Consequently, the social overlay for Asian men splits sharply between those who see them through the distorting lens of media stereotypes and those whose perceptions are based on actual social or professional contact.
Illustrating this split is a 1994 UCLA study in which subjects drawn from the UCLA community — with its high concentrations of Asian students and professors — were shown images of Asian and caucasian men and asked to rate them for qualities like “powerful”, “caring” and “trustworthy”. A majority of subjects rated Asian men higher on all three — a complete reversal of the prevailing perception based on America's stereotypical views of Asian men.
Racial Typecasting
An even greater distortion in American perceptions of male beauty across racial lines is the tendency to assign distorted norms that reflect racial typecasting. To Asian men American society has assigned as the norm a round baby face with earnest eyes, weak nose and weak chin. These are clearly feminine traits by universal standards of male beauty, but non-Asian Americans tend to see them as the ideal features for an Asian male because they fit him into the role cast for Asian males in American society — namely a non-threatening clerical or ancillary figure.
Asian Men in Early American Movies
Things weren't always that way. For three decades beginning in 1915 Japan-born Sessue Hayakawa became one of Hollywood's most successful leading men, with an American following that rivaled those of Charlie Chaplain, John Barrymore and Douglas Fairbanks. In 1918 he was Paramount's first choice to play the lead in The Sheik, the role that launched second-choice Rudolph Valentino. It's worth noting, however, that despite his popularity, Hayakawa's career did suffer due to a dark new social overlay on Japanese men. After The Sheik, Hayakawa was given many starring roles, including several with sex appeal, but none in which he was the romantic leading man. Even as he was earnings millions a year, Hayakawa was limited to roles in which he played the wicked anti-hero. By the mid 1930s Hayakawa's Hollywood career became a victim of the talkies and the tensions leading up to World War II.
But even the social overlay imposed by World War II and the Corean (Korean) War didn't entirely preclude American audiences from enjoying handsome Asian leading men. During the 1960s James Shigeta's dashing good looks and gravelly baritone earned him several leading-man roles in major Hollywood films, including The Crimson Kimono in which his character beat out a white rival to win the white heroine's heart. Even in the 1970s and 1980s when Shigeta was well into his middle years, he was cast in roles that called on his leading man image.
During the Vietnam era as liberalized immigration policies began doubling and trebling America's long-suppressed Asian population, the Asian male became targets of scorn and ridicule. Even the concept of a beautiful Asian man became an oxymoron. The intensity of the assault on the image of the Asian male reflected the degree of threat Asian men were posing militarity, economically, and on the broader geopolitical front as Japan, China and Corea (Korea) continued their climb up the global economic food chain. This intense suppression of the Asian male explains much of the equally intense devotion inspired by the late Bruce Lee both before and after his death in 1975.
Rediscovering Asian Men
More recently, however, the emotional depth charges once set off by images of Asian men are giving way to a yearning for better relations with a continent now recognized as an essential ally in the war against terror. Mainstream America has become more receptive to the beauty of Asian male features. Eurasian actors Keanu Reeves, Russell Wong and Dean Cain show that the features possessed by many Asian men are appealing to American audiences. The success of Asian transplants Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat shows that the social overlay on even pure Asian men no longer precludes them from enjoying a following on this side of the Pacific.
Thus, the social overlay that once made Asian men seem like the embodiment of anti-American values is evolving into a something more neutral. Americans are now beginning to judge Asian male features more objectively and less emotionally. A good-looking Asian man is more likely to be seen as a good-looking man and not as the incarnation of the geopolitical nemesis or the economic rival. This trend has been greatly helped by the far larger numbers of native-born or acculturated Asian American men who have moved into respected positions in business, government, academia and the media. The day may not be far off when Asian male features may come to enjoy a positive social overlay that reflects our actual socio-economic status in American society.
Sessue Hayakawa's splashy career as a major Hollywood star began in 1914 and lasted through World War II and into the 1950s. Despite his early success as a romantic hero, Hayakawa was increasingly relegated to anti-hero roles in his later career.
“A good-looking Asian man is more likely to be seen as a good-looking man and not as the incarnation of the geopolitical nemesis or the economic rival. ”
Americans have been charmed by Eurasian actors like Keanu Reeves, Dean Cain and Russell Wong.
