Protest against film Rising Sun in Times Square (New York City)
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This photographs shows a crowded scene in front of a movie theater. On its marquee, adorned in red block letters, is a title: RISING SUN. On the street, members of CAAAV hold signs as tourists pass by, reading “Japanese men sleeping with white women! Get the lynch mob,”[1] and other images depict the sign “Gangsters, businessmen & waiters – we demand better roles for Asian actors.”[2]
This protest was one of many. Asian-American activists had been vocal about their problems with Rising Sun – citing its use of caricaturized depictions of Asian people and the way it promoted violence against them – and groups across the country had organized demonstrations for its premier in 1993.[3]
Asian representation in film has long been lacking. Asian characters make up only 1% of leading roles, and when they do appear they often embody harmful stereotypes.[4] Asian men in particular are frequently portrayed as emasculated and sexless or, in the case of Rising Sun, as predatory businessmen with criminal connections.[5]
Many of these harmful tropes stem from the racist and xenophobic fear, originating in the 1870s, that Asian immigration constituted a threat to the white Western world. This fear, often known as the idea of “Yellow Peril,” was particularly obvious in the pervasive anxiety that Asian men might corrupt white women.[6]
Rising Sun stokes these twin fears. It tells the story of police investigating the death of a white female escort, whose body was discovered in the offices of a powerful Japanese company.[7] As stated, both the fears of Asian people gaining power in the (white) American business world and of Asian men taking advantage of defenseless white women are baseless and rooted in historical xenophobia. Despite this, Rising Sun portrays them with no nuance or criticism.
That CAAAV and other activist groups organized demonstrations against Rising Sun is unsurprising, given the material consequences that arise when these racist ideas are promoted in popular media. Not only do they take root in people’s imaginations – people who may “have little contact with Asian and Pacific Americans,” and on whom “the impact of films, television, and print is likely to be profound” – but they also foster real-life violence.[8]
Backlash against the film cited this point. Michael Ishii, chairman of the New York Coalition Against Rising Sun, noted that “The message is that it’s okay to attack Asians, and that it’s a patriotic thing to do.”[9] Even Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, a Japanese American actor with a prominent role in the film, stated, “I’ve played a lot of stereotypes…But the angst from all the violence, and the fear that we as Asians feel everyday leaving our door in America wondering whether we’re going to come home, all that kind of angst is being dumped on Rising Sun.”[10]
The signs that the CAAAV members hold in these photographs decry the state of Asian representation in Hollywood, although the “better roles for Asian actors” have largely failed to materialize in the nearly three decades since this protest.[11] What’s more, the signs also echo the sentiments of Ishii and Tagawa, particularly in the evocative reference to “the lynch mob” that can form when non-Asian people perceive Asians as a threat to their power or their civilization. The fact that this threat of violence remains a problem even now highlights that there is still a need to push for equal representation in media to this day.
Notes
[1] “Protest against film Rising Sun in Times Square (New York City),” CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Digital Archive, accessed March 18, 2021, http://maggie.hosting.nyu.edu/caaav/admin/items/show/1091
[2] “Better Roles for Asian Actors,” CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Digital Archive, accessed March 18, 2021, http://maggie.hosting.nyu.edu/caaav/admin/items/show/1042
[3] Nisid Hajari, “’Rising Sun’ Stirs Controversy,” EW.com (Entertainment Weekly, August 6, 1993), https://ew.com/article/1993/08/06/rising-sun-stirs-controversy/.
[4] Thessaly La Force, “Why Do Asian-Americans Remain Largely Unseen in Film and Television?,” The New York Times (The New York Times, November 6, 2018), https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/t-magazine/asian-american-actors-representation.html.
[5] Jennifer Richards, “Portrayals of Asians in Film and Television: Get Started,” Ithaca College Library (Ithaca College), accessed March 18, 2021, https://libguides.ithaca.edu/c.php?g=861718&p=6175738.
[6] Teresa A. Mok, “Getting the Message: Media Images and Stereotypes and Their Effect on Asian Americans,” Cultural Diversity & Mental Health 4 (3) http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.nyu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edo&AN=31159946&site=eds-live.
[7] “Rising Sun,” IMDb (IMDb.com, July 30, 1993), https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107969/.
[8] Stanley Sue and James K. Morishima, The Mental Health of Asian Americans, Jossey-Bass, 1982. http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.nyu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=68339687&site=eds-live.
[9] Hajari, “’Rising Sun’ Stirs Controversy.”
[10] Hajari, “’Rising Sun’ Stirs Controversy.”
[11] La Force, “Why Do Asian-Americans Remain Largely Unseen in Film and Television?,” The New York Times, November 6, 2018.
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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.
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