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Peter X Feng, associate professor of English and women’s studies at UD

1:40 p.m., Sept. 10, 2003--The Fox Movie Channel, responding to concerns voiced by a coalition of Asian American organizations, plans to televise four restored Charlie Chan films this month but will do so in conjunction with roundtable discussions addressing racial stereotypes, the casting of non-Asians in Asiatic roles and race relations in America.

Among the panelists will be Peter X Feng, University of Delaware associate professor of English and women’s studies and author of the book “Identities in Motion: Asian American Film and Video.”

Feng was recommended as a panelist by the Asian coalition. Other panelists include the actor George Takei, best known for his performances in “Star Trek,” who moderates the discussions; Helen Zia, author of “Asian American Dreams”; Stephen Gong, associate director of the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive; Yvonne Lee, former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; Frank Wu, law professor at Howard University and author of “Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White”; and actors Parry Shen, Roger Fan and Ken Narasaki.

Although Feng has not seen the edited version of the discussions, he said the conversations were engaging.

“I have mixed feelings about Fox Movie Channel's decision to show these movies,” Feng said. “I do not believe in burying our history and pretending these things never existed, and showing the movies with some historical context is an excellent solution. That said, I still think that the decision to show these movies reveals insensitivity to Asian Americans.

“Fox Movie Channel and other networks are sensitive to the African American community,” Feng said. “Can you imagine what would happen if they announced plans to show a series of movies with a white actor portraying a caricature of a black man? They know it would be controversial; they know it would be insensitive. But it took protest from the Asian American community to bring these issues to light. So ultimately, I think the decision to show these movies in the first place reveals that Asian Americans are not accorded respect in the public arena.

“I don't hate the Charlie Chan films, I enjoy some of them,” Feng said. “Chan is a great character. But the films are very condescending toward his American-born children. While Charlie Chan may get some respect, other Chinese American characters are still derided.”

Feng noted that in the 1930s and 1940s, Asian characters typically were played by white actors, particularly for lead roles involving interracial romance plots. “In current times it is no longer considered acceptable for a white actor to don ‘yellowface’ to portray an Asian character but the roles for Asian American actors are extremely limited,” he said.

Feng said that while a number of actors from Hong Kong–notably Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat and Jet Li–have had some success in Hollywood, they rarely portray American characters and are almost always clearly foreign. “Of course, these actors are all cast for the physical abilities rather than their acting skills,” he said. “Even Chow Yun-Fat, who is not trained as a martial artist, has become best known for kung fu action movies in the U.S.”

Fox Movie Channel, which is a cable channel, will air “Murder Over New York” beginning at 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 13; “Charlie Chan at the Opera” at 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 14; “Castle in the Desert” at 10 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 15; and “Charlie Chan in Honolulu” at 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 15. All films will be repeated throughout the month.

Article by Neil Thomas
Photo by Kathy Atkinson

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