize a patriarchal identity is a powerful one, g i ~ e nthe challenge of leftist politics that seeks to undermine a homogeneous male identity. Ironically, the need to remasculinize oneself is transferred to subordinated and marginalized male identities who are denied access to a hegemonic model of masculinity. Some men of color exhibit stereotypical macho behavior as a way to situate themselves as "manly men" in order to resolye provisionally their disempowered social status. The remasculinization of White men is thus fueled by the remasculinitization of some Inen of color, a process that is so effective that the oppressiveness of a hegemonic masculinity is displaced by the goal of acquiring and maintaining patriarchal powers at all costs. Those who do not measure up to a hegemonic masculinity are subordinated by the dominant group. Subordinated masculinit!; the second form of masculinity discussed by Connell, refers to the subordination of gay men by straight men: "Gayness, in patriarchal ideology, is the repository of whatever is symbolically expelled from hegemonic masculinit!; the items ranging from fastidious taste in home decoration to receptive anal pleasure. Hence, from the point of view of hege-
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Chinese American Masulinities
monic masculinit!; gayness is easily assimilated to femininity.""' The conflation of homophobia and sexism is necessary to sustain a n o r m a t i ~ eand hegemonic model of masculinity. The subordination of gay men and the rejection of feminine behavior benefit men in general. Those who do not explicitly display a hegemonic masculine front hut benefit from or implicitly support a hegemonic project can he referred to as embodying a co~nplicitmodel of masculinity, Connell's third form of masculinity. H e o b s e r ~ e sthat "the majority of men gain from its hegemony, since they benefit from the patriarchal dividend, the advantage men in general gain from the o ~ e r a l l subordination of w o ~ n e n . " ~ ~ Men of color, who are excluded from the hegemonic model of masculinity, may unwittingly buy into this notion of complicity. In spite of exclusions based on race, men of color can still benefit from patriarchal dividends and they may demonstrate a longing for inclusion to a hegemonic masculine identity. The seduction of a hegemonic masculinity can he a powerful force that lures men of color from a place of complicity to an aggressive pursuit of being a part of an elite group. Finally, Connell reminds us that Inen of color are marginalized from the dominant group and he points out that even if some men of color embody hegemonic masculinities, they are still socially and culturally marginalized from the elite group of Inen in terms of institutional as well as individual power. The successes of a few African American men, for instance, d o not haye a "trickle-down" effect to African American Inen in general. The impact that race or ethnicity has on the construction of masculinity is further explicated by Kohena Mercer and Isaac Julien. They argue that "ethnicity [is a] crucial factor in the social construction of manhood, suggesting that the racial dialectic of the projection and internalization through which white and black men have shaped their masks of masculinity is one of the key points at which race, gendel; and the politics of sexuality intersect."" Reiterating Robert Staples' thesis in Black Mascz~linity,they point out that "black masculinity is a contradictory experience g i ~ i n grise to a system of hlack male gender roles built upon conflicts which stem from the legacy of slavery."" Because of this history, "black masculinity is a highly contradictory formation as it is a subordinated masculinity." One of the impacts of sla~ery'slegacy supposedly is the internalization of macho attitudes: "tough, in control, independent." Macho posturing is one way to "recuperate some degree of power" that has been denied hlack men due to racism. Staples calls this the "duel dilemma" of black masculinit!; as machismo is "shaped by the challenge to the hegemony of the socially dominant white male, yet it assumes a form which is in turn oppressi~eto hlack women, children and indeed, to black men themsel~es, as it can entail self-destructive acts and attitude^."^^ Connell's attempt to break down a homogenous definition of ~nasculinityinto specific forms of ~nasculinitiesgestures towards a much needed distinction between a patriarchal discourse and a masculinist discourse. Patriarchy and masculinity have been so fundamentally linked that any discourse on masculinity seems to
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assume an underlying patriarchal project. If the ideology of masculinity is equated with the ideology of patriarch!; then politically progressive Inen may he compelled to renounce their "masculinity" in order to dis~nantlethe system and logic of patriarchy. Howeyer, if masculinity is constantly challenged, examined, and re-defined as heing distinct from patriarch!; then the possibility exists for men to retain a sense of male identity that is non-patriarchal, anti-sexist, and anti-racist. Profeminist scholars are engaged in precisely such a masculinist discourse that rejects patriarchy and hierarchies based on race, class, gender and sexuality; a position that allows Inen to he both masculine and non-patriarchal." Many of the criticisms of masculinity can he re-directed against a patriarchal discourse that is maintained by a hegemonic model of masculinity. The insistence by feminist scholars that masculinity is socially constructed has forced scholars to analyze masculinity as a product of culture and society and to understand how historical, cultural, and political forces affect the construction of male identities. Although American patriarchy has been constructed along hierarchical lines, the relationship between masculinity and patriarchy is not static or fixed. While defining patriarchy as a social system that oppresses women, it is important to acknowledge that men are also oppressed by the same patriarchal structure. Asian American Inen and other men of color, for instance, haye been denied access to a White American patriarchy and are forced to prove their manhood against a standard that constantly defines or redefines itself in negation to Inen of color. This dilemma underlines the amhimlent relationship between a marginalized or subordinated masculinity and a n o r m a t i ~ ehegemonic model of masculinity. The separation of patriarchy and masculinity allows for a clearer debate on masculinities. Since patriarchy rewards men who embody a hegemonic masculinity and Inen of color are consistently excluded from such a model, the desire to gain access can become an overriding and seductive force. The hyper-masculine image of African American men3hand the machismo rhetoric of Mexican immigrant men3' can be interpreted as performative responses to their own demeaned social and economic status, motivated by the fear of not heing manly enough. Men of color are forced to p r o x their manhood, a coded term for a hegemonic masculinity, or risk the stigmatization of heing effeminized and homosexualized. In my discussions with young Asian American men, I have found that the desire for inclusion within the dominant model of masculinity o ~ e r r i d e sthe politics of alliance with other oppressed groups. Instead of challenging patriarchy, most of these young Inen focused on how they h a x been denied patriarchal dividends, rendering a profeminist agenda less compelling in their eyes.'# The politics of inclusion is evidence of how a hegemonic model of masculinity becomes the prize for those who want to prove themsel~esas men and for those who are forced to prove themsel~esas men. Lynne Segal asks the question, "Can Inen change?"'Y For Chinese American men, the answer to this question is complicated because of the dialectical link between popular culture and indi~idualmale identity formations. It seems clear that
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the images of Chinese American men in popular culture need to change in order to reflect multiple forms of masculinities. Without such changes, the fictional models of masculinities represented in popular culture control and limit the ways in which Chinese American Inen articulate their indi~idualnotions of masculinit!; compelling some Inen to prove their manhood first. Howe~el;Victor Seidler warns Inen that the social constructionist argument is dangerous because it "displaces the issue of responsibilit!; for the role, like the construction, is p r o ~ i d e dfor individuals 'by society."' Indeed, it is all too easy for men, and women, to blame society for the construction of gender roles without thinking about one's own responsibility in spite of those roles. Men, who in general have less reason for change, must be aware of their own complicity in sustaining a hegemonic masculinity and need to become more responsible for their own actions regardless of how the media defines masculinity."] In other words, it is crucial that Chinese American men formulate a masculinist discourse that is heterogeneous and moye beyond efforts to re-heteromasculinize Chinese American masculinity in order to examine critically how masculinities are socially and culturally constructed. The desexualization of Chinese American masculinities needs to he recognized as a politically and economically motimted cultural device and understood as an oppressi~eform of control. At the same time, a Chinese American masculinist discourse needs to play an active role in re-defining normative hegemonic models of masculinity and not fall into the discursi~etrap set forth by controlling images.
THE DEBATE OVER CHINESE AMERICAN MASCULINITIES Chinese American masculinity has been a subject of dehate in Asian American literary studies since the 1970s. ICing-I
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American men are thus burdened with the need to prove their manhood or risk the stigmatization of being labeled as feminized. Yen Le Espiritu notes that "the contemporary model-minority stereotype further emasculates Asian American men as passive and malleable. Disseminated and perpetuated through popular media, these stereotypes of the emasculated Asian male construct a reality in which social and economic discrimination against these Inen appears d e f e n ~ i b l e . " ~ ~ The fear of being effeminzed or homosexualized is evidence of how powerful a hegemonic model of masculinity can he. In American culture, n o r m a t i ~ emasculinity-as a behavioral and ideological identity-is a social construct that sustains a patriarchal social order. Chinese American haye been represented and percei~edas powerless and non-sexual within this social order. While powerful and sexual images of Chinese American men may be gratifying on psychological and social levels, the politics of representations need to include the heterogeneity of Chinese American male identities. Conforming to dominant ideals of White male masculinity can only serve to reinforce the pervasi~enessof patriarchy and continue to marginalize (or denigrate) those Chinese American male identities that do not conform to either the "traditional" Asian or White American patriarchal norms. Sau-Ling Wong argues convincingly how images of Asian American men that reflect a normatiye masculine image (most notably in the 1991 Asian Pacific Islander Men's Calendar) can be politically self-defeating as meanings generated from these images are difficult to control or monitored when "discourses collude and collide." It seems that the collusion of maintaining a n o r m a t i ~ eheteromasculinity and the collision of a disparate sociopolitical power structure among different racially specific models of masculinities illustrate the cultural and political anxieties i n r o l ~ e din the articulation of a Chinese American masculinist discourse. O n one hand, the desire to identify with a n o r m a t i ~ eheteromasculine model of masculinity is fueled by an urgent need to disinherit e~nasculatingrepresentations. O n the other hand, succumbing to those same norms reflect a willingness to adhere to a predominantly white model of masculinity. Feminist scholars such as Elaine Kim and King-ICok Cheung haye criticized Asian American men because they d o not seem to want to subvert the patriarchal social order. Rathel; they "desire the rewards of patriarchal legitimacy." According to ICim, "some Asian American Inen have responded by attempting to reassert male authority over the cultural domain and over women by subordinating feminism to nationalist concerns," and Frank Chin has "coded creati~it!; courage, and 'being taken seriously' as 'masculine."'" ICing-I
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ties and to articulate a spectrum of identities that is less divisiye, misogynist, and heterosexist. Elaine Kim's ohser~ationthat the dissolution of cultural and political hinarism is a helpful point of reference in articulating a masculinist discourse. She writes that the Asian American woman's voice is a voice which dissolves binary oppositions of ethnicity and gender, American and Asian American, male and female, 'I' and 'not-I,' eluding the fraudulent ohjectiyity and totalizing grids misreaders male and female, Asian and non-Asian, attempt to place over it. Located at the intersection of race and gender, Asian American women's writings insist on identity and difference in multiple layers of selfhood and community." Similarly, Asian American Inen need to consider their masculinities in a manner that goes beyond Frank Chin's efforts at remasculinization and critique binary oppositional discourses. Howevel; in order to understand the yarious forms of male identities, it is necessary to situate marginalized masculinities in the context of disempowerment from the hegemonic model of masculinity. Asian American men haye limited access to the political decision-making process on both state and federal leyels: they haye little say in educational policies or corporatelexecutiye managerial decisions and the entertaimnent industry has excluded them from its network of power. Only a small group of Asian American men haye been able to break through some of the "glass ceilings" set up by often subtle racist policies of exclusions. In short, Asian American men are disempowered as a group structurally vis-i-vis their White counterparts due to the history of exclusionary immigration laws and the current pervasi~enessof the glass ceiling. This does not mean that they are disempowered individually, howeyer. Without falling into the divisive trap of competing for the most oppressed status, I must nonetheless emphasize the structural inequalities between Asian American men and their White counterparts. This disparate power relationship should alert us to the fact that masculinities are constructed around race as well as class and sexuality. Enhancing Asian American heteromasculinity will not automatically proyide a greater "natural" access to political or social powers. My contention in this book is that Chinese American stereotypes haye shaped the discourse on Chinese American men's issues. Howeyer, in the process of debunking stereotypes, one must be willing to construct alternative models of masculinities while risking, politically and socially, the stigmatization of effeminizationlho~nosexualization. This dilemma is also manifested in my research where a hegemonic model of masculinity is still considered a coveted masculine identity: to be manl!; one must reject the feminine and the homosexual. Michael ICimmel calls for a "democratic manhood" in which hegemonic forms of masculinities need to be critiqued. My purpose here is to investigate the different ways in which Chinese masculinities are constructed in order to frame the discourse on Chinese American masculinities around a set of anxieties. Specifically,
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what are the risks i n r o l ~ e din articulating alternati~emodels of masculinities that are not categorized as n o r m a t i ~ eand heteromasculine while disparate sociopolitical power structures still exist? My pro~isionalresponse to this question lies in my analysis of representations of Chinese American men. The masculine model I a m pursuing is based upon a rejection of a compulsory heteromasculine norm while acknowledging that Chinese American men are still disempowered structurally due to institutionalized racism. Since the effects of racism experienced by Chinese American men are so d i ~ e r s eand complex, I want to focus on conceptualizing models of masculinity that are more fluid and indeterminate. In my analysis, I have emphasized an ambi-sexual model of masculinity. This model strategically embraces non-patriarchal characteristics of masculinity, fundamental feminist principles of gender equalit!; and socially determined feminine characteristics that gesture towards a more "democratic" manhood. This model also suggests an amhimlence towards socially determined definitions of masculinity and the ambiguity component of this model uses ambiguity as a form of resistance towards established gender norms. My repudiation of a compulsory hetero~nasculinenorm underscores an attempt to dislodge the link between heterosexuality and ~nasculineidentity. Kimmel argues that masculinity is founded upon racism, homophobia and sexism, and it is clear to me that, in order to engage in a more meaningful discussion on masculinity from a marginalized position, there needs to he a re-definition of masculinity that is not constructed upon oppressi~e ideologies. In order to demystify this hidden link between masculinity and heterosexuality, I have decided to use the term heteromasculinity to describe a compulsory heterosexual norm so that readers will not automatically assume that references to one's masculinity means that he is also heterosexually identified. By disrupting the link between heterosexuality and a masculine norm, I hope to articulate a conceptual framework around an amhi-sexual ~nasculineidentity that is not easily compartmentalized in a dichotomous fashion (masculine versus feminine).
PART ONE Chapters 2 and 3 explore the mechanisms deployed in the Sax Rhomers' and Earl Derr Biggers' n a r r a t i ~ e sthat sustain the sexual superiority of the White male characters, refracting a dominant ideology of racial, class, gender, and sexual hierarchy. The selected texts in these two chapters r e ~ e a ltwo White male writers' image of Chinese men on an intellectually simplistic, hut politically powerful l e ~ e l .More importantly, they represent two models of masculinity that are dichotomized (Fu Manchu is e ~ i while l Charlie Chan is good) and yet linked by their sexuality: they are both desexualized breeders. These two characters indeed r e ~ e a lone of the sexual components of a xenophobic ideology in American culture: Chinese Inen are virile and have the ability to procreate, thereby increasing the number of Americans of Chinese an~estry.'~ Therefore, legislative policies must he established to prevent Chinese men in
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America from haying children. Although Espiritu argues that Fu Manchu's masculinity is one of hypersexuality, it is clear that Fu Manchu is not depicted as a sensuous character. His sexuality is coded in terms of a yirility that is driyen by colonization and aggression. Fu Manchu, in fact, is a projection of America's own colonial mentality, manifested in the phrase, "the Westward ~ n o y e ~ n e n t . "Ey ~ - projecting White America's notion of manifest destiny onto Dr. Fu Manchu's ideology of colonialism, White supremacy is thus masked and deflected by positioning Chinese men as imminent threats towards the unity and security of American culture and society. Howeyer, Sir Nayland Smith in the 1910s and Shang-Chi in the 1970s minimize this threat. More importantl!; the link between yirility and sensuality is torn apart as Fu Manchu is reduced to an asexual yet yirile character. Similarly, Charlie Chan is also stripped of the sensual qualities usually associated with yirile men and the subtle containment of these two characters contribute to the controlling effect of Chinese American men.
HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY BASED ON HOMOPHOBIA Queer theorists reyeal how homosexuality is a direct challenge to a compulsory heteromasculinity In Erotics and Politics: G a y Male Sexuality, Masculinity and Feminism, Tim Edwards suggests that homosexuality socially and culturally still undermines masculinity, that is to say, masculinity is not homosexual and homosexuality is not masculine, and yet of course this does not prevent the attempt personally and individually, or even collectively, to reinvent 'masculine ho~nosexuality.'~" This reinvention of a masculine homosexuality exists concurrently with the continued "regulation of sexuality and oppression of gay men and lesbians." In other words, even when gay men practice masculine behavior, it does not mean that they can participate fully or equally with masculine heterosexuals in public life. Masculinity as an ideology and social construct, then, consists of a hierarchy of masculinities which inscribes non-white and non-heterosexual masculinities as threatening or subversive to normative masculine behavior since a masculine homosexuality challenges the common sense assumption that masculinity, in its broadest application, is contingent upon heterosexuality. In this regard, Richard Fung's work has been helpful because his analysis of gay Asian men in pornography reflects a masculinity that undermines the conflation between masculinity and heterosexuality. The discourse of masculinity within a homosexual context boldly renounces the definition of masculinity as heterosexually identified and struggles to establish homosexuality as an acceptable sexual practice. Fung's critique of the ways in which gay Asian men are represented in gay porn parallels the ways in \vhich heterosexual Asian men are portrayed in mainstream media. According to Fung, gay Asian men are represented in gay porn as submissive and passive: they are the ones who are penetrated.
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Fung describes the ways in which racism and sexism are inextricably linked and he uses gay porn as way to demonstrate the consistent subjugation of the gay Asian actor as a "house boy." The power structures embedded in gay porn are clear: gay white men are represented as superior to gay men of other ethnic backgrounds. More importantly, the lack of a continuum of gay Asian desires in gay porn signals an erasure of gay Asian viewers: "The gay Asian viewer is not constructed as sexual subjects in any of this work-not on the screen, not as a ~ i e w ee I may find Sum Yung Mahn attractive, I may desire his bod!; hut I am always aware that he is not meant for me."4y The issues raised by Fung's analysis should provide a political nexus from which heteromasculine Asian American men can formulate an alliance that resists the racialized hierarchy in which Asian American men are situated in a larger cultural landscape. Due, in part, to the homophobia embedded in the way in which n o r m a t i ~ emasculinity is articulated, I contend that an ambi-sexual masculine identity is a viable transitional site that gestures towards a continuum of masculine identities for Asian American men. I hope that an inclusive discourse on Asian American masculinities will enable heteromasculine Asian American men to form alliances based on institutional structures of oppression as opposed to rejecting non-traditional models of masculinity in order to conform to a heterosexual norm. After all, representations of heteromasculinity in mainstream media are not meant for straight Asian American Inen either. One interpretive strategy that disrupts the notion of a compulsory heterosexuality is enacted through a homosexualized gaze. M a r k Simpson's Male Impersonators is a fascinating and insightful account of how the encoding process of male images continues to lose control of the preferred meaning: Men's bodies are on display everywhere; but the grounds of men's anxiety is not just that they are being exposed and commodified but that their hodies are placed in such a way as to passively invite a gaze that is undifferentiated: it might be female or male, hetero or homo. Traditional male heterosexuality, which insists that it is always active, sadistic and desiring, is now inundated with images of men's hodies as passix, masochistic and desired."' Simpson's readings of body building, sports, films (among other cultural a c t i ~ i tieslimages) re-vision heteromasculine images and acti~itiesas sexually ambiguous with the understanding that the mechanisms of heteromasculine powers are still in place. Such gaze reversals open up the possibilities of contesting meanings and questioning the commonly unquestio~ledrepresentations of male bodies and male identities. The undifferentiated gaze is a potentially disrupti~einterpreti~estrategy that renders dominant ideologies less stable and homogenous. A similar kind of disrupti~estrategy informs my reading of Bruce Lee in Chapter 4. Bruce Lee's cinematic image exudes a sensuous quality for viewers of different racial, sexual, class, and gender backgrounds. His international star status suggests that his sexualized image, manifested in his martial arts, speaks across those social-
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ly constructed boundaries. Although the narratives in his films perpetuate the story of a lone hero whose actions are independent of social relations (he seldom shows any heterosexual interests toward the female characters), the flaunting of his body on screen encourages viewers to admire his Chinese body Unlike the more recent tele~isionshow, Vanishing Son (1994), whose main character constantly reminds the audience that he is heterosexually identified, Bruce Lee neither prioritizes the James Bondian claim to a compulsory heterosexualized masculinity nor does he reject the homosexualization of his body. In this sense, Bruce Lee's refusal to validate heterosexual relationships can be interpreted as a disengagement of his masculine identity from the patriarchal society he inhabits in his films by exuding an amhi-sexual identity. His cinematic image does not fall into a binary model of heterosexuality Yersus homosexuality; rather, his image can he interpreted as hoth ambiguous and ambivalent towards socially determined models of sexual identities. An amhi-sexuality is characterized by a non-commitment to reified models of sexual identities. An amhi-sexual identity represents an unresolved relationship to hoth heterosexualized and homosexualized gazes. Bruce Lee's films p r o ~ i d ea context for a masculine discourse that is contradictory and subversive as he uses physical aggression to counter the link between a normative masculinity and a compulsory heterosexuality. In his films, there seems to he two distinct yet inter-related discursive formations: first, there is a world of overwhelming male presence and patriarchal power and second, Lee uses his physical hody to disrupt that patriarchal order even as he reinforces it by dominating other men. Chapter 5 examines how M a r ~ e Comics l appropriated Bruce Lee's image in the Master of Kztng Fzt series. It is clear that Shang-Chi's heterosexuality is thrust to the forefront of the narrative. Shang-Chi is heterosexually identified and conforms to the heteromasculine patriarchal structure that surrounds the comic book itself, while Bruce Lee's characters are more sexually ambiguous. Although Shang-Chi is drawn in a Yery sexual mannel; revealing his fine tuned upper hody musculature, his sexual identity still needs to be encoded as heteromasculine in order to control how this character is interpreted. Unlike Bruce Lee's characters, who is sexualized by hoth women and gay characters, Shang-Chi is categorically not sexually ambiguous and he is not gay. Shang-Chi does not challenge Western patriarchy though because he is guided by a father figure, Sir Nayland Smith. There is a clear demarcation of an Asian patriarchy that is so much more malevolent than the benevolent Western patriarch!; and Shang-Chi figures as an immigrant hero who converts temporarily to Western philosophy only to realize that he is incompatible with the West. That Shang-Chi's heteromasculine identity hoth conforms to and rejects Western patriarchy is evidence of perhaps the contradictory threat of a Chinese male hero: he may uphold Western civilization but culturally, he is still deemed incompatible with the West.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
American Inheritance PART TWO Chapter 6, on Chinese American male writings, explores the different ways in which subordinated and marginalized masculinities are constructed from childhood experiences. The coalition of these texts constitutes, in part, a masculinist discourse that articulates the heterogeneity of Chinese American male identities. More importantly, these texts disarticulate the inheritances of Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Shang-Chi. They rewrite the grammar of race and gender by telling stories that reyea1 the conflicts of coming to terms with male role models and the stakes involved in attaining manhood. Shawn Wong's Honwbase and American Knees, Gus Lee's China Boy and Honor and Duty, and Frank Chin's Donald Duk are stories about growing up as Chinese American boys and they gesture towards a disarticulation of an American inheritance that refocuses on re-establishing father and son relations. These narratiyes need to be read not simply as masculinist texts hut also as texts that struggle with the formation of masculine and patriarchal discourses. Although these stories at times uphold Western patriarchal values in the guise of hegemonic masculinities, a more in-depth analysis will reyea1 the conflicting historical, economic, and social forces from which these male identities emerge. In Chapter 7, I examine the strategies in which Dayid Wong Louie's characters in Pangs of Love and David Henry Hwang's characters in M. Butterfly wrestle with the formation of masculine identities. For instance, Louie's short story "Pangs of Loye" depicts a narrator who relies on an artificial formula to enhance his heteromasculinity. The artifice inrolyed in the narrator's constructed heteromasculinity calls attention to the dubious nature of a heterosexual ~nasculineidentity and masks his underlying admiration of the male body. In Hwang's M. Butterfly, Song Liling manipulates Western misconceptions of the East while fulfilling a Western fantasy or myth-that of a submissive Asian woman who wants to he dominated by a European man. But Western patriarchy is undermined by Song Liling's amhi-sexua1 identity. Since the question of Song's sexual identity is the dramatic core of the play, the gendered power relationship between Song Liling and Rene Gallimard is also rendered ambiguous. Both Song Liling and Rene Galli~nardexude an amhi-sexuality that disrupts gender roles rather than perpetuate them. Howeyer, it is clear that Galli~nardis ambivalent towards gender and sexual roles while Song is not committed to those roles. It is only at the end of the play that Gallimard commits to and identifies with a reified feminine role, a commitment that ends his life. In conclusion, more research needs to he done on how Asian American Inen negotiate the multiple social forces that contribute to the construction of Asian American male identities. My Asian American male students haye admitted to me that feminism has proyided a critical language for women to confront the oppressions of patriarchy while the Inen have not had the same kinds of tools to deal with the ~ a r i e dmodels of masculinity. I haye found that a profeminist critique of masculinities is helpful because of the ultimate goal of establishing what Michael I
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damaging and politically detrimental to the construction of Asian American masculinities. Howeyer, it is also my goal to moye beyond the critique of negatiye stereotypes of Asian American Inen and Part Two provides critical readings that question the viability of various models of masculinity that shape and manipulate a masculinist discourse. Rather than wait for the media to acknowledge the diyersity of Asian American men, it is equally important to confront the homophobia that exists within Asian American communities, the paternalistic role of men in Asian American families, explore the heterogeneity of Asian American male identities in order to disinherit stereotypes, and critique a hegemonic model of masculinity." King-ICok Cheung asks, "is it not possihle for Chinese American Inen to recoyer a cultural space without denigrating or erasing 'the feminine'?"': I belieye that this task of reasserting Chinese American manhood is possible if men and women are willing to redefine a normative masculinity that is anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, and anti-racist. The process of redefining a masculinist discourse cannot he determined by a hegemonic remasculinization alone. Indeed, ICing-I
NOTES 1. Master of Kung Fu, Issue 89 (June, 1980). 2. It is important to acknowledge that my project cannot be comprehensi~e because of the vastly different experiences of Asian men in this country-differences based on ethnicity, regional origins, level of acculturation, historical, linguistic, generational, sexual, and class backgrounds, and so on. Realizing that I cannot possibly speak for such a diverse group, I have decided to focus on representations of Chinese men in America in order to refrain from generalizing too much across eth-
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nic and regional boundaries. When I d o use the term "Asian American men," I am gesturing towards a larger social group not because I think I can speak for this entire group but because I hope to acknowledge that there may ne~erthelessbe siinilarities in these divergent experiences. Additionall!; the terms Chinese American or Asian American are used to signify an American experience that includes growing up in America. First generation Asian Americans, because of their ties to their Asian cultures and histories, may not he as affected by these images of masculinity because they grew up with a spectrum of Asian male role models. 3. Michael Omi, "In Living Color: Race and American Culture" in Cultural Politics in Conteinporaq America, ed. Ian Angus and Sut Jhally (New Yorlz: Routledge, 1989), 122. 4. Throughout this book, I use the terms "East" and "West." My intention is to reflect their pervasive use in both academic and non-academic discourses while recognizing the oversimplification and generalization of both constructs. 5. I use the term heteroinasculinity as a way to highlight the assumption that masculinity is intricately linked with heterosexuality. In order to aclznowledge the multiple forms of masculinity, I use the plural form of masculinity and heteromasculinity as a way to de-link the common conflation of masculinity with heterosexuality. 6. In recent years there has been a "crisis in masculinity" in which the traditionally accepted norins of masculinity haye come under scrutiny, reacting to the struggles of the women's movement and, since 1969, of the gay liberation movement. As Michael S. ICimmel explains "new role models for men have not replaced older ones, but have grown alongside them, creating a dynamic tension between ambitious breadwiimer and compassionate father, between macho seducer and loving companion, between Rambo and Phil Donahue . . . we liye in an era of transition in the definition of masculinity. . . in which two parallel traditions emerge, and from the tension of opposition between them a new synthesis might perhaps be born." See Michael ICimmel, ed., Changing Men: N e w Directions in Research on Men and Masculinitj~(Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1987), 9. This crisis in masculinity has lead to a more in-depth analysis of the different forms of masculine identities. Howeyer, Chinese American masculinities, as a subject of analysis, have not been scrutinized with the same kind of intellectual rigor. 7. See Elaine Kim's Asian American Literatztre: A n Introdztction t o the Writings and Their Social Contest (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982) for a comprehensive analysis of negative portrayals of Asians in American literature. Darrell Hainainoto's Monitored Peril (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994) discusses the politics of representations of Asian Americans in television. For more recent studies, see King-ICok Cheung's "Of Men and Men: Reconstructing Chinese American Masculinity," in Other Sisterhoods, ed. Sandra ICumamoto Stanley (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998; Robert G. Lee's Orientals: Asian Ainericans in Popular Cztlture (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999);David Paluinbo-Lui's AsianlAmerican: Historical Crossings of a Racial Frontier (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999. 8. Sau-Ling Wong, Reading Asian American Litemture: From Necessity t o Extravagance (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), 12.
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9. Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore (New York: Penguin Eooks, 1989), 240. 10. Sucheng Chan, "The Exclusion of Chinese Women, 1870-1943" in Entry Denied: E ~ c l z ~ s i oand n the Chinese Coinmunit)' in America, 1882-1943, ed. Sucheng Chan (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 19911, 139. 11. Sucheng Chan, Asian Anwricans: A n Interpretive Histor), (Boston: Tlvayne Publishers, 19911, 107. 12. Chan, Asian Americans, 138. 13. Hamamoto, Monitored Peril, 6. 14. Lisa Lowe, Immigrant Acts (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996), 11. 15. Talzalzi, Strangers, 246. 16. Ibid., 247. 17. Ihid., 249-251. 18. Stuart Hall, "Culture, The Media and the 'Ideological Effect"' in Mass Comnzztnication and Society, ed. James Curran, Michael Cure~itch,and Jane1 Woollacott (Beverly Hills: SAGE, 19791, 315-348. Accordi~lgto Hall, ideology has several different effects under capitalism. First, there is a "maslzing and displacing" effect, which refers to the ways in which the dominant culture "maslzs, conceals, or represses" its own antagonistic foundations, particularly its class exploitati~e nature. The second effect is "fragmentation," in which class struggles are d i ~ i d e d even further along class lines and "masked" with ideological totalities like "the community," "the nation," and "public opinion." The manufacturing of ideological totalities is what Antonio Gramsci has called the hegemonic function of consent and cohesion-a complex operation that reinforces the dominance of the dominant class-which is rendered invisible by the "masking-fragmenting-uniting" process. 19. Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thoztght: Knowledge, Conscioztsness and the Politics of Enzpou~erinent(New York: Routledge, 19911, 67. 20. Hamamoto, Monitored Peril, 31. 21. William Wei, T h e Asian American M o v e m e n t (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993), 37-41. 22. Eric Michael Zee, Exit the Dragon (Eeverly Hills: Imerg, Inc., 1997). This play was first perforined at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California, on August 24, 199.3. 23. Jason Scott Lee has played non-martial arts roles after portraying Bruce Lee in the film Dragon: T h e Bruce Lee Stor)' (1993). He was cast as Mowgli in the Jztngle Book (1994). In television, Garrett Wang has been cast as Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager (1994). Unfortunatel!; these are exceptions to the fact that Asian American inen are underrepresented and their roles are limited. 24. Stuart Hall, "THE WHITES O F THEIR EYES: Racist Ideologies and the Media" in Silver Linings: Some Strategies for the Eighties, ed. George Bridges and Rosalind Brunt (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1989), 39. 25. Anthony S. Chen, "Lives at the Center of the Periphery, Lives at the Periphery of the Center: Chinese Ainerican Masculinities and Bargaining with Hegemony," Gender and Society 1.3, no. 5 (October, 1999): 584-607. Chen further argues that a "hegeinonic bargain occurs for Chinese Ainerican men when their gender strategy relies upon class, gender, national, or sexual privilege to elevate their symbolic and material status in relation to hegemonic men and their masculinities."
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26. Robert Connell, Masculinities (Eerkeley: Uni~ersity of California Press, 199.51, 77. 27. Michael IZiminel, "Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity" in Theorizing Mascdinities, ed. Harry Brod and Michael IZaufman (Thousand Oalts: SAGE, 1994), 124. 28. IZimmel has identified, for instance, the Genteel Patriarch, the Heroic Artisan, and the Self-Made Man. These different models of masculinity represent how the doininant version of Ainerican manhood shifts according to historical changes. See Michael IZiminel, Manhood in America: A Cztltztral History (New York: The Free Press, 19961, 13-42. Kenneth Clatterbaugh has characterized different contemporary models of masculinity: moral and biological conservatives, profeminist men, men's rights advocates, socialist profeminists, mythopoetic believers, and marginalized men. See IZenneth Clatterbaugh, Contemporary Perspectives o n Mascztlinity: Men, W o m e n , and Politics in Modern Society (Eoulder: Weswiew Press, 1990). 29. Susan Jeffords, Renzascztlinization of Anwrica: Gender and the Vietnam W a r (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989), 51. 30. Connell, Masculinities, 78. 31. Ibid., 79. 32. Kohena Mercer and Isaac Julien, "Race, Sexual Politics, and Elack Masculinity" in Male Order: Unwrapping Mascztlinity, ed. Rowena Chapman and Jonathan Rutherford (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1988), 99. 33. Ibid., 112. 34. Ibid., 113. 35. See Harry Brod and Michael Kaufman, eds., Theorizing Mascztlinities (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1994). 36. See Richard Majors, "Cool Pose: Elack Masculinity and Sports" in Sport, Men, and the Gender Order: Critical Feminist Perspectives, ed. Michael A. Messiler and Donald F. Sabo (Champaign: Human Kinetics Boolts, 1990), 109-114. 37. In Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Michael A. Messner's research on marginalized masculinities, they report that the White American students they interyiewed believe that "macho" behavior is associated with "traditional" men: "black men, Latino men, immigrant men, and working-class men." What interests me is the way in which White male students redefine normative masculinity in the 1990s as being less "macho" while projecting those negative qualities onto "traditional" Inen of coloc Hondapneu-Sotelo and Messner, however, have observed that Mexican immigrant men in the United States are significantly more egalitarian when it comes to diyisions of labor in the family and decision making processes than when they were in Mexico. They point out that the macho posturing of an aggressiye, misogynist masculinity is an assertion of power ''within a context of powerlessness." Although they acltnowledge that some Mexican men in the United States are misogynist, their research has shown that Mexican women participate more in the labor force in the United States than they do in Mexico. Because they make significant contributions to the family, Mexican American women in the United States expect to he treated with greater equality. The White American male students, on the other hand, consider theinselyes "New Men" as they project "aggression, domination, and misogyny onto subordinate groups of men" while reconstructing or recoding a hegemonic masculinity for themselves in terms of a lib-
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era1 discourse of sensitivity, expressivity, and domesticity. But Hondagneu-Sotelo and Messner argue that the "egalitarian New M a n does not actually exist." By studying the ways in which marginalized masculinities change, Hondagneu-Sotelo and Messner suggest that scholars should focus more on power and politics rather than 011"personal styles or lifestyles." See Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Michael Messner, "Gender Displays and Men's Power: The 'New Man' and the Mexican Immigrant Man," in Theorizing Masculinities, ed. Harry Brod and Michael Kaufman (Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 1994), 206-214. 38. In one of the discussions on Asian American masculinit!; one student said that Asian American men are, under the social and cultural hierarchy in America, "the lowest of the low." 39. See Lynn Segal, Slow Motion: Changing Masculinities, Changing Men (London: Virago Press, 1990). 40. Victor Siedlel; Unreasonable Men: Masculinity and Social Theory (London: Routledge, 1994). 41. King-Kolt Cheung, "The Woman Warrior versus The Chinaman Pacific: Must a Chinese American Critic Choose between Feminism and Heroism?" in Conflicts in Feminism, ed. Marianne Hirsch and Evelyn Fox Keller (New Yorlt: Routledge, 1990), 2.34. 42. Yen Le Espiritu, Asian Ainerican W o m e n and Men (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1997), 90-91. 43. Elaine Kim, "'Such Opposite Creatures': Men and Women in Asian American Literature," Michigan Quarterl)' Review 29, no. 1 (Winter, 1990): 75. 44. Cheung, "The Woman Warrior," 237. 45. Kim, "Such Opposite Creatures," 91. 46. The potential for A~nericanswho are not white challenges the dominant culture's desire to conflate race and culture. Such a conflation homogenizes American citizenry and culture, equating Whites with Americans. Americans of Chinese or Asian Ancestry disrupt the logic of conflating race with culture by re-defining American citizenry in non-racial terms; specifically, the Chinese and other Asians who are horn here haye the same claims to America as Whites. 47. Hamamoto, Monitored Peril, 32. 48. Tim Edwards, Erotics and Politics: Gay Male Sexuality, Masculinity and Feminism (London: Routledge, 19941, 3. 49. Richard Fung, "Loolting for My Penis: The Eroticized Asian in Gay Video Porn," in H o w D o I Look? Queer Video and Film, ed. Bad Object-Choices (Seattle: Bay Press, 1991), 158. 50. Mark Simpson, Male Impersonators: M e n Performing Masculinity (New York: Routledge, 19941, 4. 51. Asian American artists have indeed responded to the need to explore the subject of masculinity with creative expressions of their male identities. Eric Michael Zee's play Exit the Dragon, Dan Kwong's group performance, ever)'thing )'ou wanted t o k n o w about asian m e n , and Lee Mun Wah's documentary films, Stolen Ground and T h e Color of Fear, and Steven Okazaki's American Sons are pioneering works that take important steps toward opening up discussions on Asian American male identities. 52. Cheung, "The Woman Warrior," 242.
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American Inheritance
5.3. Ibid., 245. 54. If there were an ultimate goal, it would be that Inen who do not exhibit hetero~nasculinetraits are not stigmatized at all. However, for Chinese American men, the perpetuation of one-dimensional models of masculinity hinders the articulation and development of a political and theoretical position because their American inheritance has framed their masculine identities as inferior and inadequate, effect i ~ e l yforcing them to proye their manhood even more. 55. After my lecture on dismantling socially constructed gender roles, one Asian American student said, "While I understand your goal of challenging masculine and feminine roles, but d o we really want a generation of wimps?" This comment reveals the power behind the social construction of a hegemonic masculinity that defines itself as non-feminine.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
CHAPTER T W O
Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu: Scrutinizing the Inscrutable
I
n the last few months of 1995, Miller Genuine Draft aired a colnlnercial for its Miller Light beec The colnmercial depicts two beer-drinking White Americans watching an old lzung fu movie on television in which several Asian Inen are attacking two Asian women. The White American Inen slam their beer bottles on the counter. At that moment, they become an active part of the lzung fu movie. The main Asian male character challenges them to a paper football game and loses. The Asian women are saved, the Asian male character admires the two White Americans, and then they all go to a sports bar. The Asian male antagonist in this commercial has the signature beard of DL Fu Manchu, a fictional character created by British author Sax Rohmec After more than eighty years, the American media is apparently still infatuated with the controlling image of DL Fu ~ a n c 1 u . l The recurrent manifestation of a calculating Asian male has been transformed into an antagonist who succulnbs to White America's superior competitive spirit and concedes defeat by calling them "worthy opponents," validating America's dominant place in the international market of economic strength and cultural powec This narrative of White America's prominence is cleverly encoded in the form of a "jolze," as the commercial parodies the immensely pop~ilar1970s dubbed lzung fu movies from Asia. Nonetheless, the disempowerment of the Fu Manchulike patriarchal figure by two White Americans is not lost to the critical viewec The danger posed by the evil Asian male character in the television colnmercial and his subsequent containment loosely parallel Sax Rohmer's fiction.? The DL Fu Manchu character perpetuates the myth that the Chinese, and by extension, Asians, are trying to take over the Western world.: This myth clearly has racist implications as it misrepresents the historical and political conditions in China in order to inculcate a collective fear in British and
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American readers of Asian immigrants while duplicitously reasserting the superiority of Western civilization. Dr. Fu Manchu's plan to colonize the Occident lures readers into interpreting Chinese immigration patterns in the 1910s, when the no\.els were published,'as another "yellow peril." Howeyer, at the end of each n o d , the yellow peril is contained in spite of the exaggerated threat posed by the scheming Chinese man. White male supremac!; as an ideological construct, is reestablished as Asian Inen are ritualistically ~ilifiedin order to maintain a sense of superiority among White men.' Whether or not cultural producers make conscious efforts to manipulate readers is difficult to determine; however, it is important to theorize on the social and cultural functions of popular culture and to r e ~ e a lwhat the implications might be." Stuart Hall's analysis of the media and its ideological effect is insightful because it locates the process in which preferred meanings are produced. The interplay between the encoder and the decoder is not a seamless communicative act as it is difficult to establish a purely literal transmission; yet there is clearly an encoding process that tries to produce a preferred meaning. One of Rohmer's strate,'ales to establish preferred meanings is to use images and historical events as tools that enable readerslaudiences to deceive themsel~esby redirecting their attention to fictional or mythic realities in order to permit them to negotiate unpleasant social realities.' The racially marked characters in Sax Rohmer's texts are acceptable because they "mask, conceal, or repress" antagonistic racial as well as class tensions, providing readers with reasons to justify their own x e n o p h o h i a . ~ h epopularity of Sax Rohmer's character in America is testimony to the power of Dr. Fu Manchu's appeal to a cultural need to create fictional enemies. Sax Rohmer's obsession with the Chinese in England parallels America's concern with the immigration of Chinese male laborers to the United States. Controlling images of racially marked "others" are embedded with preferred meanings. In this sense, popular culture can be subversive-it has the potential to promote social change and negotiate culturallsocial conflicts-while at the same time, it has the ability to shape public opinions and perceptions in order to minimize or maximize the same cultural/social tensions. Thus, controlling images haye the power to determine, limit, or exaggerate the cultural identities of racial minoritiesy Sax Rohmer's depiction of Dr. Fu Manchu fits neatly into the social memory of American society in which the Chinese are represented as radically different beings from Anglo-Americans. As Chinese immigrant male laborers became more visible in Western cities, they were often represented in mrious popular media as being diametrically opposite to the Western world. The Chinese were depicted as physically, religiousl!; and morally incompatible with the ways of the West. The tradition of anti-Chinese popular fiction continued to influence the American public consciousness during the 1920-1940 period. In an insightful analysis of Chinese Americans during those years, Sue Fawn Chung argues that stereotyped characteristics consis-
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tently misrepresented Chinese Americans.fi1 She reports that "the San Francisco Illztstrated WASP, a popular Pacific region weekly of the late 1870's and 1880's regularly featured anti-Chinese cartoons on its covers; P.W. Donner's [sic] Last Days of the Republic (18801, included pictures of a Chinese as goyernor of California and a group of Chinese sipping tea, subtitled 'Chinese Mandarins in Washington;' and Robert Woltor's A Short and Trztthful History of the Taking of California and Oregon by the Chinese in the Year A.D. 1899 (1882) predicted the doom of the two states."ll The short pieces share common themes, such as the fear of disrupting the unity of the United States, the torrential influx of Chinese immigrants, and the e ~ e n t u a l dictatorship of the Chinese oTer Americans. Dr. Fu Manchu and his anti-democratic position make him an easy target to hate and fear. According to Stuart Crieghton Miller, "a series of articles in Gentleman's Magazine in the nineteenth-century had argued that China was the fourth beast of Daniel that 'shall devour the whole earth, and shall trample it down, and tear it in pieces.' . . . In 1840 rumors circulated in America that Napoleon had warned the members of the Amherst mission . . . [that] should the English invade China, they would teach the Chinese how to fight and imperil the world."12 Although the Americans were not directly involved with the war, anti-Chinese images were perpetuated by the mass media, setting the stage for the emergence of Dr. Fu Manchu. The impending appearance of the yellow peril is most clearly articulated by Horace Greeley ( N e w York Tribune) who represents the fearful response of the Eastern states to the increasing visibility of Chinese immigrants in the "American West". In Greeley's words, But what has hitherto been a rivulet may at an early day become a Niagara, hurling millions instead of thousands upon us from the vast, overcrowded hives of China and India, to cover not only our Pacific slope but the Great Basin, and pour in torrents through the gorges of the Rocky Mountains into the vast, inviting valley of the Mississippi . . . and result in . . . a novel and specious Serfdom but little r e m o ~ e din essence from old-fashioned Slavery." Greeley's objection to Chinese immigration was not based on the immorality of s l a ~ e r y(the Chinese were cheap laborers who contributed significantly to the economic well being of California and the Western states), but, rather, on the fears that these "Orientals" might infiltrate the social and political fabric of America. After the emancipation of the slaves in 1863, the dominant cultural group had an overwhelming fear of the political empowerment of minorities, specifically their right to Tote. The major concern over unlimited Chinese immigration was that "some aholitionist type would want to g i x these coolies the ~ o t e . " 'The ~ idea of giving the Tote to the emancipated Blacks and the immigrant Chinese e ~ o k e da clear opposition to Chinese immigration from an editorial writer in the New York Times:
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. . . we have four millions of degraded negroes in the South . . . and if there were to he a flood-tide of Chinese population-a population befouled with all the social \.ices, with no knowledge or appreciation of free institutions or constitutional liberty, with heathenish modes of thought that are firmly fixed by the consolidating influence of ages upon ages-we should be prepared to bid farewell to republicanism and democracy." In the midst of the Chinese immigration problem, there were rare glimpses of support for the Chinese, but eventually, the Sinophobes were able to convince America that the cultural threat of immigrants outweighed the economic and religious gains to be accomplished by opening up immigration. The post-Civil War era was infused with national pride which made the Chinese exclusion laws less of a moral dilemma, since the fears over the possibility of another civil war in the future were more pertinent than the injustices of exclusionary acts based on race. Furthermore, the vivid images of the Chinese as carriers of "alien genes and mysterious germs" made it easier to resolve the tensions between racial discrimination and democratic principles. The American government's action in 1882 officially deemed the Chinese unworthy of residing in America because they were, in Stuart C. Miller's words, "unwelcome immigrants." Indeed, Rohmer's representations of the Chinese belong to this tradition of antiChinese representations in England and America. One of the historical reasons that explains, in part, DL Fu Manchu's popularity in America lies precisely in his conformity to a tradition of predominantly negative images of the Chinese.lW~cFu Manchu ultimately becomes the archetype for other Asian villains." He represents a cultural inheritance to which Asian men are involuntarily linked. DL Fu Manchu's model of masculinity consists of two contradictory discourses. O n one hand, he clearly seeks hegemony over others and he uses his power to dominate other men, regardless of race or nationality. Since a hegemonic masculinity is defined, in part, by the acquisition of power over other men, DL Fu Manchu fits the bill. O n the other hand, descriptions of him reveal that he does not have any sexual attributes and he does not seem to exhibit any sexual needs. Indeed, his desire for elixir vitae and opium overrides all other physical needs. He is only interested in European women when he wants to engender a superior breed of children. DL Fu Manchu is represented as a desexualized breeder who rapes women in order to procreate. The threat of an imperialist from China is layered lvith the threat of miscegenation. The expansion of a Chinese empire would not only put the political and social infrastructure of the West under DL Fu Manchu's dictatorship, innocent women from the West would also be treated as breeders, serving the interest of DL Fu Manchu. Underlying the political necessity to counter DL Fu Manchu's malicious goals is the need to protect the sanctity of women from the West. Fu Manchu's ideology of racial mixing plays an important role in the xenophobic discourse that surrounds foreign Chinese powers and the increasingly visible Chinese immigrant community. Fu Manchu's desire to breed a superior race based upon miscegenation
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sustains the fear that Chinese iininigrant men will eventually marry White American women and produce racially mixed children. The anxieties that emerge from the possibility of iniscegenation are manifested in anti-iniscegenatio laws and anti-immigrant laws in the 191hcentury. Fu Manchu's emergence in the 1920s inaintains the same kind of xenophobic logic of the 19th century by confirming that racial mixing dilutes the superiority of the Anglo race. Fu Manchu's scientific experiments of genetic hybridization capture the conflicted fantasy of Western readers because it uses the technology of science to change the course of nature. O n one hand, Fu Manchu's experiments imply that huinans can control nature. O n the other hand, the kind of control is dangerous if left to the hands of a inale~olent force. In an indirect wa!; Fu Manchu's hybrid experiments suggest that if the technology were a~ailahleto the benevolent West, then the control of nature could he a p o s i t i ~ eacquisition.
AN ORIENTALIST BEGINNING In order to situate the emergence of Dr. Fu Manchu in a larger cultural context, it is important to understand the historical underpiimings of Sax Rohmer's conceptualization of this character. Stuart C. Miller's research shows that during the nineteenth-centur!; editors of American newspapers (the "penny press") and magazines realized that they did not know much about the h e s and cultures of the East. Many editors thought that several Chinese novels translated into English were accurate representations of Chinese life: "'The Chinese noye1 may he the best source of inforination on China, and her laws, the works connected with the Western einhassies not excepted,' the editor of the Soztthern Review reported."'" With relati~elylittle knowledge of the East, Western readerslaudiences must rely on various mass media to understand the peoples of foreign cultures. Thus, novels written about the East a c h i e ~ ea certain authority due to the general lack of knowledge about Asia. It is ironic that writers with limited knowledge of a particular culture are considered experts of that culture. Sax Rohmer had never been to China and, based on a reading of all his n o ~ e l about s the Chinese, it is clear that his understanding of Chinese culture is blatantly superficial. In spite of his lack of knowledge of the Chinese, he was still considered an expert on "Oriental" affairs because of his fiction. In his first n o d , The Insidiozts Dr. Fu Manchzt (191.3)," Sax Rohmer "orientalizes" the Chinese. The author uses his superficial knowledge of the Chinese to exaggerate the stereotypes of the Chinese as dangerous, mysterious, and inscrutable. His n o ~ e clearly l does not p r o ~ i d eany cultural insights into the plight of Chinese immigrant men hut they do reflect racial prejudices of the West. As an Orientalist, Rohmer simultaneously e ~ o k e sand evades historical elements in order to establish a basic l e ~ e of l authenticity that situates Dr. Fu Manchu as an enemy alien. Edward Said describes how the Orientalist project is always self-ser~ing:"Yet the Orientalist makes it his work to be always conrerting the Orient from something into something else: he does this for himself, for the sake of his culture, in
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some cases for what he belieyes is the sake of the Oriental.""' Rohmer's orientalism elevates "Orientals" as objects of scrutiny. His task is indeed a difficult one as he attempts to scrutinize the inscrutable and write the unwritable. The primacy placed on written representations and intuitive insights over unfamiliar territories or cultures underscores the powers of Orientalism as Rohmer is given the authority to represent a racial minority." Most of his earlier novels and short stories are either set in Egypt or depict Egyptian ~ u l t u r e . ~One ' of his two short stories, published when he was only twenty years old, is entitled "The Mysterious Mummy" (1903). In the same yeal; Roh~nerdecided to work on a novel. According to his biographers, Cay Van Ash and Elizabeth Rohmer, it was to he "a romance of Ancient Egypt which should place him at one bound beside Rider Haggard, or perhaps F l a ~ b e r t . " ~Although ' he did not complete this novel, it was at this point in his life that Rohmer became interested in mystic or occult societies such as "The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn" and the "Rosicrucian Society." Rohmer often relied on mystical sources to create an imaginary Egyptian culture and his knowledge of the East is rooted in an Orientalist tradition that shapes the Orient according to the Orientalist's own beliefs. Rohmer uses mystical means to scrutinize the inscrutable and it is clear that his reliance upon dreams and other supernatural agencies is befitting to an Orientalist who lacks knowledge of unfamiliar cultures." When he asked the spirits of the Ouija hoard how he could best make a living, the pointer moyed rapidl!; supposedly spelling the letters C-H-I-NA.M.A.N.3 Rohmer's knowledge of Egypt derived mainly from his dubious readings and mystical experiences, hut when he traveled to Egypt to research this subject, he found that his dreams were, for the most part, authentic and accurate. Roh~ner believed that his novels should he authentic and he was able to convince himself that his representations of Oriental cultures were indeed real. Rohmer's tendency to deceiye himself as well as his readers is evidence of his masking of social and historical realities so as to shape foreign cultures according to his own exotic fantasies. I11 191 1, Sax Rohmer was asked by his magazine editor to write an article on for Limehouse, the Chinatown of London at the time. Rohmer was co~nmissio~led this project because he had already made a name for himself as a writer of Oriental stories.2hIn carrying out this assignment, Rohmer was aware of misrepresentations and stereotypes of Asians. In his own words, he made a conscious distinction between a Chinese person and a "Chinaman": "Of course, not the whole Chinese population of Limehouse was criminal. Eut it contained a large number of persons who had left their own country for the most urgent of reasons. These people knew no way of making a liying other than by the criminal actiyities which had made China too hot for them."2'In other words, while the Chinese as a group were not all involved in gambling and opium or cocaine smuggling, those "Chinamen" who lived in such places as Limehouse often participated in some kind of illegal activity. In spite of this distinction, Rohmer continued to reinscribe in the minds of his
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readers the inscrutable iinage of Asians (including the Burmese) as culturall!; social-
;!I and physically alien. His assignment was to find out whateyer he could about a certain "Mr. ICing," a reputed drug trafficker and the leader of mrious illegal uilderground acti~itiesat Limehouse. When Sax Rohiner began his investigation of Mr. King, he went directly to Liinehouse for potential clues, an obvious choice since Limehouse had a reputation for illegal acti~ities.H e befriended a restaurant ownel; Fong Wah, who was a former member of the Hip Sing Tong, or Triad (secret underground) society. Fong Wah eventually informed Rohiner of an office that belonged to Me ICing, at 3 Colt Street. After Rohmer staked out this location for several days, a shiny limousine pulled up to this office and, in Rohmer's words, A tall, dignified Chinese, wearing a fur-collared oyercoat and a fur cap, alighted and walked in. He was followed by an Arab girl wrapped in a gray fur cloak. . . . For a mere instant while the light flooded out from the opened door, I had seen the face of the Inan in the fur cap, and in that instant my i m a g i n a q wzonste~came t o life. . . . I Itnew that I had seen DL Fu Manchu! His face was the l i ~ i n gembodiment of Satan [my emphasis].:" Clearly, Rohiner was seeking an authentic iinage to fit his fictive character, and in his search he found an individual who represented most e~identlyhis perception of Satan in the guise of a Chinese man. The alien qualities of Dr. Fu Manchu becomes a perinanent fixture in the narrat i x of Rohiner's n o ~ e l sIn . each of novels, the following description is always quoted in different forms to reinscrihe upon the reader's mind Dr. Fu Manchu's incoinmensurable features: Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources, if you will, of a wealthy government-which, however, already has denied all knowledge of his existence. Imagine that awful being, and you haye a mental picture of Dr. Fu Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man.2y The racist iinplication of this hyperbolic description is o b ~ i o u s However, . the controlling iinage r e ~ e a l sthe amhimlence of representing character that is a source of both apprehension and fascination. The literary references to Shakespeare's brow and Satan's face evoke respect and fear. Shakespeare is a revered European literary figure, a writer who is respected by both the British and the Americans. At the same time, Dr. Fu Manchu is a Chinese Satan who, on the surface, is cat-like, calm, and implacable hut will strike you at any moment for no apparent reason."' This passage is indeed wrought with tensions: while Dr. Fu Manchu is represented as the inscrutable Asian, the narrative consciously invites the reader to
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"imagine" this monstel; an indication of the difficulty of representing this "yellow fiend." The narrative's appeal to the reader to "imagine . . . if you will" can be interpreted as "if you can," acknowledging the difficult task of describing something that is not describable. The language used to describe Dr. Fu Manchu calls attention to the artifice imolyed in the construction of this villain: the image of Dr. Fu Manchu encompasses both Eastern and Western characteristics (the brows, face, and cat-green eyes), reducing the character to a brilliant mutant." The ideological implication here is the perpetuation or confirmation of the cultural incommensurability between the East and West. Ironically, the image of Dr. Fu Manchu embodies one of the most extreme symbols of cultural difference and the very extremism of the image calls attention to its own artifice, suggesting that the East and West are perhaps more similar than different. The slippage in the construction of this controlling image reveals how Rohmer projects his own colonial ideology onto this Chinese Satan. In order to understand Rohmer's construction of Dr. Fu Manchu's character and his imperialist motiyes, one needs to realize that "the human mind does not see an object or situation and then define what it has observed. Rathel; it brings to any situation or object a definition and then sees what it has already defined."': Though Dr. Fu Manchu's configuration is clearly constructed, his image is complicated by what Eaudrillard calls "simulation." H e argues that there is a state of hyperreality in which fiction becomes reality; in other words, "it (representation) hears no relation to any reality whateyer: it is its own pure simulacrum." Borrowing Eaudrillard's definition of hyperreality, one can argue that the image of Dr. Fu Manchu functions as a "deterrence machine set up in order to rejuyenate in reyerse the fiction of the real."" Such a process helps the reader believe that there is, in realit!; or more specifically, the illusion of reality, the existence of such an evil Chinese leader. Indeed, Rohmer makes it quite clear that the source of his imaginary Chinese Satan is loosely based on a real person; yet there is no eyidence in his research to show that Mr. IGng is inrolyed in any kind of illegal actiyity or plans to take oyer the Western world. Sax Rohmer's novels play a crucial role in seducing readers, and the writer himself, to misinterpret sociallhistorical realities in order to mask an imaginary fear of Chinese immigrants. Through his friendship with Fong Wah, Rohmer became obsessed with the underground acti~itiesin Limehouse. His fascination intensified when he understood the international ramifications of the underworld; Chinese organized crime was a systematic business that extended beyond England to include the United States. The excessive power that Roh~nerattributed to such an elaborate and collective effort by groups of Chinese all around the world confirmed the possibility of a twentieth-century "yellow invasion" or conspiracy, threatening all ciyilized societies. Roh~nerarticulated his fears through a hypothetical scenario in which a direct c o ~ n ~ n a nfrom d New York could end a life in London. His perception of the yellow peril was so yiyid that he characterized Chinese organized crime as more
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powerful than the "re~norselessarengers from the Elack Hand or the ICu IClux I
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of second-hand knowledge with formulaic plots." Dr. Fu Manchu's invasion, howevel; must he controlled within the n a r r a t i ~ ein order to reinforce the racial superiority of the West. Sir Nayland Smith's ability to foil Dr. Fu Manchu's master plan masks a xenophobic discourse in which the exaggerated and imaginary superiority of the East functions as an obstacle the West has to overcome. The domestication of Dr. Fu Manchu is coded in terms of a nationalist and racial conflict between the East and the West. The goal of Nayland Smith is to s a x not only the British Empire but "the entire White race," clearly implicating American readers. Within the text, this mission is treated seriously since the imminent threat of the Chinese is interpreted as a definite possibility-a necessary ingredient for an effecti~ea d ~ e n t u r estory. The conflict between Smith and Fu Manchu is not merely on the personal level but extends to broader racial, gendered, cultural conflicts: it is the Eastern race versus the Western race, Asian culture versus European culture, Chinese man versus British man. These are the basic conflicts found in all of the novels and the competing models of masculinities are succinctly described by Dr. Petrie, Nayland Smith's assistant: "It [an exotic perfume] was a breath of the East-that stretched out a yellow hand to the West. It was symbolic of the subtle, intangible power manifested in Dr. Fu Manchu, as Nayland Smithlean, agile, bronzed with the suns of Burma, was symbolic of the clean British efficiency which sought to combat the insidious enemy."N1"Subtle" and "intangible" characterize Dr. Fu Manchu's charactel; while Nayland Smith is "clean" and "efficient"-the oppositional qualities of the two nemeses could not he more clearly drawn. More importantl!; the subtle link between the perfume and the East r e ~ e a l s the implicit effeminization of the East while Western model of masculinity (lean, agile, and bronzed) is firmly established.
CULTURAL ADDICTIONS In The Insidiozts Dr. Fu Manchu (1913),Rohmer endows Dr. Fu Manchu with the power of using drugs to control human life. Opium is the main drug which destroys life, while Dr. Fu Manchu's "elixir vitae" allows him to escape death and old age, thereby achie~ingimmortality. With the power simultaneously to destroy life and to escape mortality, Dr. Fu Manchu is indeed a powerful being, capable of colonizing Western ci~ilization. Opium becomes a metaphor for the imaginary threat of the Chinese as the usage of Opium is interspersed throughout the text, perpetuating the popular belief that the Chinese are inrading Western societies, forming seedy communities, and destroying the moral and social fabric of England's cultural order. Western readers are both fascinated with "Orientalist" stories and cultural references; at the same time, there is a fear emanating from the unfamiliarity of those references. Opium is an addictive drug, consumed by heating it and inhaling the fumes. Because of its addicti~eness,the demand for and consu~nptionof opium can spread as quickly as the fumes that it produces. The fumes, which have a Yery distinct smell, can travel through the cracks of doors and walls, emblematic of its uncontainable essence; it
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can destroy anyone, regardless of race, class, gendel; or sexuality. Opium also distorts reality, or more specifically, takes the smoker to another reality. As Karamaneh, Dr. Fu Manchu's slave girl, undermines her master's death sentence upon the two powerless Englishmen, Dr. Petrie and Sir Nayland Smith, by releasing them from capti~it!; Dr. Petrie reacts to her presence: "In the dim light she was unreal-a figure from an opium ~ i s i o n with , her clinging silk draperies and garish , As she leads jewelry. . . . In short, this was the houri of my ~ i s i o n materialized."." them to safety blindfolded, Dr. Petrie notices that the "atmosphere of the place . . . was steam!; and loaded with an odor like that of exotic plant life. But a faint a n ma1 scent crept to my nostrils, too, and there was a subdued stir about me, infinitely suggesti~e-mysterious. "U In The Insidious Dr. FZLManchu, Petrie and Nayland Smith, disguised as sailors, enter Shen-Yan's barber shop, the underworld of opium smuggling and smoking. The scene is reminiscent of opium smokers in China, half a century ago, when many Chinese men would spend most of their money and time on opium, imported by the Eritish through the East India Company. Roh~nerfocuses on the opium-addicted Chinese in London and positions the two protagonists in a disempowered social space: they are now ''in the hands of Far Easterners, to some extent in the power of members of that most inscrutably mysterious race, the Chinese."." The depiction of Far Easterners as powerful misrepresents the actual power relationship between the Chinese in England-who, as immigrants, were always in fear of deportationand the British. More importantl!; the opium den acts as a cultural deco!; displacing the responsibilities of England's role in the opium trade during the mid-nineteenth century. Indeed, it was the Duke of Wellington who declared in May 1838 "that Parliament had not only refused to frown upon the opium traffic but cherished it, extended it, and promoted it." It is ironic that R o h ~ n e rcondemns the Chinese for smoking opium when, in realit!; it was the Eritish who were supplying the Chinese with opium.'.' Rohmer's condemnation of the Chinese in London for a \.ice that had been encouraged by the British decades earlier and Rohmer's representation of the Chinese as opium addicts are clearly acts of "bad faith." According to Forrest Robinson, "bad faith . . . describes the spectrum of unacknowledged and sublimated deceits that a society resorts to in its quest for stability and equanimity."" Similarly, readers of Rohmer's fiction either consciously or unconsciously adopt the popular belief that the Chinese are associated with illegal activities and accept (or at least fail to challenge) Rohmer's depiction of this racially marked cultural group. Rohmer's n o ~ e l shelp satisfy the need of a culture to d e c e i ~ eitself in order to assuage cultural guilt. Opium thus seryes as a decoy in which Roh~nerand his readers willingly d e c e i ~ ethemsel~esinto believing that the Chinese are, in general, opium addicts, in order to repress whateyer British guilt there may be over the Opium War. The destruction of Shen-yan's opium den by fire is reminiscent of Commissioner Lin's burning of the confiscated opium in the nineteenth century. Both fiery destructions intensify East-West conflict, eyen as Nayland Smith contin-
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ues to subvert Dr. Fu Manchu's insidious plans. From an American historical perspective, the Opiuin War was an important landmark in Chinese and American relations. The war coincided with the development of the nation's first mass medium that enhanced the American public's awareness of the Chinese, the penny press. Indeed, the Opiuin War was a contro~ersial event during which individual Americans debated the BritishIChinese conflict. Traders o b ~ i o u s l ywere infuriated at Commissioner Lin's "uncivilized" deinands and they urged the Ainerican goyernment to assist Great Britain, France, and Holland in order to establish favorable commercial relations. The missionaries thought that the Anglo-Chinese rupture was an act of proyidence, opening up China to Christianity through the use of justifiable force. Missionaries, howeyer, regarded opium as a vice and justified the British inyasion as an attempt to stop the opium trade, another deinonstration of self-deception, since England's yictory in fact allowed the trade to continue. The two Opium Wars fought in China are relemnt for analyzing the cultural fuilctions of this particular Rohiner text because of the latter's indictment of the Chinese immigrants in England. The overwhelming presence of opium in the text lends itself to a historical comparison and interpretation. The anti-foreigner sentiments of the wars reached a climax with humiliating military defeats of the "Middle I
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of a dozen cripples and a German doctor held the hospital at Nan-Yang against two hundred Boxers."" The cultural, physical and religious superiority of such a British inissionar!; a German doctor and a dozen Western cripples, is so blatantly assumed that it almost reaches the level of parody. In the sequel to this text, we learn that "this peaceful-looking gentleman had directly brought about the Boxer Risings!"'" The Chinese Boxers appeal to Western readers because Western powers have always prided themselves in their technological advancements, particularly with respect to warfare accouterments. At the same time, they are also fascinated with more "natural" forins of combat-such as using one's body as a lethal weapon." The tradition of martial arts runs deep in Chinese culture, particularly in legends and myths. There is a popular Chinese n o ~ e l ,Water Margins, which depicts one hundred and eight bandits who oppose the goYerninent and support the lower class. Each bandit is a inartial arts expert, with his or her own style of combat. The martial arts tradition has also been passed down to Chinese Americans. The narrator in Maxine Hong I
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It is highly ironic that Dr. Sun's re~olutionis appropriated by Rohmer in this way since China's history shows how the country was plagued with internal conflicts and warlordism. China was not a united country and could not possibly haye posed any real international threats. Yet Rohmer's readerslaudiences were willing to comply with the prerequisite of reading fiction-that is, to "suspend their disbelief." Edward Said argues that "imaginative geography and history help the mind to intensify its own sense of itself by dramatizing the distance and difference between t what is close to it and what is far away."" Sax Rohmer's attempt to s u h ~ e r superficial cultural differences is manifested in the romantic interludes between Dr. Petrie and a s l a x girl named ICaramaneh. She is, without doubt, represented as culturally different from Dr. Petrie but her very difference seryes to make her a desirable object of fantasy. She speaks Arabic and refuses to explain her historicallcultural background, which heightens her "mysterious" quality, and she consciously positions her identity outside of history. She explains to Dr. Petrie that "a s l a ~ ehas no country, no name."i2 All we know is that her father is a "Eedawee" (Eedouin, perhaps?). As with female characters in other romance novels, she is a woman of extraordinary beauty and grace. More importantly, though, is her desire for European men. From the beginning to the end of the novel, she consistently rescues Dr. Petrie from the hands of Dr. Fu Manchu. Sir Denis Nayland Smith, the expert on Oriental minds, explains that "she has formed a sudden predilection, characteristically Oriental, for yourself [Dr. Petrie]."" The attraction between the two characters r e ~ e a l sDr. Petrie's need to identify himself as different from Karamaneh; at the same time, those differences draw him to her. ICaramaneh's character is always defined by the male characters. For instance, in the beginning she is the slave of Dr. Fu Manchu while in subsequent novels she becomes the beautiful wife of Dr. Petrie. In attempting to flee from one master, she consigns herself to another. After Dr. Petrie rescues her from the evil clutches of Dr. Fu Manchu, he "confesses" to the reader that his l o x for this Eastern girl is beyond reason. H e insists that Western and Eastern cultures d o not mix, only to change his mind later. He admits that her nature is "incomprehensible . . . [that] the soul of ICaramaneh was a closed book to [his own] short-sighted western eyes." Dr. Petrie is clearly in loye with her beauty, the physical aspect of her character: But the body of ICaramaneh was exquisite; her beauty of a kmd that was a key to the most extravagant rhapsodies of Eastern poets. Her eyes held a challenge ~vhollyOriental in its appeal; her lips, even in repose, were t a ~ i n t . ' ~ By the end of this lustful explication, he realizes that because of the physical attraction between the two, "herein, East is West and West is East." It seems that through Dr. Petrie and ICaramaneh's miscegenational relationship, Rohmer attempts to dis~nantleor subvert the dichotomies between Eastern and Western cultural differences in the most superficial way possible.
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The cultural differences in their relationship parallel the political conflicts between Eastern and Western cultures; hut through the submission of the weaker culture (encoded in nationalistic, racial, and gendered terms) to the stronger, cultural harmony may still he possible. Roh~neruses romance to bridge racial tensionslconflicts at the expense of reinscribing the Orientalist perspectiye of Western cultural superiority.
HYBRID BREEDER Indeed, one of the most frightening threats posed by Dr. Fu Manchu, besides his totalitarianism, is his sexual domination eyer White European women. Dr. Fu Manchu has power oyer "all creatures and the elements," as evidenced by his scientific experiments on the construction of a "true hybrid": the mango-apple, waspflea, black spider, worm-man, and others. Dr. Fu Manchu transcends social laws and tries to control natural laws as well. In FZL Manchu's Bride (1933), Rohmer elaborates on his fears of and fascination with miscegenation and genetic hybridity. Dr. Fu Manchu explains to the American narratol; Alan Sterling, "I am the first student to haye succeeded in producing true hyhrids. The subject is one which possibly does not interest you, Mr. Sterling, hut one or two of my specimens possess characteristics which must appeal eyen to the lay mind."" Ey appealing to the "lay mind," Dr. Fu Manchu indirectly addresses many readers who are less scientifically oriented but definitely interested in "true hyhrids." In this particular text, Dr. Fu Manchu proudly displays his achie~ementsto the narrator, who is so disturbed by the creatures he sees that he immediately questions his own sanity: In the course of my struggle with the dacoit I might have received a blow upon the skull, and all this be but a dream within a dream: delirium, feyerish fancy . . . This was neither delirium nor death! It was mirage. This place was real enough . . . but the rest was hypnotism; a trick played for what purpose I could not imagine, by a master of that dangerous art.jh Indeed, chapter 29 is entitled "Dream Creatures," indicative of the narrator's disbelief in DL Fu Manchu's co~ltrolover, and mutation of, "nature." At the same time, he does refer to DL Fu Manchu as a "master" of a "dangerous art," a description that is not entirely a condemnation. It seems that the American narrator wants to condemn the evil doctor's experiments but is unable to d o so. The narrator himself is attracted to these "mutants," yet his attraction repulses him, so he suppresses his feelings. In contrast, DL Fu Manchu is ecstatic over the progress and development of his scientific experiments. Several of DL Fu Manchu's mutants acquire human characteristics. These are the most "dangerous" as the narrator realizes that mutations can cross over from the insect and animal kingdom to the world of human beings. He is shocked by a black spider's apparent sense of self-awareness: "A black spider, having a body as large as
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a big grapefruit, and spiny legs which must have had a span of twenty-four inches, sat amidst a putrid-looking litter in which I ohseryed seyeral small bones, watching us with eyes which gleamed in the subdued light like diamonds . . . Unmistakahl!; it was watching us; it had intelligence! "" As Dr. Fu Manchu explains latel; the creature is capable of "elementary reasoning." This creature not only signifies the disruption of nature's laws but challenges the belief that human beings are superiol; that humans alone are capable of intelligent thought and self-consciousness. More importantly, there is the iinplication that "inferior races" may he as intelligent as "superior races," a truly horrific thought for those who belieye in the superiority of the White race. In the context of America's race relations, Afro-Americans have been historically treated by Anglo-Americans as racially and intellectually inferior. The emergence of written representations by slaves and former slaves during the nineteenth century shocked many readers as these narratiyes signified intelligence and an acute awareness of their subjectivity in the social order. The self-consciousness of the black spider locked up in a cage indirectly addresses the potential subversiveness of apparently inferior races and beings. Dr. Fu Manchu's search for a superior race is clearly different from the racially pure ideology promoted by inany White Americans near the turn of the century, evidenced by the anti-miscegenation laws and the social denigration or denial of "mulattos." The New York Times boasted in 1869 that "if the Anglo-Saxon is inferior, it is time he made way for his betters; if he he superiol; as he certainly is, then all other races which he absorbs in America will only help to do his inferior work for him." James Gordon Bennett also celebrates the stronger race by arguing "the Anglo Saxon, Celtic Ainerican or Anglo-American races were neyer born to be absorbed by Elackamoors or pagans."i8 Although it appears that Anglo-Americans are not threatened by racially marked cultural groups, their insistence on AngloSaxon superiority seems ironic: Anglo-Americans need to convince themselves (or remind themselves over and over again) that they are indeed the superior race precisely because they are not sure of their superiority. Dr. Fu Manchu's attempt to control nature and create an amalgamated superior race is still in the developinental stage. In chapter 21, "The Hairless Man," Dr. Fu Manchu creates a creature that runs amok, threatening the liyes of everyone in the underground workstation. The narrator describes him as the "worm-man" because his "entire face, trunk, and limbs glistened moistly like the skin of an earthworm . . . the fingers webbed, and the thumbs scarcely present."" This is a rare instance in which Dr. Fu Manchu is not able to control his own creatures and the "nearly perfected hon~onculzts""hdtiinate1y self-destructs due to the unsuitable teinperatures in the corridors. It is hard to imagine the "worm-man" being perfect in any way and this episode illustrates to the reader that Dr. Fu Manchu is hiinself an evil mutant who has gone inad with his experiments. The n a r r a t i ~ edoes not explain what a homoncztlzts is, nor does it elaborate on its potential function. It seeins that the dramatic representations of these inutants (the small bones next to the black
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spider and the crazed worm-man) act as decoys, promote scientific hybridity while suppressing a more immediate social problem, namel!; miscegenation. Howeyer, the gender and racial politics in miscegenation is more acceptable if White Inen fall for Asian women. When Alan Sterling, the American narrator, meets Dr. Fu Manchu's bride, Fleurette, he describes her as a "flawless beauty . . . bronzed by the sun . . . [with] exquisitely chiseled features [and] big, darkly fringed eyesand they were blue as the Mediterranean."" Her beauty consisted of an "aura of mysteriousness," immediately marking her as a woman from another culture. To Sterling, Fleurette is "the most mysterious creature who [has] ever crossed [his] path"" and he cannot erase her from his mind. Sterling finally meets her again in Dr. Fu Manchu's underground workstation and immediately tries to discoyer her origins. H e learns that she is part Egyptian and has been trained to speak French, Italian, Spanish, German, Arabic, and Chinese fluently. She is trained for a purpose and Sterling immediately reacts, "what purpose? There can be only one end to it. Sooner or later you will fall in loye with-somebody . . . you will forget your acco~nplishrnentsand e~erything.I mean-it's sort of law. What other purpose is there in life for a ~ v o r n a n ? " ~ ~ The romantic spirit of the American narrator is deflated by Fleurette's refusal to acknowledge love. Indeed, Fleurette realizes that "a woman can only serye." The dynamics between the American and the racially mixed woman is important because it parallels Dr. Petrie's infatuation with Karamaneh. Eastern women are represented as slaves who are, in turn, "naturally" attracted to Western men. Unwittingly, Sterling's attitude towards women is similar to Fleurette's understanding of gender roles since he does not belieye in her "accomplishments and everything," evoking natural or social laws to proye that the only purpose for women is to loye their men. This racially mixed, flawless beauty is nurtured by Dr. Fu Manchu for a specific purpose. She is to bear him a son who will assist Dr. Fu Manchu in his evil plans. Racial mixing as a means to achieve racial superiority is subversive in the sense that it negotiates alternate multi-racial identities. Dr. Fu Manchu envisions a multi-racial world in which the best characteristics of different races will he combined to create multi-dimensional subjects. Dr. Fu Manchu's daughtel; Fah Lo Suee, is also of mixed ancestry. In Daughter of Fu Manchu (19.311, the reader realizes that Fah Lo Suee's mother is a Russian woman. Fah Lo Suee betrays her father in order to take on the role of a female dictator, and she draws from the traditions of China and Russia in order to legitimize her rise to power. Her goal is to rule China and Russia, and eyemually conquer Europe and Asia." The novel concludes with Dr. Fu Manchu regaining his position as the ruler, while Fah Lo Suee is enslaved by her father once again. Fah Lo Suee is an important character in Fu Manchu's Bride as she continues to undermine her father's plans. She explains to Alan Sterling that "[Fleurette] is part of our experiment-the success of which is of political i~nportance."~'As mentioned earlier, she is the potential hearer of Dr. Fu Manchu's son and the result
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would be another multi-racial being who transcends socially constructed racial categories. While Fah, as a multi-racial character herself, understands how racial categories may he transcended through miscegenation, she also belieyes that the "hlood" of a specific race has inherent, culturally specific characteristics. Fah wants Alan Sterling to take Fleurette away, and Fah realizes that it is in Fleurette's Eastern hlood to love Western men, in spite of her regimented and controlled up-bringing by Dr. Fu Manchu." Fleurette's and Sterling's relationship parallels Dr. Petrie's and ICarainaneh's relationship because, as the reader learns latel; Fleurette is actually the daughter of Dr. Petrie and Karainaneh. Apparently Dr. Fu Manchu abducted ICarainaneh's daughter when she was still an infant, so Dr. Fu Manchu's intent to marry Fleurette is disturbingly incestuous. Sterling's role as savior enacts the clichtd drama of rescuing the damsel in distress, relieying the social and psychological tensions created by the cultural taboo of incest. Sax Rohiner's representations of Eastern women, of racially marked images, and unfamiliar "minority" cultures are productions of what Edward Said calls "a kind of second-order knowledge-lurking in such places as the 'Oriental' tale, the mythology of the mysterious East, notions of Asian inscrutability-with a life of its own; what V.G. Iciernan has aptly called "Europe's collecti~edaydream of the Orient."6- After exploring the relationships between the White male characters and the Eastern female characters, ICiernan's quote should perhaps read "Europe's collective wet-dream of the Orient." The sexual fantasies of the West, reified by Oriental women, are reinscribed upon Western readers by Rohiner's popular texts and the imagined knowledge gained by reading them acquires certain fictional powers oyer inscrutable people. The alien image of Dr. Fu Manchu, the constructed historical details embedded in the texts, and the role of Eastern women negotiate different kinds of "secondorder knowledge" which limit and contain Chinese Ainerican identities, histories, and cultures. The Eastern women (Fah Lo Suee, Icaramaneh, and Fleurette) are, howeyer, racially mixed individuals, signifying split national loyalties. Since they are not full-blooded Orientals, there must be some redeeming qualities about them. These exotic women are sexualized objects and they are desirable, in part, because of their mixed identities. They willingly submit to Western men, occupying a social, cultural, and physical space that is subservient to the White American characters. Howevel; Eastern women are only acceptable in fiction hut not in society, as evidenced by the anti-miscegenation laws that existed in many states in the United States during the 1920s. In conclusion, the nationalist conflict between the East and the West is coded in contradictory sexual oyertones. The alien characteristics of Dr. Fu Manchu desexualize him while maintaining his yirility at the same time. The stripping away of any sensuous qualities in this character reduces Dr. Fu Manchu's model of masculinity to that of an asexual rapist who uses force to capture his women in order to breed superior offspring. By denying Dr. Fu Manchu any form of sex~~ality, Rohmer attempts to limit Dr. Fu Manchu's reproductive abilities, thereby effec-
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t i ~ e l ycontrolling his lineage. Dr. Petrie's virile heterosexuality, on the other hand, seduces Eastern women to leaye the Chinese patriarchal order and to embrace White European patriarchy in order to affirm Western masculinity and cultural superiority. In a sense, Dr. Fu Manchu's nationalist masculine identity is threatening yet his inability to succeed in conquering the Western world is constructed as a sign of impotence. Such conflictual forms of masculinity manifest themsel~esin the image of Charlie Chan as well. His role as a law enforcer, his middle-class status, and his legal power over upper middle-class criminals suggest that the Chinese can move up the social ladder and assimilate into the dominant culture. Howevel; upon closer analysis, Chan's desexualized body reduces him to a model minority who mechanically solves the crimes while the White A~nericanmale characters become romantic lovers, consistently winning the hands of the beautiful White women.
NOTES 1. The narratives in the Dr. Fu Manchu n o d s clearly gesture towards an imperialist domination of the world, not just England or the United States. Since I am interested in DL Fu Manchu's role in the United States, I will focus on the linlts DL Fu Manchu has with the socio-political conditions of the Chinese in America. Furthermore, the image of DL Fu Manchu has been a recurring image in American popular culture, signaling Dr. Fu Manchu's long-term impact 011 American culture. Although the producers of the Miller Lite commercial may not h a x consciously acquired the image of Dr. Fu Manchu, the image nonetheless falls into the original conception of Sax Rohmer's DL Fu Manchu. 2. Rohmer's thirteen novels, three short stories, and one novelette were published over a period of more than four decades, from 1913 to 1959. 3. The terms "East" and "West" are used in the context of Orientalism. These terms are broad generalizations and yet they are commonly used to designate imaginary geographical as well as cultural spaces. My purpose here is to show how broad these generalizations are used and not to perpetuate the totalizing implication of these terms. 4. Elaine Kim argues that before World War 11, almost all Anglo writers' stories about Chinatown or about Asia were accepted by major publishers while the works of early Asian American writers were shunned. She explains that Anglo writers pro~ i d "literary e rituals through which myths of White racial supremacy might be continually reaffirmed, to the everlasting detriment of the Asian." See Elaine Kim, Asian American Literatztre: An Introdzlction to the Writings and Their Social Context (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 19821, 21. 5. Dr. Fu Manchu's masculine identity is consistently undermined by the astuteness of the righteous Sir Nayland Smith. At the end of each n o ~ e l ,Sir Nayland Smith is able to sabotage Dr. Fu Manchu's plans. 6. A common rationalization used to de-politicize popular texts containing "minority" representations is that authors and readers agree that fiction should be read o d ) ' as fiction. Given such an implicit contract, both authors and readers understand that a fictive text has no hearing upon reality, and the world that is con-
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structed seryes as an imaginary outlet for the reader to escape the inuildaneness of everyday life. The reader consciously deceives himself or herself by escaping to a world of fiction; the pleasures involved in self-deceptions are clear as readers can transcend their own ordinary lives. Thus, fictional texts function as literary decoys to situate readers in another reality-one that offers excitement, drama, and emotional stimulation. Even though readers know that fiction is not reality, the pleasures in reading fiction lie in the hidden desire that the world of fiction could be "real." One can conclude that Dr. Fu Manchu has no real cultural or social significance because he is clearly not representati~eof the Chinese, and by extension, other Asians. Further, it may be argued that readers are not naive, passive, or gullible: they can distinguish reality from fiction and can separate out constructive meanings from potentially disruptive ones. However, the lack of a historical context and knowledge of unfainiliar cultures encourages readers to access the "preferred meaning" rather than critically engaging with the texts. 7. Racial harmony on tele~ision,for instance, seryes as an idealistic common goal; at the same time it creates the illusion that racial tensions in the social world are indeed minimal. 8. Stuart Hall, "Culture, The Media and the 'Ideological Effect"' in Mass Comnzunication and Society, ed. James Curran, Michael Cure~itch,and Janet Woolacott ( E e ~ e r l yHills: SAGE, 19791, 315-348. 9. See Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment (New Yorlz: University of Minnesota Press, 1994). 10. Sue Fawn Chung, "From Fu Manchu, Evil Genius to James Lee Wong, Popular hero: A Study of Chinese Americans in Popular Periodic Fiction from 1920-1940," Journal of Popular Culture 10, no. 3 (1976): 5.34-547. 11. Ibid., 5.34. 12. Stuart Creighton Miller, The Unwelcome Inunigrant: The American Image of the Chinese, 1785-1 882 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), 110. 13. Ibid., 172. 14. Ibid., 173. 15. Ibid., 170. 16. Stuart C. Miller's study of the Chinese "image" in America between 1785-1882 is a provoking account of how American traders, diplomats, and Protestant missionaries represented the Chinese. Negative images of the Chinese in America were most popular at specific historical moments: the Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion, the Tientsin massacre, and the Boxer Rebellion, among other historical events. These events generated much discursive a c t i ~ i t yamong editors and American policy makers because they were conflicts that involved the West. Apparentl!; American newspapers were interested in China only when there was "a Chinese ~ r o b l e m . " 17. Dr. Fu Mancu integrates Western science with exotic and unknown natural resources from the East to construct mrious means of destruction. At the same time, he reifies a prescribed Western configuration of the threatening Satanic "alien" who wants to "redeem China's past glories" and rule the barbarous Western world. In other words, DL Fu Manchu is the apotheosis of the "yellow
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peril," the "illegal alien," and the symbol of cultural inco~n~ne~lsurahility in the eyes of the dominant Western culture. 18. Miller, T h e Unu&ome Immigrant, 90. 19. Sax Rohmer, T h e Insidious Dr. Fzl-Manchu (New Yorlr: McBride, 19131, also published under the title, T h e Mj'sterj' of Dr. Fz~-Manchzt(1913). 20. Edward Said, Orientalism (New Yorlr: Vintage Boolrs, 1979), 67. 21. In the Dr. Fu Manchu noyels, there are references to a character named Sir Lionel Earton, a well-known Orientalist who is reyered for his research and expertise. The legitimacy of Orientalists is manifested in the ways in which Sir Lionel Barton is upheld by the other characters as an expert in "oriental" affairs. 22. Bradford Day, Sax Rohnwr: A Bibliograph)' (New Yorlr: Science Fiction and Fantasy Publications, 1963). 2.3. Cay Van Ash, Master of Villainy: A Biogmphy of Sax Rohnwr (Ohio: Eowling Green University Popular Press, 19721, 27. 24. His dreams were detailed in the description of the location, the physical features of the Egyptians, the various dance forms, and Egyptian outfits. 25. Van Ash, Master of Villainj~,63. 26. Ibid., 4. At that time, the Orient was thought to be anything "East of Istanbul." 27. Ihid., 73. 28. Ihid., 77. 29. Rohmer, T h e Insidious Dr. Fzl-Manchu, 25-26. 30. In subsequent novels, the image of DL Fu Manchu resembles an Egyptian Iring: "the image of Seti the First - that King of Egypt whose majesty had survived three thousand years." Rohmer, Fu M a n c h z ~ 'Bride ~ (New York: Doubleda!; Doran & Compan!; Inc., 19.331, 72. 31. He holds degrees from four Western universities and is a Doctor of Philosophy as well as a Doctor of Medicine. 32. Miller, T h e Unwelcon?e Inmigrant, 8. 33. Mark Poster, ed., Jean Bazldrillard: Selected Writings (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 19881, 170-172. 34. Van Ash, Master of Villainy, 74. -3.5. Ihid. 36. Michael Rogin, Ronald Reagan, T h e Movie (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987). 37. When an unfamiliar cultural group is accused to be responsible for labor unrest or moral corruption, the existence of a character such as Dr. Fu Manchu makes it easier to implement discriminatory legal practices. The Fu Manchu novels reinscribe upon the readers many preconceived notions of the Chinese: they are inscrutable heathens and sojourners. In the United States, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is one of the most significant landmarks of racial discrimination and, although DL Fu Manchu's popularity came much later, his image retrospectively justifies the exclusion of Chinese immigrants because such a fictional construction encourages readers to belieye that the Chinese haye always probably been involved in some sort of criminal activity anyway. Admittedl!; this is a superficial reading of the cultural function of Rohmer's novels, but racial discrimination is most often based on such superficial perceptions of marginalized racial groups.
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38. John Cawelti, Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Fornmla Stories as Art and Popular Culture (Chicago: Uni~ersityof Chicago Press, 19761, 9. According to Cawelti, formulaic plots provide readers with a sense of familiarit!; "thereby increasing its capacity for understanding and enjoying the details of the a work." 39. Consider the formula of Rohmer's fiction: there is always a major international conflict between the East and the West, enacted by two capable nemeses; a romantic affair between two young l o ~ e r sof the same race as well as inter-racial relationships; a supernatural force that is mysterious and extremely dangerous, traveling from ci~ilizedcolonial centers such as London to colonized cities such as Cairo; an inexplicable/ingenious/exotic way of ending human life; and finally, a temporary resolution in which the evil doctor's plans are foiled, the men win the love of their women, and the evil one inevitably escapes. The characters develop only slightly as each new story emerges, but the reader cumulatively manages to learn more about the East through such fiction. 40. Rohmer, The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, 137-138. 41. Ibid., 176. 42. Ibid., 178. 43. Ibid., 69. 44. In The Rise of Modern China, Immanuel Hsu discusses the Opium War in detail. Through the East India Compan!; Eritish ~nerchantssold opium to the Chinese for cash, tipping the trade balance in fayor of Great Eritain. In 1832, the East India Company made 10 million Indian rupees from the opium grown in India and shipped to China; in 1837, 20 million, and in 1838, 30 million. According to Hsu, "opi~improvided over 5 percent of the Company's revenue in India in 1826-27, 9 percent in 1828-29, and 12 percent in the 1850's, a sum close to four million sterling." When Commissioner Lin Tse-hsu (1785-1850) of Houkuan, Fukien province, was assigned to deal with the opium problem on May 12, 1839, he wrote to Queen Victoria, aslzing her to stop poppy (opium) cultivation and manufacture. He stated that opium smolzing in England was strictly forbidden, so how could England allow this poison to harm other countries? By raising the question of morals and ethics, Lin misjudged the amoral nature of capitalism and underestimated Western cultures' addiction to capitalism. Although Lin's approach to the eradication of opium was naive, his determination was quite effective. Lin had confiscated 21,306 chests of opium by May 18, 1839 and burned them as a statement against the opium trade (Americans also lost their share of opium). Unfortunately, Britain was not willing to give up her rights to trade in spite of the fact that this trade was a violation of Chinese law. 111June . 1840, a Eritish expeditionary force under Rear Admiral George Elliot a r r i ~ e dAfter the Eritish "semi-colonized" China, the treaty of Nanking was signed on August 29, 1842. This treaty consisted of indemnities ($21 million), the abolition of the Cohong monopolistic system of trade, the opening of five Chinese ports to trade, the cession of Hong Kong, equality in official correspondence, and a fixed tariff. See Immanuel Hsu, The Rise of Modern China (New York: Oxford Uni~ersity Press, 1990), 173-190. 45. See Forrest Robinson's notion of bad faith in "Social Play and Bad Faith in The Adventures of T o m Saw)'e1;" Nilzeteenth-Centztr)' Fiction 39, 110.1(1984): 12. 46. Hsu, The Rise of Modern China, 390-407.
