Man Addresses a Crowd at the "Rising Sun" Protest
Title
Man Addresses a Crowd at the "Rising Sun" Protest
Description
At first glance, this photograph may seem vague or confusing to the viewer. The image captures an older CAAAV member speaking to a large gathering of protesters outside of a movie theater in downtown Manhattan. While no movie title is included in the signage that surrounds the speaker, the words that are visible give us as viewers a few clues about the film in question. A CAAAV banner, as well as one representing the New York Coalition of Asian and Pacific Islanders, are front and center, making it clear that this film contributes in a significant way to the discrimination against and marginalization of Asians. Right in front, a young child holds a sign reading, “Crichton is a Racist Dinosaur”, and finally, the last piece of the puzzle falls into place. “Crichton'' is Michael Crichton, American filmmaker and author of Jurassic Park, and the film in question is the 1993 adaptation of his novel Rising Sun.
Though not the first film to be protested by CAAAV and groups like it, Rising Sun is a significant example, as the crime thriller starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes includes many instances of Asian stereotyping and marginalization. Rising Sun, written by Crichton and directed by Phillip Kaufman (two white men) contained many discriminatory elements, including reductive, stereotypical character tropes, plot points that manufacture fear of surreptitious Japanese control over American institutions, and scenes that rely on the perceived animosity between African Americans and Asians for humor. While, according to Don Nakanishi, then-director of the Asian Studies Center at UCLA, members of the film industry “clearly [didn’t] try to accommodate any of [their] concerns”, many prominent figures in Asian-American communities throughout the United States expressed their concerns that “the book, dramatized into a slick Hollywood movie, could feed the physical violence [towards Asians] that is already out there.”[1] An excerpt from the Fall 1993 edition of the CAAAV Voice states, “virtually all of the film’s Japanese male characters are portrayed as venal and sexually deviant foreigners bent on taking over American Institutions”[2] and Michael Ishii, spokesmen of the New York Coalition Against Rising Sun, explained to an Entertainment Weekly reporter at the time that the film’s themes spread the message that “it’s okay to attack Asians [...] and that it’s the patriotic thing to do”. [3]
CAAAV’s protest against Rising Sun, which joined many protests led by groups including the Japanese American Citizens’ League and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans all over the United States [4], highlights the organization’s commitment to calling out anti-Asian rhetoric and discrimination in all forms. While physical violence and attacks against Asian individuals, businesses, and neighborhoods are often the most visible and visceral instances of discrimination, social and cultural perpetuation of harmful stereotypes and hate speech can do just as much damage to a community. As the CAAAV Voice states, “these protests were staged to educate moviegoers about the film’s insidious stereotyping”[5]. CAAAV members used this protest to speak out against the film itself, but also to educate and start a dialogue about how seemingly-benign entertainment can have harmful effects on marginalized groups.
Notes
[1] Elaine Dutka, “Asian Americans: Rising Furor Over ‘Rising Sun’,”The Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1993, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-07-28-ca-17863-story.html.
[2] “Rising Sun! Rising Hate!”CAAAV Voice 5, no. 2 (Fall 1993): 3, https://caaav.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Voice_Fall_1993.pdf.
[3] Nisid Hajari, “Rising Sun Stirs Controversy”, Entertainment Weekly, August 6, 1993, https://ew.com/article/1993/08/06/rising-sun-stirs-controversy/.
[4] Robert Payne, “Rising Sun: An Interview with Guy Aoki”, Jump Cut, March 1996, 30. https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC40folder/AokiOnRisingSun.html
[5] "Rising Sun! Rising Hate!": 3.
Though not the first film to be protested by CAAAV and groups like it, Rising Sun is a significant example, as the crime thriller starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes includes many instances of Asian stereotyping and marginalization. Rising Sun, written by Crichton and directed by Phillip Kaufman (two white men) contained many discriminatory elements, including reductive, stereotypical character tropes, plot points that manufacture fear of surreptitious Japanese control over American institutions, and scenes that rely on the perceived animosity between African Americans and Asians for humor. While, according to Don Nakanishi, then-director of the Asian Studies Center at UCLA, members of the film industry “clearly [didn’t] try to accommodate any of [their] concerns”, many prominent figures in Asian-American communities throughout the United States expressed their concerns that “the book, dramatized into a slick Hollywood movie, could feed the physical violence [towards Asians] that is already out there.”[1] An excerpt from the Fall 1993 edition of the CAAAV Voice states, “virtually all of the film’s Japanese male characters are portrayed as venal and sexually deviant foreigners bent on taking over American Institutions”[2] and Michael Ishii, spokesmen of the New York Coalition Against Rising Sun, explained to an Entertainment Weekly reporter at the time that the film’s themes spread the message that “it’s okay to attack Asians [...] and that it’s the patriotic thing to do”. [3]
CAAAV’s protest against Rising Sun, which joined many protests led by groups including the Japanese American Citizens’ League and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans all over the United States [4], highlights the organization’s commitment to calling out anti-Asian rhetoric and discrimination in all forms. While physical violence and attacks against Asian individuals, businesses, and neighborhoods are often the most visible and visceral instances of discrimination, social and cultural perpetuation of harmful stereotypes and hate speech can do just as much damage to a community. As the CAAAV Voice states, “these protests were staged to educate moviegoers about the film’s insidious stereotyping”[5]. CAAAV members used this protest to speak out against the film itself, but also to educate and start a dialogue about how seemingly-benign entertainment can have harmful effects on marginalized groups.
Notes
[1] Elaine Dutka, “Asian Americans: Rising Furor Over ‘Rising Sun’,”The Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1993, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-07-28-ca-17863-story.html.
[2] “Rising Sun! Rising Hate!”CAAAV Voice 5, no. 2 (Fall 1993): 3, https://caaav.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Voice_Fall_1993.pdf.
[3] Nisid Hajari, “Rising Sun Stirs Controversy”, Entertainment Weekly, August 6, 1993, https://ew.com/article/1993/08/06/rising-sun-stirs-controversy/.
[4] Robert Payne, “Rising Sun: An Interview with Guy Aoki”, Jump Cut, March 1996, 30. https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC40folder/AokiOnRisingSun.html
[5] "Rising Sun! Rising Hate!": 3.
Date
Circa 1993
Contributor
Emma Griffin
This post was completed as coursework for HIST-GA 3901 Community Archives, taught by Maggie Schreiner, in the Archives and Public History MA program at New York University.
This post was completed as coursework for HIST-GA 3901 Community Archives, taught by Maggie Schreiner, in the Archives and Public History MA program at New York University.
Rights
Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities.
Format
Photograph
Identifier
CAAAV_1538
Files
Citation
“Man Addresses a Crowd at the "Rising Sun" Protest,” CAAAV Digital Archive, accessed September 21, 2024, https://archives.caaav.org/items/show/1722.