CHINA DOLL STEREOTYPE

Today, race is an institutional part of the American society and has played a role in
shaping American consciousness. In his book Racist Culture: Philosophy and the Politics of
Meaning, Goldberg (1993) argues that racial discourse may be interpreted as academic,
aversive, legalistic, economic, scientific bureaucratic’ linguistic’ regional, cultural, mythical,
or ideological (Espiritu). In media, China Doll has been defined as a hyper sexualized Asian
stereotype for a long time. It is one of the most demeaning characterizations of Asian women,
implying the idea that the Asian women are shy, sexualized, and weak and are always
rescued by white men (Carner). This essay explains how the film industry has portrayed the
Asian American woman in as China Dolls, women who are sexualized and submissive.
According to Marson (2004), the Asian woman is supposedly overly feminine,
sexually active, exotic, and eager to please the male gender which is termed as China Doll
and appears in popular movies. One example of the China Doll character is portrayed in the
movie The World of Suzie Wong is a famous 1960 British American romantic movie directed
by Richard Quine. It is one of a few Hollywood movies with many Asian stereotypes. Suzie
Wong is a prostitute fitting in the role of a Chinese seducer. She tries seducing a white artist –
Robert Lomax – to sleep with her in a bid to increase her prestige. Later in the film, she
transforms to a fragile lady in need of care from her man leading to a classified Hollywood
pattern of Asians being rescued by white men.
In the movie, Suzie has an apparent desire to be beaten by the white artist. She brags
to her prostitute friends on how Robert beats her out of jealous rage even when she looks at
other men. Robert does not do anything of the sort, but Suzie believes that violence equals
love. Ben of Suzie’s client offers to make Suzie his mistress which she agrees in order to
make Robert jealous. The Doll character is portrayed on Suzie’s return to her previous life in
prostitution when Robert started having financial problems.

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Return to Paradise, a recent film directed by Joseph Reuben in 1998 where the China
Doll character appears. It is set in Malaysia where three white American male friends spend
time sniffing cheap cocaine, lying on the beach and sleeping with local girls. The Asian girls
are prostitutes from poor families who offer their bodies to rich men. The Asian women in
the movie are not Asian American but it still portrays the pride of Asians and white men
because the men are rich and white. The constant depiction of the Asian American women in
movies has predominately affected the view of Asian Americans.
Old stereotypes are still persistent in contemporary television and films
representations of Asians. For example representation of Asian as a China doll in the Year of
the Dragon, a 1985 neo-noir action film that was directed by Michael Climino. A white
police chief is the leading character who portrays racist tendencies towards the Chinese in the
movie. He is depicted trying to eliminate violence in Chinatown, New York. In order to
crack-down on violence stories on TV broadcasts in Chinatown, he befriends an Asian
America news anchor. The police officer is depicted as a selfish and arrogant man and the
news anchor dislikes him because of his derogatory remarks on her being Chinese. The Asian
American woman refuses to air his story. When the police officer goes to the woman’s house,
he pressures her to have sex with him where she caves in to his proposal despite rejections
prior to engaging in sexual intercourse. The police officer is married and becomes
romantically involved with a television reporter. The movie not only shows that Asian
American women are indecisive and passive, but also stresses their need and want to have sex
with white men even after saying no.
In memoirs of geisha, a contemporary movie, Rob Mashall the director tells the story
of a young Japanese girl who was hustled into the world of Geisha. He portrays an accurate
depiction of Asian woman especially by portraying how western influence destroyed
Japanese culture. The Geishas are sexualized and led to the prostitution world and their

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intimacy is mistaken for prostitution. This movie is a breakthrough film as the director has
cast Asian women for all the Asians roles. Hollywood is coming along way in casting general
ethinicities but the Asian community still has discrepancies.
In all the films, the China Doll Stereotype emerges. The Asian American ladies in the
films are seen to be sexualized and submissive and end up being saved by a white man.
Prostitution has been portrayed as an attribute for Asian American girls and women who are
financially unstable and who mainly target rich white men. This is well portrayed in the film
Return to Paradise where local girls engage in sexual relations with three white men.
Similarly, in The World of Suzie Wong, Suzie is a prostitute before meeting Robert and
returns to prostitution when Robert faces financial difficulties. They get involved with them
even after they are previously not interested. The characters in the films are mostly saved by
white men, as seen in The World of Suzie Wong, they tend to totally change to fragile women
which is in contrast to The Return to Paradise.
These negative stereotypes affect the Asians in America negatively leading to low
esteem and discrimination in relationships. Asian portrayals have evolved from when they
were first screened in theatres. In the beginning Asian characters were played by white actors
who wore winged eyeliner and prosthetic eyelids with culturally inappropriate clothes. Asian
women are still patronized and sexualized in the media even in their minor roles. As
illustrated in the memoirs of Geisha, the Asian women are continually depicted as fragile and
weak though many are quite the opposite. They have come a long way in terms of being
depicted in the media but they have a long way to go before receiving a correct identification
in the screen.

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Reference

Carner, Talia. China Doll. New York: Mecox Hudson, 2006. Print.
Espiritu, Yen Le. “Race, Class And Genger; An Anthropology”. Ideological, racism and
cultural resistance; constructing our own images 175.184 (2004): n. pag. Print.b
Goldberg, D. (1993). Racist culture: Philosophy and the politics of meaning. Cambridge,
Mass.: Blackwell.
Mason, Patrick L. Encyclopedia Of Race And Racism. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA,

2013. Print.