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S a x Rohrner's Dr. Fu M a n c h u
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47. Rohmer, The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, 84. 48. Rohmer, The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu (New York: A. L. Burt Company, 19161, 1. 49. This idea will be explored in more detail in Chapter Fouc 50. Maxine Hong Kingston, The W o m a n Wawior: A Memoir of a Childhood Among Ghosts (New Yorlz: Vintage Boolzs, 1975), 39. 51. Said, Orientalism, 55. 52. Rohmer, The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, 213. 5.3. Ihid., 22. 54. Ibid., 351. 55. Rohmer, F u Manchu's Bride, 124. 56. Ibid., 122-130. 57. Ihid., 125. 58. Miller, The Unu&ome Immigrant, 172. 59. Rohmer, Fu Manchu's Bride, 1.32. 60. Ibid., 150. 61. Ibid., 3. 62. Ibid., 9. 63. Ihid., 138. 64. Rohmer, Daughter of Fu Manchu (New York: Doubleda!; 19.311, 172. 65. Rohmer, Fu Manchu's Bride, 160. 66. Indeed, Fleurette "had received a remarkable education, embracing the icy peaks of sexless philosophy to which she had been taught to look up in a Buddhist monastery in the north of China to the material feminism of a famous English school. Yet she remained completely human . . ." Rohmel; Fu Manchu's Bride, 217. 67. Said, Orientalism, 52.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
CHAPTER THREE
Charlie Chan: A Model Minority Man
harlie Chan, a character created by American fiction writer Earl Derr Biggers in the 1920s, is a literary figure whose image contrasts sharply with Sax Rohmer's DL Fu Manchu.' Unlike DL Fu Manchu, the "evil" Chinese man who wants to colonize the Occident, Charlie Chan represents ostensibly the "good" Chinese American male. Chan is committed to serving the people of the United States and there is no indication in the texts that he wants to return to China. As Michael Omi points out, while rendering specific groups in a monolithic fashion, the popular cultural imagination simultaneously reyeals a compelling need to distinguish and articulate 'had' and 'good' variants of particular racial groups and individuals. Thus each stereotypical image is filled with contradictions: the bloodthirsty Indian is tempered with the image of the noble savage; the bandido exists along with the loyal sidekick; and Fu Manchu is offset by Charlie Chan.2 Indeed, Charlie Chan is one of the earliest representations of a model minority in American popular fiction-someone who assimilates into mainstream A~nerican culture by moving from a working-class status to a middle-class professional one. Charlie Chan symbolizes the American dream of success: a minority who is allowed to interact with a predominantly white American societ!; liying a life of relatiye economic comfort, and raising a nuclear family. While Charlie Chan offsets the negative portrayal of Chinese Americans, this character also functions as a controlling image3 that denigrates another minority group, in much the same way the model minority stereotype of the 1960s was used to argue against educational reforms and social services. According to Keith Osajima, America's popular press image of Asians as the model minority in the
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1960s was a "direct critique of Blacks who sought relief through federally supported social programs. Asian Americans, we were told, were able to make it on their own. Welfare programs were ui~necessary."~ Similarly, the construction of Charlie Chan as a model minority in the 1920s had political overtones as well. As the Chinese in Hawaii moved from an agricultural labor force (sugal; rice, coffee, banana, and pineapple plantations) to s e r ~ i c eand professional industries (traders, retail businesses, laundrymen, domestic servants, barbers, food service workers and owners, interpreters, translators, religious workers, teachers, college professors, the Japanese, on the other hand, were accused newspaper editors and physiciai~s),~ of being agitators and trouble makers, especially after Japanese laborers participated in the labor strike in 1920." Gary Okihiro chronicles the historical aftermath of the 1920 strike in Hawaii by Filipino and Japanese plantation workers. He cites the Honolulu Star-Bulletin's editorial as an example of how the labor struggle for equality and fairness was recoded in xenophobic nationalist rhetoric: "And this is what the Star-Bulletin had in mind, when at the Yery outset of the present strike, it declared that the issue i n r o l ~ e dwas this and nothing else: Is control of the industrialism of Hawaii to reinain in the hands of Anglo-Saxons or is it to pass into those of alien Japanese agitators? This is what we [Honolulu Star-Bulletin editorial] meant in declaring that hack of the strike is a dark conspiracy to Japanize this Ainerican territory."' During this period, the Japanese workers were seen as agitators and uilcontrollable menaces, while the Chinese were tacitly promoted as preferable to the Japanese. Okihiro quotes one planter as saying that the Chinese "are efficient, m i i d their own business, will neyer strike or meddle with matters that d o not concern them. They reinain by preference socially isolated, and would never know enough about American questions to try to dictate to us how to run the go\.erninent under which they draw they pay." In 1921, the territorial legislature in Hawaii passed a joint resolution, asking "the Coilgress of the United States of America pro\.de, by appropriate legislation, for the introduction or immigration into the Territory of Hawaii of such a number of persons, iilcluding orientals, as may be required to meet the situation."This resolution was a veiled effort to allow the Chinese to rejoin the labor market in Hawaii. Although this resolution ultimately failed, it did point to a more fayorable perception of the Chinese while the Japanese were increasingly scrutinized as suspect and dangerous: "the military intelligence saw local Japanese as in implanted 'Fifth column'-a sinister alien presence within the republic's gatesawaiting Japan's cominaild to spring into a ~ t i o n . " ~ Chinese Americans, in the 1920s, were used as examples of how to assimilate into Ainerican culture without social disruptions, such as organized protests and strikes. By the 1940s, the Chinese became friends of America while the Japanese were officially the enemies. Charlie Chan's popularity p r o ~ i d e da coilvenient way to justify growing anti-Japanese sentiments while masking a broader-based xenophobia by being ethnically specific.
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Charlie Chan's image of a model minority is also coded in terms of gender. Chan represents a fictional model of masculinity which other Inen of color in America should emulate and this controlling image reveals the conditions for such acceptance. Chan is a family man, dedicated to upholding the laws of the land, and does not cause trouhle.l0 Men of color who do not conform to this model are portrayed unsympathetically as working-class servants to white Americans. (Ironically, Charlie Chan is represented as a middle-class professional and yet his occupation seryes the upper middle-class society in America.) Men of color should not threaten the hegemonic hetero-masculine order as evidenced by Charlie Chan's lack of sexual attributes. It is true that Chan has a family of ten children hut his non-sexualized image undermines the sexual agency usually associated with ~irility.In short, Charlie Chan is reduced to an emasculated breeder. Charlie Chan's model of ~nasculinitylinks asexuality with a stereotypical cultural stoicism that promotes a submissive male identity that is content in spite of systemic racial discriminations. Representations of Chinese American men as submissi~e,non-aggressi~e,and physically and sexually inferior haye been reified in American culture through the widespread dissemination of controlling images, such as Charlie Chan, through popular fiction. More importantly, the inheritance of this model minority figure marginalizes Chinese American male identities by reducing the discourse on Chinese American ~nasculinitiesto discussions on n e g a t i ~ estereotypes. O n a more insidious l e d , Charlie Chan functions as a cultural icon that situates Chinese American men in a disadmntaged social position, such that marginalized men constantly falls short of a hegemonic heteromasculinity. Consequently, Chinese American men are forced to prove their heterosexual masculine identity or risk the stigmatization of being further subordinated as being effeminate, sexless, or gay. Frank Chin has shown in his writings why he is dissatisfied with the Charlie Chan myth. He, in part, is reacting to the subordination of Chinese American masculinities and he seeks to disinherit Charlie Chan's model of masculinity by employing a discourse of remasculinization. In his short stor!; Sons of Chan, he reveals how Chinese American Inen have inherited this myth: "God kicked Earl Derr Eiggers in the head and commanded him to give us Chinamans a son, in almost His image. And Charlie Chan was born. And, in a sense, so was I."I1 Chin continues from the point of view of Chan's son and engages in a discourse of disinheritance. Chin satirically evokes the tensions embedded in Charlie Chan as a myth by identifying the narrator as one of the sons of Chan. He suggests that the construction of a Charlie Chan character in the n o ~ e l sby a white American writer, and played by white American actors in the subsequent movies, is an act of colonization: both the role and the image of a Chinese American are determined and controlled by white Americans. In order to disinherit and sabotage the controlling image of Charlie Chan, the narrator in Frank Chin's story declares his intent to kill his "movie father," reclaim his Chinese ancestry, and regenerate a Chinese American masculine identity through ~iolence.His desire to track down the last Charlie Chan and surprise him
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p r o ~ i d e sthe narrator with a sense of duty and purpose. He has taken upon himself the responsibility of speaking on behalf of "the Secret Sons of Charlie Chan, hunting our father down, [we are] the society of assassins known as the Midnight Friends of Justice, known for the holiness of death we bring, for ours is a happy holy war to the last Charlie Chan." The narrator is a re~olutionarywho is fighting a holy war against the colonization of Chinese Americans. The society of assassins even has its own war cry: "Gee, Pop, haye I got a surprise for you." Chin's narrator satirizes Earl Derr Eiggers' role as an author by re-~isioninghim as "the reincarnation of an antebellum southern cracker oyerseer sitting on the verandah, sippin his mint julep, listening to the happy darkies choppin cotton in the fields making racial harmony." The implication here is that Eiggers parallels the self-deceiving s l a x owners who believe that their slaves are "happy darkies." The narrator counters this misrepresentation by using American history to show how popular culture and racist immigration laws h a x consistently oppressed the Chinese: In the twenties when Charlie Chan came into being, the Chinese in American pop culture was a sex joke. America was laughing off her fears of Chinese reproduction in America in energetic song and dance. Since the 1900's America had moved hard and fast in news and entertainment, storytelling, jolting, legislating, and singing in the streets to exterminate the Chinese here, to shut off the flow of women, strand the cheap-labor males, guarantee an end to Chinese population. By 1923 the laws made America proof against Chinese women and Chinese reproduction." Chin recognizes the discursive connection among popular culture, discriminatory legal practices, and historical reality. Since Biggers' symbolic act of colonization effectively emasculates the image of Chinese American men, Chin's narrator must therefore wage a sexual war against his " m o ~ i efather," namely the white actoris) who played Charlie Chan in the films based on the novels. The narrator represents a Chinese Inan emasculated by a "white movie father," seeking to redeem a hegemonic masculinity that American popular cultural discourse has denied him: "Voice down and slurping deep, like a s h o ~ e plunging l into rich gritty earth, diggin deep, I talk chasing down for the heart of women I kiss to keep America free."'3 Unfortunately, the narrator fails to a c h i e ~ ehis objecti~esand the story ends with a pledge to continue his search-and-kill mission: "I a m a legendary failure in America. I am a l o ~ e done, the chosen of the Charlie Chan chosen people. Pop, I will find you. I will be a hero of my people. Gee whiz, Pop, have I got a surprise for you."I4 The narrator's search is unsuccessful because the myth of Charlie Chan continues to manifest itself, albeit in different forms, in American popular culture. The mythologizing of Charlie Chan is most clearly shown when the source of Biggers' character is compared to the literary figure. According to Dick O'Donnell, Earl Derr Eiggers was doing some research at the New York Public Library in 1924 when he came across an issue of the Honolulu Star Bulletin, which contained an
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Charlie Chan: A Model Minority Man
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account of how a detecti~enained Chang Apana had risked his life to smash a ~ i c i o u sdrug ring operating in Hawaii. This news story inspired Eiggers to create a Chinese American detective. After meeting Apana, Eiggers continued to borrow biographical information from Xpana's life: "For example, Apana had nine children, including a daughter nained Rose. So did Charlie. Both crime fighters lived near Pui~chhowlHill, and both were promoted to Detective First Grade following a departmental scandal."li More revealing, howevel; are the qualities that Eiggers did not borrow from Xpana's life. According to O'Donnell, Chang Xpana was only five feet tall, but he was fearless. H e once crawled under a porch and did battle with an escaped murderer twice his weight. When the dust cleared, the escapee was in handcuffs. . . . He became a master at using the horse whip, and when he joined the Honolulu Police Department in 1898, he was allowed to carry a whip instead of a police revolvee16 Apana's fearlessness, agility, and skill are erased in the fictional Charlie Chan, who is portly and never uses his physical strength to arrest anyone. O'Donnell quotes former Honolulu Police Chief Francis I<eala as he describes Apana: Hoodluins feared him because of that whip. . . . As an officel; Chang Xpana was fearless and energetic. . . . H e carried many scars on his face and body as a result of encounters while performing his duties. Veteran officers who worked with him used to tell stories of his feats of daring, especially relating to the early days of Chinese immigration to the islands, when there was much opium smuggling. They say he never lost his courage although knifed and beaten many times.lF If Biggers had created a Chinese detecti~ewith the qualities of Apana, then his work might not have been offensi~eto so inany Asian Americans. Chang Xpana's physical prowess and fearlessness make him heroic and "masculine." Instead, Eiggers portrayed Charlie Chan as "very fat indeed, yet he walked with the light dainty step of a woman. His cheeks were as chubby as a baby's, his skin ivory tinted, his black hair close-cropped, his ember eyes slanting."l8 Charlie Chan is einasculated and infantilized by Eiggers in his effort to construct a non-threatening image. Chan is not mobile or agile (note his physical size), nor is he physically aggressi~eand feared (note his baby cheeks and dainty steps). By depicting Charlie Chan this way, Biggers takes the first step toward coiltrolling Chang Xpana's physical image by re-presenting him as physically inept or inferior. In the tradition of Sax Rohinel; Biggers creates a character that is a disfiguration of a real character. Eoth writers deceive theinsel~esand the reading public into believing that their creations are indeed authentic. According to Edward Said, iinperialistic powers managed to represent the Orient in such definitive ways that these representations,
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Chinese American Masculinities
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whatever form they take, have become inscribed in the public consciousness as "real."" Charlie Chan's lack of emotional complexity and physical aggression can be interpreted as a form of cultural domestication. Chan's psychological profile is not reyealed to the readers. Any form of resistance towards the white characters is effectively suppressed. In "The Importance of Being Charlie Chan," Sandra M. Hawley o h s e r ~ e sthat the hea~y-setChinese detecti~eis often associated with Buddha: ". . . Chan is described as a plain Buddha, an impassive Buddha, a serene Buddha, as immobile as a stone Buddha, and, with magnificent disregard for historical accuracy, a grim and relentless Buddha.":(] Charlie Chan's Buddha-like composure reinforces the coiltrolling image of Chan's contentment with his station in life and his forgiving attitude towards racism. The similarities between Chan and the Buddha seryes as a stark contrast to the ways in which the Chinese were represented in the nineteenth century and the representations of the Japanese in the early twentieth century: from threatening menaces to j o ~ i a lpacifists. Obedience and subinission are rewarded with patronizing portrayals of ethnic specific groups. In "'But-He's a Chinaman!': Charlie Chan and the Literary Image of the Chinese-American," Michael Erodhead quotes Biggers as saying that "sinister and wicked Chinese are old stuff, hut an amiable Chinese on the side of law and order [has] never been used.":l By consciously creating a positix literary figure, Biggers supposedly has done a great s e r ~ i c eto Asian Americans. Indeed, Brodhead (among others) cannot understand why Asian Americans were (and are) offended by Charlie Chan's image. H e concludes that Bigger's sympathetic treatment of the Charlie Chan n o ~ e l sconvinces the reader that their author consciously aild forthrightly spoke out for the Chinese-a people to be not only accepted but admired. Biggers's sympathetic treatment of the Chinese both reflected and contributed to the greater acceptance of the Chinese in America in the first third of this century. He exposed and denounced bigotry aild sensitively showed the difficulties faced by the Chinese as they adjusted to white America. Chinese-Americans and all enemies of intolerance are in his debt.'? Brodhead's coldusion is typical of readers who do not realize the impact that stereotypes in the media and popular fiction h a x in real life. Erodhead interprets the Charlie Chan character in what Stuart Hall has called the "preferred" meaning of popular texts.13 Erodhead's analysis of the effect of Charlie Chan upon the larger society is limited to dichotomies such as good and had, positive and negative. Since Charlie Chan is a respected professional, Eiggers should he praised for creating a p o s i t i ~ eimage. Brodhead does not recognize that when a popular figure bears the weight of representing an entire racial or ethnic group, readers and audiences who are unfamiliar with such a group will subconsciously or even consciously use that figure or character (in spite of its fictionality) as a frame of reference toward understanding the plights, struggles, and histories of that group and its culture. This
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type of reductive reading or interpretation testifies to the power of how preferred meanings are accepted. When the American public is exposed to popular images and texts such as Dr. Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan, readers acquire what Edward Said calls a "textual attitude,"" which refers to the different ways readers use or treat a text (including literary works, trayel documents, films, and television) as a frame of reference for a more immediate reality. It is common for readers to prefer a text as representatiye of a racial, class, gendel; and ethnic group rather than confronting the "real" people who belong to that specific group. Often, mainstream audiences do not know any Chinese indi~idualsliving in America or they have limited contact with them. When a writer who represents an ethnic-specific group is accepted as accurate, his or her texts become more authentic and legitimate than the people themsel~es. Eoth Sax Rohmer and Earl Derr Eiggers, in a sense, become authorities on Chinese people and culture. However, these authors know Yery little of the Chinese. E ~ e nwithin the narrative structure of Earl Derr Bigger's n o d s , the Charlie Chan character is described in a sketchy and marginal manner. Hawley effecti~elyshows how little information about Chan's family history or background is p r o ~ i d e dto readers. She concludes "there is no attempt to show family life in the n o d s , no portrait of Charlie Chan as the Chinese patriarch. The family p r o ~ i d e sa conyenient prop, an occasional reminder of Charlie Chan's Chineseness, and a touch of humanity.":' Since Charlie Chan is such a good citizen, many readers and audiences d o not understand why Chan is not popular among Asian Americans. It was not until the motion pictures and subsequent television show that the integrity of Asian A~nericanswas blatantly violated by white actors who portrayed Charlie Chan, in the same way that white actors playing African American characters with "black face" notoriously ~ i o l a t e dthe dignity of black Americans.'" Producers and directors probably thought white audiences would not identify with an unknown Chinese male lead, a sentiment that would resurface when Eruce Lee was passed eyer in the Kung Fu series. Consequently, the role of Charlie Chan was played by actors such as Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, Roland Winters and Peter us ti no^. Portraying a Chinese character with a white actor is a symbolic act of colonization. The use of white actors to assume the identity of racially marked minorities reflects the domination of white Americans over minority groups. Not only did the use of white actors in "yellow face" exclude Asian American actors from the work force, it also convinced audiences that white actors could portray Chinese Americans with more accuracy and acumen than could Chinese Americans themse1~es.'Indeed, the image of Charlie Chan continued to exist in the minds of tele~ision producers in 1968, as Eruce Lee was cast as the leading man in a new series, featuring Charlie Chan's nu~nberone son as a contemporary Asian American young detective. For unclear reasons, the show was not produced. There were also recent
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rumors of another Charlie Chan series being produced that was expected to air in 1993 or 1994.:" When Jerry Shylock proposed to make a new, eight million dollar film, Charlie Chan and the Dragon Lady, in 1980, some members of the Asian American community formed a protest group called C.A.N., Coalition of Asians to Nix, Charlie Chan. They staged protests and demonstrations to voice their disapproval of the proposed film, since the two primary Chinese characters were going to be played by white American actors Peter us ti no^ and Angie Dickenson. Jerry Shylock's insistence on portraying Chinese characters with white actors exemplifies the deep rootedness of a white Charlie Chan. Charlie Chan's visual image supports the common belief that white Americans are superior to Chinese Americans. The most ~ o c a protesters l decried the perpetuation of degrading stereotypes in the film industry. Attorney Louis H o p Lee told Shylock that the m o ~ i e although , a comedy, would be taken seriously by the young and particularly by those who haye had little contact with the Asian American community: "It puts the burden on us to show we are not like that." Shylock countered by arguing that the film did not . ~ ~ conflict arose oYer the impact of films on their purport to be a d o c ~ m e n t a r y The audiences, particularly how audiences interpret films. Shylock argued that audiences of different ages, genders, races, and classes would realize that Charlie Chan does not represent reality, thereby minimizing any n e g a t i ~ esocial impact. Lee suggested that audiences would use these stereotypical images to further mock the Chinese l i ~ i n gin America."' Popular culture has a tendency to displace salient social issues, such as racism and patriarchy, by putting them into an acceptable context of comedy or humor. It is precisely this lack of seriousness in popular images such as Charlie Chan's that offends some Asian Americans. Forrest Gok, co-director of C.A.N. Charlie Chan, objects not only to the lack of representations of Asian Americans in the media but also the fact that when Asian Americans are represented at all, they are usually blatantly misrepresented. Gok explains, when we see ourselves portrayed in ugly, offensive, degrading ways it doesn't make us feel good. There are so few roles for Asian actors, so when we see a major one \vhich is mythical or untrue, it is even more bitter. To be a minority and have no role models is like being a non-existent c u l t ~ i r e . ~ ' Having a white actor play Charlie Chan allows the boundaries of race to be transgressed so that mainstream audiences can be reassured that Chinese Americans are nonthreatening. Such mythic images on screen and the symbolism embedded in them reflect the ways in which Chinese Americans were legally discriminated against and systematically excluded from mainstream America in the 1920s and 1930s. By the 1980s, however, Asian Americans had learned not to be content with stereotypes and refused to be misrepresented by Ustinov's portrayal of Charlie Chan. Although they failed to stop Shylock's production, their protests indicated
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their discontent oyer popular culture's insistence on perpetuating pejoratiye yisual signs. What has been lost in this debate over negatiye representations of Charlie Chan is the gendered coinpoilent of Charlie Chan's image. Rendering Charlie Chan as a inodel minority and as an emasculated breeder situates Chinese Ainerican men into a position of haying to redeem a sense of masculinit!; thereby limiting a potentially complex Asian American inasculinist discourse to one of heterosexual affirmation and the acquisition of a hegemonic masculinity. The following analysis of selected texts by Earl Derr Eiggers will illustrate how Charlie Chan is situated as a subordinated character, stripped of any patriarchal powers, and racially and culturally domesticated by racism.
T H E HOUSE W I T H O U T A KEY ( 1 9 2 5 ) Ey using Eiggers' first noyel, The House Without A Key, to foreground Charlie Chan's role in relationship to the society in which he is situated, I am elaborating on seyeral themes which arise out of Eiggers' body of writings. First, it is necessary to emphasize Charlie Chan's middle-class profession that allows him to enter upper-class society. Chan's role as a detective seems to cut across cultural boundaries such as race, class, and gendel; since anyone who breaks the law will he investigated by the police. O n a broader l e d , I argue that Charlie Chan's involvement with the upper echelons of society enables mainstream readers to see how Chan experiences racism: he acknowledges its existence hut simultaneously minimizes its significance or relevance in deference to the progression of the plot. In this sense, Charlie Chan masks and displaces racism by eleyating the elements of mystery and romance. Racism in Ainerican culture and society becomes less of an issue when there is a character such as Charlie Chan, a inodel minority, ;,who is acculturated, successful, and prosperous. Consequently, the Japanese, natiye Hawaiians, and Chinese servants are not viewed as systematically oppressed since Charlie Chan is not oppressed. The opportunities are there and America cannot be blamed for the lack of success that minorities encounter. Secondly, I argue that the lack of development in Charlie Chan's character effectiyely positions him as a "cultural alien" without, howevel; being "overpoweringly alien."': As a Chinese detective from Hawaii, his investigati~epowers are appreciated by those on the maillland with the understanding that Charlie Chan will always return to his hoine on the islands." In other words, dominant cultural groups can only tolerate cultural differences when those differences are temporary and contained. Charlie Chan has no desire to migrate to the mainlaild and when he is on the mainland, he constantly thinks about his hoine on the islands. In The House Without A Key, Hawaii's pastoral setting is romanticized by affluent Easterners who have decided to indulge themselyes in the "seini-barbaric heauty of a Pacific Island. . . . . The carpet of the waters, apple-green by day, crimson and gold at sunset, was a deep purple now."" The murder yictiin in this novel is Dan Winterslip, whose shady business deals haye made him a fortune and whose
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lifestyle is linked to the islands, a semi-ciyilized society which harbors disreputable people like Winterslip. In contrast, Boston is the center of ci~ilization,characterized by "art exhibits and Lowell Lectures."" Civilization is also signified by technology and the conflict between nature and culture is quickly established. Dan Winterslip prefers nature because he can escape public scrutiny of his past with relative ease. H e eyen complains that the mainland influences Hawaii in a negative way, "too much of your damned mechanical civilization-automobiles, phonographs, radios."'h The references to modern technology represent the coding and dissemination of information, something Winterslip wants to ayoid. Hawaii becomes a refuge for modern, civilized individuals who romanticize the exotic qualities of the islands. Residents such as Dan Winterslip attribute to Hawaii particular powers over people, powers which make them "behave . . . a bit differently than [they] would in the Back Bay."'? The tranquillity notwithstanding, there is in Hawaii a hierarchical structure in which racial minorities are represented as seryants to upper class white Americans. The narrative treats these racial others as objects of curiosity. ICamaiku, the Hawaiian woman seryant, is described as a "huge, high-breasted, dignified specimen of that vanishing race."'The colonizing tendency of the narrator is clear: if ICamaiku belongs to "a dying race," then it means that white Americans will eventually take eyer eyery aspect of life in the islands. Winterslip's other servant is Haku, who is referred to simply as a "Jap." Unsurprisingly, these racially marked indiyiduals occupy a subordinate relationship to dominant white Americans from the mainland, regardless of what they do. In chapter fiye, the narrator reyeals to the reader Dan Winterslip's shady past. According to Reyerend Upton, Dan was a "blackbirder." The Reyerend offers Dan some adyice and explains the meaning of a blackbirder: "A blackbirdel; my boy is a shipping-master who furnishes contract labor to the plantations at so much a head. . . . Sometimes the laborers came willingly. Sometimes. But mostly they came at the point of a knife or the muzzle of a gun. A bloody, brutal husine~s."'~ Winterslip's link to the contract labor trade connects the story to a colonial ideolog;! while signs of white superiority are evident throughout the text. When the police arrive at the scene of Dan Winterslip's murdel; Miss Minerva, his first cousin, who has been staying with him for the past ten months, clearly disapproves of Charlie Chan, insulting him hy presuming that he will do nothing to solve this case. Minerva angrily says "I know-that's your Confucius . . . hut it's a do-nothing doctrine, and I don't approye of it.""' The tensions between Chan and Minerva are marked in terms of race, class, gendel; and sexuality. Chan is a Chinese Hawaiian male detectiye (he is gradually promoted in later novels) who appears to he effeminate and physically inept while M i n e r ~ ais a white upper-class female Bostonian who appears to he strong and rational. In a rare moment of resistance, he responds to Minerva's impetuous statement with authority:
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A faint smile flickered over the Chinaman's face. "Do not fear," he said. "The fates are busy, and man may do much to assist. I promise you there will he no do-nothing here." He came closer. "Humbly asking pardon to mention it, I detect in your eyes slight flame of hostility. Quench it, if you will be so kind. Friendly cooperation are essential between us."4' Chan's assertion of his authority temporarily silences Minerva and some readers might conclude that Chan's position of power as a male detective overrides his ethnic identity as a Chinese. However, he is consistently relegated to a note taker visa-vis Captain Hallet, who ostensibly leads the investigation. When Captain Hallet questions a suspect, his first response is to position Chan as a subordinate detective: "'Let's get to business.' He turned to Chan. 'Got your book, Charlie?"'" When Charlie Chan receives an important lead, he immediately checlzs in with Captain Hallet. More importantly, when the murderer is arrested, it is the prosecutor who narrates the details, providing the missing information which links the murderer to his cri1ne.l3 In other words, Chan's role in this first novel is limited. Although he is the person who does most of the investigative work, Chan's social standing is secondary to Captain Hallet's. Furthermore, the novel does not center on Charlie Chan as a protagonist with inner conflicts or emotions. The main person who is described and developed in great depth is John Quincy Winterslip, who travels from Boston to visit Aunt Minerva and Uncle Dan. Charlie Chan, in this novel as well as in later ones, is not a central character in the narrative. Hawley argues that Chan's ethnicity is essentially non-existent in the novel. Although the reader's mental image of Charlie Chan may be that of a Chinese, the scarcity of symbols or cultural signs of Chineseness deprives Chan of the hu~nanisticand psychological depth that his white male counterpart, John Quincy Winterslip, possesses. In Hawley's words, "superficially Charlie Chan may appear Chinese, but he is fundamentally stripped of any genuine Chinese cult~ire."~" Hawley's concept of a "genuine culture," however, is rather vague and it leans toward an essentialist construction of culture. What Charlie Chan has been stripped of is not "genuine Chinese culture" but, rather, depth of charactec Chinese culture, like other cultures, shifts according to historical changes. Yet Hawley's underlying point is significant: Chan is merely an ornament in the story Charlie Chan's configuration in the text is subordinate to the central white American protagonists, allowing mainstream readers to identify with them instead of with him. Chan is almost a side-lziclz character to John Quincy Winterslip, who holds the narrative frame together. The narrative perspective of John Quincy is central to the development of the story. Through his eyes, we see the "melting pot" of Hawaii: "Every few moments it [the trolley] paused to take aboard new iilnmigration problems, Japs, Chinamen, Hawaiians, Portuguese, Philippinos [sic], Koreans, all colors and all creeds. . . . M c Kipling was wrong, the boy reflected, East and West could meet. They had."" It is
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clear that John Quincy feels that the new immigrants are problems yet he seeins to admire the coexistence of "Eastern and Western" races. Quincy is a young Bostonian consuined by the romantic environs of Hawaii. He is attracted to the beautiful women on the islands: "Eut why should he want to talk with Carlota Egan? Eut why should he want to talk with this girl, whose outlook was so different from that of the world he knew?"Readers are introduced to his amhimlent emotions, whereas Chan is always an object gazed upon by other characters. Readers d o not haye access to how Charlie Chan feels or thinks. He is the stereotypical mysterious Oriental who is inscrutable and sexually unappealing. His actions and words are cultural texts to he analyzed or interpreted. His identity and character are fixed and stable. His investigati~estyle, language, and philosophies become stock clichts. His image is unthreatening and he is devoid of any ability to d e ~ e l o ppsychologically or einotionally Charlie Chan's character as mysterious is ironically perpetuated by the character himself. H e proclaiins himself to he a representative of the Chinese people by explaining to the white characters that "Chinese most psychic people in the world. Sensiti~es,like film in a camera. A look, a laugh, a gesture perhaps. Something go click."? Ey reinforcing the idea that the Chinese are psychic people and referring to the Chinese as film in camera, Chan espouses a preferred reading: the Chinese haye the ability to see things beyond the human eye. Howeyer, the analogy between the Chinese and film calls attention to the unstable relationship between ohjects and the reproduction of those ohjects. A roll of film may reproduce ohjects accurately in a representational sense hut it cannot take the place of real objects. By saying that the Chinese are like film, Chan implies that the Chinese mirror or inimic what they see in America. Charlie Chan is, indeed, a reflection of mainstream America. He is accepted only when he mimics white America's notions of propriety and civility. Howevel; before Chan is allowed to inimic or assimilate into mainstream America, he must be marginalized first. H e must he cast as an other, a stranger, who needs to shed as inany traces of foreignness as possible. When Quincy visits Charlie Chan's home, he describes the detecti~eas if he were an Oriental ornament: "In this, his hour of ease, he wore a long loose robe of dark purple silk, which fitted closely at the neck and had wide sleeves. Eeneath it showed wide trousers of the same material." Chan's appearance is so alien that Quincy feels compelled to explain his feelings: "He [Charlie Chan] was all Oriental now, suaye and ingratiating but remote, and for the first time John Quincy was really conscious of the great gulf across which he and Chan shook hands.".'8 Quincy's realization of the cultural differences between hiinself and Chan is based on superfluous signs, rather than philosophical or ideological conflicts. Indeed, when Charlie Chan changes into a more westernized outfit, those differences are reduced: "when the detecti~e returned, he wore the conventional garb of Los Angeles or Detroit, and the gulf did not seem so wide."" It seems appropriate for a young innocent man, whose uncle calls him a "puritan s ~ r v i v o r , " ~to( ~base his presumptions on superficial cultural signs such as clothing. In fact, judgments on Charlie Chan's appearance are plenti-
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ful in Biggers' first novel, especially from Miss Minerva and the narrator himself. Neither the narrator nor the central character attempts to understand Chan as a Chinese American detectiye or as a person. This narrative imbalance is sustaiiled in all of Eiggers' n o d s . Although Chan is professionally promoted steadily through the course of the noyels and is given more prominence in the developinent of the narratives, his role is still secondary to the white, middle-to-upper-class male lead who is always a sexual being, looking for romance and true loye among the beautiful women surrounding him. Chan's asexuality is consistently juxtaposed against the sexual exploits of the protagonist. It can be argued that Chan's subordinate role is an essential eleinent in his popularity: he is an intelligent, culturally different, ornament that adds color to a inonocultural society.
THE CHINESE PARROT (1927) Charlie Chan's economic stability as a law enforcer proyides him with a coinfortable home near Pui~chhowlHill. He has a wife and eight children (increasing to elwen by the third novel), and he drives a Ford. In Biggers' second novel, The Chinese Parrot, the upper class social world that Charlie Chan is about to enter is signaled by the introduction of Alexander Eden, "the sole owner of the best-known jewelry store west of the Rockies."" The women in this society are, again, represented as being beautiful. Eden chooses his secretary because she is "an ash blond with violet eyes . . . her inaimers were exquisite; so was her gown."j2 The story centers on the Phillimore pearls. Sally Phillimore has asked Charlie Chan to escort these pearls from Hawaii to Sail Francisco for sale. Charlie Chan is now detectiyesergeant Chan and the reader also learns a little more of his background. Apparently he was a houseboy in the Phillimore mansion inany years ago. The pearls are now being sold to P.J. Madden, "the great Madden, the hero of a thousand Wall Street battles, six feet and over and looming like a tower of granite in the gray clothes he always affected."" Howeyer, complications arise when P.J. Madden asks Eden to send the pearls to Madden's ranch in "the desert town of E l d ~ r a d o " ' ~ instead of New York. Chan, accompanied by Eoh, Alexander Eden's son, is asked to deliver the pearls ( ~ a l u e dat a quarter of a million dollars) to Madden. Eob Eden's role is similar to that of John Quincy Winterslip in The Hoztse Without a Key. Here, too, a white American young man, single and sexually appealing, is juxtaposed against a middle-aged, asexual-looking Chinese Ainerican man. The outcome of this partnership is also similar. Chan solyes the mystery and Eob Eden marries the beautiful woman. Howeyel; in this noyel, Chan's background and identity receive more attention. Before Chan begins his assignment, he goes to San Francisco's Chinatown to visit his cousin, Chan Kee Lim. His interaction with Chan Kee Lim reveals the amhimlent role of Charlie Chan who straddles two coininunities-those of white Americans and the Chinese who have not acculturated into mainstream society. Chan I<ee Lim does not recognize Charlie Chan, "since you come in the garb of a foreign deyil, and knock on my door with the knuckles,
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as rude foreign devils do." He also does not understand why Charlie Chan chooses to he a detecti~e,"The foreign devil police-what has a Chinese in common with them?" " His cousin who does not like the idea of interacting with "foreign devils" accuses Charlie Chan of being a traitor. Biggers separates clearly what is Chinese and what is American and constructs a space where Charlie Chan remains on the margins of America society because of his race and is only permitted to enter it because of his profession. Those on the margins are accommodated in mainstream America only as subordinates, such as janitors, cooks, and chauffeurs, among other subservient occupations. Chan seems to subvert the dominantlsubordinate dichotomy when he disguises himself as a Chinese cook in order to penetrate the mysteries surrounding Madden's ranch. He self-consciously plays into the stereotype of the pidgin English speaking Chinese cook who minds his own business, when in reality he is spying on the residents of Madden's mansion. Howevel; it is clear from the narrative that Chan is placed in a subordinate position in relation to Bob Eden, since the story is told from Eden's point of Yiew. Eden's thoughts p e r ~ a d ethe text. H e e~entuallymeets Paula Wendell, who works for a motion picture company. Apparently, P.J. Madden has g i x n her permission to use the ranch for several days of shooting. The reader follows this relationship and watches it grow while the reader can only assume that Chan is investigating on the side. Chan, the supposed central charactel; has few private thoughts. His dialogues are the most revealing, but they nonetheless center on problem-solving themes and his homesickness: "very much impressed by desert, thank you, hut will m o x on at earliest o p p o r t ~ n i t y . " ' More ~ importantly, eYen when Chan faces racist remarks, the reader does not have access to Charlie Chan's inner response. When Louie Wong, the p r e ~ i o u scook, whom Chan has replaced, returns unexpectedly from San Francisco, he is murdered at the gates of the ranch. Mr. Madden responds to Constable Erackett, "But fortunately no one was hurt. N o white man, I mean. Just my old Chink, Louie Wong." Charlie Chan o ~ e r h e a r sthis and his reaction is acknowledged but also brushed aside. The narrator points out that "his [Charlie Chan] eyes blazed for a moment as they rested on the callous face of the millionaire."' The narrative immediately redirects the reader to the investigation, while the other characters ignore Madden's racist remark. Chan's response to blatant racism is reduced to "blazing eyes." It is not surprising that Chan Lee Kim, his cousin, questions Charlie Chan's i n ~ o l ~ e m e nwith t "foreign de~ils."H o w can a Chinese American detective, who clearly is aware of the racism he faces when dealing with white Americans, not be affected by Madden's tri~ializationof a fellow Chinese worker's death? Chan rev& how model minorities must minimize the impact of racism if they wish to be accepted. In order for Chan to assimilate, he must mimic standard American English. Indeed, Chan seelns to he more concerned with his English-speaking skills than with racism in American society. When he enters the Madden mansion, he assumes
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the name Ah Kim, and replaces the cook Louie Wong. His identity is at stake and he complains to Eob Eden that "all my life . . . I study to speak fine English words. N o w I must strangle all such in my throat, lest suspicion rouse up."'Wis English is clearly different from the pidgin English spoken by other Chinese servants, yet he is also fluent in pidgin English. When he talks to Me Madden, he says "You takee look-see at suillise thisee mawnin'?" hut to Eoh Eden, he pronounces the dreaded "r" with clarity, "Chinese have saying that applies: 'He who rides on tiger can not dismount'."" It seeins that Eiggers is trying to distinguish Charlie Chan as a Chinese American from Chan's ability to nayigate the pidgin English of iininigrants and the standard English of Americans. The irony is that Chan's graininar and his o ~ e r l yphilosophical sayings still mark him as a foreigner. Although Charlie Chan seems to he able to cross linguistic boundaries, from his own style of English to pidgin English, he is still trapped within his own particularized linguistic style. In all of the six noyels, Charlie Chan's English does not improye; it remains fixed in such a way that it becomes one of his trademarks. His unique style of English is linked to his identity as a semi-acculturated Chinese American, his status eleyated from that of a Chinese servant (house boy) to detectiye-sergeant. Yet his speech patterns are so idiosyncratic that he can never he fully acculturated and accepted into mainstream American society since linguistic and racial differences are rarely tolerated. In a literary (or textual) sense, Chan's character is constructed as illcommensurable to the dominant culture. Ironically, these linguistic and racial differences in Chan's character contribute significantly to his popularity and acceptance by mainstream readers (and audiences).
BEHIND THAT CURTAIN (1928) As argued earlier, physical difference is one aspect of Chan's configuration that other characters are quick to point out. When reporter Eill Rankin suggests that Charlie Chan and Sir Frederic Eruce, "former head of the Criminal Inrestigation Department at Scotland Yard,""meet to discuss criminology, he describes Chan to Eruce as "uniinpressi~eto look at," while the narrator reminds the reader that Chan walks "surprisingly light of step . . . an uniinpressi~elittle inan with a bulging waistband and a yery earnest expression on his chubby face."" This physical description is consistently repeated in all of the noyels; it emphasizes his asexuality yis-i-vis the sexualized white American characters, both inen and women. The attractiye attorney, J. V. Morrow, asks Sir Frederic, "Why are Englishmen so fascinating?" and admits falling for them." Chan's lack of sexual appeal reduces his identity to an analytical crime-sol~ingmachine, which contrasts sharply with the sexual energies of the white characters who find murders and mysteries (sexually) gratifying. In Keeper of the Keys and The Chinese Parrot, the main inale characters both find loye and happiness with the female characters after the murders are s o l ~ e dEy . the end of the noyels, John Quincy Winterslip marries Carlota Egan (The House Without A Key) and Bob Eden weds Paula Wendell (The Chinese P a r ~ o t ) . ~ ~ The sexual energies exhibited by the main white characters are foregrounded in
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Behind That Curtain. Barry Kirk, a young and charming millionaire, and J. V. Morrow, a deputy district attorney, flirt with each other throughout the story. It is evident that they are physically attracted to each other. The murder of Sir Frederic Bruce at Kirk's home and J. V. Morrow's position as a lawyer link these two characters together as they try to assist Charlie Chan. Not surprisingl!; their flirtatious conrersations occupy most of the narratire. Conrenientl!; the murder that frames this story centers on an adrenturous romance based on greed and the desire of disreputable characters to make money off of wealthy characters. Sir Frederic is murdered because he is about to rereal the identity of a woman who disappeared sixteen years ago in Peshawar, India. The exotic mysteries of the East are stressed, as Eve Durand disappears during a trip in the desert with her husband, Major Eric Durand. Apparentl!; Ere Durand, who was eighteen at the time, found out that her husband had killed someone in England and decided to leave him by asking an explorer, Colonel John Beetham, to help her escape. Together they planned an escape, hut no one has been able find out what happened until Sir Frederic puts the various clues together. After Sir Frederic is murdered, Chan continues the inrestigation. The story focuses on discorering the identity of Ere Durand. While Kirk and Morrow are waiting for new leads, they develop a strong attraction towards each other. The desire to solre the case is erident as both characters outline all the clues they hare gathered orer dinner. They have spent much time and energy orer this mystery and they easily transfer this energy to a more intimate and personal relationship: "And now will you drop all this and dance with me-or must I dance alone? . . . Miss Morrow laughed, and they danced together on the tiny floor."" The transference of their inrestigative energies onto a physical level is contextualized by the rerelation of the truth "behind the curtain." The motire for murdel; the mysterious disappearance of Eve Durand, and the subsequent investigation serve as focal points from which Kirk's and Morrow's romance develops.65 Charlie Chan, on the other hand, is consumed only by the desire to solve the mystery and leare the mainland for Hawaii. His dilemmas are always related to the complexity of the murder. In one of those rare moments during which the narrator focuses on Chan, the reader learns that he does not think about anything else but the murders and returning to Hawaii: "Nor for ever would he wander amid his present dark doubts and perplexities; one of these days he would see the murderer of Sir Frederic. . . . After that-the Pacific, the lighthouse on Makapuu Point, Diamond Head and a palm-fringed shore, and finally his beloved town of Honolulu nestling in the e~neraldcup of the hills."66 In The House Without A Key and The Chinese Parrot Chan responds to racist remarks with momentary indignation. Similarly, in Behind That Curtain, Chan must temper his response to the racism he experiences. When Chan meets the blatant racism of Captain Flamer!; he is sarcastic and condescending at times because it is clear to both the readers and the other characters that the Captain lacks intelligence and has little inrestigatire skill. Yet when Captain Flannery blames Charlie Chan for his own mistakes, Charlie Chan apologizes. Captain Flannery laments,
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"Will I eyer forgiye myself? Listening to a Chinaman-me, Tom Flannery. With my experience-my record-hah! I've been crazy. . . . You see, I got foolish and listened to a Chinaman, and that's how I came to make a mistake about your ide11tity."~Although Charlie Chan eventually solves the case, he is submissive and does not defend himself when it is clear that he is not responsible for Captain Flannery's mistake; "I am so sorry. I have made stupid error. Captain-is it possible you will eyer forgiye me?"h8Captain Flannery's racism cannot he any more explicit than when he yells at Chan to "put your cards on the table like a white man."hy The Captain is an unintelligent yet aggressive white law enforcer from the mainland while Chan is a methodical, apologetic, and patient Chinese detectiye from Hawaii. The Captain's racism does not affect Chan, whose lack of response has significant ideological implications. If Charlie Chan is not troubled by racist remarks, why should anybody else be? None of the white characters reacts to Captain Flannery's ignorance; racial tension is once again acknowledged and assuaged at the same time.
CONCLUSION Charlie Chan's character is a controlled model minority man. As a middle-class Chinese law enforcer, Chan's occupation is unusual when one compares him with the historical conditions of Chinese immigrants in the 1920s and the 19.30s; most Chinese male immigrants were engaged in either low-paying menial occupations or family owned small businesses.'" He has a family of eleyen, while most Chinese workers at the time did not have families due to exclusion acts that prohibited Chinese women to enter the United States. Further, Charlie Chan, as a middle-class professional, does not serve the interests of the Chinese working-class or the immigrant c o ~ n ~ n u n i tiny the n o d s . His seryices are rendered to upper-class white Americans who are often condescending towards him. His reproductive prowess (eleven children) is undermined by his nonsexual interaction with other characters. His experiences of racism do not affect him significantly and he consistently longs to return to the islands, a sign of selfmarginalization that also minimizes his presence on the mainland. Charlie Chan's character lacks agency and emotional complexity; and his English is stilted, emphasizing his incompatible role in mainstream America. In his relationship to the white characters, he is secondary and suhseryient. He is a glorified servant to wealthy white A~nericans and his incom~nensurability to them is emphasized in his physique, language, and place of origin. Charlie Chan's character is a mythic literary construction, which satisfies a need in American culture to address its increasingly visible multi-racial social structure by depicting Chinese A~nericansas a model minority. More importantl!; Earl Derr Biggers' model of masculinity marginalizes Chinese American men by defining a manhood that is inferior to a hegemonic masculinity. These model combines a model minority stereotype with a marginalized masculinity that effectively shows how Charlie Chan submits to a patriarchal hierarchy based on race, compensated only by his middle-class status. According to conver-
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sations with my students, young Asian American men are burdened by the various stereotypes of Chinese American men in popular culture, hut the stereotype of the emasculated and sexually inferior image seems to be one of the most troubling cultural inheritances. The goal of recuperating a sense of manhood seems to preclude a more rigorous analysis or critique of the way in which a hegemonic masculinity is defined. One of the first steps in disinantling this model of masculinity is to recognize that Chan's literary or Yisual image calls attention to its own constructedness. For instance, his pseudo-Confucian phrases represent linguistic signs without social referents since Chinese-speaking individuals do not speak like Charlie Chan. The visual representation of Charlie Chan also lacks social referentiality when it is o b ~ i o u s that the actor who plays the role of Charlie Chan is a white actor pretending to be a Chinese character. Furthel; these elements become parodic when one considers phrases such as "the guest who lingers too long deteriorates like unused fish,"'' "as the Chinese say, 'In time the grass becomes in ilk,"“^ "curiosity is all quenched, like fire in pouring rain,"'? and "no man loves the person who has guided his faltering footsteps to high-up rung of the ladder,"?.' among others, as excessive and self-parodic. The awkwardness of the metaphors and similes resonates with Chan's strange physique, a large body that walks with light dainty steps. Chan's iinage and character further s u b ~ e r theinsel~es t as Chan consistently proclaims hiinself a represent a t i ~ eof the Chinese while he does not speak (or behave) like one. In many ways, the myth of Charlie Chan acknowledges its own f i c t i ~ econstructedness and selfconsciously admits that it has no relationship to social reality. Interpreting Charlie Chan's character and iinage reveals the tensions that are embedded in Charlie Chan as a cultural figure. O n the one hand, readers may see how Charlie Chan does not represent anyone else but himself, in spite of Chan's insistence that he knows and represents the Chinese. This is what Jerry Shylock would argue, that the character is only a f i c t i ~ econstruct. O n the other hand, readers and audiences who do not haye much knowledge of the Chinese may he easily persuaded by the narrator's authoritative statement describing this minority group, "the Chinese h a x been a civilized race for many centuries; they do not care greatly for ino~ing-pictures,preferring the spoken drama."-' The totalizing statements of the narrator, using Charlie Chan as representati~eof his race, effectively informs the uniformed that Chinese people, due to its cultural history, d o not watch movies. It is crucial that a stereotype is recognized as an exaggerated form of representation and the burden of disinantling stereotypes rests with those who perpetuate those stereotypes. The disinheritance of Charlie Chan could begin with a critical analysis of what masculinity means for Chinese Ainerican men. For instance, is it possible to represent a form of masculinity that does not reproduce a hegemonic and compulsory heteromasculinity? Unlike Dr. Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan, Bruce Lee's iinage is heroic and larger than life. The heroic characters he creates re~isionsthe historical and political oppression suffered by the Chinese at the hands of Europeans and the Japanese.
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Lee's image recuperates the image of the e~nasculatedbreeder. His martial arts films reveal the tensions of constructing a heteromasculine Chinese American image. Eruce Lee's image is sexualized, hut it also exudes a certain ambi-sexuality. An analysis of Bruce Lee's texts will provide an alternatiye model of masculinity from a Chinese American perspectiye.
NOTES 1. Earl Derr Bigger's stories about Charlie Chan were originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, in the early 1920s, and were later published as novels (1925-1932) and made into films. 2. Michael Omi, "In Living Color: Race and American Culture," in Cultural Politics ilz Contemporaq America, ed. Ian Angus and Sut Jhally (New Yorlt: Routledge, 1989), 117. 3. Darrell Hamamoto, Monitored Peril (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 19941, 2. 4. Keith Osajima, "Asian Americans as the Model Minority: An Analysis of the Popular Press Image in the 1960s and 1980s," in Reflections on shattered windows: promises and prospects for Asian A~nerican studies, ed. Gary Y. Oltihiro (Washington: Washington State Uniyersity Press, 19881, 167. 5. Clarence E. Glick, Sojourners and Settlers: Chinese Migmnts in Hawaii (Honolulu: Uniyersity Press of Hawaii, 19801, 2.3-101. 6. Gary Oltihiro, Cane Fires (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991), 78-81. 7. Oltihiro, Cane Fires, 79. 8. Ihid., 83. 9. Ihid., xiii. 10. Another condition for acceptance by mainstream American readers stems from the pleasure in knowing that the racial "other" is contained by his m7 1lite counterpart. DL Fu Manchu's nationalist exploits are always undermined by Sir Nayland Smith and DL Petrie, while Earl Derr Biggers' white narrators develop into sexually appealing characters at the expense of Chan's physical being. This condition continues until the 1970s when Eruce Lee's martial arts forced the A~nerican public to accept his superior martial arts skills. 11. Frank Chin, "Sons of Chan," The Chinaman Pacific Frisco R.R. Co. (Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 19881, 132. 12. Frank Chin, Sons of Chan, 133-136. 1.3. Ihid. 14. Ihid. 1.5. Dick O'Donnell, "Chan P.I.," Saturday Review (JanuaryIFehruar!; 1986), 18. 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid. 18. Earl Derr Eiggers, The House Without a Key (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 19251, 76. 19. Edward Said, Orientalisnz (New York: Vintage Books, 1979), 2-4. 20. Sandra M . Hawley, "The Importance of Being Charlie Chan," in America '
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Views China: American Images of China Then and N o w , ed. Jonathan Goldstein, Jerry Israel, and Hilary Conroy (Eethelem: Lehigh Uni~ersityPress, 1991), 1.36. 21. Michael J. Erodhead, "'But-He's a Chinainan!': Charlie Chan's Literary Image," Halc)'on 1984 (Reno: Nevada Humanities Committee, 19841, 56. 22. Ibid., 70. 23. Stuart Hall, "Culture, The Media and the 'Ideological Effect"' in Mass Comnzz~nicationand Society, ed. James Curran, Michael Cure~itch,and Janet Woolacott ( E e ~ e r l yHills: SAGE, 19791, 315-348. 24. See Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979). 25. Hawle!; "The Importance of Being Charlie Chan," 137. 26. Although my primary concern is with the ways in which the novels depict Charlie Chan, I am including this discussion on how films and television shows play a role in constructing a model of masculinity that reduces, much like the n o ~ e l s a, Chinese American character into a one-dimensional caricature. 27. The practice of yellow face in the depiction of Charlie Chan is first and foremost symptomatic of the capitalist-driven demands of marltetable commodities. Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, and Roland Winters had more name recognition than most Asian actors in the 1920s and 1930s. Underlying this logic is that Asian actors are inferior to their White comterparts and the symbolic colonization of having White actors depict Asians is quite clear: the accepted practice of yellow face sustains the racial hierarchy of embedded in American culture as characters of color are consistently depicted as subordinate to the primarily White characters. This ltind of organizing principle is manifested in the more recent Miss Saigon controversy where Jonathan Pryce was chosen by producer Cameron Mackintosh to portray one of the leading roles in Miss Saigon. The primary difference is that in the 1990s, there are many more Asian actors who could h a x played this role. The insistence on name recognition is less important (after all, the female Asian character is played by a relative ~ i ~ l l t n o wAsian n actress) as Macltintosh used another kind of pseudo-objective logic to support Pryce; namel!; the best actor should be cast in this role. The definition of best actor is clearly a subjective decision since B. D. Wong had established himself as a formidable talent when he played Song Liling in David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly on Broadway. Michael Rogin's complex analysis of black face by Jewish immigrants in the 1930s is helpful in understanding the racial hierarchy established by the use of black face. Although the historical context may differ, Chinese immigrants were used as economic subjects while African Americans were freed from slavery in the late nineteenth century, the racial logic remains comparable. In both instances, the racial trailsgressions reflect the ability for White and ethnic White Americans to assume the role of black face and yellow face as eiltertaiilineilt without uolitical ramifications. The lack of any kind of organized protest reflects the poker of a racial hierarchy that posits White Americans as indeed superior to African or Asian Americans. 28. Fletcher Chan, "Respecting Charlie Chan," Transpacific (October, 1993),20. 29. Evelyn Hsu, "Charlie Chan Film May Ee Rewritten," San Francisco Chronzcle, April 18 1980, 5. 30. Theorists of popular culture have elaborated on the role of audiences, showing how a film lends itself to different interpretations, depending on the background
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of the audience members. Audiences are not passiye viewers: they negotiate, resist, or subyert dominant ideologies when they interpret films. Thus, audiences should be able to see that Charlie Chan is a white actor playing the role of a Chinese American man. His exaggerated features call attention to the fact that Charlie Chan is a fictive character who does not even look Chinese. In short the visual image subvests itself by calling attention to its own constructedness. In linguistic terminology, Charlie Chan is a sign without a referent, since the image of Charlie Chan does not correspond to a social reality. It would he difficult to find a Chinese man who resembles or speaks as Oland, Toler, Winters, and Ustinov do in portraying Charlie Chan. Indeed, Chan's self-subversive image seems to minimize the seriousness of its social impact. However, when audiences are unfamiliar with a particular minority culture, they often do not haye the critical tools to see beyond the stereotypes and analyze the implications of a Charlie Chan myth created by whites. Although Horkheimer and Xdorno's theories on the power of "culture industries" haye been rejected by some contemporary theorists, their arguments are convincing when applied to the ways in which Asian American images are presented on screen and the ways mainstream audiences interpret them. They argue that real life is becoming indistinguishable from the moyies. The sound film, far surpassing the theater of illusion, leayes little room for the imagination of many audience members; hence the film forces its audience to equate it directly with reality. Horlzheimer and Adorno attribute an almost conspiratorial amount of power to the "culture industry," so it is not surprising that other theorists resist their argument. Yet, there is no question that images of Asian Americans on screen, however disfigured they may he, haye a tremendous impact on mainstream audiences, given their lack of familiarity with Asian Americans. Audiences often treat popular images or texts as representative-that is, they "equate [them] directly with reality," in spite of the exaggerated and unrealistic racial features. See Max Horlzheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment (New Yorlz: Continuum, 19891, p. 126. 31. Sheila Benson, "Asians React to Film Images," Los Angeles Times (May 10, 1980). 32. Hawk!; "The Importance of Eeing Charlie Chan," 137. 33. Hawaii, as a pseudo-colony to the mainland, parallels Chan who is depicted as a pseudo-servant of White Americans. Thanks to Peter X. Feng for pointing this out. 34. Earl Derr Eiggers, The House Without a Key (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 192.51, 1-12. All subsequent page numbers refer to this edition. -3.5. Ihid., 8. 36. Ibid., 11. 37. Ibid., 9. 38. Ibid., 6. 39. Ihid., 60. 40. Ihid., 84. 41. Ihid. 42. Ibid., 103. 43. Ibid., 259-309.
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44. Hawley, "The Importance of Being Charlie Chan," 1.38. 45. Biggers, T h e House W i t h o u t a Key, 120. 46. Ibid., 178. 47. Ibid., 125. 48. Ibid., 244. 49. Ibid., 246. 50. Ibid., 312. 51. Earl Derr Biggers, T h e Chinese Parrot in Charlie Chan's Caravan (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1927), 1. A11 subsequent page nu~nbersrefer to this edition unless noted otherwise. 52. Ibid., 2. 53. Ibid., 8. 54. Ibid., 44. 55. Ibid., 3-3-34. 56. Ibid., 113. 57. Ibid., 150. 58. Ibid., 70. 59. Ibid., 131. 60. Earl Derr Eiggers, Behind that Curtain (Indianapolis: The Eohhs-Merrill Co., 1928), 2. A11 subsequent page numbers refer to this edition unless noted otherwise. 61. Ibid., 16. 62. Ibid., 31. 63. The theme of marital closure continues in Biggers' other novels, as Barry IZirlz wins the love of J. V. Morrow (Behind That C w t a i n ) ,Jimmy Bradshaw falls in love with Julie O'Neill ( T h e Black Canwl), Mark IZennaway and Pamela Potter are engaged (Charlie Chan Carries O n ) and Don Holt marries Leslie Eeaton (Keeper of the Keys). 64. Biggers, Behind That Curtain, 231. 65. Major Durand murdered Hilary Galt because Galt had threatened to stop the marriage between Eric and Eve. Eric Durand's "love" for Eve motivates him to kill and when Eve leayes him, he realizes that her disappearance will bury his past. 66. Ibid., 144. 67. Ibid., 294-296. 68. Ibid., 294. 69. Ibid., 305. 70. Ed and Helen Ritter, Stanley Spector, eds., Oztr Oriental Americans (San Francisco: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 19651, 21-23. 71. Biggers, Behind That Curtain, 3.32. 72. Ibid., 303. 73. Ibid., 330. 74. Ibid., 301. 75. Ibid., 177.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
CHAPTER FOUR
Bruce Lee: A Sexualized Object of Desire
R
obert Connell characterizes four dynamic forms of masculinity in relation to the gender order: hegemonic, complicit, subordinated, and marginalized.' H e argues that "hegemonic masculinity can be defined as the configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarch!; which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant position of men and the subordination of women."' He places race relations under the rubric of marginalized masculinity, which refers to "the relations between the masculinities in dominant and subordinated classes or ethnic g r o ~ i p s . "Connell's ~ framework provides a starting point for an analysis of how fictional models of masculinity are constructed by Chinese American men. Specifically, Bruce Lee and his films emerge out of such marginalization because of the ways in wl~ichhe was initially rejected by mainstream American popular culture. Ironicall!; after Lee proved himself to be a bankable star, the popularity of Bruce Lee's martial arts was co-opted not to include Asian American men in the film industry but to further marginalize and exclude them if they did not fit into the stereotype of the ltung fu lnastec Although Bruce Lee was given the opportunity to play the role of Kato in The Green Hornet television series in the late 1960s,l he was denied the role of Caine in the Kung Fu series because, as producer Fred Weintraub explained, "the network, NBC, and various sponsors felt a Chinese could not carry the lead role on American television.""eldom are Asian men represented in American popular media and when they are represented, Asian characters are either foil characters in relation to the primary White characters or White actors portray them. Bruce Lee's rejection by cultural producers in America marginalized not only Lee's identity as a Chinese American but his form of masculinity as well. When Lee was denied the lead role in the Kung F u series, he realized the limitations of American media and
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went to Hong Kong to star in the martial arts films made there. After Lee's first two films, FISTS O F FURY (released in Hong Kong as THE BIG BOSS) and THE CHINESE CONNECTION (released in Hong Kong as FISTS OF FURY), Hollywood producers vigorously courted Lee, offering him million-dollar i n o ~ i econtracts and guest appearances on talk shows such as the "The Tonight Show" starring Johnny Carson."iding on the phenomenal success of these two films, Lee formed his own production company with Raymond Chow (Concord Productions) and co-produced his final two films, RETURN O F THE DRAGON and ENTER THE DRAGON. Eruce Lee was one of the few martial artists- who popularized the kung fu film genre among American audiences and he also p r o ~ e dthat a Chinese American actor could reach mainstream Ainerican audiences as a leading man in spite of the history of institutionalized racism among tele~isionand Hollywood producers." Bruce Lee's popularity crosses cultural boundaries in t e r m of race, class, gender, sexualit!; and nationality. He was an international hero. My analysis of Bruce Lee's f i l m is informed by Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott's analysis of James Bond as a popular hero who embodies shifting ideological concerns according to specific historical moments. In their words, , suggest, is the ideological work effected by both the films and the n o ~ e l s we not that of imposing a range of dominant ideologies hut that of articulating the relations between a series of ideologies (subordinate as well as dominant), overlapping them on to one another so as to bring about certain movements and reformations of subjectivity-movements whose direction has varied with different moments in Bond's career as a popular hero in response to broader-cultural and ideological p r e s s ~ r e s . ~ Lee's popularity around the world, like James Bond's appeal, also suggests an overlapping of doininant and subordinate ideologies. Bennett and Woollacott's concern with the dialectical relationship between representations of the West and the East, capitalist and coininunist econoiniclpolitical systems, sexual politics, particularly the construction of images of masculinity and fernininit!; and nation and nationhood can also he applied to Eruce Lee's work."] Lee's four f i l m contain similar ideological concerns; soine of them overlap while others do not. The purposes of this chapter are to suggest soine of the possible historical conditions which enabled Bruce Lee to attain an international stature,ll to resituate Lee as a Chinese American subject, to interpret the class conflicts embedded in Lee's working-class image, and to articulate a masculinist discourse embedded within his films. The popularity of Bruce Lee is evidenced by Universal Pictures' $14 million dollar production of DRAGON: THE LIFE O F BRUCE LEE (directed by Rob Cohen, 1993), based on Emery Lee's biography, T h e Life and Tragic Death of Bruce Lee. According to Universal Studios producer Raffaella de Laurentis, this film was destined to he successful "because Eruce was a very big figure internationally. Not only in Asia and the United States. We are re-creating a hero for the young people. They need heroes."lz This re-creation of a hero coincided with the 20th anni~ersaryof
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Lee's death. Hong ICong's entertainment industry also launched a mini-reviml of Eruce Lee's life by publishing in local magazines, such as Oriental Sz~nday,biographical details ( " n e ~ e seen r before pictures of his death"), and hosting Bruce Lee imitation contests. A.T.V. (Asian Television) aired all of his films during prime time. A new television series re-creating Lee's youth in Hong I
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During his high school education in Hong Kong, Lee decided to return to America. His return indicated, in part, his claim to an A~nericaneducation as well as a Chinese American identity. His life as a high school and college student in America proved to be a difficult experience: he l i ~ e da h o ~ ea Chinese restaurant in Seattle and worked as a waiter. Although Lee was not technically a foreign student, his cultural experiences were Yery similar to those of immigrants who worked in service industries such as laundries and restaurants. Working as a waitel; a rather p a s s i ~ eoccupation, did not suit Lee's energetic and aggressi~epersonality. He graduated from Edison Vocational High School and spent three years at the Uni~ersity of Washington as a philosophy major. While he was in college, he quit his job at the restaurant and started to tutor fellow students in the martial arts. He would perform ~ a r i o u smartial arts feats in front of other students to promote his product." H e met Linda Emer!; his future wife, during one of these promotions. Although Lee e~entuallybecame an internationally recognized martial artist, his success was built upon overcoming the ways in which mainstream American society marginalized him because of his race. His love affair was clearly wrought with racial tensions as hoth Lee and Linda Emery knew that her parents would not agree to an interracial marriage. When Lee first met Linda's parents, he said to them, "I want to marry your daughter. We are l e a ~ i n gon Monday (for Oakland, California). I'm Chinese by the way.":' Lee's rather blunt style did not impress the family, and when he told them that he was a martial arts instructol; they were eyen more concerned; after all, he did not fit the stereotype of the successful Asian American lawyer or doctor. In addition to these racial and class conflicts, Linda's family members were against miscegenation. Linda's uncle w e n quoted parts of the Bible that discouraged interracial marriages. The family soon realized, however, that Bruce and Linda were determined to get married, so they hastily arranged a wedding ceremony. Linda Emery Lee's biography of her husband offers e~idencethat his identity was constructed through various racial and sexual negotiations. Lee fell in l o x with a White American woman despite her family's rejection of him. Symbolicall!; this marriage represented Lee's desire to he a part of mainstream America. Howeyer, Lee did not reject his Chinese heritage in this process of acculturation. As a Chinese American male, he wanted to appeal to hoth Chinese and mainstream American audiences. Throughout Emery Lee's biography, she articulates the difficulties and struggles of Lee's desire to excel eyer White American actors of the period, such as James Cohurn, Chuck Norris, and Steve McQueen; at the same time, he did not want to lose his Asian audiences. In Emery Lee's words, "Could he widen his international appeal without destroying his popularity on the Mandarin circuit?"" Indeed, Lee wanted to h a x it both ways, playing roles that were traditionally Chinese while embracing a non-traditional marital relationship in his primte life. By examining Bruce Lee's life and the characters he portrays, it becomes apparent that his subjectivity negotiates such oppositions as ~nasculinityand femininit!; Eastern and Western ideologies, and capitalism and communism. Similarl!; some of
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his films reflect these oppositions by using ideological conflicts to frame the narratiyes. Semiotician John Fiske argues that in order for a text to he populal; it must "reach a wide di~ersityof audiences, and, to he chosen by them, must he an open text (Eco, 1979) that allows the mrious subcultures to generate meanings from it that meet the needs of their own subcultural identities. It must therefore he poly~emic."~.'In the case of Eruce Lee's texts, his primary audience consists of Asians, with American audiences placed in a subordinate position. To understand the crosscultural impact of Bruce Lee, we should interpret the ideological signs within the text from different cultural contexts (and concerns) and identify possible intersections. For Chinese ~ i e w e r s Eruce , Lee marked himself as a champion of the oppressed people of China during the Japanese occupation in the 1930s. In addition to the universal theme of revenge through ~iolence,the ideological conflicts are equally pre~alent.As Hsing-Ping Chiao states, "During the early 1970's, Chinese in Taiwan and Hong Kong were o~erwhelinedwith western culture and ideologies. For more than a century, the memories of historical defeats by western countries fostered an inferiority complex. . . . The concurrent culture was a faded one, stripped of its pride, which felt infinitely incapable of coping with the modern technology and inaterial abundance that poured in from the west."" In other words, Lee's films met the needs of Chinese audiences who experienced "an inferiority complex" by re~isioningor recreating a mythic Chinese hero who overcame this psychological predicament. Lee's films appeal to audiences of d i ~ e r s ecultural backgrounds because, in part, he constructs a Chinese American masculinity that ostensibly conforms to what Robert Connell calls a hegeinonic m a s ~ u l i n i t y Lee's . ~ ~ characters are strong, physically superior to other inale characters, regardless of race and he is a hero who dominates his opponents by using excessi~eviolence. This model of masculinity counters, in a dramatic way, the cultural inheritances of previous images of the Chinese male, such as Dr. Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan. Upon closer analysis, howevel; the characters he portrays are not typically patriarchal or misogynistic. Lee's characters do not oppress the female characters nor do they exhibit an exaggerated James Bond-like heterosexism. Lee's masculinity seems to he more amhiguous than his Western counterparts and this ambiguity can be interpreted as strategic. Asian American men have been historically denied the American patriarchal dividends because of a systematic erasure of their inasculine identities in popular culture and through other forms of social restrictions (glass ceilings, hate crimes, immigration laws). Howe~el; Asian American men can formulate a strategically indeterminate masculinity that resists the patriarchal ideologies of a hegeinonic masculinity, opening up the possibilities of redefining inasculinities by rejecting Western notions of a hegemonic masculinity. Eruce Lee's image is an example of how a model of masculinity can be layered with multiple meanings. Indeed, there seeins to he contradictory discourses of inasculinities embodied in Eruce Lee's fictional masculine identity. O n one hand, his characters reluctantly reju~enatea mas-
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culinity through yiolence against other men. O n the other hand, his masculinity is defined in contrast to the gay characters in his films; and yet this contrast is not an outright rejection of homosexuality because he does not show any overt abjection towards the sexual objectification of his body by gay men. Lee's flamboyant display of his toned muscles and use of yiolence oyertly mimics a hegemonic masculine image. At the same time, one finds that both female and male characters sexualize his body. By not committing himself to any form of sexual union, Lee exhibits an amhi-sexuality that is characterized by an indeterminate sexual identity.
MUSCULAR NATIONALISM The thematic strategy employed in THE CHINESE CONNECTION to reconstruct a Chinese masculine identit!; as one that resisted the historical and political domination by foreign countries, centers on reyisioning and mythologizing the past. In this film, Lee's character, Chen Lung, was the priomary oppositional force against the Japanese. He is the one who kills the two cooks, the Japanese martial arts master, and the mercenary Russian boxer. Chen is the hero who sutures the historical and political wounds of the Chinese. He embodies the anti-Japanese senti~nentsthat many Chinese felt during World War I1 evading Japanese bombardments. The historical associations that the film eyokes are examples of how ideology works. As Stuart Hall points out, there are seyeral different "ideological effects" under a capitalist system. For instance, the dominant culture "masks, conceals, or represses" its own antagonistic foundations.'- In a similar way, a popular text incorporates an antagonistic event that is historical, political or social into its own discourse in order to establish an alliance, albeit a fictional one, with the viewers' cultural experience or background. The connection between the text and the eyent eyoked is often a misleading one. In Sax Rohmer's and Earl Derr Biggers' works, the historical and social eyents that are alluded to may be unfamiliar to Western audiences, thereby misleading the viewers' perception of the story and limiting the yiewers' interpretation. In the case of Lee's films, however, the historical references do not fool Chinese viewers because they are familiar with their own histories and struggles and it is precisely the image of resistance, coupled with excessiye violence, that assuages a group of people with a history of suffering from foreign aggression. Acts of aggression, such as the invasion of China by the Japanese, are encoded further in terms of masculinity. The phrase, "Sick Men of Asia," used to refer to the Chinese in the early twentieth centur!; is a conflated signifier, linking nationalism with masculinity. Bruce Lee's character represents a muscular nationalist ideology as he defends China by reasserting nationalist pride through his martial arts. Asia has been historically represented by European Orientalists as feminine, passive, weak, and easily s ~ h d u e d . ~ V e e text ' s appropriates this Orientalist perspectiye while incorporating it into intraracial and political conflicts, and then subverts Orientalism by proying that the Chinese are formidable opponents. Lee, in this sense, regenerates a masculine identity through yiolence and redeems a Chinese pride based on nationalism, contextualized by the history of foreign aggressions.
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In contradistinction to Lee's blatant display of his inasculinit!; homosexualit!; as constructed in the film, suggests effeminacy and betrayal of one's country. Me Woo is an interpreter working for the Japanese and it is he who leads them into the Chinese students' territory. He is the one who taunts Lee's character, Chen Lung, with the duel, slapping him three times in the face. Chen Lung obeys the eldest student's warning that Master H o does not advocate fighting for fighting's sake. Traditional humility and patience, symbolized by Master H o , are burdens that carry over into the lives of the younger generation, and Chen's repression of his anger is, indirectl!; a repression of his masculine and nationalist pride. From Lee's yisual expression of anger, the audience can sense his desire to confront the Japanese with physical violence. Not surprisingl!; Me Woo's effeminate behayior is condeiniled because it parallels his own political de~iance,rejecting his country, nation, and sense of manhood. The contrast between Mr. Woo and Chen Lung is clear: the former is a traitor, homosexual, and physically inferior to the lattel; who is patriotic, honorable, and physically superior. Me Woo is ridiculed when he attends a party with the Japanese inartial arts master who orders Me Woo to crawl out of the room, "like a dog." Me Woo crawls and harks his way out only to meet his antithesis, Chen Lung, who kills the homosexualltraitor. Me Woo's imitation of a dog signifies two Chinese characters: "running dog," a condescending term to describe traitors. His death is a clear sign of justice. Mr. Woo's lack of dignity and courage contrasts sharply with a scene in which Chen tries to enter a park. H e is stopped by a guard who points to a sign that reads " N O DOGS AND CHINESE ALLOWED."2y The helplessness of the Chinese is clearly articulated in these words. As though the sign was not humiliating enough, the Japanese who enter the park are allowed to bring their dogs. The guard remarks that "brown dogs are okay," implying that some dogs are worth more than the Chinese. When the Japanese inen tell Chen to act like a dog, he destroys the sign, kicks the Japanese men to the ground, disappears into a s u p p o r t i ~ eChinese crowd and escapes the authorities. Again, Chen's act of resistance is clearly contrasted with Me Woo's suhser~ienceand cowardice. The focus on the Chinese and Japanese conflict addresses specific historical and political histories while the token White inartial artist allows White audiences to negotiate a different subject position. Extending Fiske's theory on popular culture, White American yiewers supposedly are placed in a subcultural or subordinate position in relation to Lee's text. White characters in the f i l m are consistently defeated by Lee's character; they appear clumsy and physically inept. Howeyer, this subordinate position is a fictive construct because Lee's texts do not claim to represent social reality. Additionally, the dialogues are dubbed into English, creating a surreal effect, particularly when it is clear that Lee's character does not speak English. In other words, when Lee's character defeats a White Ainerican character (RETURN O F THE DRAGON), American audiences are made aware of the fictionality or coilstructedness of the text and they are not threatened. The lack of any social referents to the conflicting racial signs negates the impact that the subordi-
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nation of Whites may h a x had on mainstream American audiences. In other words, mainstream audiences identify with Lee's character in spite of racial differences because the image of Lee is "larger than life," highly mythologized, and the physical superiority of one Chinese American male does not disrupt the power structure of White male dominance in the larger social arena."'
WORKING-CLASS HERO The dominant ideology espoused in THE CHINESE CONNECTION is difficult to determine. Lee's character does not represent middle-class ideologies, so Fiske's analysis of the naturalization of class relations does not apply here. The main characters in all of Lee's films are working-class individuals with no signs of material wealth. In THE CHINESE CONNECTION, Lee is a fugiti~ewho eats and sleeps next to Master Ho's gravesite. When he tries to penetrate the interiors of the Japanese martial arts school, he disguises himself as a rickshaw man, a telephone repairman, and an old street hawker selling newspapers. All of these personae are service-oriented and, aside from the telephone repairman, the ser~icesrendered are based on menial and not skilled labor. The loose-fitting work pants, the dirty white tee shirt, the worn out "traditional" outfit all signify working-class identities. Ostensihl!; Lee's characters are champions of the working class; Lee plays an ice factory worker in FISTS O F FURY and a worker with an unspecified occupation in both THE CHINESE CONNECTION and RETURN O F THE DRAGON. Howevel; the lack of specificity in the characters' occupations in THE CHINESE CONNECTION and RETURN O F THE DRAGON undermines the ideological concerns of the working class. In this sense, Lee's characters are empty signifiers without a class-defined agenda; his films do not suggest any ultimate re~olutionary social impact. This is an important factor that contributes to the popularity of his films since they do not promote social change. They merely reside at the l e d of entertainment. Although his popularity extends to audiences in Third World countries, one realizes upon closer inspection that Lee's characters are always fighting alone. In THE CHINESE CONNECTION, Chen is the one who refuses to adhere to traditional martial arts ethics, disobeys his elders, and exiles himself from his own school and country. As Chiao states, "Lee is never on the 'people's side.' The films obviously belittle the impact of any collecti~eaction. . . . Lee always fights alone. The visual rhetoric pretty much corresponds to his indi~idualheroism, too. Lee seldom is in the same frame with his siblings. He gets separate, privileged shots. H e does not integrate with the mass."" The social impact of his films is thus minimized by the indi~idualisticheroism of Lee's character and the working-class community's role is reduced to that of an enthusiastic spectator. In Lee's first film, THE BIG BOSS, the hero of the working class is clearly defined. Although Lee's character is situated within a Chinese community, he is nonetheless the lone fighter who gets the pri~ilegedshots that Chiao has observed. The world that is constructed is male-oriented and dichotomized by ethnicity and class. The working-class culture is made up of Thai as well as Chinese workers.
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Ironically, the "big hoss" is a Chinese capitalist who uses money to hire Thai thugs to help him with his drug smuggling. In terms of ethnicity and class, the Chinese workers and the Thai mercenaries are marked by their clothing: the Chinese workers are dressed in loose-fitting pants commonly associated with "traditional" Chinese casual wear and plain white tee-shirts while the Thais are wearing jeans, patterned tee-shirts or collared shirts. The Chinese are minorities in a foreign city and they immediately form a community with all t w e l ~ eof the characters l i ~ i n gin a relati~elybig house. The contrast between the Chinese and the Thais is further de~elopedin the context of moral and righteous duties. When Shu Chen shows Chen around town, he defeats a gang of Thai bullies, rescues a friend from the gambling house, and shares his money with the friend so that the family has food on the table. The Chinese represent the good immigrants while the Thais are shown as local bullies. The Chinese are constantly smiling and they seem content and j o ~ i a l ,yet they are always ready to protect themselves from the Thais. They are satisfied with their communal way of living and content with their roles as menial laborers as long as they haye food on the table. The communist ideology is glorified while capitalism is represented as greedy, malicious, and omnipotent in the first few scenes: two Chinese workers are murdered because they refuse to he bribed or co-opted into the capitalist system. It is clearly ironic that the film was made for Hong Kong viewers who live in a capitalist society while China, in 1969, was undergoing the Great Proletarian Cultural Re~olution,condemning the cultural and economic elite while empowering the youthful revolutionary Red Guards. The historical context from which this film arises provides conflicting ideological interpretations to the text. China's Cultural Re~olutionbegan in the mid-1960s; its goal was to condemn bourgeois ideology. Lee's character seems to embrace that , film clearnotion by fatally wounding the "big hoss." O n an ideological l e ~ e lthe ly accepts the ~ a l u e of s c o ~ n ~ n u n i sand m condemns the corruption of capitalism; yet capitalist ~ i e w e r sare able to identify with Lee's character and with the community of Chinese. Such a paradox can he explained, in part, by Stuart Hall's notion of "oppositional" readings: the viewer "detotalizes the message in the preferred code in order to retotalize the message within some alternati~eframework of reference."" In this sense Hong Kong viewers identify themsel~esin terms of ethnicity rather than class, preferring honesty to greed. Howeyer, the race and class link is not as simple as this reading might suggest because the "big boss" is also Chinese. In other words, it is the Chinese capitalist who exploits and murders the Chinese com~nunalworkers, p r o ~ i d i n gaudiences with conflicting points of identification. It seems that audiences are able to decode Lee's character as a working-class Chinese hero who resists the exploitation of a capitalist Chinese through a "negotiated" mode of interpretation. In this "negotiated" position, "it [decoding] acknowledges the legitimacy of the hegemonic definitions to make the grand significations (abstract), while, at a more restricted, situational (situated) level, it makes its own ground rules-it operates with exceptions to the rule."" While ~ i e w e r s
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acknowledge that the working-class hero is constructed as a symbol of resistance toward capitalism and exploitation, they realize that they themselves are co~nplicit with the hegemony of capitalism. In order to resolye this tension, ~ i e w e r snegotiate an alternative position in which they can define capitalism and those responsible for oppressions through negations; that is, Chinese capitalists who oppress their own people are not related to "us," the audience. Under a negotiated subject position, the insidiousness of bourgeois ideology promoted by a fellow Chinese does not deter Chinese ~ i e w e r sfrom identifying with the working-class hero and condemning the society in which they live. The all-encompassing power of capitalism is further dramatized by Chen's promotion to foreman after he demonstrates his ability to defeat twenty Thai mercenaries. The manager treats him to a lavish dinner, orders the best alcohol, gets him drunk, and sets Chen up by leaving him with a prostitute. Scenes at the brothel cut to the Chinese workers who are eating rice and ~egetablesand worrying about the missing men. It is clear that Chen has been consumed by materialism. His fellow workers find out what he has done and ostracize him from the community. In an awkward moment, Chen wakes up next to a prostitute and rushes out the main door only to bump into Chao Ma!; the only female among the Chinese working community, who walks by. The juxtaposition of Chao May and the prostitute parallels the ideological conflicts between a simple com~nunalway of life and an individualistic life of material excess. The moral purity of Chao May is contrasted with the immorality of the prostitute. H o w sexuality has been perverted in a capitalistic system is further encapsulated in the representation of the "big boss." He is an older man who has three young women to serve his needs. The sexual gratification of the "big boss" is emblematic of the material benefits of capitalism: in his old age, he needs young women to rejuvenate his sexual desires and re-establish his masculinity. He also has his eyes on the only woman among the Chinese workers, Chao Ma!; and when his men abduct her at night, they also decide to kill all the workers. The symbolic act of killing the Chinese workers signifies the violent power of male sexual desires. Sexual desire overrides the need for laborlproductivity, while the pseudo-rebellion of these workers is conveniently quelled. The dominant or preferred meaning in this text should he analyzed in terms of how the working-class hero is treated at the end. Although Chen kills the "big hoss" we realize that the Chinese workers are all dead and Chen is led away by local authorities, who show up for the first time in the narrati~e.The social order that is constructed within the text is self-subversive in the sense that the actions of the working-class hero subvert bourgeois ideologies and exploitation only to haye his deeds thwarted by the social authority of law and order. Clearly the authorities are treated almost in a parodic way as they d o not appear in the narrative until the end when their presence is inconsequential; they do not find the missing Chinese workers and their function as law enforcers is ineffecti~eagainst the lawlessness of the "big hoss." Yet Chen, as an ideological sign of subversion, rebellion, and pseu-
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do-revolution, is emptied at the end, his efforts and actions completely undermined. A popular text that purports to h a x entertainment as its primary goal seldom promotes immediate social change, such as inciting audiences to act collecti~elyin a particular way. It is precisely the self-subversive element of the text that contributes to its popularity. The presence of law enforcers limits the emotional pleasures of ~ i e w e r swho may support Chen's actions and feel heroic ~icariouslythrough his ~igilantebeha~ior;yet this kind of behavior is not condoned by society. As with Hollywood's John Rambo, the violence perpetrated by the protagonist is ironically brought to justice by the system that failed him in the first place. Although RETURN O F THE DRAGON follows the same structure as THE BIG EOSS, there are obvious differences between the two films. RETURN O F THE DRAGON was written and directed by Eruce Lee. It is important to investigate how Lee represents himself and how he tries to reach an international audience. t the characters he constructs and Lee's concern with interracial conflicts is e ~ i d e nin the location of his story With an array of racially distinct gang members in Italy ( a Japanese karate expert and two American martial artists are cast as ~ i l l a i n s )stereo, types are perpetuated while the protagonist Tang Lung is represented as more complex: he is both affable and fierce, mild tempered and u~lcontrollablyviolent.
CONFRONTING RACISM One of the more significant aspects of RETURN O F THE DRAGON lies in the ~ i s u a confrontation l between the Chinese and the Europeans. The cultural differences are most clearly demarcated here by race, language, and technology. In the Yery first scene, Lee's charactel; Tang Lung, looks uncomfortably into the camera while the camera cuts to the face of a White European woman staring curiously at Lung. It is clear from the first couple of shots that racial curiosity is a major factor in the relationship between Europeans and Asians in this film. The White woman is so engrossed by Tang Lung's Asian face that her husband has to pull her away. Her gaze clearly has a certain effect upon Lung as he looks the other way, a ~ o i d i n g her eyes, expressing impatience and discomfort on his face. Although the woman has no physical power eyer him, her stare nonetheless puts Lung in an uncomfortable relationship to her. Her eyes and expressions indicate that she is curious about Lung and is trying to understand him without conversing with him. Lung becomes the object of her study and this short scene encapsulates how racially marked minorities are treated by EuropeansIA~nericans:Asians are mysterious, exotic, and fascinating as texts to he read and analyzed. The traditional cinematic male gaze is re~ersedand the power hierarchy is reinscribed as one based on race, not gender. The White woman's gaze displaces the common1 male and female power positions by replacing them with a racialized relationship of power. This scene is self-reflecti~ein the sense that Lee knows how Asian men are gazed upon and he uses that opening scene to critique such mentality through humol; showing White audiences their own comic and racist b e h a ~ i o eAt the same time,
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Lee understailds the need for audiences who are unfamiliar with Chinese culture to learn and cope with the growing visibility of Asians in America andlor Europe. The Chinese diaspora is an important historical development that increasingly impacts Western countries today. The film itself, by t r a ~ e l i n gto different global locations, calls attention to the international cross-cultural inoxments of the Chinese, as well as other Asians. Additionally, Lee's experiences with Hollywood probably gaye him much insight into how Chinese Americans are treated by doininant groups in America. Edward Said notes that "the Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe's greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its ci~ilizationsand languages, its cultural contestant, and one of the deepest and most recurring images of the Other."" There is a long tradition of how Europeans and Ainericans haye orientalized the Orient in which the Orient has been imagined and defined by the West. This process can only occur under conditions of power and knowledge; the West has systematically colonized the East (both Far and Near). Within the context of Orientalism, Lee's performance and the display of his physique and charm counter the dominant discourses of the "other" in both Europe and America. Tang Lung consistently marks himself as foreign, wearing traditional Chinese outfits in contrast to Western slacks and shirts, and appears to fit in with common stereotypes of the Chinese male: quiet, small in stature, mild-mannered, and polite. As the n a r r a t i ~ econtinues, ~ i e w e r srealize the physical strength of Lee, his refilled and toned body, quickness and agility, humor and charm, and his extremely aggressi~ereaction to injustice and foreign oppression, as symbolized by the Italian syndicate. Lee's character manages to have it both ways, perpetuating certain stereotypes that seem "authentic"" in both Chinese and American cultures only to s u b ~ e r t them in the end. The plethora of scenes where Tang Lung rips off his shirt in order to show off his muscles, demonstrate the power of his martial arts, and ~ o c a l i z ehis emotions through cat-like screams, can be described as "semiotic excesses," to use John Fiske's term. According to Fiske, "the theory of semiotic excess proposes that once the ideological, hegemonic work has been performed, there is still excess meaning that escapes the control of the dominant and is thus a~ailablefor the culturally subordinate to use for their own cultural-political ii~terests."'~This theory presupposes that the dominant ideology encoded in the text is bourgeois and capitalist oriented. In Lee's films, howe~el;the preferred meaning is encoded as a counterhegemonic discourse. Tony Bellnet and Janet Woollacott suggest in Bond and Beyond: T h e Political Career of a Popztlar Hero oppositional interpretations of James Eond. In other words, even though James Eond is a pri~ilegedWhite male with superior intellect and charm, who is supported by some of the highest officials in England's goyernment, readers can adopt an oppositional interpreti~eposition. Ey historicizing specific "moments of Bond," Eennet and Woollacott argue persuasi~elythat Bond represents "prominent ideological themes of classlessness and modernity."" Similarly,
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Eruce Lee's representation of himself as a working-class hero is clearly dependent upon the display of his body-his only possession. The excessi~edisplay of inartial arts, ~iolence,and the sensuousness of his body all contribute to an effecti~e~ i s u a l strategy to critique ~iewer'sobsession with physical beaut!; sexuality, and masculinity. Ey displaying his body and inartial arts skills, Lee acquires the admiration of those who want to emulate him while simultaneously evoking comical disdain for "kung fun films theinsel~es.E ~ e nTailg Lung does not take himself seriously. In one scene, he exercises in front of the camera, showing off his finely tuiled muscles, but is distracted by Miss Chan's cooking and the picture of a couple making loye.
SEXUALIZED BODY Lee sets himself up as an object of sexual desire by juxtaposing his morning exercise, a display of his bod!; with this picture of two outlined figures embraced in a sensuous manner. Although he does not have any explicit intimate sexual relations with any of the female characters, the image he presents on screen is sensuous and arousing. Hsiung-Ping Chiao, in her article, "Bruce Lee: His Influeilce on the E ~ o l u t i o nof the ICung fu Genre," states, "His hare chest and inuscle unreinittingly demonstrate a pristine masculinity and immediately lend him an animal-like quality. It has been pointed out that his fights reseinhle sexual behavior."'" When Tang Lung and Colt meet at the coliseum, they take off their shirts and the ensuing warm-up exercise, the sensual display of their upper bodies, can he interpreted as a metaphor of sexual foreplay. The cainera focuses on the eyes of the two opponents with close-up shots, intensifying the homoerotic relationship between them. The sexualized conflict is between the most "masculine" inan of the West (Mr. H o describes him as "America's best") and the most "inasculine" inan of the East. In order to foregrouild Colt's Western masculinity, Colt struts right at the camera when he walks off the plane. With his sunglasses and cowboy hoots signifying Western inasculinit!; Colt's image becomes larger and larger on screen, with the cainera focusing on his crotch area. Since there can be only one ~ i c t o rin this (sexual) duel-the sparring and ~ i o l e n c e(sexual energies) of their physical contact flow from one opponent to the other-the climax (pun intended) comes at the death of one of the combatants. The homoerotic relationship between the two is played out in this scene. As Gina Marchetti obser~es,"[tlhe electricity of the battle comes from its sexual allusioils rather than from narrative t e n s i o i ~ s . " ~ Indeed, the uildercurrent of homoeroticism originates from the traitorlinterpreter, Mr. Ho. He occupies the same role as Me Woo in THE CHINESE CONNECTION, and the character is played by the same actor. Mr. H o is also represented as a gay Chinese interpretel; brightly dressed with a pink shirt and tie, who smells flowers and walks in a delicate and effeminate manner. When Me H o confronts Uncle Wong (the female owner's uncle) at the restaurant, Me H o verbally threatens Uncle Wong and pinches him. As he leaves, he humps into Tang Lung, who has just come out of the rest room, and adjusts Lung's belt. In another encountel; Mr. H o comments on Tang Lung's "rippling muscles" as he touches the
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upper body of Lung with admiration. The image of the effeminate Asian male is not treated in a flattering manner. The gay Chinese is ridiculed by other characters and serves as a comic relief to the ~ i e w er. He is a traitor who has neither political nor physical powers. H e is unable to protect himself and is physically inept. Howevel; Me H o has an important function as he sexualizes Lee's character, a function he shares with the female character. In RETURN O F THE DRAGON, the owner of the restaurant is initially disappointed in Tang Lung who appears to he another country bumpkin; yet, when Lung defeats the Italian gang members, the camera consistently cuts to the female owner's smile of a p p r o ~ a lShe . cooks for him and trusts that he will come and save her when she is abducted. Both Miss Chen and Me H o construct Tang Lung as an object of sexual desire, hut Tang Lung ultimately rejects both of them to go his ow11way. The repressed sexuality of Tang Lung conflicts with the external sexualization of his image, while his asexual identity ironically exudes a marked ambi-sexuality. The sexual tensions in RETURN O F THE DRAGON is emphasized through specific symbols that are encoded with stereotypical signs of Western and Eastern masculinity. If guns are symbols of a man's virility, then Tang Lung's short bamboo darts are ostensibly smaller and less powerful than the Italian sharpshooter's rifle. Howevel; Lung is able to disarm the gun-carrying gang members; when he goes after the sharpshooter who tries to assassinate him, the failed sharpshooter runs for his life and Lung's darts land on his buttocks. The homoerotic undercurrent is also sy~nbolicallyenacted in this encounter.
A LOCAL CHINESE HERO Bruce Lee's image, body, class ideolog!; and sexual identity cannot be separated from his racial identity, which, in turn, is linked to his nationalistic ideology. In ENTER THE DRAGON, Bruce Lee's character clearly defines himself as a patriotic Chinese hero who is culturally and linguistically different from mainstream American audiences. In a non-compromising mannel; Lee refuses to assimilate to White American culture. In his Hollywood debut, ENTER THE DRAGON, Lee chooses a role that is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. The film opens with Lee dressed in a traditional Chinese outfit and identifying himself with the Shaolin Temple, an important icon in Chinese history and mythology. In his fourth film, Lee continues to capitalize on America's addiction to Asia and the culturally unfamiliar while he simultaneously strikes a chord with audiences in the construction of the heroic archetype. Again, he tries to have it both ways, capturing both Asian and non-Asian audiences. By speaking in English, he communicates directly to Englishspeaking audiences and reduces the foreign quality of his p r e ~ i o u sfilms. While linguistically he seems to minimize the foreign quality of his character, he nonetheless marks himself as distinct from Roper and Williams. His English has a slight accent, his outfit is more traditional, and he originates from China. Not surprisingl!; ENTER THE DRAGON was the least popular Bruce Lee film among Cantonese speakers who had to rely on subtitles. Howe~el;ENTER THE DRAGON is one of
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the first Hollywood-produced films with a Chinese actor in the lead role, so this fact alone must have made many Chinese proud of Lee's accornplish~nentsin spite of the fact that the film was targeted for English-speaking yiewers. In ENTER THE DRAGON, Bruce Lee is no longer the country bumpkin but a member of a Chinese monastery. Howeyer, there is a familiar theme of revenge in which the hero is forced by specific circumstances-similar to the death of members of his working-class community in THE BIG BOSS, the death of his master in THE CHINESE CONNECTION, or the desire to help his fellow Chinese overcome the difficulties caused by racism in a foreign country in RETURN O F THE DRAGON-to avenge an injustice done to his extended family. In this Hollywood picture, Lee's character is hired by a British intelligence agency for a particular mission. Unlike James Eond, who clearly represents the culture and society that produced him, Lee is not a product of a Western capitalist social system. Although Hong Kong is still a British colony, his identity is firmly entrenched in Chinese culture, symbolized by his membership in the Shaolin Temple, a monastery that rejects external social orders. In fact, his commitment to help the British is personalized when he realizes that his sister ended her life in order to escape the wrath of Han's men, who intended to rape her. When Lee's character confronts Mr. Han, we learn that Me H a n is a Shaolin renegade, a traitor who has "disgraced Shaolin and my [Lee's character's] family." Many viewers haye noticed the similarity between James Bond's films and ENTER THE DRAGON. Indeed, Mr. H a n is a malevolent man who experiments with drugs by injecting large doses of drugs into the bodies of wolnell and social outcasts. He h e s on a secluded island with lots of women to serye him and has many bodyguards to protect him. The differences, howevel; are just as clear: Lee has no sexual relations with the wolnell available, he uses his own abilities to defeat the opponent (there are no technologically advanced gadgets to aid him), and he fights with his body and not with guns, the traditional phallic symbol of the West. More importantl!; Lee does not represent the affluent nor does he desire material wealth. These qualities are markedly different from James Eond, and this fact may haye been a factor in his popularity during the early 1970s-an era during which resistance to and distrust of bourgeois ideology and government authorities was preyalent. In such a social and political climate, martial arts as a form of combat based on natural abilities,."' as opposed to firearms and technological weaponry, may haye had a special appeal. Furthermore, the widespread resistance of the 1960s against dominant ideologies allowed marginalized voices to he heard and accepted, which made it possible for a Chinese male hero who showed many signs of non-conformity to he accepted. The yiolence in Lee's films can be interpreted as a metaphor for the yiolence of wal; specifically the Vietnam War. At a time of anti-war sentiments, it may have been refreshing to witness an Asian hero who uses his own body to resist the technological advancements of the West. Gina Marchetti has made similar ohser~ations as she states, "[c]ertainl!; too, part of the pleasure of the film's fantasy comes from
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the triumph of a small, unarmed Asian oyer a larger and better opponent. This seems to clearly allude to the war in Vietnam in which poorly armed Asians were soundly heating well-armed, well-fed Americans."'l Although Marchetti is referring specifically to the conflict between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in RETURN O F THE DRAGON, her analysis is applicable to Lee's films as a whole. As a body of texts, they became popular within the context of a particular period in American history. Indeed, Lee's characters communicate to the audience a more mundane message: one's body has the potential to he a lethal weapon. Chen, in THE BIG BOSS, relies on his body to defend himself against weapons such as knives, ice picks, chains, and iron bars. Bruce Lee realizes that in street fighting, one is often unarmed, so the one who has the most physical skills has the obvious advantage. Viewers are able to identify with the calculated commonness exhibited by Lee's characters who do not posses superhuman strength or abilities yet are able to elevate themselves to a heroic stature. The subconscious desire of most audiences to achieye something extraordinary is satisfied in Lee's films since the hero is represented more realistically than the heroes of pre-Bruce Lee martial arts films, which were based on myths or legends in which characters could fly in the air, trayel under the ground, and slice someone in half with a sword that never touches the opponent. (The only remnant of the mythic and superhuman forms of combat in FISTS O F FURY is the flying leap where Chen and the "big boss" jump extraordinarily high.) In other words, Lee's films are generally more realistic than earlier martial arts films. In ENTER THE DRAGON, Lee's character, who is simply named Lee, utilizes his nanchukas and a rattlesnake to defeat his opponents, and although he has two American allies (Roper and Williams), it is the tallest American (O'Hara) working for Mr. Han whom he kills. The contrast in size is significant, as the actor playing O'Hara is much taller than Lee and his attempt to rape Lee's sistel; in the context of the Vietnam Wal; is richly symbolic. Rape has often been used as a metaphor for colonialism, and when Lee's sister commits suicide rather than submits herself to O'Hara, her act signifies Asians' determination to resist Western aggression. The duel between Lee and O'Hara was not meant to he a life and death conflict, but after Lee defeats O'Hara, the latter breaks a bottle and, in frustration, lunges at Lee. The underhanded attack at Lee leads to O'Hara's demise. When Lee finally kills O'Hara, he ayenges his sister's death and succeeds in defeating the "well-armed (broken glass bottle), well-fed American." Lee is consistently unarmed; the only time he uses technology to his advantage is when he breaks into the communications room to send out signals to British intelligence officials to moye in on the island, since he has found evidence of Mr. Han's illegal actiyities. Howeyer, this act is subverted by the fact that the British arrive after Me H a n is killed and his men subdued by the freed prisoners, indicating once again that military assistance by g o ~ e r n m e nauthorities t is futile and meaningless while the power of the common people is more effective and politically yiable. The racial and class ideologies embedded in the American characters are complicated since the characters represent a relatively diverse cross section of American
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society. O'Hara signifies violence and a colonizing tendency in American culture while Roper and Williams signify the failures of the American dream (in terms of the material wealth which eludes Roper and the stark realities of racism Williams experiences as an African American). Roper and Williams are from different racial and class backgromds (Roper plays golf while Williams walks the dark alleys); they are nonetheless united by the desire to escape America's capitalistic and racist social structure. Judith Farquhar and Mary L. Doi, in "BRUCE LEE YS. FU MANCHU: Kung fu Films and Asian American Stereotypes in America," argue that ENTER THE DRAGON is a film in which both Roper and Williams are initially stereotyped but that these stereotypes are undermined as the film progresses. Lee, on the other hand supposedly transcends all stereotype^.^^ It seems clear, howeyer, that Lee does not, in fact, transcend all stereotypes since he perpetuates the asexual role that Western culture has constructed for Asian Inen and does not spend the night with the Asian female character-something that would he unthinkable in a James Bond film. In contrast, Roper picks out the only White female character while Williams spends the night with four Asian female characters. In spite of these racial, sexual, and class differences, they seem to have a strong commitment to each other. This tacit respect for each other seems to preclude racial and class conflicts among Roper, Williams and Lee. Williams is killed because Mr. Han believes that he is the one who had searched the premises after dark. The audience knows that Williams sees Lee fleeing his pursuers hut does not betray Lee by re~ealingthis information to Me Han. All he says is, "I was not the only one outside." When Mr. H a n r e ~ e a l shis underground drug activities to Roper and asks him to join the group, Roper refuses all that wealth and sides with Lee. Mutual respect and a common enemy unite Lee, Roper, and Williams. Me Han, like the "big boss" in FISTS O F FURY, is a wealthy Chinese man who acquires his wealth through illegal means. Lee, Roper and Williams, on the other hand, come from less privileged backgrounds. Although Roper arrives in Hong Kong with lots of luggage and apparent wealth, the audience knows that he only has $60.00 (U.S. currency) and is in Hong Kong to avoid gambling debts accrued in America. Williams experiences racism eYery day in America and he leaves America after two White American policemen stop him for no apparent reason. When he is on the boat to Me Han's island, he notices the harsh realities of families who work and l i ~ on e boats by commenting that "slums are the same e~erywhere."Lee is recruited from the Shaolin Temple, a monastery. Mr. Han's affluence contrasts sharply with the other three characters' lack of material wealth. The seductive nature of capitalism is established. Mr. Han embodies the stereotypical qualities of the perfidious Chinese man who wants to exploit Whites (most of the White women are used as guinea pigs to test the effects of the drugs he produces) and sell drugs to America as well as England. As Farquhar and Doi h a x observed, Me Han's stereotypical qualities are linked to Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu, the villain who was popular in England as well as America during the early decades of the twentieth century." The Mr. H a n and Dr.
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Fu Manchu characters are stock evil characters that are so excessively malicious that Williams, disbelie~ingMe Han's accusations and threats, exclaims, "man, you come right out of a comic book." The alliance between a Chinese hero and two American martial artists is acceptable to mainstream American audiences since the common enemy is a Dr. Fu Manchu-like ~ i l l a i n and , not another White or African Americal~.'~ Bruce Lee's image and n a r r a t i ~ e slink masculinity with race and culture by exposing his hody and its physical prowess. Yet, because the asexual characters Lee portrays are sexualized by the gaze of the other characters, male and female, rather than by his own actions, an ambiguous discursive space is created in which sexual identity cannot be categorized. O n the one hand, the o ~ e r t l yhowzosexz~alcharacters are denigrated as physically inept traitors. O n the other hand, the homosocial community is celebrated. Furthermore, the climatic battle between Lee and Chuck Norris has undercurrents of homoeroticism, even though this interracial relationship ends in violence and death, suggesting that interracial unions cannot be harmonious. ENTER THE DRAGON is a film that is distinctly different from his p r e ~ i o u s films, both in ideology and in targeted audience. It conforms to Hollywood's nonconfrontational principles as it does not have the same racial and political conflicts found in RETURN O F THE DRAGON; nor does it condemn mainstream American characters as a group. Lee, Roper and Williams are allies so racial tensions are minimized. The homoerotic undercurrents in the p r e ~ i o u stwo films are excluded from the narrative of this one, and Lee's masculinity, embedded in his naked hody, is less provocati~eand prominent. Although Lee continues to reyea1 his hody as a sexual object, this is the only film in which the female characters d o not show any sexual interest in him. In his p r e ~ i o u sfilms, there is always a submerged loye interest between him and the female characters, and although Lee neyer consummates those relationships, he is still a sexualized being. In his last film, h o w e v er, Lee remains celibate, and the sexualization of his image depends upon the reactions and interpretations of his audience andlor the influence of his p r e ~ i o u sfilms. An interpreti~estrategy that disrupts the notion of a compulsory heterosexuality is enacted through a homosexualized gaze. Mark Simpson's Male Impersonators is a fascinating and insightful account of how the encoding process of male images continues to lose control of the preferred meaning: Men's bodies are on display e~erywhere;hut the grounds of men's anxiety is not just that they are being exposed and commodified hut that their bodies are placed in such a way as to passively invite a gaze that is undifferentiated: it might be female or male, hetero or homo. Traditional male heterosexuali;!t \vhich insists that it is always active, sadistic and desiring, is now inundated with images of men's bodies as passive, masochistic and desired.." Simpson's readings of hody building, sports, films (among other cultural activitieslimages) re- isi ion hetero~nasculineimages and activities as sexually ambiguous
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with the understanding that the mechanisms of heteromasculine powers are still in place. Such gaze reversals open up the possibilities of contesting meanings and question the commonly unquestio~ledrepresentations of male bodies and male identities. The undifferentiated gaze is a potentially disrupti~einterpretive strategy that renders dominant ideologies less stable and homogenous. Eruce Lee's cinematic image exudes a sensuous quality for viewers of different racial, sexual, class, and gender backgrounds. His international star status suggests that his sexualized image, manifested in his martial arts, speaks across those socially constructed boundaries. The flaunting of his body on screen encourages yiewers to admire his Chinese body Unlike the more recent teleyision show, Vanishing Son (1994), whose main character constantly reminds the audience that he is heterosexually identified, Bruce Lee neither prioritizes the James Bondian claim to a compulsory heterosexualized masculinity nor does he reject the homosexualization of his body In this sense, Bruce Lee's refusal to ~ a l i d a t eheterosexual relationships can be interpreted as a disengagement of his masculine identity from the patriarchal society he inhabits in the films by exuding an ambi-sexual identity. His cinematic image does not fall into a binary model of heterosexuality yersus homosexuality; rather, his image can he interpreted as hoth ambiguous and ambivalent towards socially determined models of sexual identities. An amhi-sexuality is characterized by a non-commitment to reified models of sexual identities. An amhi-sexual identity represents an unresolved relationship to hoth heterosexualized and homosexualized gazes. Bruce Lee's films proyide a context for a masculine discourse that is contradictory and subversive as he uses physical aggression to counter the link between a normatiye masculinity and a compulsory heterosexuality. In his films, there seelns to he two distinct yet inter-related discursive formations: first, there is a world of o~erwhelmingmale presence and patriarchal power and second, Lee uses physical body to disrupt that patriarchal order eyen as he reinforces it. Whether or not Lee successfully redeems Chinese American masculinities is difficult to determine. While Eruce Lee broke one set of barriers for Asian American men, he unwittingly created another stereotype and the film industry has not proyided many opportunities for Asian American men to play non-martial arts roles since the 1970s. Indeed, Bruce Lee's martial arts has constructed another stereotype of Asian men: the chop socky, kung fu fighting Asian American. This stereotype continues to haunt Asian American men in the 1990s as the most prominent roles for Asian American men are martial artists: from STREET FIGHTER to MORTAL KOMEAT. The impact of Eruce Lee and his martial arts in America has been significant. Not only haye martial arts films continued to be immensely popular hut, almost immediately after Bruce Lee's death, Marye1 Comics began publishing a comic book, The Hands of Shang-Chi: Master of Kztng Fzt, which features an Asian hero who has extraordinary martial arts skills. In this comics series, Shang-Chi conforms to Western notions of a hegemonic masculinit!; but at the same time, he is not represented as being a part of Western culture and society. Shang-Chi seelns to be a cul-
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ture-less Chinese iininigrant male who neither has an adopted community nor one to which he can return. Since Shang-Chi is one of the few Chinese heroes in popular culture, particularly in a medium that calls attention to its own constructedness, the next chapter will discuss how he has been depicted by Maryel Comics' writers and interpreted by its readers. Chapter 5 examines how Maryel Comics appropriated Bruce Lee's image in the Master of Kztng Fu series. It is clear that Shang-Chi's heterosexuality is thrust to the forefront of the narratiye. Shang-Chi is heterosexually identified and conforms to the heteroinasculine patriarchal structure that surrounds the comic hook itself, while Bruce Lee's characters are more sexually ambiguous. Although Shang-Chi is drawn in a very sexual manner, reyealing his fine-tuned upper body musculature, his sexual identity still needs to he encoded as heteromasculine in order to control how this character is interpreted. Unlike Bruce Lee's characters, who is sexualized by both women and gay characters, Shang-Chi is categorically not sexually ainbiguous and he is not gay.
NOTES 1. R. W. Connell, Mascztlinities (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995), 76-8 1. 2 .Ibid., 77. 3. Ibid., 80-81. 4. Richard Meyers, Amy Harlib, Bill and Karen Palmer, eds., Martial Arts Movies: From Bruce Lee t o the Ninjas (New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1985). 5. Robert Clouse, Bruce Lee: T h e Biogmphy (Burbank: Unique Publications, 1988), 70. See also Alex Brock, T h e Legend of Bruce Lee (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1974). 6. Ibid., 164. 7. Other Hong ICong martial artists such as Wang Yu, David Chiang, and Ti Lung, among others, were also influential in popularizing the kung fu genre in Hong ICong. Howeyer, Bruce Lee's charisma and his role as ICato in T h e Green Hornet made a significant impact on American audiences since Bruce Lee's character spoke English and T h e Green Hornet was an American television series. 8. Eugene Wong, O n Visual Media Racism: Asians in the American Motion Pictures (New York: Arno Press, 1978). 9. Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott, Bond and Beyond: T h e Political Career of a Popular Hero (New York: Menthuen, Inc., 1987), 5. 10. Ibid., 18. 11. The formulaic nature of the films is an important part of their popularity. I am more interested in the polysemic nature of visual and aural signs in the texts and how they can be decoded. For a discussion on formulaic plots and their popularity, see John Cawelti, Adventure, Mystery, and Roinance (Chicago: Uniyersity of Chicago Press, 1976). 12. John Dykes, "Re-enter the King of ICung fu," South China Morning Post (22 Ma!; 1992). 13. After the release of Dragon: T h e Life of Bruce Lee, Hong ICong movie stars have been more visible in Hollywood. Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li, and
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Sammo Hung all have gained recognition through their roles in Hollywood films and tele~ision.Their move to a new market may also be a result of the uncertainties of Hong ICong's transition to Communist rule in 1997. 14. The Asian American Studies library at the University of California, Berltele!; did not have any collection of books, magazines, or newspaper articles on Lee in 1989 because he was considered as a Hong ICong phenomenon. 1.5. Since 1992, a number of Asian American scholars haye been presenting conference papers on Eruce Lee. 16. Elaine Kim, Asian American Literature: An Introduction to the Writings and their Social Context (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 19821, 3-23. 17. His first three films are dubbed into English and the dubbing of the dialogues add to the "foreign" qualities of these films. 18. Lee's parents also g a x him a childhood identity that was female-identified. His parents and brothers called him "little phoenix" and treated him as if he were a baby girl, piercing one of his ears. The reason for this form of artificial cross-gendered upbringing is that his mother had lost a son a year earliec According to some Chinese traditions, future sons must be treated as girls in order to confuse the spirits who might steal their souls. Lee's early childhood experience thus provided him with an opportunity to appropriate qualities that are masculine as well as feminine. While Lee subverts the image of the effeminate Asian A~nericanmale by equating masculinity with power and physical strength, his upbringing did not teach him to reject female gender roles. See Emery Lee, The Life and Tragic Death, 30. 19. Alex Broclt, The Legend of Bruce Lee (New Yorlt: Dell Publishing Co., 19741, 17. 20. Ihid. 21. Lee's martial arts training indicates an appropriation of a form that originated from a female martial artist. Lee's first official teacher was an exvert in the Wine" Chun style, \vhich was developed by a nun named Yin Wing Chun about three or four hundred years ago. It is a style of defense for women and other individuals with physically smaller bodies. Lee's Jeet Kune Do (the way of the intercepting fist) style was clearly influenced by the Wing Chun style, among other martial arts techniques. 22. Clouse, Bruce Lee: The Biography, 5.5. 23. Linda Emery Lee, The Life and Tragic Death of Bruce Lee (London: W.H. Allen & Co., 19751, 11. 24. John Fislte, "Television: Polysemy and Popularity," Critical Studies in Mass Conzmunication 3 (1986): 392. 2.5. Hsiung-Ping Chiao, "Eruce Lee: His Influence on the Evolution of the ICung fu Genre," Journal of Popular Film and Television 9, no. 1 (Spring, 1981): 37. 26. R. W. Connell, Masculinities, 76-80. 27. Stuart Hall, "Culture, The Media and the 'Ideological Effect"' in Mass Communication and Societj,, ed. James Curran, Michael Curevitch, and Janet Woollacott (Eeverly Hills: SAGE, 19791, 315-348. 28. Edward Said, Orientalisnz (New York: Vintage Books, 1979). 29. These signs were put up by Europeans, signaling how the Japanese "inherited" the European colonialists' position of superiority. 30. There are other reasons that lnainstrealn American audiences accept Bruce
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Lee as a popular hero. Although racial and linguistic differences separate non-Asian American ~ i e w e r sfrom the text, it is precisely these racial and cultural differences which attract mainstream American ~ i e w e r sAs . I h a x argued in previous chapters, the dominant culture in America is addicted to the exotic differences of minority cultures. Racial and linguistic incolnmensurabilities create a safe discursive space for the dominant culture to abstract contradictory interpretations and resolve them according to each viewer's individual need. Lee's image can easily he interpreted as a signifies for the Western hero who acts as an avengel; fighting for justice, and taking matters into his own hands. In THE CHINESE CONNECTION, cultural differences are immediately established geographically when the narrator begins by telling Western viewers that this story centers on the death of a martial arts master in a small village in China. The village is not identified and the usual landscape of rural China is shown. The narration undermines its own authority by emphasizing the unreliahility of the story. Apparentl!; there were inany rumors surrounding master Ho's death and the narrator reminds us that "this is a version of what could have happened." Both the location of the story and the self-subverting narration assure American viewers that this is a foreign film and the reality it reflects has no relationship to American society. Additionally, the historical setting has an alienating effect since it focuses on the Japanese occupation of China during the 1930s. These signs, demarcating differs occupy a subordinate position to the text with relences, allow American ~ i e w e r to ative ease. 31. Chiao, "Bruce Lee: His Influence," 41. 32. Stuart Hall, "Encodingldecoding," in C d t w e , Media, Language, ed. S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, and P. Willis, (London: Hutchinson, 19801, 1.37. 33. Ibid. 34. Said, Orientalism, 1. 35. By "authentic" I refer to how stereotypes are abstracted from certain social realities. There are some Chinese who d o behave the way popular culture represents them. The danger lies in the dominant culture's tendency to take stereotypes and use them to prejudge all individuals of a certain race, ethnicit!; sexuality, gender and class, without taking the individuality of each person into account. 36. Fiske, "Tele~ision:Polysemy," 403. 37. Bennett and Woollacott, Bond and Bej~ond,34. 38. Chiao, "Bruce Lee: His Influence," 42. 39. Gina Marchetti, "Immigrant Dreams, Marginal Fantasies: Subcultural Perspective and Bruce Lee's RETURN OF THE DRAGON." Unpublished paper, 1984. 40. His perfectly sculpted bod!; an indication of strenuous and discipliiled workouts, subverts the notion of Lee's "natural abilities." 41. Marchetti, "Immigrant Dreams," 14. 42. Judith Farquhar and Mary L. Doi, "BRUCE LEE vs. FU MANCHU: Kung fu Films and Asian American Stereotypes in America", Bridge (Fall, 1978). Ironically, Lee creates a new stereotype by bringing martial arts to the West and inferior "chop-sockies" (dubbed by jingoistic copy writers) have been ridiculed by many audiences for their incomprehensible plots, poor acting and excessive martial arts sequences. In fact, Lee's attempt to redeem Chinese American masculinity is sub-
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~ e r t e dby semiotic excesses, such as the numerous kicks and punches to the opponent's groin and Lee's own cat-like combat scream. This scream, or war cr!; has become an aural sign of Lee's heroic (manly) image and martial arts style. Yet, due to its excessiveness, it has undercut the legitimacy of Lee's warrior status. H o w many times have you heard imitations of Lee's war cry among Bruce Lee fans? Often, their respect for Lee's aural style is parodic in tone, and everyone realizes that his war cry, and, by extension, his martial arts and violence, cannot he taken seriously. If the genre itself s u h ~ e r t sits own ability to present serious social criticisms, then Lee's work clearly loses some of its social impact, particularly its impact upon the institutionalized racism of Hollywood. 43. See my discussion in Chapter Tn7o. 44. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee died before the release of his last film \vhich categorically p r o ~ e dthat, in the realm of popular culture, Asian Americans (among other racially marked minorities) could he popular and reach mainstream A~nerican audiences. Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee, tried to conrince Hollywood that an Asian American hero can still be a profitable commodity two decades later by costarring in SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO (1991) and starring in RAPID FIRE (1992). Brandon Lee's image is complicated by his bi-raciality. As a bi-racial man, he must define his mixed identity through the characters he portrays in contemporary America's ~nulticulturalsociety. In SHOWDOWN, he plays a Japanese American policeman who rejects his Japanese cultural heritage, while in RAPID FIRE, he plays the son of a Chinese political activist who died in Tiananmen Square. Due to Brandon Lee's untimely death, we can only speculate how he might have influenced dominant American cultural productions had he lived. 4.5. Mark Simpson, Male Impersonators: Men Performing Mascz~linity (New York: Routledge, 1994), 4.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
CHAPTER FIVE
Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Ful
I
n the early 1970s, Marvel Comics created a Chinese American character whose martial arts allowed him to perform extraordinary tasks, such as leaping on to an aircraft as it begins to soar in the air or defeating sophisticated robots programmed to kill. Given Bruce Lee's continuing popularit!; Marvel Comics tried to ride the wave of the ltung fu craze. Shang-Chi, the new comics hero, is a hybridization of three popular characters of the past and consequentl!; he has to wrestle with the tensions created by such an amalgamation. His body is engendered by DL Fu Manchu as he is the son of the "evil incarnate himself." Yet Shang-Chi is a good Chinese male hero who is determined to uphold the laws of the West, lnuch as Charlie Chan did. In order to accolnplish these goals, Shang-Chi must have extraordinary martial arts skills, such as those possessed by Bruce Lee. Shang-Chi becomes the quintessential Chinese immigrant hero who simultaneously fights for the West, severs his relationship with his Chinese father, and then returns to China when the job is done. He is depicted as a hero who protects the world from the forces of evil-indeed, the only person capable of saving Western civilization with his bare hands. He uses weapons sparingly and relies primarily on his martial arts training to overcome imperialist schemes. Shang-Chi rebels against his father when he realizes that DL Fu Manchu intends to destroy the world in order to create a new world order that resembles the glories of "old China." Under the guidance of Sir Nayland Smith, Shang-Chi joins the British Secret Service as an agent. He assumes the role of James Bond as he travels around the world to meet one crisis after anothec The world is constantly threatened by evil forces; in confronting them, Shang-Chi becomes the symbol of goodness and justice, a man of integrity and morals. His name, Shang-Chi, means the "rising and advancing of one's spirit."
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Shang-Chi epitomizes the kung fu excitement popularized by Eruce Lee. After Lee's unexpected death in 1973, Hong Kong and American film producers vigorously sought out Bruce Lee imitations in an attempt to preserve the memories of that Chinese hero. While Shang-Chi is one of America's Eruce Lee-esque clones, he is more than just a Chinese hero. Rathel; he is a product of White America's nostalgic fantasy of a Chinese immigrant martial artist who leayes his oppressi~ehomeland in China, adopts the West as his home, and rejects his Chinese father.' In fact, he is burdened by shame because of his father and this shame motiyates him to commit patricide. His father's exploits have a long histor!; as Dr. Fu Manchu's elixir yitae ( a serum of immortality) enables him to continue living without aging, thereby symbolizing the ancient and indestructible traditions of China. Since Dr. Fu Manchu embodies the mystical elements of the East, he is equated with danger and extirpation. Dr. Fu Manchu's world is cloaked with hidden labs and secret experiments-a cornucopia of lies. Shang-Chi's creators, Steye Englehart and further popularized by Doeg Moench,' howeyer, haye him de-programmed by the truths of the West, after which he commits his life to saying Western ci~ilizationby undermining his father's evil plans and adopting Western codes of justice and honor. Although Shang-Chi is one of many heroes in the world of comics, as a Chinese male character he occupies a curious space in this fantasy world. Unlike Dr. Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan, the image of Shang-Chi is heroic, heteromasculine, and sexual. The heterosexualization of Shang-Chi serves as a subtle contrast to Bruce Lee's characters because of the way in which Shang-Chi's masculinity is controlled. The preferred meaning embedded in Shang-Chi's sexual identity is decidedly heterosexual. It is clear that his body is only admired by the female characters and there is no ambiguity or a~nhivalencein the portrayal of Shang-Chi's manhood. Indeed, Shang-Chi's model of masculinity is controlled in such a way that it leaves little room to articulate the co~nplexitiesof a masculine identity. This chapter investigates how patriarch!; masculinity, and male identities are refracted in the representation of this Chinese hero. Shang-Chi is a hero who conforms to Western notions of heteromasculinity. Michael ICimmel, in his study of White American manhood, has mapped out the shifting historical forces that shape and reshape White American male identities. He argues that the end of the Vietnam War was one of the determining factors in forcing men to re-evaluate their notions of masculinity: And one of the most reliable refuges for beleaguered masculinity, the soldierlprotectol; fell into such disrepute as the news about Vietnam filtered home that even today Vietnam veterans are seen by some as having acted out an excessive and false hypermasculinity. Once a paragon of manly virtue, the soldier was now also coming to be perceived as a failed man..' In addition to the erosion of the soldier's manly virtues, African American men,
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feminists, and gays started to challenge the ways in which masculinity was defined. Some White men responded to these threats by reaffirming the superiority of White heteromasculinity. Kimmel notes that several texts of the 1970s reiterated biologically deterministic arguments of male superiority.' Physical strength, natural forces, cultural stahility, and the uni~ersalityof male dominance reaffirmed the traditional roles of Inen and women in order to counter feminist calls for equalit!; women's rights, and an end to domestic ~iolence,rape, and sexist ideological practices. Some men's responses focused on the rejection of feminization and the further stigmatization of homosexuals. Under such cultural and political contentions, the ideological meaning of Shang-Chi becomes questionable. The construction of Shang-Chi reveals that a Chinese male can be accepted as a heroic character under certain political contexts, namely the civil rights m o ~ e m e n of t the 1960s and early 1970s. Howevel; his hypermasculinity signals a cultural affirmation of a heteromasculinity that remasculinizes the male body The model of masculinity embedded in Shang-Chi reflects a White masculinity masked by a Chinese bod!; thereby maintaining a cultural standard that other Asian Inen should emulate. O n one hand, Shang-Chi is represented as sensuous, heroic, and masculine--an image of Chinese masculinity that debunks the desexualized and emasculated breeder models embedded in Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan respectidy. O n the other hand, Shang-Chi reproduces a hegemonic model of masculinity that marginalizes and subordinates those who d o not conform to this standard. More importantly, Shang-Chi's masculinity reveals the contentious interplay of various models of masculinity as he represents a hegemonic masculinity that is nonetheless displaced from the West because of his race. Connell's critique of conventional masculinities involves the notions of hegemony, subordination, complicity, and margina1ization.h Asian A~nerican men are, together with other men of colol; marginalized men. Indi~idualmen of color may achieve personal economic success and enjoy the power associated with financial achievement. Howevel; such success does not translate into changes in attitudes toward them on the part of the larger social group. Some Asian American men may haye moved up the socio-economic ladder, hut hate crimes, racial slurs, and glass ceilings continue to situate Asian Americans on the margins of society. In the context of social relations, marginalized men may seek to partake of the dividends of patriarchy. They may also he complicit, unwittingly, with a hegemonic masculinity or desire to he a part of the dominant model of masculinity. Yet the success of indi~idualsdoes not alle~iatethe discrimination perpetuated upon marginalized men as a whole: "Marginalization is always relative to the authorization of the hegemonic masculinity of the dominant group. Thus, in the United States, particular black athletes may he exemplars for hegemonic masculinity. But the fame and wealth of indi~idualstars has no trickle-down effect; it does not yield social authority to black men generally."While Shang-Chi's heterosexualized being may represent the reified myth of an ideal man-with rippling ~nusclesthat signify power and strength, providing him
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with the ability to protect women from any kind of danger or threat-he remains an outsider.Wis physical prowess, sensualit!; moral yirtues, and heroism are at once nostalgic reflections of a racist past, a hopeful projection of a color-blind future, and a means to provisionally resolve the political and racial anxieties of the late 1960s and 1970s. His marginalized yet complicit masculinity is sanctioned by the hegemonic group; in other words, Shang-Chi's masculinity is a projection of a White heteromasculine ideology. Shang-Chi's masculine identity reyeals the competing discourses in the creation of a Chinese American model of masculinity: he represents a hegemonic model of masculinity yet he is simultaneously marginalized and subordinated from the dominant culture and society. The patriarchal ideology embedded in Master of Kung Fu is reinforced by the aggressive and persistent advertising that exists outside the narratiyes of the series. If the ad~ertisementsare any indication of how ad~ertisersand consumers belieye or want to belieye in the myth of male perfection, Shang-Chi is an example of a White masculine ideal-a protagonist who embodies moralistic yalues such as righteousness, integrit!; ethical purity, and manliness. In any particular issue, there may he up to three separate advertisements on learning different styles of martial arts and three ad~ertisementspromoting b o d y h ~ i l d i n g Each . ~ issue contains at least one advertisement on bodybuilding and one on martial arts. Indeed, the adyertisement page of each issue speaks to the readers, comincing them that there is indeed a perfect Inan and anyone can become this mythic male. In one ad~ertisement,Mr. Charles Atlas, for instance, challenges the reader "DON'T BE HALF A MAN!" and he includes a short comic strip, entitled "The insult that made a man out of 'Mac."' After some heach bullies insult Mac in front of his girlfriend, he subscribes to Mr. Atlas' free hook and becomes a muscular "he-man." As he takes reyenge against the heach bullies, his girlfriend gushes, "Oh Mac! You ARE a real man after all!""] The message is that the legitimacy of manhood is contingent upon physical power. Mac now has the means to protect his girlfriend from others, thereby earning his manhood. In another ad~ertisement,it is indicated that masculinity would not he complete if one does not subscribe to Eugene Feuchtinger's "Voice Power and Personal Power" and deyelop a "HE-MAN" yoice.ll Finall!; Demaru Instructol; Toyotaro Miyazaki, promises to teach readers "all the essential secrets of these two Oriental fighting arts-ancient secrets that have allowed smaller, weaker Inen to defeat larger, more powerful men with ease." At the top left hand corner of this full-page advertisement is a Inan fighting off three attackers in order to save a woman behind him.12 The message of what a perfect man is supposed to be like cannot be more blatant. In order for a male reader to be a "he-man," he needs to he able to protect women and have rippling ~ n u s c l e s . ~ Although the series had female readers, the world that is created situates female characters as secondary characters whom Shang-Chi must protect. The insistence on maintaining such a gendered hierarchy stems, in part, from socially constructed links between physical strength, powel; and yiolence and masculinity. These linkages are primarily dependent upon physical differences between men and women.
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If these overdetermined physical differences can be maintained, then patriarchal social orders will also be sustained. Of the thirtysix major characters who threaten the stability of the world, three are female. Of the sixteen major characters who protect the Western world, six are women. Howeyer, only two of these women play a physically active role while all of the men are engaged in some kind of physically demanding action. The lack of agency among many of the female characters is compensated by their sexual functions. They function as subjects who reinforce the heteromasculinity of the men-all of the female characters are physically intimate with the male characters-by confirming or reaffirming the heterosexuality and physical superiority of the men. Indeed, Shang-Chi is the quintessential hetero~nasculinehero who liyes in a male-centered world where women are helpless and gay men are erased. He is a man who protects women and lesser men with his superior body As a product of Marye1 Comic's c r e a t i ~ eteam, Shang-Chi's prowess perpetuates the insistence of American readers to equate physical superiority and dominance with masculinity. Female characters of different racial backgrounds are attracted to Shang-Chi. Howeyer, readers are never privy to the emotional aspects of these sexual encounters. Shang-Chi's first female companion is the daughter of a Chinese scientist whose life has been threatened by Dr. Fu Manchu. They meet unexpectedly and an immediate attraction de~elops.When they take a walk in the park after lunch, their eyes meet then their lips. Shang-Chi characterizes his sexual attraction to this stranger as magic: "There is magic in this night. It floats in the air."14 Although he learns later that this chance meeting was a set-up, the Chinese woman Sandy apparently is genuinely attracted to Shang-Chi. Juliette, a blond female agent from England, also finds herself in loye with Shang-Chi." Eut, her love for him is not developed in the narratiye. Again, Shang-Chi calls this kind of physical attraction "magic." From these examples, it is clear that female characters are sexually attracted to him primarily on a physical level since the emotional contexts are consistently displaced or undeveloped. Shang-Chi, with the help of his female companions, reinforces the mainstream conception of a manly man. Shang-Chi flaunts his muscular upper body much as Eruce Lee does in his films. Howeyer, his masculinity is unambiguously heterosexual: the women he meets are always attracted to him. Leiko Wu's long-term relationship with him is crucial to his masculine image; Shang-Chi's exaggerated upper body musculature and his mastery of kung fu complete the socially determined definition of a man. According to Scott Bukatman, "comics and bodybuilding have been closely aligned for decades . . . the hypermasculinity of bodybuilder or superhero-fantasy represents an attempt to recenter the self in the hody; a r e d u c t i ~ econflation of hody with subjectivity."'h Endowing Shang-Chi with a hypermasculine body is thus consistent with the trend to reaffirm male superiority by focusing on physical strength, an act that si~nultaneouslysituates women's bodies as abject objects. The artists who created Shang-Chi's image appropriated the popularity of
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Chinese American Masculinities
Bruce Lee hut projected a hypermasculine body 011 Shang-Chi in order to reconfigure Lee's Asian body to suit White American male tastes. Shang-Chi's hody is exaggerated and physically larger than those of all the other characters. In an insidious representational act, Shang-Chi's Chinese body has been displaced, discarded, and erased to be replaced by a hypermasculine (White) body that oyer-compensates for the "unsatisfactory" Asian hody in terms of physical size.
COMMITTING PATRICIDE The yisual celebration of Shang-Chi's body is in~erselyrelated to his relationship with his father. Although Shang-Chi is raised in complete isolation-Dr. Fu Manchu trained and educated Shang-Chi in his fortress in "Honan," China-his first contact with Sir Nayland Smith and his mother convinces him that his father is a crazed dictator.'' The sudden and drastic change in Shang-Chi is clearly coded in racial and cultural terms as he abandons his Chinese father of many years while accepting, without question, the words of two indiyiduals from the West as "truths." Not only does Shang-Chi leaye and oppose his father, he also submits to Sir Nayland Smith's manipulations. In this sense, the parents and the son reject each other and ShangChi ends up alone in the most rural village in China, consumed by guilt and shame. Both the Western and the Eastern worlds haye shaken his sense of loyalty, integrity, and justice. Indeed, Shang-Chi is represented as a variation of the model minority stereotype: he is malleable yet culturally incompatible with the West. Shang-Chi's predicament seems to parallel Asian Americans-one where Asians in America are not accepted by either the Asians in Asia or by Euro-Americans in the West. However, haying pledged to destroy his Chinese father, he is forced to be an orphan who is ashamed of his past, a metaphor of the assimilation process. Issue 76, "Smoke, Beads and Blood!" begins with his desire to have a father hut cannot: "tonight I wish . . . I had a father." In this episode, Shang-Chi is betrayed by an old Chinese man, a symbol of the father he neyer had. His desire to find an identity based on his history and past is destroyed by the unreliability of the old man who leads him into a trap for a price. When Shang-Chi realizes that his trust in this stranger has been betrayed, he comments, ". . . His (the old man's) ancient face the very soul of a China which no longer exists, saye in filthy traps set in foreign countries. I11 many ways, his face is just as shattered as the spirit of my name."18 The old man and Dr. Fu Manchu represent China-the countr!; its history, culture, and tradition. China and what it represents are problematic as Shang-Chi is constantly reminded that it will he impossible to return to his birthplace. This narrative deyelopment i~npressesupon the reader that China is beyond the point of redemption. Shang-Chi is confused and continues to struggle for an identity that is "harmonious, peaceful, and tranquil." Yet he cannot escape the violence that is embedded in his hody through his mastery of kung fu. Shang-Chi's soul searching stems from an internalized sense of shame. In order to heighten the dramatic elements and psychological tensions within Shang-Chi, the writers" effectively established a history of shame that is not resolyed until he
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decides to return to China. In issue 107, "A Painless Result of Having Lived," Shang-Chi meditates on his life by fasting. In the midst of his meditation, he sees ancient yisions (different manifestations of dragons' heads) and asks them crucial questions. He cries to these visions, I am the son of Fu Manchu, hlood of his tainted blood. I seek only to serve the forces of good, yet I a m cursed by my father's eyil. Am I fated to carry on his evil, or may I deny the nature of my father? Can the tree transcend its seed??" The conflict between nature and culture is the basis of Shang-Chi's inner struggle. He is clearly ashamed of his father and the tainted blood that runs through his body. The ancient visions respond by ironically de-mystifying the meaning of one's heritage. They suggest that blood is but the conduit of life . . . blood passed from father to son is the mere conduit of life! If the son chooses to h e , he has no choice over hlood! But it does not matter . . . for true life, true identity is found only in the spirit, one does haye choice and influence.?' The ancient yisions yalidate Shang-Chi's search for goodness and minimize the shame he has inherited. They inspire him to defend Western ciyilization with more intensity. By the end of issue 107, Shang-Chi is inrolyed in a mission that ultimately ends with his saying the Queen of England from certain death. H e wrestles with a Russian assassin by the name of Ghost Maker, who steals a canister of acid rain from a military base in Sussex in order to launch it into the clouds above a parade for the Queen. Shang-Chi risks his life to protect a Queen to whom he owes no political allegiance. He sayes her life simply because she is the Queen of England, a symbol of Europe's royal tradition.?' It is the shame embedded in Shang-Chi's body that enables him to sign a contract with Sir Nayland Smith. In this contract, Shang-Chi giyes up ownership of his body in order to protect those whose liyes may he in danger. Throughout the series, though Shang-Chi condemns the organizations of the West as "games of deceit," Sir Nayland and his agents manage to comince him that each mission is worthy of his involvement. Howevel; Shang-Chi's growing disdain for his father and for his own origins is at odds with his own pursuit of peace, serenity, and harmony. In issue 115, there is an unexpected contract that reads: I hereby agree to risk life and limb in the pursuit and nullification of whosoever jeopardizes the life and limb of others. In preparation for this fundamental obligation I agree to pursue a complete and selfless (though selfim~nersed)dedication to the total mastery of my chosen moral and martial art, loosely defined for the purpose of this contract as kung fu. . . . Said discipline shall he stringently maintained regardless of concomitant sacrifice in
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all other phases and aspects of my personal life. I further agree to endure any other sacrifice, suffer any pain, incur any loss personal, physical, emotional, or otherwise, forfeit all escape clauses, abrogate any selfish considerations, tolerate any indignity, sublimate all contrary tendencies, meet any challenge, and advance every effort as shall be deemed necessary to the successful fulfillment of this contract." This contract seems out of place because Shang-Chi has always insisted on being in control of his mind, body, and spirit; but here he gives up his own identity in order to follow the leadership of Sir Nayland Smith's private organization, the Freelance Restorations. The agreement to suffer any consequences, physically and emotional!l; for the fulfillment of any mission set forth by Sir Nayland Smith is a clear indication that Shang-Chi's internal struggle to reconcile his past with his present can be resolved only by a written agreement to give up ownership of his very body. I11 light of this contractual commitment, Shang-Chi's next major mission climaxes with him murdering his own father, DL Fu Manchu. Issue 116, "Blood of His Blood," is one of most revealing stories about Shang-Chi's relationship with his father. He returns to the fortress where he grew up and faces his ultimate enemy. After fighting with a giant scorpion (created by one of DL Fu Manchu's biological experiments) he is captured and confined within one of his father's labs. Apparently, DL Fu Manchu's dependence on his elixir vitae has resulted in his body developing an immunity to it. Only Shang-Chi's blood, mixed with the elixir vitae, can enable DL Fu Manchu to reverse the aging process temporarily. Thus the blood of ShangChi, the source of his shame, is now even more directly linked to evil as it gives life to his sworn enemy. As DL Fu Manchu says, "you [Shang-Chi] shall bleed your life for mine." Although the ancient visions (issue 107) had explained to Shang-Chi that the blood in his body is merely a "conduit of life," Shang-Chi is now forced to face the fact that his blood is to be the source of DL Fu Manchu's continual life. Indeed, the last ten panels of issue 116 visually show how the mixture physically changes a partially bald old man into a younger man with blood dripping from his mouth. Shang-Chi eventually escapes and traclzs down his father who has started to age again. Before DL Fu Manchu can swallow his youth-restoring mixture, Shang-Chi grabs it and pours it on the floor as his father lzneels before him. Says Shang-Chi, "You want it my father . . . ? You want my blood . . . ? Then lick it up, like a dog, from the dust of your sins."24 Shang-Chi's ultimate revenge is to shame his father as his father has shamed him. When the fortress in "Honan," China, explodes into flames, Shang-Chi mysteriously is unharmed while his father is consumed by fire. Shang-Chi's search for peace has apparently come to an end. However, Shang-Chi's deeply rooted sense of shame and filial disobedience consume him and he is further tormented by his mother who slaps and scolds him: "False son, Shang-Chi! In your false righteousness you have committed the greatest evil of all . . . the most heinous of sins that cries to heaven of its bloodiness. You've slain a father!":' (It is highly ironic that Shang-Chi's mother ultimately decides to
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lead Dr. Fu Manchu's underground organization after her husband's apparent death.) After his mother's scolding, Shang-Chi goes back to China and the comic book series come to an end when he leayes the West to atone for his sins. When he arrives in China, he finds a small rural village where life is not influenced by Western technolog!; materialism, and ideology. The title of the last issue is "Atonement," so the implication of this concluding comic book is one of punishment. It seems that Shang-Chi's action is wrong and dishonorable. The need to "atone" for his sins leads him to leave behind the material comforts of the West, and more importantl!; Leiko Wu, the lover he has had for the past seven years.2h Shang-Chi's departure confirms his role as an Asian immigrant, who, though a hero, ultimately does not fit into the cultural context of the West. His marginalized role leads him to a rural environ~nentin China and his desire to establish his identity as a Chinese takes precedence over his romantic relationship with Leiko Wu.
CHINESE FEMALE COUNTERPART Leiko Wu is an important figure in Shang-Chi's life. O n the one hand, she is an assimilated Asian woman who is Yery comfortable with her role as an agent working for Sir Nayland Smith. She never questions her identity in racial terms; rathel; her search for an identity is more focused on gender roles rather than racial equalities as she insists on having an a c t i ~ eand physical part in the ~ a r i o u missions. s She rarely comments on her own racial identity hut when she hears about two women who are mutilated in the Whitechapel section of London, she insists on going alone to the area, using herself as bait to apprehend the murderer, in order to prove to herself and the other agents that she can handle the case alone. Howevel; she fails in her attempt to complete this "solo mission" and is shamed by her failure. After she meets Shang-Chi, she is relegated to a secondary and supportix role and is constantly in need of Shang-Chi's help. Selina Zane, a reader from Pennsylvania, comments on the ways in which women are generally represented in comics: Eut what really irritates me about this mag is the way Leiko Wu is constantly being captured by one fiend after another. This 'damsel in distress' routine is tiresome and unreal. Leilzo was originally presented as a resourceful, independent lady agent-yet she's so easy to kidnap! If Shang-Chi were in WarYore's jail, he'd be busily trying fifty different ways to escape; but Leilzo, being a mere female, just sits passively in her cell. You can't haye it both ways; either Leiko should be a strong independent woman who is ShangChi's equal, or she should reyert permanently to a typical comics female: passive and victimized.'; Leilzo cannot be equal to Shang-Chi because he is the hero of this comic book series and none of the other characters, male or female, can be allowed to have the same reso~ircef~ilness and power as he does. There is, however, a dramatic decline in Leilzo's physical and mental abilities once she meets Shang-Chi. Leilzo's role as
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an agent is minimized in order to foreground Shang-Chi's chivalry and heroism. Leiko Wu is made to be aware of her own inability to complete important missions on her own and this leads her to question her identity as a female agent. More importantly, because Leiko Wu is Shang-Chi's primary companion, she functions as a ~ e h i c l efor solidifying Shang-Chi's heteromasculine identity.
CONTROLLING IMAGE Comics is an interesting medium to explore sexualities and notions of masculinities. The artwork in comics allows readers to visualize, in a Yery graphic way, how characters interact. Yet, at the same time, these characters are caricatures of humans. The artists do not seek to represent humans in an accurate andlor realistic waythat is to say, they d o not mimic reality. The graphics of comics call attention to their own self-constructedness and artifice; at the same time, the writing or narrative of the stories may elicit strong desires and responses from readers. For example, Howard G. Anshell of California claims that after reading issue 97, he and his wife were moved to tears: It is extremely rare for a comic book to m o x me (or my wife) to tears. There is an inherent obstacle to such emotionalism rooted in the Yery nature of comics, an obstacle \vhich can be surmounted only by truly excellent writing . . . "Lost Art" in M a s t e ~of Kung Fu #97 moved both of us to tears more than once . . . not to mention the fact that it also has [sic] us laughing in close proximity to the tears . . .'# Although it is difficult to determine the ~ e r a c i t yof the readers' response to the comic book, this letter reveals the paradox of comics. The reader points out that while the medium itself does not, in general, elicit emotional responses from readers, it has the potential to m o x readers to tears. Effecti~ewriting in any medium has the power to affect readerslaudiences on both a physical and an emotional l e d . The inherent obstacles of comics lie perhaps in the brevity of the words and the difficulty in trying to r e ~ e a the l complexity of the characters in one short issue. Actionoriented dramatic conflict seems to he preferable to character de~elopmentbut the power of issue 9 7 apparently stems from Shang-Chi's continual soliloquy or narration at the bottom of most of the pages, co~nple~nenting the action sequences above. This extended narration p r o ~ i d e sreaders with more insight into the private thoughts and struggles of the main character, overcoming some of the inherent obstacles of reading comics. Comics, howeyer, haye other inherent obstacles. One is how to represent sexual desires among the characters. Eruce Lee flaunted his body in order to elicit responses from the audiences, including sexualized responses. It is more difficult for comics to elicit sexualized responses because of their caricature-like quality. M o r e o ~ e r , comics' publishers were concerned about the effects of comics and in 1954 they adopted "the self-censoring Comics Code" that still exists today: "The Code
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involved a ~ o l u n t a r yban by the publishers theinsel~eson violence, explicit sex, gratuitous gore and the triumph of e ~ i or l antisocial beha~ior."z9Eoth the limitations of the imagery in coinics and the self-adopted code of decency are instruinental in displacing the sexual plays between Shang-Chi and his female companions. Clearly, the self-censoring coinics code implies that coinic hook imageries can indeed elicit emotional as well as sexual responses in readers; therefore, intimate sexual relations between characters must he minimized. The code of self-censorship certainly applies to this coinic book series and the sensuousness of Leiko's and Shang-Chi's relationship is minimized when the lovers engage in physical intimacies. In a rare moment of romance and privacy, Shang-Chi and Leiko are alone in an apartinent listening to music and caressing each othee Eoth characters are fully dressed and as they kiss, the ensuing pailels show how their bodies disappear behind the hack of the couch. After they kiss, the reader sees three panels that focus on the couch, separating the reader from the characters, so that the line between public and private space is clearly drawn. The coinpulsory heterosexual act between the two characters confirms Shang-Chi's manhood, thereby erasing alternative or s u b ~ e r s i ~models e of masculinities, and reduces Leiko Wu to an ineffectual agent who needs to be rescued by the more powerful and resourceful men. The conflict that arises between Leiko Wu and the men in the coinics is i n a n fested by the dynamics of sexual power. When Shang-Chi first meets Leiko Wu in issue 33, he initially suspects an intruder in his apartment. As he breaks open the door, the next panel shows a pair of legs close up, prioritizing the flesh and showing the bubbles from a bath. It is one of the more sensuous pailels in the series as Leiko's naked body clearly exists outside of the panel, not visible to the readers hut in full view by Shang-Chi and his partner C l i x Reston. Leiko's left leg is arched upwards in a ninety degree angle while her right leg lies horizontally on top of the water. More importantly, Shang-Chi and C h e Reston are still at a distance from Leiko and they are miniaturized to show their distance. Howeyer, they are strategically placed right under the arch of Leiko's left leg and above her right leg, creating an illusion for the reader that they are indeed between her legs. The positioning of the characters is salient because hoth male characters are sexually attracted to Wu. Although Wu is constantly in trouble and must be rescued by the men, hoth ShangChi and Reston willingly risk their lives to be with her. The sexual play among these three characters is coiltentious as they all want to be independent of one another and yet they cannot afford not to depend on each othee Upon meeting Shang-Chi, she distances herself from Clive Reston as a lover and focuses her attention solely on Shang-Chi. Howevel; in issue 87, she spends an intimate night with Clive Reston and betrays her relationship with Shang-Chi. When Shang-Chi finds out, he is furious but ultimately forgives Leiko's brief adulterous affair.
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MARGINALIZED HERO Shang-Chi's role as a defender of society follows the traditions of protagonists created at the end of the Great Depression. Richard Reynolds describes the "Lone Wolf" character in the following way:
X new kind of popular hero had emerged: the self-reliant indi~idualistwho stands aloof from many of the humdrum concerns of society, yet is able to operate according to his own code of honour, to take on the world on his own terms and win.3" This description seems to fit Shang-Chi as he consistently acts according to his own instincts and does not conform to the dictates of others. Although Shang-Chi worlzs among a team of British agents, he is the one who, at moments of crises, acts alone to resolve the conflict in order to protect the others. While Shang-Chi's role echoes the lone wolf hero of the 1930s, his emergence as a hero during the 1970s reflects, in part, cultural and social anxieties on race relations that emphasized the tensions between self-reliance and government social services. Under the political climate of the 1970s, Shang-Chi's actions are commendable as a model minority since he relies on his own resourcefulness to protect innocent victims with minimal technological gadgetry-a pretty good bargain. His powers are very different from those of the other heroes or super heroes in comics as he relies on martial arts as a form of mortal combat. He does not have the supernatural powers of Superman, nor does he have the sophisticated technological tools of Batman or Spiderman. Shang-Chi's martial arts are clearly exaggerated but it is significant that he is self-reliant and uses his body as his lethal weapon. In many ways, Shang-Chi is part of the mythologization of Bruce Lee and it seems clear that his belief in non-violence (at least until he has no choice) is an extension of some of Bruce Lee's characters on screen in the early 1970s. However, Shang-Chi's character is marginalized from the other characters not because of his supernatural abilities or ideologies that subvert mainstream society; rather, he is situated on the margins of society because of cultural differences. Such cultural differences are manifested in the way he is graphically represented. He is consistently dressed in a red suit that resembles pajamas with a red bandanna wrapped around his head. Despite the complaints by readers (through their letters to the editors), the artists did not change Shang-Chi's outward appearance, which immediately separates him from the British characters. Not until the second part of issue number 71 does Shang-Chi don a turtle neck top, sports jacket, and trousers. In issue number 34, Shang-Chi's outfit had changed to a skin-tight body suit that is similar to his British partner's outfit. However, when Ken Meyer, Jc (a reader) comments in issue number 39 on his preference for the new outfit, the editors respond by saying that "both Doug [writer] and Paul [artist] have received orders from UpFront: 'Get Shang-Chi back in his pajamas and keep him there."' While it is difficult to determine why the writer and artist agreed to return Shang-Chi to the orig-
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inal pajama-like outfit, the effort to distinguish Shang-Chi as a foreigner seeins consistent with how Asians are usually portrayed in popular culture. In comic hooks, the writing and the artwork have equal importance, so Shang-Chi's outward appearance is as salient as his narratives. In this sense, the image etched into readers' minds is that of a Chinese male with a muscular body and red pajamas, a clear sign that this Chinese hero is foreign and different from his British counterparts. As a Chinese immigrant to the West, Shang-Chi is conreniently positioned as a heneficial addition to Western society yet simultaneously different from mainstream society. The visual image of Shang-Chi clearly is a powerful tool in bringing the character to life. Indeed, inany readers haye commented on the way he looks. The different expectations from readers of ~ a r y i n gracial hackgrouilds are quite clear: soine Caucasian readers desire authenticity in the representations of Shang-Chi's race while soine Asian Ainericans feel skin color should not be a part of his racial identity. Shang-Chi's physical difference is thus framed in the discourse of racial authenticity. In the production of Master of Kung FZL,new writers and artists were brought in occasionally and the consistency of the drawings became an issue for some readers. One reader, Tony Power, commented that "Shang-Chi just doesn't look Oriental. He's changed so much from his original appearance that he now looks more like an American Indian than anything-which would he great, if that were his nationality, but it's not."" This reader clearly has a pre-conceived notion of what an American Indian and an Asian look like and the iilconsisteilcies in the visual representation of Shang-Chi disrupt the authentic image in the minds of the readers. Without doubt, it is disconcerting to see the same character progress along success i x issues with different facial features. This reader's obsermtion, howevel; raises an interesting paradox in comics: on the one hand, comics as a medium tends to lean towards the escapist, imaginary, fantastic, and unreal world where the created myths call attention to the fact that they are only constructed images; at the same time, readers demand a certain l e ~ e of l authenticity or a specific system of signification where the visual representation of a character must correspoild to soine real referent. The irony is that Shang-Chi does not correspond to any referent outside ' ~ character is imaginary and his facial features are dependthe world of c o i n i c ~ . His ent on the artists' ~ i s i o n s Shang-Chi's . bandanna and red pajamas ultimately mark him as a culture-less hero. Tony Power also raises the issue of what an "Oriental" should look like and implies that one must highlight those physical differences in order for Shang-Chi to be authentic. Again, the implication is that physical differences must be maintained in order to sustain a racially segregated social structure. It seems that the inconsistency of Shang-Chi's features indicates that there is an unstable relationship between iconic representations and actual referents. His shifting facial features undermine any attempt to categorize or contain the representation of his biracial character. A comic book series may haye inany artists involved in the final produc-
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tion of a particular issue which makes it difficult to maintain consistent graphic representations: the artist who sketches the actual image, the inker who fills in the sketches with holder lines, and the colorist who creates the different colors from skin color to all background material. Consequentl!; all graphic representations in coinics are unstable yet none of the readers complained about the lack of consistency in the Caucasian characters. For the Chinese character, however, readers seem determined to h a x some kind of essential quality that would authenticate ShangChi's racial difference. After William Wu, a fan and critic of the series, commented on the shades of yellow used to color the Asian characters, the editors responded that the Asian characters would he colored in the same flesh tones as the Caucasian characters. William Wu apparently coilriilced the editors that Asians are not yellow per se. Nonetheless, the shifting iconography of Shang-Chi's face and skin color calls attention to the fact that racial categorizations are indeed unstable, fluid, and arbitrary, particularly in this medium. Although racial categorizations may seem arbitrarily constructed, external signs such as the pajama-like outfit and the red bandanna nonetheless maintain racial differences. These may be trivial signs of racial and cultural differences, hut they are l noticed the gradstill indicati~eof the desire to exoticize difference. S e ~ e r a readers ual westernization of Shang-Chi in terms of his music and sense of humor. In spite of his acculturation, he remains on the margins of a racial hierarchy so that racial and cultural differences can he emphasized. As Shang-Chi becomes more westernized, his apparel changes accordingly. Yet, he is often out of place with his turtleneck tops and sports jacket because he still has the red bandanna tied around his head, eYen at formal dinner events. Perhaps Shang-Chi's refusal to assimilate fully is a sign of individualism, typical of the lone wolf type of hero, but as a Chinese man, his inability to find a community either in the West or the East signifies a homeless or culture-less identity. In Bruce Lee's films, the main characters may be indi~idualistsbut they always h a x a community to enter or fall back on. ShangChi, in contrast, seems to be a wandering Chinese who is called a "Britisher" in Hong Kong and a "Chinaman" in America and England. Shang-Chi's acceptance by the West seems to be contingent upon his superhuman martial arts and his non-assiinilationist ideology. He is willing to defend the West from the dangers and threats of the East but he does not desire to become a part of the West. Shang-Chi's attempts to cooperate with Sir Nayland Smith and the British Secret Ser~ice(or MI-6) are constantly thwarted by his unwilliilgness to operate within the codes of conduct established by a Western government. In many ways, his philosophies are counter to those of Sir Nayland Smith and, as the stories progress, he con~incesSir Nayland, as well as the other agents, that the British Secret Service is corrupt and evil in its own way. Shang-Chi's racial identity seems to create paradoxes for him. O n the one hand, his role as a Chinese inan does not allow him to access pri~ilegesthat h a x been traditionally r e s e r ~ e dfor Caucasians. O n the other hand, his heroic actions are meant to defend the same Western world. In the coinics series, the Western world is always threatened by aggressi~epowers
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while the iinperialistic history of Great Britain and the United States are deemed irrelevant in the fantasy world of Shang-Chi. The ideologies encoded in Master of Kztng Fu are similar to those represented in other aspects of American popular culture: Western ci~ilizationis superior to all other civilizations, it is continuously threatened by mrious inanifestatioils of evil from the East, and it must he defended at all cost.
RE-VISITING T H E YELLOW PERIL The way in which China is portrayed represents a continual fear on the part of the West of a country that has been closed politically to the Western world. Master of Kztng Fzt alleges that China is dominated by the most insidious person in the world and no one can bring that nation out of its political isolation and social disordel; characterized by communist rule since 1949. Judeo-Christian discourse simplistically d i ~ i d e ssocial mores into good and evil." Chinese coininunisin is deemed e ~ i l and condemned as a threat to world peace. The England and America that are portrayed in Master of Kztng Fu show how both Western countries have internal social problems hut Shang-Chi's role as a defender of Western civilization suggests that only the West deser~esto he protected and maintained. Master of K u n g FZLcreates a world where China is represented as hostile, mysterious, and imperialistic (in this sense, it reproduces the ideology established by Sax Rohmer in the early 1920s) while the West is shown as the ~ i c t i mof foreign attacks and aggressions. More importantly, the emergence of Shang-Chi in the 1970s gestures towards historical conditions that were c o n d u c i ~ eto the creation of a Chinese Ainerican hero. George Lipsitz argues that messages in popular culture "retain memories of the past and contain hopes for the future that rebuke the injustices and illequities of the p r e s e i ~ t . "In~ the fantasy world of comics, Shang-Chi has been coilstructed as an embodiment of culturally inherited Chinese male images while simultaneously his role in a broader social and cultural context gestures toward a color blind future where a Chinese male is accepted as a hero in America. Shang-Chi defends the Western world hut during the 1970s his heroism ironically displaces the social conflicts eyer the Vietnam War. While the U.S. government considered the coinmunist Vietnamese to be its enemies, many anti-war protesters, on the other hand, thought of the Vietnamese, who were fighting against the colonial powers of the West, as heroic. Shang-Chi's anti-technological fighting method, therefore, syinbolizes Asia's resistance to America's high-tech war. It became possible for an Asian inale to he represented as a hero during the c i ~ irights l movement as people of color in America fought for equality and inclusion. Shang-Chi's popularity lasted for nine years (1974-1983) and loyal readers from different backgrounds accept this Chinese male hero because he is a product of fantasy: a character who performs extraordinary tasks, upholds the moral codes of the West, and ultimately returns to his own country. He is, in a sense, the perfect Asian hero for readers in the West: he was born in China but learns quickly to fight and oppose his own fathel; he adopts a British man as his father figure, conforms to the
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dictates of his newly adopted parent, and ultimately returns to his own country after he ends the threat from the evils that originated from his own cultural and racial heritage." The dichotomies between the East and West are clearly portrayed in this series and there is, in effect, no possibility of c a r ~ i n gout a bicultural space for Chinese Americans. The West only welcomes Asian immigrants if they uphold Western mores and ~ a l u e s they : are beneficial if they can he exploited or manipulated. If they cannot, then it is preferable that Asians return to their countries of origin. Shang-Chi is useful only to the extent that he can reduce or eliminate the threat of destruction by Dr. Fu Manchu. Comics is a medium for de~elopingfantasies. Shang-Chi is a product of White America's fantasy. He is an imagined character in a medium that, for the most part, takes pleasure in not discussing social issues, thereby abdicating political or social responsibilities. In an i n t e r ~ i e wwith Ronald Levitt Lanyi, Steve Englehart responds to scholarly or critical analyses of comics with contempt because as a writer, he has no ideological or political motives: "You guys with your scholarship-it's like reading me stuff in Esperanto and asking me to comment. I just come back to the idea that this is just, you know-I just write f a n t a ~ y . " ' ~ Englehart's perspective a b s o l ~ e shim from the political, ideological, andlor cultural implications of his work.'? Nonetheless, Master of Kztng Fzt is read and interpreted by readers and interpreti~eacts are socially and culturally informed. It is important to ask what the implications are when a Chinese male comic hook hero is represented and how readers perceive h i ~ n . 'As ~ a mythic Chinese hero, ShangChi is perhaps a good role model for some Asians in America; but his cultural and visual differences and his return to China underscore the incompatibility between the East and the West and implies that a Chinese male hero should return to his country of origin.'y As another manifestation of the model minority stereotype, Marvel Comics uses Shang-Chi to negotiate, in part, the racial tensions of the 1960s and 1970s. Shang-Chi is, without doubt, a well thought out and self-reflective character. He may he a p o s i t i ~ erole model for some Asians hut he is still a marginalized man, refracting a dominant ideology of masculinity. By introducing an Asian hero into the American subculture of comics, even though it was not as popular as other series during the 1970s, M a r ~ e Comics l opened up the possibilities of i n c l ~ s i o n . ~ ' Unfortunately, there has not been an Asian male hero in comics since. The lack of Asian American male representations in popular culture has seriously curtailed the discourse on Asian American male identities. Much like Bruce Lee's legacy--he p r o ~ e dthat a Chinese hero could be accepted as a hero and yet his legacy was used to exclude rather than include Asians in film and tele~ision-Shang-Chi's breakthrough has not lead to more inclusion in this medium. Fortunatel!; Chinese American men themselves are increasingly expressing their understanding of gender roles, masculinity, and colonialism in their writings. In the following chapters, I want to use some of these literary texts to articulate a Chinese American masculinist discourse that seeks to disinherit stereotypes, dis-
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engage masculinity from patriarch!; and situate Chinese American men in a strategically amhi-sexual ~nasculinecontext. Using n o d s , short stories, and plays, I will demonstrate the heterogeneity among Asian American male writers and r e ~ e a the l multiple masculinist discourses embedded in their texts.
NOTES 1. Much thanks to S t e x Englehart for reading this chapter and for p r o ~ i d i n g me with insightful comments. 2. Steve Englehart notes that "it was never my intention to marginalize him. . . . I try to make all my characters legitimate human beings, not stereotypes or racial representatives." In my conversations with M c Englehart, it is clear that his original intention behind the creation of Shang-Chi is Yery different from the e ~ e n t u a l development of the story. 3. S t e x Englehart clarifies my analysis of Shang-Chi's sexual identity. He writes, "The whole section about sexuality is really Doug Moench's character, not mine. " 4. Michael ICimmel, Manhood in America: A C d t w a l History (New Yorlz: The Free Press, 1996), 263. 5. Ihid., 274. 6. Hegemonic masculinity is defined as "the configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarch!; which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant position of Inen and the subordination of women." Men who subscribe to the hegemonic ideologies of the dominant group continually struggle to maintain a n o r m a t i ~ emasculinity that is heterosexist, macho, authoritative, and patriarchal. Hegemonic masculinity is also defined along racial lines as men of color, on an aggregate level, are systematically excluded from and denied access to the dominant hegemonic ideolog y The struggle for power and control in the context of hegemonic masculinity not only subordinates women but gay men as well. The lnasculinities of gay men (and the homosexualization of straight men) are subordinated because they threaten the heterosexual norm established by hegemonic men: "Gayness, in a patriarchal ideology, is the repository of whateyer is symbolically expelled from hegemonic masculinit!; the items ranging from fastidious taste in home decoration to receptive anal pleas~ire."Colnplicit masculinity characterizes men who gain from hegemony though they do not embody the characteristics of hegemonic masculine men. In other words, some men are complicit with hegemonic forces when they d o not challenge patriarchy or power relations because they benefit from the d i d e n d s of hegemony. They are men who respect women and are not ~ i o l e n or t abusive. Howevel; they have no reason to dislnantle patriarchy. By their non-action, they benefit from hegemony: "masc~ilinitiesconstructed in ways that realize the patriarchal dividend, without the tensions or rislzs of being the frontline troops of patriarch!; are cornplicit in this sense." See Robert Connell, Masculinities (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 19951, 77-81. 7. Ihid., 8 1. 8. Steve Englehart points out that "Every comics hero is an outsider, at least in the Marvel Universe. One's Chinese, one's blind, one's a science nerd, one's an
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orange monster." While this may be true, it is clear that the outsider status of Shang-Chi perpetuates, in part, the exclusion of the Chinese from being designated as Americans. 9. Steve Englehart notes that "ads are sold to the line as a whole. Those ads would have appeared in all Marvels that month." This observation seems to strengthen my argument: that comics, during the 1970s, were supported by advertisers who perpetuated the patriarchal link between manhood and physical superiority. 10. Master of Kung FZL,Issue 2 7 (April, 1975). 11. Master of Kung Fu, Issue 18 (June, 1974). 12. Master of Kung Fu, Issue 2 5 (Februar!; 1974). 13. Steve Englehart observes that "The early comic strips had the Phantom, who had a good body (for example) hut he was simply a very skilled athlete. My guess is it started with Superman, who obviously set a new standard. There were still plenty of heroes in the 1940s comic hooks who just wore gas masks and business suits (for example), but as costumed heroes started to hang with Superman, they tended to emphasize lnuscles (Captain America at Ti~nely/Marvelwas rangy, not musclebound, in the 1940s). So I see it as an evolution of visual style rather than an intrinsic/unconscious comic book motif." At the same time, I find it Yery interesting that this "e~olutionof visual style" has consistently reconfigured the heroes (and heroines) as physically superior while other mediums of popular culture haye a wider range of masculine ideals that are not necessarily focused on his physical attribute. 14. Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu, Issue 2 (December, 1974). 15. Master of Kung FZL,Issue 6 7 (August, 1978). 16. Scott Eukatman, "X-Eodies (the torment of the mutant superhero)," in Uncontrollable Bodies: Testimony of Identity and Culture, ed. R. Sappington and T. Stallings (Seattle: Bay Press, 1994). 17. Shang-Chi's mother is a White American woman but this detail is rarely mentioned in the development of the story. His mother calls herself a "scientifically perfect mother" and Dr. Fu Manchu's role as a desexualized breeder is maintained. Shang-Chi's hi-raciality seems to he erased in the series and such an erasure serves to prioritize the oppressiveness of a Chinese patriarchy oYer the threat of miscegenation. I shall refer to Shang-Chi as a Chinese American immigrant hero because he wrestles with contested cultural values between the Chinese and the West rather than exploring his role as a bi-racial being. 18. Master of Kung FZL,Issue 76 (Ma!; 1979). 19. Specifically, writers who took up Master of Kung Fu after S t e x Englehart left the series. He also points out that he was "forced off the strip after five issues of the color comic and two of the black and white." 20. Master of Kung Fu, Issue 107 (December, 1981). 21. Ibid. 22. Steve Englehart points out that "Doug Moench's interests were certainly more toward James Eond than Eruce Lee. O ~ e time, r the strip became the great spy game (again, not Jim Starlin's and my original intention), hut my point is, Shang's marginalization and increased masculinity may have more to do with the Bondization than Doug's sense of Chinese heroes."
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
S h a n g - C h i : M a s t e r of K u n g F u 23. Master of Kztng Fu, Issue 11 5 (August, 1982). 24. Master of Kung Fu, Issue 118 (November, 1982). 2 5. Master of Kung Fu, Issue 123 (Aprd, 1983). 26. Master of Kung FZI,Issue 33 (October, 1975). 27. Master of Kung FZI,Issue 6 1 (Februar), 1978). 28. Master of Kung FZI,Issue 105 (October, 198 1). 29. Reynolds, %per Heroes, 8. 30. R ~ c h a r dReynolds, Supei Heroes: A Modern Mythology (Jackson: Un~vers~ty Press of M ~ s s ~ s s ~ 1992), p p ~ , 18. 31. Master of Kung FZI,Issue 3 1 (August, 1975). 32. There are some panels that suggest a dellberate attempt on the art~sts'part to s~mulateas closel) as poss~blethe fac~alfeatures of Bruce Lee. T h ~ IS s not a cons~stent attempt that runs throughout the series, howeyer. 3.3. Steye Englehart responds by pointing out "you can't have Fu without his omnipotence. But once again, the entire world keeps coming close to being dominated by DL Doom. Does this show s~ibtleracist inclinations on Stan Lee's and Jack Grby's part concerning Balltan men? It's just comics: heroes and villains. Villains are bad but may have other attributes. Heroes are good but may have other attributes. There are plenty of yillains yearning to he heroes and heroes liying down yillainous pasts-anti-heroes and comic ~illainsand so on. Is Fu a Victorian racist stereotype? Yes. Did I and Doug make him more than that? Yes. Is Fu a more insulting character than Doom? No, but Chinese people have a voice and Balltans don't. Do I consider either one insulting? N o more than I consider my creation Hugh Jones (Huge Owns), Caucasian businessman, an insult to Whites-Or DL Ub'x of GREEN LANTERN CORPS an insult to sentient chipmunks. Eyery character has a history, so he or she impacts some readers more than others. I have written Nazis who made sincere and logical speeches about the inferiority of non-Aryans. I created the first mass-market gay hero and have featured more gays than any other straight writer. I created a fundamentalist Christian heroine who believes she has the one true path and is not an idiot. I wrote the definitive DL Strange, who dwelt high ahoye everyone else in this dimension. I wrote the Scarlet Witch, who loved and fought for an android, and Coyote, who laughed at all of us, and on and on and on. And at the end of the da!; they're all just characters in stories." Although Shang-Chi is just a character in a stor!; it seems that his racial identity carries more cultural weight in relation to other characters as he is one of the very few representations of a Chinese American hero in the comics world. (Steve Englehart points out he has created a few other Asian characters, "Mantis (half Vietnamese, half German), the Japanese executive and the Chinese proletarian in MILLENNIUM, Night Man's girlfriend.") Without a spectrum of Chinese or Asian A~nerican heroes, Shang-Chi reflects the way in which Chinese Americans are perceived by White Americans: as incompatible with mainstream America. 34. George Lipsitz, Time Passages: Collective Memor)' and American Popular Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 19901, 20. -3.5. When Steye Englehart was forced off the strip, he ended his narratiye in the following way: "Shang asked the Dayid Carradine clone, 'Would you fight Fu Manchu?' and the clone answered, 'Would you?' and Shang walked off saying, obliquely, 'I've just put that situation behind me.' It was my [Englehart] ending to
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my charactel; made oblique because, of course, he'd be hack next month fighting Fu Manchu. As I keep screaming, my Shang-Chi was less inclined to d o battle with his father and more in control of his own life." 36. Ronald Levitt Lanyi, "Comic Boolts and Authority: An Interview with 'Stainless Steve' Englehart," Journal of Popular C d t w e 18, no. 2 (1984): 139-148. 37. Steve Englehart responds to this quote: "The last thing I'm ltnown for is ahsolying myself from the political, ideological, andlor cultural implications of my work. Certainly I have ideological and political motiyes when I write. But they're not the marginalizing of heterosexual Chinese males or the proposition that Chinese are represented by arcane world dominators." As he mentioned before, the construction of Shang-Chi's masculinity was developed by writers who toolt over the series, so my observations are not directed at Steve Englehart. 38. One of the difficulties in creating a figure that is underrepresented in a medium lies in the conflicting ways in which readers interpret him. This dilemma is reflected in Steve's comments about one of the first gay heroes he created: "When I did the first mass-market gay hero, I was much more aware of 'brealting the barrier'-such a thought never occurred to me with Shang. And the controversy raged over Gregorio de la Vega. First, that he was ga!; but second: 'is he the right ltind of gay?' Pretty soon people were arguing over whether I was homophohic. And why? Because Gregorio was effeminate. (A stereotype!) To which I answered, there's no way he can represent the entire spectrum of gayness; he's just one guy, and there are certainly gay guys who are effeminate. Moreover, he grows and changes just like all the other everyday people in MILLENNIUM so that Greg at the end is a stronger, more confident person. In other words, he is a character, not a symbol. But more often than not, I heard 'stereotype.' It wasn't until I was invited to a Gays in Comics panel at San Diego some years later, and I went expecting to state my case and get roasted anyway, that the audience said 'It was a great and courageous thing you did' (which again, was not my driving motivation)-topped off by one guy saying 'Greg was just like my lover who died of AIDS last yeas.' Meanwhile, I did another gay in X-O and another in STRANGERS and they were all different (and I wrote other Asians). And others did other gays." 39. Steve Englehart counter argues that "If Jim [Starlin] and I hadn't done Shang at all, so there was no Asian hero, would that he more or less marginalization? Is and then marginalizing him (if that's what bringing him into readers' co~~scio~isness Doug [Moench] did) worse than never having him around at all? My answer is no; he remains something we all ltnow and can discuss through his existence, so there's more there than there was before." Indeed, without Master of Kztng Fu and ShangChi, this chapter would not exist. My objection is not focused on the comic book per se; howeyer, the comic hook industry itself has not allowed more Asian or Asian American comic book heroes to exist which, in practice, excludes Asian Americans from the envisioning process of a futuristic fantasy world. 40. Steve Englehart notes that Shang-Chi was "the most popular new series of the 1970s, if not as popular as, say Spider-Man."
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
Part Two
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
CHAPTER SIX
From Boyhood to Manhood
T
he preceding chapters suggest that images of Asians, in order to be accepted by mainstream American audiences, need to fall into specific stereotypes, such as the evil dictator of the East, the model minority of Hawaii, or the super men" of martial arts. These images represent what mainstream white American cultural producers find acceptable in terms of Asian images in popular media. It should be remembered, however, that Hollywood accepted Bruce Lee only after his proven success as a banlzable movie star in Asia. Although the cultural impact of these controlling images may vary in degree, DL Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, and Shang-Chi are all symptomatic of how Chinese men in America have been constructed by non-Asians while Bruce Lee is an example of how a Clinese American Inan has constructed himself in the context of popular media representations. Some contemporary Asian American artists resent and resist their exclusion from American cultural production and prefer to work outside the mass media industry Such self-removal, however, perpetuates the cycle of exclusion and ultimately may reinforce the social hierarchy between d i t e America and Asian America. This is one of the conflictual predicaments facing Asian American cultural producers today The select few ~ 1 1 0have been chosen or who themselves choose to work within the industry are often labeled cultural traitors or "sell outs" by people such as Frank Chin because to succeed they must conform to the dictates of those in power who may not have the interests of Asian Americans in mind. Chin has consistently condemned Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, and David Henry Hwang as traitors precisely because their worlzs are popular among whites. In his essay, "Come A11 Ye Asian American Writers of the Real and the Fake," he writes
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These works are held up before us as icons of our pride, symbols of our freedom from the icky-gooey e ~ i of l a Chinese culture where the written word for "woman" and "slave" are the same word (IGngston) and Chinese brutally tattoo messages on the backs of women.' Chin's critique of Kingston and Tan has often been interpreted as a gendered critique, but his position is actually broader because he also implicates David Henry Hwang and Gus Lee. In general, Chin is concerned with the relationship between Asian American writers and the larger dominant culture. In particular, he is disturbed over how American culture, as well as "fake" Asian American cultural producers, has s~stematically emasculated Asian American men. Dorothj Ritsulto McDonald, in the introduction to Franlt Chin's The Chlckencoop ChmamadThe Year of the Dragon, writes that "Ameeeee! [An anthology of Asian American Literature] is a declaration of intellectual and linguistic independence, and an assertion of Asian American ~ n a n h o o d . "McDonald ~ points out Chin creates a "New Inan (a Chinaman) and a new language \vrought out of the new American experience. . . . Moreover, to counter the effeminate, Christianized Charlie Chan image of the post-1925 era, he has restored the immensely masculine ICwan ICung, whose strength of mind and bod!; individuality and loyalt!; capacity for revenge, alld essential aloneness are reminiscent of the rugged Western hero of American myth."3 While it is true that different forms of emasculation have characterized representations of Chinese men in America, it is difficult to reassert one's lnanhood without interrogating how one defines manhood. According to McDonald, Franlt Chin considers Kwan Kung as a lnasculine ideal. Out of all the heroes in Chinese literature and mytholog!; Chin chooses to recognize a \varrior-scholac This is obviously not a bad choice, but the elevation of one masculine ideal to counter an American masculine ideal obfuscates the fact that any masculine ideal contains an oppressive element: those who do not measure up to the ideal are deemed inadequate or not masculine enough. This chapter, in an attempt to move beyond the fundamental issue of emasculation, seelts to articulate a masculinist discourse developed b~ Chinese American male writers in contradistinction to a patriarchal discourse. Using Gus Lee's Chma Boy and Honor and Dutj,, Shawn Wong's Homebase and Amencan Knees, and Franlt Chin's Donald Duk, I delineate a lnasculinist discourse that is not primarily oppressive towards women, that situates Asian American male writers within a history of racism and oppression, and focuses on the anxieties in constructing contemporary Chinese American male identities. I draw a simple but crucial distinction between a lnasculinist discourse and a patriarchal discourse in order to avoid conflating these two discourses and to minimize the tendency to interpret texts by Asian American male writers as inherently misogynist. While it appears that, as Elaine Kim argues, "women, both white and Asian, are objectified in Asian American men's writings, which are concerned with defining creative writAsian Inen as subjects and recuperating their identity as A~nericans,"~
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ings by Chinese American men are, in fact, quite nuanced. I suggest that Asian American male writers need to he situated in a social position of disempowerment in order to think of ways to disinherit models of masculinity constructed by mainstream American popular culture. Doing so will bring out some of the subtleties of how masculinity is constructed within a coalition of texts by contemporary Chinese American male writers. Recently, scholars have become increasingly interested in the history of male identities. Some of these studies include The First Sexual Revolution: The Emergence of Male Heterosexuality in Modern America (199.3) by I<evin White, American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era (199.3) by E. Anthony Rotundo, Running Scared (1994) by Peter Lehman, Masculinities (199.5) by Rohert Connell, and Manhood in America (1996) by Michael I
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The idea of a democratic manhood is appealing because it represents a shift in the way men think about themsel~esin terms of power relations. It allows them to not feel guilty about the kind of power they possess and it challenges them to support others who do not have access to privileges associated with white men. ICimmel, in a sense, is calling for a rejection of a hegemonic masculinity and embracing a profeminist sense of manhood. Howeyer, some Asian American men are not ready to reject this hegemonic masculinity because they h a x not yet had access to the power that comes with male pri~ilege. Asian men in America haye experienced a historical de~elopmentdifferent from that of white middle-class American men. While Rotundo and White can explicate the diachronic development of a white American manhood, it is much more difficult to do a similar diachronic analysis when the ideology of manhood is encoded by race and class. The lack of primary sources-there are Yery few texts by Asian American Inen (or women) from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries-has forced several contemporary Asian American male writers to reconstruct that history of manhood through their own c r e a t i x writings." Chinese American male writers are struggling against a history of racist portrayals that de-sexualize the bodies of Chinese Inen in America. Writers such as Gus Lee, Shawn Wong, and Frank Chin have tried to resist creating stereotypes. Their male-oriented works counteract the historical misrepresentations of Asian men in American popular culture. Their goal is not to oppress Chinese American women by depicting a patriarchal social order in their writings but to articulate an array of Chinese American male identities. Writing from a disempowered social position, their works are political acts against cultural obliteration.
PHYSICAL SUPERIORITY In Gus Lee's China Boy, we see an example of how manhood is defined by physical violence. Protagonist ICai has been abandoned by his mothel; step mother, sisters, and friends. His only desire is to survive the streets: "Fighting was a metaphor. My struggle on the street was really an effort to fix identit!; to s u r v i ~ eas a member of a group and even succeed as a human being."y ICai clearly symbolizes resistance to the violence and oppression directed against Chinese American men, who are often represented as weak, passix, and unable to defend themselves. Kai's struggle "to fix identity" further implies that something is wrong with his identity and he needs to correct it. It also suggests that his identity is in flux and he must somehow make it more permanent. ICai's identity is contingent less upon his sexuality than his social and cultural en~ironment.L i ~ i n gin San Francisco's panhandle, ICai tries to become an accepted black male youth in the 1950s-a competitive, dam gerous, and harshly won ohjecti~e.This was all the more difficult because I was Chinese. I was ignorant of the culture, clumsy in the language, and blessed with a body that made Tinker Bell look ruthless.'''
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As a young Chinese American streetfighter, I
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in the context of Asian America. She is the tyrant who rules the household with force and riolence and even Kai's father is helpless and rictimized by her. ICai's father, a major in the ICuomintang Army and a fighter pilot, does not protect his children from his white American wife's tyranny and abuse because his authority as a patriarchal figure is diminished due to his unsuccessful post-war career. He responds to Kai's predicament only when a young female asserts her physical superiority over Kai: "This was a serious licking and it worsened when she tired of chasing me and picked me up, stuffing me into a square metal garbage can. . . ."I' It is after this heating by a female streetfighter that Kai's father sends him to the YMCA for boxing lessons. In dereloping Kai's sense of masculinity and manhood, the author appropriates Western standards of masculinity: I
MALE ROLE MODELS The main character in Frank Chin's Donald Duk is also a young boy who is hullied by his friends because of his peculiar name. Unlike h i , Donald uses wit and humor to ward off the taunts and slurs directed against him. He does not suffer the same physical abuse as ICai hut the intimidation by these street bullies affects the way in which Donald constructs his male identity. He reconstructs history in order to satisfy his need for Chinese male icons. At the beginning of the novel, Donald Duk's only role models are white Americans-he even wants to dance like Fred Astaire. Only through understanding his personal history can Donald Duk disrupt the reification of American history. One social institution that perpetuates a distorted history of Chinese Americans is his public school. Although Donald Duk is only twelve years old, he realizes that
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his schoolteacher believes in the stereotypes and essentialist descriptions of the Chinese depicted in textbooks: Then he reads, 'The Chinese in America were made passive and nonassertive by centuries of Confucian thought and Zen mysticism. They were totally unprepared for the violently individualistic and democratic Americans. From their first step on American soil to the middle of the twentieth century, the timid, introverted Chinese have been helpless against the relentless victimization by aggressive, highly competiti~eAmericans." Donald Duk must construct his identity within the history of Chinese Inen in America. The history that Donald would like to know is not told in American history books. Rather, it has to be reconstructed by Donald himself. Historically, Chinese Inen participated in the building of the railroads hut this fact has not been elaborated upon in American historical narrati~es.Donald Duk points out to his school teachel; Me Meanwright, "the world's tracklaying record was set . . . April 29, 1869 . . . Chinese set the record-1200 of us-and the history books don't have our names down.""' Donald Duk's identity as a young Chinese American male has been formed mainly by masculine images or characters such as Fred Astaire, his father, grandfathers, uncle, Icwan ICung, Lee ICuey, the railroad workers, the miners, the powderboys or blasters among others. It seems that Donald Duk surrounds himself or is surrounded by male characters. The plethora of Chinese male icons is significant as it p r o ~ i d e sDonald Duk with a spectrum of male identities to respond to and interact with. He needs to he exposed to Chinese male characters as he hates being Chinese and has internalized a deep self-hatred: "If all these Chinese were more American [white], I wouldn't have all my problems."zl The range of men represented in this novel consists of a dancel; a warrior, a cook, an opera actor, a god of war, and railroad workers. Each character has his own style of manliness. Donald Duk, like his father, Icing Duk, chooses Icwan ICung as the ideal image of masculinity. He is "the god of fighters and writers," hut these traits are not exclusively male traits. Donald Duk's mothel; Dais!; celebrates a "great woman fighter called Ten Feet of Steel. . . . She was her family's champion. Actually she was the general of a small army that protected her family domain. . . . She is called Ten Feet of Steel because she fights with two five-foot-long s ~ o r d s . " ~ ' Ten Feet of Steel's ability as a fighter, general, and protector undermines what has traditionally been codified as masculine behavior. In terms of sexuality, Icing Duk clearly makes a distinction between masculine behavior and sexual preference or b e h a ~ i o eICwan Icung is the symbol of Chinese ~nasculinityhut an indi~idualwho wishes to emulate him must repress or displace his sexual desires. Icing Duk, an amateur opera actol; plays the role of Icwan Icung. He explains to Donald Duk that
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You know today nobody is prepared to play the greatest part of the greatest character in the opera . . . I mean Kwan I
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graph describes how his parents driye from Eerkeley to New York and hack. Rainsford is constantly moying from one place to another in search of stability or a "homebase." One of his first destinations is Rainsford, California. This town belonged to his great-grandfather but it does not exist anymore. In fact, "there's no record of it ever having existed,"'8 according to Rainsford's research, and it is the fictionality of this town that contributes to his need for historical materiality. At the end of the story, he explains in detail where the train passes: "Clipper Gap, Auburn, Newcastle, Penrhyn, Pifio, Rocklin, Junction, Antelope, Arcade, and Sacramento, ninety miles away from San Francisc~."'~I<nowledge of the exact location of specific places helps solidify the relationship between names and geographical spaces. Since his own name hears no relationship to a physical place, Rainsford needs to find other material signs to correlate with his own existence-not just stories and memories. Rainsford's desire for material specificity extends to his recollections of Guam ~) when he was six years old, "I remember all of it and its memory is c o n ~ t a n t . " The suggestion that memory can he constant and complete foregrounds Rainsford's need to control his past as vividly as possible. When he imagines his great-grandfather's life, he remembers a lonely Inan building the railroad through the Sierra Neyada. The great-grandfather gives up his hody, together with his sexual desires, for America. The deterioration of the hody is a gradual and painful experience, signifying the willingness to sacrifice oneself for another: The wind did not bring death, but the dread of it in any season was even more powerful than the freezing nights of winter that stiffened the limbs of the sleeping workers, or the summer heat that caused Inen to pass out. . . . After a few hours, the wind makes them deaf, and after a few days of the strong wind, they begin to lose their senses. Hearing goes first, so they talk to themselyes while they work. . . . Their eyes are swollen from the blood pushed into the aching veins of their sight.'l Rainsford's great-grandfather does not own his own hody and Rainsford knows the history of Chinese men who liyed under American laws that banned Chinese Inen from white American women. The laws controlled the men's sexual behayior and only a small number of Chinese men managed to marry Chinese women, as few women immigrated to America. Under these conditions, Rainsford objectifies his white girlfriend in order to rectify a wrong. She becomes a symbol of white America's racism, from Rainsford's perspectiye, and he objectifies her in order to make up "for those restless years, the lonely years of my grandfather^."'^ In terms of racialized conflicts or relationships, the text suggests that race is often more important than gender. Rainsford considers her "the true dream of [his] capture of America."" Thus, his objectification of this white woman needs to he contextualized within the history of Chinese men in America:
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My patronizing blond-haired, whining, pouting bride of fifteen, known to me as 'The Eod!;' is my whole responsibility to America. She is America. She tells me things about me that I am not. America patronizes me and lores me and tells me that I am the product of the richest and oldest culture in the history of the world. She credits me with all the inventions of modern life, when in fact I have nothing of my own in America. But I stay with her to get what I can out of her.'.' The reification of his girlfriend to a symbol of America implies that Rainsford is actually more concerned about white America's "racist love"" (or patronizing attitude) towards Asian Americans than objectifying women per se. It is significant that Rainsford's symbol is gendered because it reflects his own heterosexuality. Howevel; their sexual relationship is not narrativized, or consummated in the narratire, and his apparent power over her is undermined by her young age. His control orer her body lies in words, not action, and the distribution of power in this relationship is based on his knowledge of history and politics versus her youth and naivetk. His heterosexuality is further emphasized by his lore for a Chinese American woman who lives in Wisconsin. She is the one whom he truly loves and speaks of in sensuous terms: "Small drops of water trickled down off her hair, off her face, wetted down her blouse against her skin."'h Rainsford knows that he must end up with her since they hare similar backgrounds. Yet Rainsford's romanticized recollection of her does not include words that evoke images of love-making and his sexual restraint foregrounds the tenuous li~lkbetween heterosexuality and masculinity as he seldom questions his own "manhood." His male identity is not determined by his sexual activities; rather his mother is the primary person who nurtured his masculinity. When his mother dies, eight years after his father's death, Rainsford seems to conform to social conrentions of what it means to be a man: I was now like my fathel; the track star, the basketball and ice hockey player, and whether I had realized it then or not did not matter to hel; she had succeeded in forming me into her notion of manly style, and in her eyes I had become simply her husband's son.:; Although Rainsford suggests that he has become, in his mother's eyes, "simply her husband's son," he realizes that he is more than just his father's son. He is also his mother's son and her notion of "manly style" affects the way in which he defines manliness. Rainsford relies heavily on his mother for guidance and advice. He realizes that "she had shaped the style of [his] manhood in accordance with her own competitive and alnbitious self. [He] grew up watching [his] mother's face for direction, the movements of her body. The features of her face shaped me."3Vn other words, he models his manliness according to his mother's signals. The tension or irony that is
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apparently embedded in Rainsford's notion of masculinity exists only if one adheres to traditional social constructions of masculinity-specifically, the notion that masculinity can only he defined by men. Rainsford's mother is a significant character in the story as her strong role in shaping Rainsford's manhood subverts the link between models of masculinity and gender. By asserting that co~npetitivenessand ambition are not natural traits possessed exclusi~elyby men, the author uses the actions and ideologies of Rainsford's mother to render the constructions of masculinity and femininity less rigid. Rainsford is forced to cross con~entionalsocial boundaries by formulating his manhood according to his mother's body language. H e recognizes her body moyelnents and facial expressions in himself and yet he does not consider himself emasculated or effeminate. In short, Rainsford succeeds in being like his father by emulating his mother. His work as a florist does not undermine his sense of manhood, eithel; which implies that Rainsford's male identity is not constructed according to conventions of masculinity or sexuality. Howeyer, his goal is to situate himself in the history of Chinese American Inen in order to understand the history of racism directed against him, his grandfathers, and other Chinese American men. Eecause Rainsford has been empowered by the matriarchal structure in his family, his journey represents his need to he validated by the Inen in his family as well. The oppression of Chinese men in America seems to he one of the most pressing social and political issues in Wong's Homebase. Rainsford's identity has been affected by his grandfathers' experiences of racism. His grandfathers do not represent a patriarchal familial order; rathel; they are the yictims of white American society. One of his great-grandfathers tells Rainsford that "[his] bitterness . . . is not myth or legend."'Y The oppression of Asian Americans is manifested in different historical, legal, and cultural practices. The grandfathers in Honwbase think their exclusion from American history is not justified, particularly if one considers the sacrifices they have made. The noye1 ends with Rainsford naming a canyon after his father in an attempt to claim geographical places as a part of Asian America. Although this symbolic ownership does not have any legal ramifications, it nonetheless inscribes upon a physical space specific signs that reflect the presence and identity of the Chinese in America: "This is my father's canyon. See his head reclining! That peak is his nose, that cliff his chin, and his folded arms are summits. ""' In Shawn Wong's most recent novel, American Knees, his protagonist, Raymond Ding, continues thematically to strengthen the relationship between father and son. After Raymond's mother passes awa!; his father asks Raymond to sleep next to him. The physical proximity of the two men parallels the psychological intimacies of their bond. Ey sleeping next to each other, Raymond's male identity becomes the focal point in this novel. The narratiye that details this union does not suggest an underlying current of homophobia. Rather, the father and son take this opportunity to co~n~nunicate with each other and when the father makes the request, Raymond realizes that "it was the brayest thing his father had eyer done."41 Instead
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of resisting his father's overture, Raymond recognizes his father's courage and accepts the offer without feeling discomfort about the prospects of being so physically close to another man. The only unease comes from the grief they experience because a l o ~ e done has passed away. In this time of sorrow, they speak to each other with both words and silence: "When one spoke, the other responded with silence. Silence was a bond, an understanding. Silence was love."" As a consequence of this bond, Raymond learns more about his mother. He begins to imitate his father's life and without saying anything specific about what it means to be a man, Raymond realized that the time they spent together, in part, contributed to "how he became a man." Raymond's manhood thus is determined by his father's sense of manhood. More importantly, Raymond's understa~lding of masculinity is neither grounded in homophobia nor sexism. When Raymond recoyers from the emotional ramifications of his d i ~ o r c e ,he begins to court Aurora Crane, a photographer's assistant who is of mixed ancestry. His wooing of Aurora consisted of sex stories coupled with physical consummations. In a subtle way, Wong's protagonist redefines Chinese American masculinity by challenging premlent stereotypes and creating a sensitive, sexual, and sensuous Chinese American male character. Raymond does not buy into the hegemonic model of masculinity and he seems to appropriate the myth of a "New Man."" According to Hondagneu-Sotelo and Messner, the "New Man" is a "white, college-educated professional who is a highly involved and nurturant father, 'in touch with' and expressive of his feelings, and egalitarian in his dealings with omen."^ Although Raymond is neither white nor is he a father yet, it is clear that he resembles the image of the "New Man." H e tries to articulate his emotions and to he sincere in conversing with the women he meets. During one of his grueling con~ersationswith Aurora, she tells him how she has observed his patience with women: "I've noticed how you flirt with women. You sit and listen. You actually want to he friends, and maybe s e ~ e r a years l down the road, something hits them and they want to go to bed with you."" Throughout the novel, we see how Raymond recognizes his own vulnerabilities, his limitations, and his insecurities. He treats the women he meets with respect and fer~entlydisagrees with his father's decision to choose a young bride from China. He firmly belieyes in social justice and takes Asian American issues seriously. If one compares Raymond Ding to the premlent stereotypes of Asian American men, he almost seems too good to he true. Indeed, Raymond Ding's character seems to o~er-compensate,at times, for the desexualized Asian American male image. Although the n o ~ e lbegins with his d i ~ o r c efrom Darleen, his first wife, the reader learns later that he immediately has a sexual relationship with Gretchen, an associate of his divorce attorney. Not only does Raymond have no difficulty in dating women, he attracts women who are considered by American society to he attracti~e.The narrator describes Gretchen as a blond who "had the kind of looks people h a x seen somewhere before but can't place-a magazine ad, a television commercial.".'When Raymond meets Aurora,
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he notices that she's ten to twelve years younger than he is and that she "looks like a model, eats like one." In fact, he tries not to stare at "her hair, or her smooth skin, or her greenish-hazel eyes, or her long, thin legs which stretched farther from the piano bench than his own legs eyen though he was perhaps four inches t a l l e ~ " ~ ' After Aurora leayes Raymond, he starts to date a co-worker who "was the kind of Asian woman all men were attracted to."48 Furthermore, most of the women Raymond is attracted to want to have sex with him. Hondagneu-Sotelo and Messner argue that "the New M a n might best be seen as strategies to reconstruct hegemonic masculinity by projecting aggression, domination, and misogyny onto subordinate groups of men."4y Shawn Wong's protagonist redefines the "New Man" from a marginalized position without reaffirming a hegemonic masculinity nor does he subordinate women or other marginalized men of color. By resisting the temptation to appropriate a hegemonic masculinit!; Shawn Wong offers a model of heterosexual masculinity that e~nhracesa "democratic manhood""' that suhyerts the link between patriarchy and masculinity. Raymond Ding does not buy into the patriarchal structures of American society. In fact, his distaste for patriarchy led, in part, to his diyorce from Darleen. Raymond felt stifled by the responsibilities of being another son working in a f a n ily restaurant business; he "had no other social life. His life at the restaurant became separate from Darken's life and from their life togethee"'1 Raymond's masculinity is not contingent upon reproducing hierarchical power structures based on gender. Raymond's character manages to claim a non-oppressiye heterosexuality in order to counter the patriarchal image of the Asian andlor Asian American male perpetuated by Asian and non-Asian writers alike.
ASSIMILATING MASCULINITY Unlike Raymond Ding, the protagonist of Gus Lee's second novel, Honor and Duty, is consumed with self-hatred and resentment towards his Chinese American identity. ICai has graduated from high school and is accepted to West Point, a military academy that transforms boys into men. For ICai, West Point represents the pinnacle of assimilation. To succeed, he will proye that he is a certified American, a man, and his father's son. His failure to graduate from West Point ironically resolyes the tensions between father and son. Kai's father forgiyes him and declares that they are both men and that they are undeniably American, regardless of West Point. Kai's father is the fallen patriarch in the family who embodies all the oppressive Chinese traditions that are stereotypical of how Chinese culture is represented in America. While Raymond Ding and his father communicated through silence, ICai perceiyes his father in this way: "Chinese fathers-for me, such a mystical, frightening term, full of ancient fogs, aeons of deeply ingrained custom and ritual."" Kai's sense of manhood, then, is founded upon an anti-Chinese model, as he prefers to be "either Negro or white."" As the only Chinese American at West Point, he is forced to conform to white
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American values. In spite of the fact that he consults Uncle Shim on matters that have to do with duty and honor, he is unable to amalgamate Chinese and American cultures, treating them as distinct and essentially different totalities. As such, his schizophrenic shift from West Point academics to his Chinese familial philosophies undermines his ability to develop relationships with the women he meets. ICai treats his first l o x , Christine, as a helpless victim who needs to be protected: "I was now at the Academy, in the center of the traditional white, American male experience, and would have all the tools to protect her when the time of the w o l ~ e sa r r i ~ e d . " 'ICai ~ buys into an ideology of racial hegemon!; as he believes that white American men are superior to other men of color. As such, it is not difficult for him to understand why his love for Christine is unrequited. I
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ship with his father. Shawn Wong's Raymond Ding also wants to re-establish an emotional bond with his father after his mother's passing. While these two characters are adults, the stories about growing up as a Chinese boy in America attest to the obstacles one must achieve to construct models of masculinity. Howevel; these stories are also linked by a fairly consistent component of all definitions of masculinities: that is, there is a heterosexual assumption embedded in the male characters and the social emironment they occupy A ~nasculinistdiscourse needs to he inclusive all forms of masculinity, including non-heterosexual challenges to normatiye definitions, and gay masculinities proyide a strong critique of gender and sexual hierarchies. By situating masculinities as a perfor~nancerather than a social or biological norm, the masquerading of masculinities allows for a less rigid conceptualization of how men should behave or how to achieye manhood. These texts represent some of the anxieties linked to the construction a Chinese ~nasculinistdiscourse. From the seduction of assimilating to a normative hetero~nasculinityto resisting a hegemonic model of masculinity, these texts represent a spectrum of Chinese masculinities. As Sau-Ling Wong points out, "when the annals of Asian American cultural history come to he written, 1991 can, quite plausibly, be designated as the Year of the Asian American Man."i8 The coalition of these texts gestures towards a renewed interest in the crisis of masculinity from a Chinese American perspectiye. Michael ICimmel asserts that American manhood is historically determined, socially prescribed, and burdened with shifting definitions of manhood. My contention is that fictional models of masculinities for Chinese American men haye been historically determined by a discourse of emasculation, from Chinese male immigrant laborers to domesticated model minorities, since the 19'" century. As profeminist men have argued, the political and personal stakes involved in the process of remasculinization need to he critiqued in order for a more democratic manhood to exist. King-ICok Cheung's call to "refrain from seeking antifeminist solutions to needs to be placed in the forefront of a Chinese American masculinist discourse. After all, responsible empowerment for men cannot be founded upon sexism and homophobia. It is in this yein that I argue that an ambi-sexual model of masculinity can be a viable discursive space to explore the conflicts of socially and culturally prescribed definitions of masculinities in order to resist the seductions of a hegemonic model of normatiye masculinity. In this regard, Richard Fung's work is helpful because his analysis of gay Asian Inen in pornography reflects a masculinity that undermines the conflation between masculinity and heterosexuality. The discourse of masculinity within a homosexual context boldly renounces the definition of masculinity as heterosexually identified and struggles to establish homosexuality as an acceptable sexual practice. Fung's critique of the ways in which gay Asian men are represented parallels the ways in which heterosexual Asian men are portrayed. According to Fung, gay Asian Inen are represented in gay porn as submissi~eand passix: they are the ones who are penetrated. Fung describes the ways in which racism and sexism are inextricably linked and he uses gay porn as way to demonstrate the consistent subjugation
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of the gay Asian actor as a "house boy." The power structures embedded in gay porn are clear: gay white Inen are represented as superior to gay Inen of other ethnic backgrounds. The issues raised by Fung's analysis should p r o ~ i d ea political nexus from which heteromasculine Asian American men can formulate an alliance that resists the racialized hierarchy in which Asian American men are situated in a larger cultural landscape. Due, in part, to the homophobia embedded in the way in which normative masculinity is articulated, I contend that an ambi-sexual masculine identity is a viable transitional site that gestures towards a continuum of masculine identities for Asian American men. I hope that an i n c h s i x discourse on Asian American masculinities will enable heteromasculine Asian American Inen to form alliances based on institutional structures of oppression as opposed to rejecting non-traditional models of masculinity in order to conform to a heterosexual norm. In other words, can we critique an emasculatory discourse in a way that does not deride effeminacy? Indeed, the overriding question in the following chapter centers on the anxieties of embracing feminized traits and attributes into a masculine discourse.
NOTES 1. Jeffery Paul Chan, Frank Chin, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Shawn Wong, eds., T H E BIG AIIIEEEEE! (New York: Meridian, 19911, 2. 2. Frank Chin, The Chickencoop ChinarnanlThe Year of the Dragon (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981), xix. 3. Ibid., xxviii. 4. Elaine Kiln, "'Such Opposite Creatures': Men and Women in Asian American Literature," Michigan Quarterly Review 29, no. 1 (Winter 1990): 70. 5. ICe~in White, The First Sexual Revolution: The Emergence of Male Heterosexualit) in Modern America (New Yorlz: New York University Press, 1993). 6. E. Anthony Rotundo, American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinit~l from the Reuolzttion to the Modern Era (New Yorlz: BasicBoolzs, 19931, 7. 7. Michael Kimmel, Manhood in America (The Free Press: New York, 19961, ? ? ?
JJJ
.
8. For example, Frank Chin's Donald Duk, Shawn Wong's Homebase, Gus Lee's China Bo)' are novels about Asian American men coming to terms with their own identities in the context of race and gender. 9. Gus Lee, China Bo)' (New Yorlz: Signet, 19921, 14. 10. Ibid., 14. 11. Ibid., 1.5. 12. Ibid., 37-38. 13. Ibid., 52. 14. Ibid., 55. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid., 98. 17. Ibid., 1.51. 18. Ibid., 394. 19. Frank Chin, Donald Duk (Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 1991), 2.
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From Boyhood t o M a n h o o d 20. Ihid., 152. 21. Ihid., 42. 22. Ihid., 49. 23. Ibid., 67. 24. Ibid., 68. It should be noted that Chin betrays a misogynist perspective here because it is the girlfriend who gets punished for the actor's mistake. Thanlzs to Peter X. Feng for pointing this out. 25. Ihid., 91. 26. Ihid., 158. 27. Shawn Wong, Honwbase (New Yorlz: Plume, 1991), 9. 28. Ibid., 2. 29. Ibid., 97. 30. Ihid., 3. 31. Ihid., 15. 32. Ihid., 64. 33. Ibid., 66. 34. Ibid. 35. Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, Shawn Wong, eds., AIIIEEEEE! (Washington, D.C.: Howard Uni~ersityPress, 1983), xxv. The notion of "racist love," summarizing these authors' point of view, refers to how white Americans like Asian Americans because they have acculturated and assimilated into mainstream American society-i.e., as long as Asian Americans behave like middle-class white Americans, they will be accepted. See also Frank Chin and Jefferey Paul Chan's "Racist Love," in Seeing through Shuck, ed. Richard IZostelanetz (New York: Eallantine, 1972): 65-79. 36. Wong, Honwbase, 67-68. 37. Ihid., 36. 38. Ibid., 32. 39. Ibid., 96. 40. Ibid., 98. 41. Shawn Wong, American Knees (New York: Simon & Schuster, 199.51, 28. 42. Ihid. 43. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Michael A. Messner, "Gender Displays and Men's Power: The 'New Man' and the Mexican Immigrant Man," in Theorizing Masculinities, ed. Harry Brod and Michael IZaufman (Thousand Oalzs, Calif.: SAGE, 1994). 44. Ihid., 202. 45. Wong, Anwrican Knees, 65. 46. Ihid., 106. 47. Ibid., 39. 48. Ibid., 167. 49. Hondagneu-Sotelo and Messner, "Gender Displays," 215. 50. IZiminel, Manhood in America, 3.33. 51. Wong, Anwrican Knees, 16. ~ 19941, 39. 52. Gus Lee, Honor and Duty (New York: I Y Eooks, 53. Ibid., 40. 54. Ibid., 181.
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55. Ibid., 186. 56. Ibid., 223. 57. Ibid., 415. 58. Sau-Ling Wong, "Subverting Desire: Reading the Body in The 1991 Asian Pacific Islander Men's Calendar," in Critical Mass: A Journal of Asian American Cultural Criticism 1, no. 1 (Fall 1993), 63. 59. ICing-I
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
CHAPTER SEVEN
Toward a Masculinity of Inclusion
C
ultural studies scl~olarLisa Lowe addresses the issue of cultural identity in her critical essay, "Heterogeneity, Hybridit!; Multiplicity: Marlzing Asian American Differences." She argues that Asian Americans need to be situated in multiple subject positions or a l~eterogeneousframeworlz in order to be "part of a strategy to destabilize the dominant discursive construction and determination of Asian Xinericaix as a homogeneous group." However, she further points out that there is a need "to uphold a politics based on ethnic 'identity.'"' At the risk of fragmenting a political unity, Lowe insists on recognizing heterogeneity because of the slow but gradual growth of Asian American cultural producers and workers. As more Asian Americans pursue creative and artistic goals, the need to construct complex and heterogeneo~isdiscourses becomes more urgent. Marlzing Asian American differences will open up the complexities of identity constructions and resist essentializing cultural traits. Lowe's model of cultural politics gestures toward a framework of heterogeneity that encourages Asian American discourses based on differences wllile simultaneously upholding a politics based on a collective unity. My analysis of Chinese American models of masculinities is, in part, grounded in similar assumptions: that a Chinese American lnasculinist discourse is l~eterogeneousand oftentimes conflictual, and yet there is a political need to identify collectively the struggles Chinese American male writers face in terms of the formation of male identities. Indeed, the insistence on focusing on Chinese American writers is a necessary first step towards a more comparative analysis of other ethnic groups under the auspices of Asian American men. American Inen of Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Asian Indian, South East Asian ancestries have unique historical trajectories that may or may not overlap. Chinese American male writers themselves d o not have a unified definition of a Chinese American masculinity; rather, some of these writers use their fiction to
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Chinese American Masculinities depict ways to negotiate some of the obstacles facing Chinese Ainerican men. One of the most salient obstacles, as implied throughout this hook, is the d i s h heritance of contemporary Chinese Ainerican male identities with the persistent manifestations of inherited cultural stereotypes. The discourse of re-masculinization in the context of nationalism has been so per~asivein debates on Asian American masculinities that alternatix forms of masculinities have been displaced. Lowe points out that the dialogue between nationalist and feminist concerns animates a debate about identity and difference, or identity and heterogeneity, rather than between nationalism and assimilationism. It is a debate in which [Frank] Chin and others insist on a fixed masculinist identity whereas Kingston, Tan, or such feminist literary critics as Shirley Lim or Amy Ling, with their representations of female differences and their critiques of sexism in Chinese culture, throw this notion of identity repeatedly into question. . . . In other words, the struggle that is framed as a conflict between the apparent opposites of nativism and assimilation can mask what is more properly characterized as a struggle between the desire to essentialize ethnic identity and the condition of heterogeneous differences against which such a desire is s p o l ~ e n . ~ The desire to essentialize ethnic identity in the guise of a masculinist nationalism not only obscures gender but sexual identities as well. It seems that gay lnasculine constructs offer alternative strategies to resist the effects of a hegemonic model of masculinity; particularl!; gay models of masculinity allow straight Inen to confront an inherited homophobia and the conventional masculine fear of effeminization. In my analysis of Chinese American male identities, I have tried to claim an ambiguous or ambivalent sexual identity as a model of masculinity that provides a conceptual foundation from which a more complex understanding of Asian American masculinities might arise. More importantly, an ambi-sexual model of masculinity represents a strategic rejection of oppressive social categories based on gender and sexual hierarchies. By including an ambi-sexual identity in the construction of male identities, I intend to resituate the notion of masculinity in a broader masculinist discourse that seelzs to include a spectrum of male identities.
A CRISIS IN MASCULINITY David Wong Louie's collection of short stories, Pangs of Love, offers readers an array of male characters: A gay Inan who cannot disclose to his mother his sexual identity, an apprentice sashilni chef who idolizes a white American woman, an elderly immigrant Chinese Inan who has no control over his wife, a computer expert who murders his wife, a college English instructor who is infatuated with one of his students, and so on. The short story genre allows Louie to explore some of the eccentricities and complexities involved in creating Chinese American male characters that defy simplistic categorizations and generalizations. However, these char-
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acters are linked by a crisis in masculinity as their unfulfilling roles as Inen leave their male identities unresolyed. In the title story, "Pangs of Love," the narratol; a 35-year-old man, has been living with his mother for the past nine months in a federally subsidized Chinatown apartment. The narrator's race, class, and gender are immediately established. The sexual identity of the narrator is revealed to the reader as overtly heterosexual. He had a girlfriend, Mandy, who broke off their engagement when they moved to Los Angeles. His siblings immediately "rushed in to fill the void Mandy's leaying left in [his] life, and decided [he] should be [his] newly widowed mother's apartment mate."' The mother, after losing her husband, lives with her son; the son moyes in with his mother after losing his girlfriend, as if one could replace the othee There is a subtle incestuous implication in the intimate way they now relate to each othee The reader soon realizes that the narrator's sexual identity is not as obvious as it may seem. Although he appears to be attracted to his former girlfriend, Mand!; and his present girlfriend, Deborah, his heterosexual identity is not fully developed in the narrative. He mentions one sexual moment with Mandy and another moment with Deborah. His sexual encounter with Mandy is unfulfilling because he is not able to satisfy her sexually on his own. In order to arouse Mandy, he needs to artificially induce her sexual desires, his own sexual overtones are ineffective, by mixing a specific scent (Musk 8381Lot No. i9144375941-3e) with the food in order to arouse her: "After that we spiked our food and heyerages with Musk 838ILot No. i914437.594-3e whenever Mandy was feeling amorous but needed a jump start.".' Howeyer, even the aphrodisiac Musk he produces has to be modified for a client and the narrator laments the loss of his masculinity, symbolized by the lack of manliness in the musk: "The manly scent of musk is no longer manly enough."' The narrator's manhood is linked with an artificially produce product, which limits or reduces his heterosexual abilities to one of ineptness and incompetence. His relationship with Deborah, his new girlfriend, does not prove to be sexually gratifying either as Dehorah calls him "mama's boy" while they make love. He calls her a "sayage" in bed but he does not describe her in a very sensuous manner: "bony Deborah, with breasts like thimbles, on all f o u r s . " H e also refers to Deborah as a "bean pole . . . she has hips that flare like the fins of an old Cadillac, but no rump to speak of."' Again, the deflation of the narrator's hetero-masculine identity by Deborah-that is, the evoking of his role as a mama's boy during love making-signals an inadequacy in the narrator's conception of his own sexual ahilities. In contrast, the narrator describes his brother's gay friend in a flattering manner: "He's very blond, with dazzling teeth and a jawline that's an archaeologist's dream."%lthough this description may not be oyertly sensuous, there is a trace of admiration in these words. This form of admiration continues when he hugs and kisses his brother Eagel: "He's got hulk. H e pumps iron. I feel as if I'm holding a ~ t e e r . "He ~ seems to he yery protective of Eagel's implied homosexuality as he lies
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to his mother when she asks why there are not any women among Bagel's friends. The narrator's reference to Bagel's bod!; the hulk and the iron, is consistent with his general admiration of the men at his brother's house. Furthel; he notices that another friend, Mack, dresses like Dehorah, and he notes that "this depresses me." Such an obsermtion is consistent with the ambiguous relationship he has with the women and the men. Is he depressed because Dehorah is not "feminine" enough for him? O r is he depressed because he is forced to confront his attraction towards men and he does not want to admit his own possible ho~nosexual desires? These unasked questions contribute to his discontent with his own sexual identity. The narrator's ambiguity or ambi~alence towards his masculine identity, howeyer, allows him to evade any strict codification of his sexuality. Without a name, the narrator's identity as a Chinese American Inan is not complete and this incompleteness intersects with his unresolved a~nhivalentsexuality. Another short stor!; "Love on the Rocks," introduces the reader to another Chinese American male who loses his mind when he realizes his wife is cheating on him. In this stor!; Buddy Lam also has an unsatisfying sexual life, much like the narrator in "Pangs of Love." Euddy Lam's search for a heterosexual relationship is consistently repressed by the white women he pursues. His desire for an extramarital affair with Miriam is not realized because it is based on infatuation. When they sleep together for the first time, Buddy "promised to keep his fly zipped and his hands a h o x her waist."l0 Miriam's prohibition of sex between them, howeyer, does not keep him from wanting her companionship. In other words, his desire for her is not contingent upon sexual intimacy alone. Perhaps Buddy is infatuated with her youth and race. Buddy is about forty-two while Miriam is twenty years younger; indeed, she could be his daughter. She is a youthful white American working-class female whom Euddy wants to rescue from her husband and her job. Although Buddy's motivations are unclear, he is not represented as a sexual being. He is laid off from work, his wife has an affair, and it seems that Buddy is losing control over both his public and primte lives. Murdering his wife and keeping her body temperature low with six bags of ice is an extreme attempt on Euddy's part to regain control. His relationship with Miriam is also based on his desire to assert power as he tries to manipulate her by giving her material gifts such as leather pumps. He comes from a higher class background than her and tries to seduce her by feigning affluence to compensate, in part, for his own physical incompetence. Buddy Lam is a psychologically disturbed Chinese American man who cannot keep his beautiful wife Cookie faithful and fails to pull Miriam away from her husband A1. His unsuccessful interracial relationships signify a broader cultural concern, namely miscegenation. Cookie's mothel; who is white, encourages her daughter to h a x an affair with a white American man behind Buddy's hack since "she was only trying to return to her roots."ll Euddy's act of violence is symptomatic of a larger culture of ~ i o l e n c ehut it also signifies the conflicts i n ~ o l v e din interracial relationships, particularly between a Chinese man and a white American woman. Indeed, Cookie's mother implies that Euddy's Chinese culture is responsible for this
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tragedy as she wonders why Cookie would want to marry someone like Euddy: "Why she married that barbarian will l i x as one of the great mysteries of the c i ~ i lized world." She does not link this particular ~ i o l e n tact to a larger social phenomenon in America-the widespread use of ~ i o l e n c eto settle conflicts-hut highlights, instead, Euddy's race: "that barbarian . . . a monster whose parents speak a lawless tongue."" Although Euddy speaks perfect English and is probably a second-generation Chinese American, his actions will always be linked to some foreign culture. The implication of this story is that interracial marriages are doomed to fail andlor end in violence. Chinese American men's desire for white women is a common theme in "Love on the Rocks" and "Pangs of Love." More importantly, though, the Chinese Inen consistently fail to satisfy their own physical and psychological yearnings as heteromasculine men. In a third story, "Eirthda!;" Wallace Wong is another spurned lover who falls in love with a d i ~ o r c e dblonde woman, Syl~ie,and her son, Welhy. Wong's l o x is similar to Euddy's, as he is also infatuated with her. She makes him steal her former husband's radio as proof of his loye for her. As with the other Chinese American male characters, Wong's interracial relationship with Sylvie is not consu~nmatedeither physically or emotionally. Although Wong's emotional tie to Welhy is the crux of the story, Welby is physically absent from the n a r r a t i ~ e . Once again, Wong is not able to fulfill the traditional role as a lover or a fathel; and the men in this collection of stories do not resolve the crisis of what it means to he a man. The Chinese male characters in Louie's short stories clearly do not measure up to Connell's definition of a hegemonic model of masculinity. They are not aggress i d y heterosexual, they do not haye power, and their desires to acquire power are unsuccessful. The implied racism that these male characters face has a debilitating effect in the way manhood is defined for these men. Eesides the homoerotic tension in Louie's "Pangs of Loye," the Chinese American male characters d o not affirm their manhood by engaging in compulsory heterosexual intercourse.13 Indeed, none of the stories have male characters who are oppressive towards the women; at the same time, none of them are hypermasculine beings. The sexual ambiguities or ambivalence of Louie's male characters serve an important function in the construction of a Chinese American masculinist discourse: specifically, there is more to one's manhood than a compulsory heterosexuality. Sexually ambiguous representations of men decenter the patriarchal social order which is sustained by heterosexual b e h a ~ i o eIndeed, the Chinese American male characters in Louie's text are all coping with social, cultural, and emotional rejections that force them to develop coping strategies to manage their desires and fears as Chinese American men.
RE-DEFINING MASCULINITY Dayid H. Hwang's play, M. Butterfly makes a more concerted effort to de-romanticize Western male superiority. It is Hwang's intention to "deconstruct" the relationship between the East and West in terms of racialized masculine identities.
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Using this play, I will articulate a masculinist discourse that subverts social constructs of masculinity and femininit!; decenters heterosexuality as the primary determinant of male identity, and reconceptualizes male identity and sexuality through the Asian male body. M. Butterfly calls attention to the power dynamics between white men and Chinese men. Rene Gallimard is a French diplomat who falls in l o x with a Chinese opera singel; Song Liling. Gallimard is not the most masculine representati~eof the West, hut his position as a French diplomat and his racial configuration as a white man situate him in a powerful and influential position while he is s e r ~ i n gin China. Gallimard describes himself as the "patron saint of the socially inept." He tells the audience that his grammar school classmates voted him "'least likely to he i n ~ i t e d to a party."' The woman at the parlor tells her friends that "he's not very goodlooking." These descriptions foreground Gallimard's emasculated sexual identity. Gallimard's friend, Marc, from Ecole Nationale, calls him a "wimp" when he refuses to participate in an orgiastic party where "their boobs are flapping, right? You close your eyes, reach out-it's grab hag, get it? Doesn't matter whose ass is between whose legs, whose teeth are sinking into who."14 Marc ends his descriptions with rhetorical questions in order to undermine Gallimard's sense of manhood. The question "Get it?" assumes that Galli~narddoes not "get it" and this assumption is reinforced by Gallimard's response: "What happens in the morning?" This encounter between the two friends indicates the ambiguous sexual identity Gallimard had during his youth as he was not sexually sti~nulatedby women hut, at the same time, did not reject them. Gallimard's heterosexuality is consistently called into question because he is less attracted to women than to power and domination. He identifies with Pinkerton (from Giacomo Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly) because he wants a "Eutterfly." Gallimard tells the audienceheader that "We, who are not handsome, nor brave, nor powerful, yet somehow belieye, like Pinkerton, that we deserve a Eutterfly." When he discovers pornographic magazines at his uncle's house, "[his] body shook. Not with lust-no, with power. Here were women-a shelfful-who would do exactly as [he] wanted."li The sexualized power that he desires is satisfied through the objectification of his subject: the butterfly ("she a r r i ~ e with s all her possessions in the folds of her slee~es,lays them all out, for her man to do with as he pleases"), the women in those pornographic magazines, and the pinup girl who speaks to him. A11 of these sexual objects can he bought with money; they do not haye any sense of agency as human beings. When the pinup girl speaks to Gallimard, his body shakes not out of sexual excitement but out of feal; as the pinup girl shows traces of agency in her language. Through language, she confirms Gallimard's voyeuristic i~npulsesand articulates his fantasies. Gallimard: No. She's-why is she naked? Girl: To you. Gallimard: In front of a window? This is wrong. No-
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
Toward a Masculinity of Inclusion Girl: Without shame. Gallimard: No, she must . . . like it. Girl: I like it. Gallimard: She wants me to see. Girl: I want you to see.'h The Girl's words are threatening to Gallilnard because she speaks his language. Any suggestion of agency is a threat to Gallilnard and his fears are manifested through his impotence. His response to her is revealing: "I'm shalzing. My slzin is hot, but my penis is soft. Why?" To answer Gallimard's question, his penis is soft because he fears female subjectivity. Gallimard's fear is also evident in his marriage to Helga. In Act Tlvo, Scene Five, she asks him to see D c Bolleart. They both want a child but have been unsuccessful. Helga's medical checlz-up reveals she is fertile, which suggests Gallimard may be infertile. One possible reason for his physical inadequacy is his lack of power over his wife: Helga's father is an ambassador and Gallimard confesses to the audiencelreader that he married Helga for practical seasons, not out of love or passion. While Gallimard's impotence is a traumatic psychological as well as biological experience, it is also important to understand impotence in symbolic terms. What is the significance of Gallimard's physical condition and what does it mean? H o w does his impotence affect the patriarchal structure that Gallimard so desperately desires? In his insightful stud!; Rzlnning Scared: Masczllinit~land the Representation of the Male Bod)', Peter Lehman argues that patriarchy benefits from and may even be partly contingent on perpetuating the mystique of the penis-phallus. I employ both the word penis and phallus. The distinction is critical. The penis is the literal organ and the phallus a symbolic concept. . . . Only after thus centering the male body will it be possible truly to decenter it, for it is precisely when the penis-pl~allusis hidden from view in patriarchy that it is most centered." Lehman's argument is convincing as he provides numerous examples of how the penis is almost never visually represented in film and he explains why. Simply put, patriarch!; as an ideological apparatus, is sustained by veiling the penis because patriarchy does not want to call attention to the fact that masculinity is socially constructed. Masculinity, power, virilit!; and the phallic symbol are hypostatized into the physical size of the penis. Lehlnan uses the male character in Pedro Xlmodovar's film, What Have I Done to Deserue Thzs? (19851, as an example to show how a small penis reinforces the belief that physical size is inextricably linked with virility and sexual potency because he ultimately fails to satisfy the woman he encounters: "Thus his slnallness marlzs his body with what we learn later in the film is his ongoing problem with impotence."'" Lehman's observations are illustrated by Gallimard's other affair with Renee, the young daughter of a businessman (Act Tn70, Scene Six). She is in China to learn
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Chinese. When she meets Gallimard, she flirts with him and they end up in bed. She sees the connection between one's individual hody and how knowledge of one's hody influences the way one reacts and interacts with others. She explains to Gallimard why people go to war: But, like, it just hangs there. This little . . . flap of flesh. And there's so much fuss that we make about it. Like, I think the reason we fight wars is because we wear clothes. Because no one Iznows-between the men, I mean-who has the bigger . . . weenie . . . I mean, you conquer the countr!; or whatever, but you're still wearing clothes, so there's no way to prove absolutely whose is bigger or smaller. And that's what we call a civilized society. The whole world run by a hunch of men with pricks the size of pins." Her observations suggest that the yeiling of the penis not only supports patriarch!; hut it also seryes as the driving force behind aggression: world wars, ciyil wars, colonialism, and so on. At the same time, her discourse on the penis-phallus decenters patriarchy by reyealing its mundane material existence. She tells Gallimard that he has "a nice weenie" and "a nice penis." She further demystifies the penis-phallus by explaining how "cock" sounds like a chicken, "prick" is painful, and "'dick' is like you're talking about someone who's not in the r o o ~ n . " ~In' other words, when the penis is umeiled the phallus is elsewhere. Gallimard solyes his problem with impotence by haying sexual relationships with Renee and Song Liling. Both extramarital affairs boost his self-confidence and redeem his masculinity in terms of his own apparent heterosexuality and career advancement. After Gallimard and Song become physically intimate, he purposely neglects her. He stops going to the opera and works for five weeks without writing or calling her. His experiment succeeds as he realizes the power associated with sexual ~irility:"I knew this little flower was waiting for me to call, and, as I wickedly refused to do so, I felt for the first time that rush of power-the absolute power of a man."21 This "man power" that Gallimard experiences is immediately supplemented with a rise in social status and political influence. T o ~ d o n ,the French ambassador, offers Gallimard a promotion, from an untitled diplomat to Vice-consul, and his new role is to "coordinate the revamped intelligence di~ision." Patriarchy is restored in Gallimard's world. H e immediately points to God as the symbol of his manhood, reminding the audiencelreader that "God who creates Eye to serve Adam, who blesses Solomon with his harem but ties Jezehel to a burning bed-that God is a man. And he ~ n d e r s t a n d s . "Gallimard's ~~ success is legitimated by the Christian white male God and is manifested in both his sexual domination of Song Liling and his adyancement in social status. Gallimard's heterosexually-identified male identity necessitates a sexual conquest that inrolyes intercourse with a woman because, as Michael I
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fears of being a homosexual. Using the Freudian model of gender identity and sexual orientation, ICimmel shows how the pre-oedipal boy "sees the world through mother's eyes [italics original].":.' As such, when the boy confronts his fathel; he responds from the mother's perspective which includes desire-a homoerotic desire-hut psychic and social forces enable a boy to suppress those desires. Gallimard not only suppresses his homoerotic desires hut he also wants to hide his utmost fear: other men. In ICimmel's words, "Homophobia is the fear that other Inen will unmask us, emasculate us, r e ~ e a to l us and the world that we d o not measure up, that we are not real men."2i Gallimard's acceptance by his male peers reveals how emotionally rewarding it is to he pro~isionallyaccepted by other Inen who conform to a hegemonic masculinit!; or a "manhood of racism, of sexism, of homophohia."'~imilarly, Dayid Eng criticizes the playwright for catering to a mainstream audience and limiting the muti-dimensional positionalities within the Asian American artistic communit!; specifically the already "invisible" gay and lesbian communities. Eng writes, It would seem that David Henry Hwang's insistence on heterosexuality at the expense of a legitimate queer sensibility in M. Butterfly exhibits an urgency on the playwright's part to validate his piece of Asian American literature solidly within the parameters and pressures of the dominant discourse-to carve a respectable position for himself within the established norms of a politically liberal-that is to say white and compulsory heterosexual audience.:' While Gallimard confronts his own masculinity and homophobia, Song embodies an imbrication of extremes in terms of sexualit!; gendel; and racialized cultural ideologies. Her sexuality and gender are always contradictory as she occupies comfortably, and with ease, the roles and behaviors of a heterosexual female while, at the same time, slhe is in fact a phallus-wielding, sexually ambiguous male. More importantly, slhe breaks the link between femininit!; sexualit!; and gender by masking the penis, passing on phallic power to Gallimard, and adopting the sexual identity of a woman. Such masquerading separates societal constructs of masculinity and femininity from biologically deterministic discourses. One cannot assume that images or beha~iorsof ~nasculinitylfe~nininity are determined by one's gender-social and cultural contexts influence how one constructs masculinity and femininity. This distinction is what Gallimard refuses to acknowledge when Song Liling transforms herself into a man. The de-reification of the feminine in front of his eyes causes Gallimard to go mad. He ultimately retreats to his fantasy world, transforms himself into Puccini's "Madame Eutterfly," and commits suicide. Song Liling's performance as a felmale not only challenges how masculinity and femininity are defined by ideologies of gender, but it also criticizes Western preconceptions of the East in terms of gender. When Song explains to the judge what an international rape mentality means, he links social policy with what Edward Said
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Chinese American Masculinities calls Orientalism: The West thinks of itself as masculine-big guns, big industry, big moneyso the East is feminine-weak, delicate, poor . . . but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom-the feminine mystique. Her mouth says no, but her eyes say yes. The West believes that the East, deep down, wants to be dominated-because a woman can't think for l~erself.'~ The judge, like Gallimard, cannot see connections that are so obvious to Song. In this instance, the judge cannot or will not lnalze the link between Orientalist discourse and social policy. The judge responds to Song's explication as tenuous "armchair political theory." The judge, who represents the Western judicial system, refuses to aclznowledge that Western social policy is often based on 11ow the West constructs itself as lnasculine (more powerful) and the East as feminine (weaker). The Vietnam war is the most blatant example of such mentality: when the Vietnamese Comlnunists refused to be dominated and colonized by the United States, the reified codes of masculinity and nationalism are ruptured in both the p~iblic'simagination as well as in the minds of policy lnalzers in the United States. Gallilnard agrees with the Americans that they should bomb North Vietnam. As he observes, the "Oriental will always submit to a greater force."29 His analysis of foreign policy has been based on his pxconceptions of what Asians think and how they should behave. Both Orientalist and nationalist discourses are encoded with sexual signification, particularly in the context of political and military powec Gallimard's and Song's individual "national" identities-French diplomatlvice-counsel and Pelting Opera singer1Chinese communist sp!; respectively-and their sexual identities are linked; but this linlzage manifests itself differently for each charactec Gallilnard understands his predicament in retrospect and his apparent homosexuality marlzs him as a traitor. Gallimard's awareness of his political blunders only occurs to him after his private desires, fantasies, and illusions have been made public (to the audiencelreader and other characters). Song, on the other hand, has always been fully aware of herlhis sexuality. Herlhis loss of political favor within the Chinese Comlnunist Party is due to herlhis ho~nosexualacts and class privileges (Act Two, Scene Ten). Both Gallimard and Song are punished for their private sexual activities by their respective national leaders and governments because national ideologies deem heterosexuality as "normal" sexual behavior. However, their individual identities differ in that Song consciously constructs his identity by manipulating languages and images d i l e Gallimard has no control over how his identity is constructed. Song manages to create the image of the "perfect woman" in Gallimard's eyesan image that fits into the constructed images of sexualized national ideologies. As Song says to the judge: "You expect Oriental countries to submit to your guns, and y o ~ expect i Oriental women to be submissive to your men. That's why you say they
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make the best wives.""' By linking individual sexual identities to national identities, Song explains how Galli~nardconvinced himself that the perfect woman exists in Asia. His constant references to Puccini's Madame Butterfly suggest that Gallimard is infatuated with a self-sacrificing woman who will love a "wimp" like himself. Song's willingness to serve and submit to Gallimard is enough to satisfy Gallimard's needs. It does not matter that Song is only playing the part of a woman; as he explains, "being an Oriental, I could neyer be completely a man."31 Song's statement makes the transformation scene (end of Act Two, Scene Eleven) effectiye as it reveals the social constructions of femininity and masculinity, undermines conyentional patriarchal ideologies, and de-reifies the sexualization of national identities. The transformation scene, moreoyer, signals the rupture between Song's sexuality and gender. Song's striptease exposes his penis-phallus to Gallimard as the ultimate act of sexual and political resistance to racial and cultural preconceptions. Using his body, Song forces Galli~nardto confront his homoerotic attraction towards Song, in spite of the latter's gender. After Song is completely naked, Song seduces Gallimard to caress his body: Song: It's the same skin you'ye worshipped for years. Touch it. Gallimard: Yes, it does feel the same. Song: Now-close your eyes. Gallimard: This skin, I remember. The curve of her face, the softness of her cheek, her hair against the back of my hand . . .': Song tries to convince Gallilnard that sexual pleasure is not contingent upon heterosexual acts of intimacy. Gallimard seems convinced momentarily as he still desires Song's male body, remembering his skin, curves of the face, soft cheeks, and long black haic However, Song is not committed to either sexual identity as he suggests that his seduction may be another game: "Then again, maybe I'm just playing with you. H o w can you tell?"" Act Three, Scene Tn7o visually encapsulates Song's sexual ambiguity as he dresses lilte a Inan but dances lilte the female Gallilnard first fell in love with. He immediately shifts to his "male" self and "repris[es] his feminine character" again. When Song removes his briefs, Gallimard laughs at him and the confident and arrogant Song is surprised. Again, the revelation of the penisphallus ultimately disempowers the male and undermines the stability of a patriarchal system. Confused by Gallimard's laugh, Song seems to lose co~ltrolover his language: Song: Wait. I'm not "just a man." Gallimard: N o ? Isn't that what you'ye been trying to comince me of? Song: Yes, but what I meanGallimard: And now, I finally believe you, and you tell me it's not true? I think you must have some ltind of identity problem . . . Song: I'm not just any man!"
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Song's revelation ironically undermines his own power oyer Gallimard. His nude male body visually affirms what Gallimard already knows and convinces Gallimard that living a life of fantasy is preferable to liying a life of reality. Song is surprised by Gallimard's response, not expecting Gallimard to choose fantasy eyer realit!; and does not know how to articulate or express his identity. "I'm not just any man" implies that Song is different from the archetype of how "manhood" is defined. Perhaps he is more than just a man, but Song cannot define who he is either: he can only define himself in terms of who he is not. Song's sense of identity is called into question when he exposes the naked truth of his gender and, in the process, loses control over Gallimard. The tensions between Song and Gallimard stem from each character's desire to dominate and control the other's hody and sexuality. The body becomes the site where nationalism, colonialism, racism, sexism, and classism fight for supremacy. Song leayes Gallimard because he can no longer use his sexuality to manipulate Gallimard's sexual imagination, while Gallimard ends his life because he has no control over his own hody. Gallimard's last words define his identity by conflating his race, gendel; sexualit!; and class with his physical and cultural desires to find an Asian woman who sacrifices her life for an unworthy white man. He reintroduces himself to the audienceheader as "Rene Gallimard-also known as Madame Butterfly." '' Gallimard's sexual identit!; at the end of the play, is self-consciously fashioned according to a conflation of contradicting racial as well as gendered identities. As a heterosexually-identified European male, the reyelation of his homosexual act forces him to recognize his own homophobia. By recreating his own yersion of the perfect "Oriental woman," he is able to provide a sense of closure by conjoining his male identity with a racialized female identity through death. This act of selfdestruction enables him to reject and expunge the homosexual acts from his body. Gallimard's death signals the abjection of all traces of homosexuality; he willingly pays the ultimate price. Howevel; in spite of Gallimard's abjection of his homosexualized bod!; his sexual identity is wrought with ambiguity. Both Song and Gallimard wrestle with their sexual and racial identities. Yet, the ramifications and manifestations of these two sexually ambiguous male identities are different when perceived in specific historical and racial contexts. In "Betrayed Into Motion," Tina Chen argues that "Gallimard is still offered to spectatorial vision as the protagonist of this tortured loye story . . . he becomes the tragic hero."'" Gallimard's desire to acquire a hegemonic masculinity and failing to attain that status leads, in part, to his tragic downfall. As he seeks to become a part of an elite group of men, he betrays an illusory feeling of power over women and (wo)men of color. Kimmel notes that socially constructed notions of masculinity have managed to marginalize many men who feel that they cannot h e up to a dominant standard of masculinity. He explains that hegemonic masculinities are harmful to men as "only the tiniest fraction of men come to belieye that they are the biggest of wheels,
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the sturdiest of oaks, the most virulent repudiators of femininit!; the most daring and aggressive."" The appeal to be in powel; to be ''manly," to be a part of an elite group draws men to take part in a hegemonic masculinity in spite of the emotional risks i n r o l ~ e d Consequently, . the fear of being percei~edas feminine forces Inen to maintain heterosexuality as the primary structure of identification and to reject any signs of homosexuality. Although the story of M. Butterfly is not o ~ e r t l yabout queer issues, the question of whether or not Gallimard knew that Song Liling was a Inan remains one of the more vexing questions among heterosexual readerslaudience members. I11 her critique of the r e ~ i e w sof M. Butterfly, Angela Pao explains that "he or she [the audiencelreader] is defined first in terms of a cultural 'story' or 'narrative' organized according to mental and sensorial schemas that reproduce the individual's impression of how socio-cultural institutions and relations are organized and operate."'# The reason that some men feel uncomfortable about Gallimard and Song's relationship has to do, in part, with the way in which the sexual identities of these characters are neyer revealed in any direct way. The indeterminacy displayed by both characters is unacceptable to conventional understandings of gender roles. It does not resonate with the cultural stories or narratives of heterosexual men. Moreovel; it makes a distinction between identification and sexual acts, a distinction that is commonly blurred in public discourse: if a man engages in gay sex, does it mean that he is gay? The play shows that both Galli~nardand Song are heterosexually-identified in spite of their sexual relationship and it makes the codification of homosexuality and heterosexuality more complex. After all, Gallimard insists on being a man who has sexual affairs with women and because of those affairs, he is accepted by other men-namely, his colleagues and his superior.
COMPETING MASCULINITIES Dayid Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly depicts a Chinese male character who resists the convenient social categorizations of gender and sexuality by performing acts that potentially alienate both gay and straight subject positions. O n the one hand, heterosexual Chinese American Inen who have been disempowered in relationship to their white counterparts do not identify with Song Liling. O n the other hand, the play does not really address queer issues or politics." The indeterminacy that characterizes Song Liling can he situated in a larger cultural politics where competing Chinese American masculinities might he articulated. Indeed, Song's ambiguity gestures toward such a larger discourse on masculinity since there cannot be one definition of Chinese American masculinity; rathel; there needs to be a continuous contestation of what Chinese American masculinity means. Dorime I<. Icondo, in her article, "M. Butterfly: Orientalism, Gendel; and a Critique of Essentialist Identity,"notes that in 1989, heterosexual Asian American Inen critiqued Hwang's portrayal of Song Liling at the Asian American Studies Association conference, arguing that Song perpetuated the "effeminate" stereotype of the Asian male. Additionall!; Tina Chen cites an u~lpuhlished essay by
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Williamson Chang, an Asian American male who "could not identify with Song, he was not 'male' in my sense of the word-as someone whose character I would aspire to or identify with . . . for an Asian male sitting throughout the e~ening,it was the lack of psychological involvement that was noticeable. As has become the standard framework for dramas about East meets West, Asian males are again simply not there, they are i n v i ~ i b l c . "James ~ ~ Moy also argues that Because racial and sexual confusion are collapsed into one character, Song Liling exists as a ~ e h i c l eof m a s s i ~ eself-doubt. . . . Accordingl!; slhe finally comes across as little more than a disfigured transvestite version of the infamous Chinese "dragon lady" prostitute ~ t e r e o t y p e . ~ ' It is true that Asian men have been consistently portrayed as asexual beings in the sense that they are not constructed to appeal to the audiencelreader in a sexually attractive way or they are invisible in America's cultural landscape. Song Liling, meanwhile, offers the audiencelreader another example of how the Asian male body exudes both feminine and lnasculine sensibilities. Song consciously upholds socially determined behaviors of femininity only to point out the constructedness of such behavior: "[Because] only a man lznows how a woman is supposed to act."42 The implication of this statement is that femininity is determined by the desires and ideologies of men. Yet Song, as a man, does not critique the oppressive consequences of such a construction of femininity. Rather, he lets his "performance" mask his gender, foreground femininity, and parody the reification of femininity in order to underlnine such reification. Icondo suggests that Hwang "de-essentializes the categories [gender and race], exploding conventional notions of gender and race as universal, ahistorical essences or as incidental features of a more encompassing, abstract 'concept of self."'l3 O n the other hand, Chen argues persuasively that although Hwang may have intended M. B u t t e ~ f ito , be a deconstructivist text, the play ultimately works to "deny the possibilities for producing a change in audience consciousness."" While I agree with Chen that ultimatel!; the play fails to "effectively perform the Brechtian goal of effecting a materially relevant political and ideological transformation on the spectator," the characters of Song and Gallimard do gesture towards a conceptual possibility that enables Inen to re-think what it means to be a man. Representations of ambi-sexual identities can be important to Asian American men because they provide a discursive space in which masculinity cannot be categorized in conventional Western terms. Such ambiguities resist totalizing codifications of sexual identities: homosexualit!; heterosexualit!; asexualit!; bisexuality, transexuality, and so on. Is it politically viable, for instance, to focus on the overlydetermined masculine, virile, and heterosexual images that saturate American popular culture? Do we have to conform to white American ideologies of lnanhood by prioritizing Asian American Inen who have bodies like the ten sexiest Inen in America, chosen by People magazine? The discourse of Asian American masculin-
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ities should not he dictated by the dominant ideology of manhood. Reading Asian American male representations as amhi-sexual is one effective strategy to resist categorizations and reifications of masculinity by the dominant culture. In "Feminism, 'The Boyz," and Other Matters," Robyn Wiegman acknowledges that EOYZ N THE H O O D employs conrentional means for affirming the primacy of the masculine hut she does not want to "understand that masculine as simply coterminous with patriarchy itself. For it is patriarchy as well as white supremacy that must be held accountable for the prerailing conditions of destruction and disenfranchisement attending to African American men."" Similarly, an Asian American masculinist discourse should not be unquestionably equated with patriarchy. Wieg~nanfurther points out that the father's model of masculinity in the film is figured as "within and not opposed to the parameters of the maternal feminine. "4h The hinarity of gender difference could be refashioned in such a way that socially defined normative masculine and feminine traits are appropriated into one's subject position. Song's flip-flop between the submissire geisha girl stereotype and the hypermasculine male stereotype are exaggerations of the gender spectrum. What is left, of course, is the in-between space of Song's extreme hinarisms. It is this inbetween space that is rendered ambiguous since the text makes it difficult for the audiencelreader to determine who Song really is; or more importantl!; the text forces us to acknowledge that his subjectivity is imbricated within the contours of both masculinity and femininity. Song, playfully, does not allow us to categorize his gendered identity in a simplistic framework. He does, howerel; function as an ideal object of Gallimard's fantasy. Song is clearly not a role model in the conrentional sense-I don't believe that many Chinese American men would like to become Song Liling-and he does not necessarily offer the political and social tools to redefine contemporary Asian American male identities. At a time when Asian American men are either not represented in popular culture or depicted in a stereotypical manner, Song Liling's acceptance by the Anglo-American marketplace "does not signify an assimilation of the Chinese or Asiamess into the A~nericanmainstream hut rather a mere repositioning of their marginality."" This repositioned marginality is also a reproduction of a stereotypically feminized Asian male. Song's masculinity, in conrentional terms, has been disfigured, to borrow Moy's term. At the same time, the range of his gender performance gestures toward a discursire space where men do not hare to lire up to traditional Western notions of manhood nor d o they have to feel threatened by attributes deemed feminine or homosexual. An embrace of the stereotypically positive traits of both "masculinity" and "femininity" may allow men and women alike to cross rigid gender boundaries to strategically determine what those positive traits can he. Kimmel calls for a democratic manhood that struggles for equality and inclusion.'We does not find androgyny helpful nor does he find the blurring of gender roles feasible. The blurring of gender roles is not practical because of the belief that there are "real" dif-
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ferences between men and women. Howe~el;perpetual acknowledgment of gender differences makes it even more difficult for men to change. If we can redefine both masculinity and femininity in a more fluid way, then the threat of feminization and emasculation to men would he minimized. I have argued that socially constructed notions of masculinity and femininity can be undermined by interpreting male characters as ambi-sexual, so that socially-determined gender roles can be more indeterminate, allowing identity formations to be less dichotomized and rigid. M o r e o ~ e r ,ambi-sexual identities problematize conrentional ideologies of mast social hierarchies. culinity and s u h ~ e r patriarchal At the beginning of this stud!; I was energized by the possibility of finding ways to articulate a masculinist discourse based on the framework of ambiguity and amhimlence because of the unique positionality of Asian American men. Since there are not that many role models in American popular culture, a project of redefining or reconfiguring the notions of masculinity was filled with possibilities. One of the potential strategies to resist the temptations of a hegemonic masculinity included a solid understanding of the basic tenets of feminism in order to create a dialogue with Asian American women. I had an opportunity to teach one of the first Asian American Men's Issues course at the uni~ersityl e d in 1996, hut my intentions were deemed unrealistic by my Asian American male students. Unfortunately, so many Asian American men feel disempowered within America's cultural landscape that the gender conflicts between men and women h a x become exacerbated by the interracial relationships some Asian American women haye entered into and in response, the urgent need for some Asian American men to reassert their manhood or masculinity according to a hegemonic model of masculinity. Clearly, the notion of ambi-sexuality did not resonate with my male students, so there is a need to reflect upon the difficulties of conceptualization and practice. After ten weeks with these students, I was left with one simple question: If Asian American men feel disempowered, how does one empower them without falling into the trap of re-masculinization and anti-feminism? The concluding chapter that follows is a report on some of the obstacles I encountered with my students who felt that the need to affirm Asian American manhood was more important than redefining notions of masculinities. As one of my students so pointedly remarked at the end of the quarter, "do we really want to h a x a generation of Asian American wimps."
NOTES 1. Lisa Lowe, "Heterogeneit!; Hyhridity, ;,Multiplicity: Marking Asian American Differences," Diaspora 1, no. 1 (Spring, 1991): 28. 2. Lisa Lowe, Immigrant Acts (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996), 76. 3. David Wong Louie, Pangs of Love (New Yorlr: Plume, 1992), 80. 4. Ibid., 81. 5. Ibid., 82. 6. Ibid., 84.
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7. Ihid., 83. 8. Ihid., 88. 9. Ihid., 89. The reference to a steer may be interpreted as a cynical figure of speech, as he compares his gay brother to a castrated ox. However, the narrative does not support this interpretation since the narrator fails to criticize or ~nalze fun of his brother anywhere else in the text. 10. Ihid., 100. 11. Ihid., 106. 12. Ihid., 105. 13. The only married Chinese male in Louie's collection is an elderly Ms. Chow who occupies a submissive position vis-a-vis Mrs. Chow in the stor!; "Displacement." The sashimi apprentice, in "Bottles of Beaujolais," provisionally resolyes his pursuit of a heterosexual interest at the end of the story hut this resolution is achieved by a bizarre dream-like union of the narrator, a female named Peg, and Mushimono, the otter. 14. Hwang, M. Butterfl)' (New Yorlz: Plume, 19891, 8. 15. Ibid., 10. 16. Ibid., 11. 17. Peter Lehman, Running Scared (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 199.31, 5. 18. Ihid., 10. 19. Hwang, M. Butterfl)', 55. 20. Ibid., 54-55. 21. Ibid., 32. 22. Ihid., 38. 2.3. Michael Kimmel, "Masculinity as Homophobia," in Theorizing Masculinities, ed. Harry Brod and Michael Kaufman (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 19941, 1 31. 24. Ibid., 130. 25. Ibid. 26. Ihid., 138. 27. Dayid Eng, "In the Shadows of a Dim: Committing Homosexuality in Dayid Henry Hwang's M. Eutterfly," Amerasia Journal 20, no. 1 (1994): 109. 28. Hwang, M. Butterfl)', 83. 29. Ibid., 46. 30. Ibid., 83. 31. Ihid. 32. Ihid., 89. 3.3. Ihid., 86. 34. Ibid., 88. 35. Ibid., 93. 36. Tina Chen, "Betrayed Into Motion," Critical Mass: A Journal of Asian American Cztltural Criticism 1, no. 2 (SpringISummer 1994): 147. 37. I
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39. David Eng argues that Hwang's play banishes "homosexuality ultimately in the realm of the uninentionable. . . ." See Dayid Eng, "In the Shadows of a Diva: Committing Homosexuality in Dayid Henry Hwang's M . Butterfly," Amerasia Journal 20, no. 1 (1994): 110. 40. Ibid., 150. 41. James Mo!; Marginal Sights: Staging the Chinese in Anwrica (Iowa: Uni~ersityof Iowa Press, 19931, 125. 42. Hwang, M . Butterfly, 63. 43. Dorinne I<. Icondo, " M . Butterfly: Orientalisin, Gendel; and a Critique of Essentialist Identity," Cultural Critique (Fall 1990): 26. 44. Chen, "Betrayed," 144. 45. Robyn Wiegman, "Feminism, 'The B o p , ' and Other Matters," in Screening the Male, ed. Steven Cohen and Ina Rae Hark (London: Routledge, 199.31, 18.3. 46. Ibid. 47. Moy, Marginal Sights, 125. 48. Michael ICimmel, Manhood in America: A Cultural Histor), (New Yorlr: The Free Press, 19961, 333.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
EPILOGUE
Contemporary Asian American Men's Issues
T
o gain insight into how young Asian American men in the 1990s perceive themselves and gender related issues, I taught one of the first Asian American men's studies courses at the university level in the United States in the spring quarter of 1996.' This course was de~elopedbecause I felt that Asian American inen haye not, institutionall!; been given an opportunity to articulate their perspectiyes on gender issues. Furthermore, my research and analysis of Chinese American masculinities made me realize the urgent need to familiarize students with current debates on gender and race relations and to encourage them to reject an oppressive model of masculinity and embrace a profeminist ideology of manhood. I anticipated, howeyer, that my goal to transform lives in ten weeks was destined to fail. I admitted this on the first day of class. Nonetheless, this class was still worth teaching because the discourse on gender issues will hopefully continue well beyond the students' undergraduate careers. Re-defining Asian American male identities is necessarily a lifelong project. The process of redefining Asian American male identities begins with the evaluation of whether social definitions of masculinities are viable and effective tools toward understanding Asian American men or men in general. Will definitions reduce the complexity of Asian American male identities to simple discursive categories?? In the 1970s, the co-editors of Ameeeee! argued that "the deprivation of language in a verbal society like this country's has contributed to the laclz of a recognized Asian-American cultural integrity . . . and the laclz of a recognized style of Asian-American manhood."3 After almost two decades, the same editors are still angry because stereotypes of Asian American men not only continue to be prevalent in American culture but Asian Americans themselves have further perpetuated them:
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It is an article of White liberal American faith today that Chinese men, at their best, are effeminate closet queens like Charlie Chan and, at their worst, are homosexual menaces like Fu Manchu. N o wonder David Henry Hwang's derivative M. Butterfly won the Tony for best new play of 1988. The good Chinese man, at his best, is the fulfillment of White male homosexual fantasy, literally Itissing White ass. N o w Hwang and the stereotype are inextricably one.' The co-editors of Aiiiececc! and The Big Aiiiececc! have been fighting for decades to regain, in part, a sense of manhood on behalf of Asian American men. What such a recognizable manhood should be like for Asian Americans, howeyer, is not clearly articulated by the co-editors. One reason that an Asian American sense of manhood is so \.ague is the problematic assumption that there are essential physical, psychological, and beha~ioralqualities in men: heterosexual, athletic, aggressive, virile, sensuous, rational, and decisi~e.Given these pervasiye social prescriptions of manhood, men in general strive to h e up to the standards; when they fail, they experience what Joseph Pleck calls "sex role strain."' When White American men are used by popular culture as standard bearers of masculinity, Asian Americans are forced to accept the racial hierarchy embedded in the discourse of American manhood. In effect, Asian American men are giyen a false choice: either we emulate White American notions of masculinity or accept the fact that we are not men. The discursive formation of Asian American masculinities is thus burdened by the need to prove our manhood. O n a representational leyel, Asian American men need to resist the cultural inheritance forced upon us by Sax Rohmer and Earl Derr Biggers, among others. There is an urgency to find alternatiye ways of defining Asian American male identities and the alternative should not be primarily focused on constructing a normative heteromasculine model of manhood. I belieye that the question of redefining Asian American masculinities ultimately rests on how Inen respond to feminism and gender issues. Criticizing and putting pressure on the media to be more responsible in how they represent Asian A~nericansis an important step towards limiting the reproduction of stereotypes. However, in order to redefine Asian American male identities we must also begin with dialogue-a critical evaluation and discussion of how Asian American men feel about their lives, enrironment, family, relationships, beliefs, and particularly how they yiew themselyes as Asian men in America. At the conceptual stage of the Asian American Men's Issues course, I did not expect many male students to enroll in this course nor did I expect the ones who did to speak freely until they trusted me. According to colleagues who have taught men's studies classes at other uni~ersities,male students seldom enroll in such courses so I was pleasantly surprised to find nineteen Asian American men among the thirty-four students.During the first fiye weeks, we read critical essays on sports' and n o d s by Asian American male writers,+iewed video^,^ and attended a performance by a group of Asian American male performance artist based in Los Angeles.H1Throughout the first five weeks, it was obyious that most of the men
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were not acti~elyengaged in the discussions about the social constructions of masculinities, so during the seventh week, I decided to throw away the syllabus and address the men's silence. I instructed all the men to sit in a circle and asked the women to sit in an outer circle, facing outwards. The female students would get their chance to speak among themsel~esthe following week. I proceeded to explain to the men why I was not going to finish the next three weeks without addressing the apparent disinterest among them. I then asked a series of questions to engage them in a discussion. Although there was some reluctance at first, soon almost everyone joined in and our conversation continued well beyond the end of the class period. Unfortunately, I did not record the conversation hut I asked students to write down what they thought about the "Men's Rap" session and there seems to he a certain consistency in how the men responded to a "men's only" discussion. All of the male students who participated in the "Men's Rap" session felt that the male-only discussion was a positive experience. Some of the more typical responses were: It opened the first doors for me to express my views. . . . This forum was needed to release some of the tensions that were building up among the males in this class. . . . I think that this was definitely the climax of the class. . . . I feel that the last three weeks of class were the most beneficial. . . . I felt rejuvenated after the men's rap session. . . . I found the format quite interesting and comfortable. . . . For the first time in the class I heard something that I haye also experienced and can really relate to. The men's discussion group was so comfortable that a student felt that this should haye been a men's only class. O n the opposite end, another student felt that this class needs to include women because one's masculinity is usually defined in relation to women. Finally, there were four students who felt that the Inen spoke about the "truths" and "realities" of Asian American men's experiences. These students were, in part, responding to the women in the class since they felt that many of the women were being too politically correct in answering some of the questions posed to them. Some of the topics that were addressed in the men's discussion session revolved around interracial dating, internalized self-hatred, the obstacles that some "vertically" challenged students face, and the subculture of car racing among Asian American men in Los Angeles. I started off by asking the Inen some general questions to break the ice, but there were a few specific questions that I wanted to explore: 1. H o w many of them would have preferred it if I had framed Asian
American men's issues in the context of regaining or reaffirming Asian American masculinity? Ten students answered positi~ely. 2. H o w many of them felt uncomfortable in a social setting with pri-
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Epilogue marily lower-class White Americans? All of them felt uncomfortable. 3. H o w many of them had "prohlems" dating? One answered that he had a lot of difficulties when it comes to dating, twelye answered that they had an ayerage nu~nberof obstacles when it comes to dating, and three said that they had no problems dating. Clearly, this was not a scientific study. The questions were meant to provoke further discussions hut it was reyealing to me that ten out of sixteen students would have preferred a course that re-empowers Asian A~nericanmen as opposed to a profeminist approach to masculinity. Some of the men felt misled because of the title of the course. They wanted to learn about Asian A~nerican"men's issues" but the issues seem to be dictated by the female students in the class. They reyealed they felt hashed by me. One student said that until the rap session, he thought that I was always trying to he impartial (which is good) hut then again sometimes you side with the women. Come to think of it, I don't recall many instances when you sided with us Inen on any discussion that we have had in the past. [During the rap session] it seemed more empowering to us since you were sitting among us guys and somewhat seeing where we were coming from. Another student said that he enrolled in this class because he wanted to feel good about being an Asian American man. Instead, he felt that this course was just another male bashing course, like women's studies courses, and that he was disappointed when the first week focused on showing how "sports is bad." In retrospect, I felt that I had made a strategic pedagogical mistake by not confronting the issue of re-affirming Asian American masculinity. What I wanted was to skip the macho posturing and move quicltly into a more critical and/or self-critical level of analysis, focusing on the ways in which patriarchal powers permeate the infrastructure of society, including sports, and how men become complicit in the way power is distributed along the contours of race, gender, sexuality, and class. Judging from the responses, I believe that it might have been wise to "empower" Asian American "manhood" first, question why such affirmations are needed, and then critique the consequences of empowering Asian American men. The answers to the second question did not surprise me because I myself have often felt uncomfortable in social environments that consist of primarily White lower-class individual^.'^ The third question about dating dominated a large part of the ensuing discussion. One student said that Asian American men are the "lowest of the low," in terms of the social hierarchy of Inen in America, which elicited comments from almost all of the Inen in the group. Some Inen explained that Asian American women have the option of dating White men because of the existing stereotypes of Asian and Asian American women while stereotypes of Asian
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American men do not g i ~ ethem the same capital when it comes to dating White American women or women in general. Furthel; a few of the men were angered by the fact that some Asian women prefer to date White American men. Unfortunatel!; in the course of these discussions, the word "some" was not used. In turn, the women who were listening to this conversation were upset that they were lumped together with those Asian American women who date only White men. When the women had a chance to do their rap session the following week, their disappointment was quite evident. As the women sat in the inner circle, I asked some questions to initiate a discussion on their understanding of Asian American men's issues; some of the female students challenged each question I posed and I soon realized that the women wanted to avoid generalizations and reproduce the same kind of discussion that the men had. As I sat inside their circle, I paid close attention to what they said. Consequentl!; I was not aware of how the Inen were reacting to the women's discussion. In the written responses by the female students I learned that some of the men were "listening to their Walkmans, playing cards, talking and laughing." One female student o h s e r ~ e dthat "they (the men) were busy playing cards, laughing, eating, sleeping or doing homework. They didn't take us seriously." Another female student remarked that the men's b e h a ~ i o r was "a slap in the face." Unfortunatel!; I was not aware of such behavior at the time and could not explain to the men that their actions were highly inappropriate and offensive." Most of the women in the class were, understandably, disappointed with the men. Although they thought that it was a good thing that the men had a forum to speak their true feelings and vulnerabilities, the content of the men's discussion offended and upset some of the female students: Eut when they did start to speak up, I was so appalled. They were blaming all of their problems on Asian American women. . . . What I heard from the guy's group discussion was very disappointing. . . . I really felt that letting the men talk as a group was a great idea. I felt that they opened up to a certain degree. However, after listening to what they had to say, I was a bit upset. . . . It hurts because it is usually a n e g a t i ~ econfirmation and completely opposite of what you thought or wanted to heae . . . It was interesting but disappointing to hear them talk. One of the ironies in feminist pedagogy is that women, in general, want to hear what men h a x to say about particular topics, hut when the men d o speak up, women don't like what they heae For one student, she was so disappointed with the "superficiality" of the men that she declared "I can tell you now . . . I hate men. I REALLY hate men!! I h a x lost all sense of faith and compassion for men." Many of the women complained that the men dealt with superficial things such as their inability to find dates, lack of sexual experiences, and not looking beyond stereotypes. More importantly, though, the women felt that the men were not fair in saying that the women in the class were oppressi~etowards them: "I don't under-
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Epilogue
stand why the men feel that we were oppressing them. I feel that the women In the class have a h a 7 s supported the men (tlll t h ~ Tuesday). s . . . The7 were bla~nmgall thelr problems on Aslan A ~ n e r ~ c awomen." n It 1s unfortunate that the Inen felt "threatened" h~ some of the female students slnce most of the Aslan Amer~canwomen were prepared to support Aslan Amerlcan men's Issues. As one female student remarked, "when Aslan Amer~canmen rlse, the status of Asian American women also rise, and when Asian men fall, we fall . . . and \.ice ~ e r s a . "The women in the class were, in my opinion, sincere in their support for Asian American men hut, as the same student pointed out, she was "not here to empower Asian American men, just to support them." For some women, apparently, "empowering Asian American men" implies a reproduction of a patriarchal social order. This is perhaps one of the more crucial distinctions that underlie some of the animosity between the two groups: the men want to be "empowered" as Asian American men, so "support" seems insufficient. Further, the men did not feel that the women were in fact supportix since the more ~ o c a women l in the class were relentlessly critical of patriarchy and hegemonic masculinities. Asian American men, much like many of their White counterparts, do not feel "privileged" or empowered simply because they are men. Indeed, most Asian American men are Yery aware of the fact that there are racialized road blocks toward accessing the dividends of a White patriarchal society.13 Lynne Segal argues that " ~ n e ncan and d o and some of my male students have changed, albeit slowly. Some of the female students spoke with individual male students after class and noticed that "after hearing the women's discussion, they seemed more aware and sensiti~eto what was said by the women. One of the males in our class eyen stated that he realized the men's session was just a 'superficial-complaining-whining-bitching about e~erything'session." At the other end of the spectrum, a female student said, "I have lost all sense of faith in men because the men's circle just reaffirmed that there is no hope." The question of how men can change is crucial to an understa~ldingof Asian American men, or men in general. For some feminists, the struggles against sexism and the fight for equal rights h a x been a long and arduous process. The frustration felt by some of the feminists in my course is understandable since women haye been challenging patriarchy and sexism for centuries; yet, many Inen do not seem to he sympathetic to their cause. One student commented that men should take more women's studies courses for their own personal growth and understanding. Some men responded by saying that they do and they feel hashed oYer and over again. The underlying issue comes down to this: how can Inen embrace feminism without feeling threatened? Segal observes that there is a clash between "thought and deed in men's apparently increasing commitment to a more participatory, egalitarian role in childcare and housework." She wants to explore the underlying reasons for the discrepancy between theory and practice. As a self-identified profeminist scholar, I am constantly challenging my own behavior at home and it is frustrating to witness the
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ease in which I slip into traditional gender roles. Segal explains the dilemma: Some, like Tony Bradham, blame society-the inflexible and relentless pressures of men's working lives: 'Men have changed . . . but society itself hasn't changed sufficiently to make life easier for fathers (and for families)-and so we have this dilemma.' Others would argue that Inen have no real wish to change, that they are happy, as a sex, to exploit women by leaving the labour of loying and caring to them. Such critics could point, for example, to the eyidence that unemployed Inen often d o less domestic work than men in jobs, w e n when the mothers in their household have full-time jobs.'" Blaming society and psychological studies on fundamental differences between Inen and women do little to help resolve the conflicts among men who intellectually and politically want to change but find, in practice, that change is indeed hard work. Role models can provide motivation to re-learn one's domestic responsibilities. For instance, my uncle in San Leandro, California, enjoys cooking, cleaning, taking care of grandchildren and the elderly. Eyery time I catch myself lounging in front of the television, I think of him and immediately get up to do something around the house. My spouse thinks that I should think of my uncle more often. As an educatol; I believe that it is equally challenging to address male students' concerns and to find ways to persuade them to abandon traditional models of gender roles and to embrace fundamental feminist concerns. Howeyer, is it eyen worth the effort to make an impact on students who firmly believe in and are committed to traditional patriarchal yiews? One male student writes: I believe that I respect women and consider women to be queens. But Inen are KINGS . . . I do expect them to cook, clean, and listen to my shit. But I will treat my queen as she deserves. One could psychoanalyze those who have fixed notions of gender roles, research their familial relations, and contextualize such ideologies in relation to patriarchy and social/cultural/eth~licbackgrounds. Yet, it might be more helpful to recognize that within the Asian American community, there will be divergent and conflictual definitions of masculinities and that there are those who are willing to change and those who refuse to even consider dismantling patriarchy. The goals of this book have been to chronicle and analyze some Chinese male stereotypes in American popular culture, to suggest ways to re-define Chinese American masculinities, articulate a masculinist discourse that is distinct from a patriarchal discourse, and to explore some of the obstacles that Chinese American Inen face in the context of fundamental feminist critiques. While I a m fully aware that strategies of resistance need to be clear and focused, my argument for positioning gender relations within a sexually alnbiguous model is problematic for obvious reasons. Asian American Inen are already perceived by mainstream American culture to be effeminate and weak. Any model that deviates from a normative mas-
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Epilogue
culine identity would he threatening to Asian American inen because it would perpetuate or confirm the inherited stereotypes of Asian inen in Ainerican culture. Redefining gender roles with a strategically ainhiguous sexual identit!; howeyer, is one way to embrace both "inasculine" and "feminine" attributes on a conceptual and literal l e d . Ey learning from feminists the importance of equalit!; the need to express one's emotions, and the d u e of admitting one's ~ulnerabilitiesto others, men can create a less antagonistic dialogue with women and begin to understand why so many woinen feel oppressed by patriarchal structures. The fusion of masculinity and femininity elides psychological and biological differences and, admittedl!; o~ersimplifiesthe coinplexities of sexual politics.1" Nonetheless, using a model of masculinity that is heterogeneous and conflictual enhances our ability to navigate the spectrum of competing masculine identities that gestures toward a non-essentialist identity formation. An amhi-sexual identity also resists the oyer-identification with a hegemonic masculinity that defines itself in terms of oppositions and negatiyes: not homosexual, not woman, not inferior, not weak (mentally andlor physically)." The playfulness of an indeterminate sexual identity should not mask the urgency of a more serious agenda of disinailtling gender hierarchies. Neither macho posturing nor wallowing in self-pity will create a space where men and women can dialogue. Segal's anti-cynicism towards gender and sexual politics provides a positiye starting point for a socialist feminist agenda. As she suggests, we cannot jump to a utopic yision of egalitarianism without understanding the roots of racial, cultural, class, and sexual differences and committing oneself t o social change. Consequentl!; my study of Chinese American masculine identities points toward a need to evaluate and research the heterogeneity among Asian American men. In the 1990s, the subject of Asian American "masculinity" is still underresearched and under-theorized. As we begin to trace the different ways in which Asian Ainerican masculinities have been constructed historically, I belieye we must also work towards the future. The empowerment of Asian Ainerican inen must begin with the premise of not subordinating women. It must also begin with a critique of what masculinity means and what it represents on an indi~idualas well as a social level. This process must involve dialogue with other men as well as with women, since women play an influential part in shaping a inan's sense of manhood. One of the consequences of not haying critical tools and research data on the topic of Asian Ainerican masculinity is the slow development of a theoretical discourse on Asian American men. Finding the language to express one's ideologies, cultural upbringing, and emotional experiences is one step towards a non-oppressive form of empowerment. At the end of the course, one group of my students decided to confront some of the tensions that were raised in class during the gender-specific discussions.18 They collecti~elywrote and performed seyeral short scenes in front of the class. Their topic was subverting gender roles. In all their skits, they questioned eyer and over again, what it means to he a inan or a woman and the power dynamics between the
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two groups. They used parody, sarcasm, and irony to reflect some of the issues that were raised in those discussions. One of the skits was called "He Said, She Said." Eelow is an excerpt that addresses some of the tensions and conflicts between the Inen and the women in the class. Some of these conversations were spoken in class and some of them were taken from discussions outside of class.
He Said, She Said M: So, what's wrong with an all guy's class? F: Why do you do everything with your penis in mind? M: You say you want to help us, but all you do is put us down. F: Not once did you even think to stand up for your sisters! M: Why are you getting so mad? I was just jolting. Can't you talte a joke? F: I can't belieye I share the same air with you. Look at you, you just hide behind your stupid jokes. M: Why are we the ones that all of you step on? We're already the lowest of the low! F: Stop reaffirming the stereotype. Why can't you just rise above that? M: Do you Itnow why we don't date you or talte you out? Because we're scared of you. You take oYer e~erything. F: You can't handle women like me. You're afraid of strong women. If a woman has a brain, you just run the other way. M: I want a woman who's strong and intelligent . . . and one who has a great bod. F: You say you want a strong and intelligent woman. But who do you go for? It's those 5 ' 2 " , 98 pounds, long-haired, bleached-blonde, bluelgreen 2-for-1 discount contacts wearing, oYer plucked eyebrow, tight jeans sporting with no ass slut hitch hoe! M: The girl I need should be like my cac One that I can control with fine skill; that gives me back all I give it; and one that never talks back because she agrees with every move that I make. F: I see the kind of shit you go for . . . (mimics Earh girl-talk) . . . what the hell is that?! M: Do you know why Asian men aren't dating? Because all of the women are dating White men! F: Oh, so your frequent masturbation habits are my fault?! M: I'm sorry, I'm busy right now (pretends to masturbate). F: You know, if you work hard enough, you'll get what you want . . . real;!I you will! M: If a girl dresses like that, you know she's gotta want it. F: That's not funny. I don't think there's anything funny when it comes to rape. M: You bitches are all alike! F: Fuckers! You're all fuckers and I hate you all!lY This short excerpt from one of the dramatic pieces exemplifies the more extreme exchanges between the men and the women in my course. Many of the responses
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that are not produced here are personal critiques of indiyidual students. Since many of the students know each other, they told me, in confidence, personal information about each other. Therefore, when I refer to the ways in which students "felt," I am using confidential con~ersationsand writings to support my claims. Clearl!; I cannot diyulge that kind of information hut the intensity of some of the conflicts is evident in the above excerpt. The frustration of not haying neatly packaged answers to the questions of masculinity was felt by many of the students hut at least some of the students have started the process of broadening their definitions of masculinity and de-reifying conventional social expectations of men and women. At the end of the performance, it was clear that the members in this group felt relieved. They said their dramatic presentation was cathartic in different ways. Hopefully, the healing process has begun. At the beginning of this study, I situated Asian A~nericanmen in a disempowered position within a broader cultural and social context. I argued that Asian American masculinity should not he determined by a hegemonic masculinity and that the construct of masculinity needs to he critiqued, redefined, and constantly challenged. After teaching this course, it is apparent that some young Asian American men do not have the critical tools to navigate competing masculinities nor do they want to critique patriarchy because some of the men haye not yet had access or can even look forward to enjoying the diyidends of patriarchy. H o w can they critique patriarchy when they do not feel that American culture and society have provided them with a sense of power as men?:(] Asian American masculinity, as a social construct, has been defined largely by the reproduction of stereotypes in American popular culture. Stuart Hall's analysis of the ideological effects perpetuated by the media helps to explain how the representational relationship between Asian Americans and the mainstream media in America have been "naturalized" in such an effectiye way that Asian American men have been rendered, for the most part, invisible. As such, Asian American men haye the responsibility to reclaim the discourse on masculinity on our own terms. The rigid social and cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity haye been contested by feminists and pro-feminist Inen on an ideological leyel for seyeral decades hut the actual practice of reconceptualizing masculine and feminine behavioral traits continues to he resisted in a still largely patriarchal society. Discarding the rigid hinarism of femininity and masculinity and the consequent reinrention of sexual identities is only one among many ways to subyert the boundaries of gender. To dismantle gender hierarchies, it is also necessary to overcome homophobia and sexism and to find ways to mitigate yiolence against women. We need to heed KingKok Cheung's charge that Asian American manhood should not he sustained by racial and sexual hierarchies. Paraphrasing Teresa de Lauretis' argument in Technologies of Gender, Cheung writes, A11 of us need to he conscious of our 'complicity with gender ideologies' of patriarch!; whateyer its origins, and to work toward notions of gender and
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ethnicity that are nonhierarchical, nonbinar!; and nonprescripti~e;that can embrace tensions rather than perpetuate diyisions." Unfortunatel!; the historical alienation from normative White masculinity has made it difficult to formulate alternative gender practices. It seems that some young heterosexual Asian American Inen are more concerned with a politics of inclusion to a hegemonic normative heteromasculinity rather than a politics of alliance with women and gay and lesbian groups. I believe that the historical alienation from normatiye White masculinity has been a primary force that has precluded Asian American men from formulating alternati~egender practices. Conceptually, it is easy to specify the goals to be attained but on a practical level, there is much work to be done. While we contest the misrepresentations of Asian American men in the media, Asian American men need to find alternati~emodels of masculinity and not he complicit in a patriarchal social order. We need to look beyond the compulsory heterosexual model of masculinity that has been scripted and rescripted by the editors of Aiiieeeee! since the 1970s.:' Writings and performances by Asian American Inen and discussions within Asian American men's groups offer ways to contribute to an Asian American masculinist discourse that is less concerned with accessing patriarchy and more invested in articulating a fluid and (se1f)critical sense of masculinity. Mainstream representations of Asian American Inen have created some false choices. O n the one hand, we have to he aware of the stereotypes, critique them, and resist the ideological effects of both the lack of representations and the misrepresentations of the media and popular culture. O n the other hand, simply countering those stereotypes may prioritize a White model of normative heteromasculinity. King-ICok Cheung argues that Asian American men "need to he wary of certain pitfalls in using what Focault calls 'reverse discourse,' in demanding legitimacy 'in the same vocabulary, using the same categories by which [they were] disqualified.":' My contention is that Asian American archetypes have shaped the discourse on Asian A~nericanmen's issues. Howeyer, in the process of debunking stereotypes, one must he willing to construct alternatiye models of masculinities while risking politically the stigmatization of effe~ninization/ho~nosexualization in order to ayoid reproducing a "reverse discourse." This dilemma is also manifested in my research where a hegemonic model of masculinity is still considered a coyeted masculine identity: to be manl!; one must reject the feminine and the homosexual. Michael I
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and collide."" It seems that the collusion of maintaining a n o r m a t i ~ eheteromasculinity and the collision of a disparate sociopolitical power structure among different racially specific models of masculinities illustrate the cultural and political anxieties involved in the articulation of a Chinese American masculinist discourse. O n one hand, the desire to identify with a normative heteromasculine model of masculinity is fueled by an urgent need to disinherit e~nasculatingrepresentations. O n the other hand, succumbing to those same norms reflect a willingness to adhere to a predominantly white model of masculinity. This hook is intended to explore the risks involved in articulating alternative models of masculinities that are not categorized as n o r m a t i ~ eand hetero~nasculinewhile disparate sociopolitical power structures still exist. My pro~isionalresponse to this question lies in a masculine model that is based upon a rejection of a compulsory heteromasculine norm while acknowledging that Chinese American men are still disempowered structurally due to institutionalized racism. Since the effects of racism experienced by Chinese American men are so d i ~ e r s eand complex, I want to focus on conceptualizing models of masculinity that are more fluid and indeterminate. In my analysis, I haye emphasized an ambi-sexual model of masculinity. This model strategically embraces non-patriarchal characteristics of masculinity, funda~nentalfeminist prim ciples of gender equality, and socially determined feminine characteristics that gesture towards a more "democratic" manhood. This model also suggests an ambivalence towards socially determined definitions of masculinity and the ambiguity component of this model proposes an ambiguous stance towards established gem der norms as a form of resistance. My repudiation of a compulsory heteromasculine norm underscores an attempt to dislodge the link between heterosexuality and masculine identity. Kimmel argues that masculinity is founded upon racism, homophobia and s e x i ~ m , and ~ ' it is clear to me that, in order to engage in a more meaningful discussion on masculinity from a marginalized position, there needs to be a re-definition of masculinity that is not constructed upon oppressi~eideologies. Ey disrupting the link between heterosexuality and a ~nasculinenorm, I hope to articulate a conceptual framework that focuses on an ambi-sexual masculine identity that is not easily compartmentalized in a dichotomous fashion. It is time for Asian American men to move beyond a critique of stereotypes and to d e ~ e l o pstrategies to empower oursel~esin opposition to patriarchal traditions and sexist ideologies.'"
NOTES 1. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the students who took my first Contemporary Asian American Men's Issz~escourse. It was a tremendous learning experience for me and thanlzs for the wonderful conversations on masculinities and related issues. 2. Is it even possible to define Asian American masculinity when there are so many generational, ethnic, and class differences among Asian American men? Part of the reason why I h a x decided to focus on Chinese A~nericanmasculinities is to
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acknowledge the di~ersityof Asian American men and emphasize that each Asian American group has a particular historical relationship to America's cultural history. 3. Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, Shawn Hsu Wong, eds., Aiiieeeee! (Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1974), xxxviii. 4. Jeffery Paul Chan, Franlr Chin, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Shawn Wong, eds., T h e Big Aiiieeeee! (New York: Meridian, 19911, xiii. 5. Joseph H. Pleck, T h e Myth of Masczdinity (Cambridge: The M I 7 Press, 19811, 160. 6. A11 of my students were Asian Americans. There were 1 7 men and 15 women in the course. Tn7o of the male students eventually withdrew from the class due to nonacademic related reasons. 7. Michael Messnel; Power at Play (Eoston: Eeacon Press, 19921, 1-23; and selected articles from Michael Messner and Donald F. Sabo, eds., Sport, Men, and the Gender Order: Critical Feminist Perspectives (Champaign: Human Kinetics Boolrs, 1990). 8. Gus Lee, China Bo)' (New Yorlr: Signet, 1992); Shawn Wong, Homebase (New Yorlr: Plume, 1991). 9. Valerie Soe, Picturing Oriental Girls (1992); Jachinson Chan, American Inheritance (1995);Lee Mull Wah, Color of Fear (1995). 10. Dan IZwong's Asian Men's WritingIPerforining Workshop has been perforining "EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED T O K N O W ABOUT ASIAN MEN'""but didn't give enough of a shit to ask" since 1994. At my invitation, they performed at the MultiCultural Center at UCSB. The performance was open to other students while students of As Am 1.34 (Asian Ainerican Men's Issues) were required to attend. 11. There is a bar in Santa Earhara that fits this description and when I, along with two other Asian American men, went into the bar to see what would happen, I was not surprised. One customer thought that we were waiters from the Japanese restaurant across the street. When we sat down at the end of the bar, one client looked at us with disgust and walked away. After we ordered some drinks, we noticed a couple staring us down; they started to imitate some foreign language and began to laugh. The experience was not dramatic and the exchanges were not necessarily hostile, but the re-confirmation-that if we were White, we would not have had the same experience-of our discomfort was troubling, to say the least. 12. Due to the sensitive nature of the discussion, I think that the women's perceptions of the men's b e h a ~ i o rmay h a x been magnified. 01; I was so focused on the women's discussion that I did not pick up on what the men were doing outside of the circle. 13. A colleague of mine recommended Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpaclring the Invisible I
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ity and femininity into "a melange of some ~ a g u e l ydefined 'human' qualities," is not helpful. My notion of a strategically indeterminate gendered identity refers to a more targeted approach towards appropriating normative gender traits. For instance, redefining domestic work as a shared responsibility, not a gendered one; but more importantl!; one needs to be able to reject the social stigma of redefining a space and not be affected by typical "emasc~ilatory" comments. See Michael I
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matiye masculinity in America and more emphasis will he placed on how representations of Asian Inen as a c t i ~ e powerful, , and comedic agents will change the way Asian A~nericanmasculinities are defined. For instance, characters played by Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Jet Li do not, on a consistent basis, enact on-screen a single trajectory of heterosexual desire and yet they are considered by some to be quite masculine.
Copyright 2001 by Jachinson Chan
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