The old 'white actor playing a Chinese man' trick: Get Smart and race
Article
Article Title | The old 'white actor playing a Chinese man' trick: Get Smart and race |
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ERA Journal ID | 201561 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Harmes, Meredith A. (Author), Harmes, Marcus K. (Author) and Harmes, Barbara (Author) |
Journal Title | The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture |
Journal Citation | 4 (1), pp. 43-55 |
Number of Pages | 13 |
Year | 2015 |
Place of Publication | Bristol, UK |
ISSN | 2045-5852 |
2045-5860 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1386/ajpc.4.1.43_1 |
Web Address (URL) | http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=19243/ |
Abstract | This article examines the portrayal of Chinese characters in Get Smart (1965–70). Get Smart was a 1960s American spy comedy based on the premise of good (Control) against evil (KAOS) set against the back drop of the Cold War. Many of the episodes in this comedy featured a Chinese character as the enemy. This article will examine the way the characterization and performance of the Chinese roles play out in Get Smart. It locates them within the long-standing but now highly dubious tradition of ‘yellowface’ casting in American vaudeville, theatre and cinema, as Caucasian actors almost always played the Chinese roles in Get Smart. More particularly it examines Get Smart and especially the episodes with Chinese characters as examples of adaptation. Doing so suggests that different and at times competing conceptions of Chinese archetypes have been brought onto the screen, from the oriental villainy of Sax Rohmer and Ian Fleming to the criminal detective genius of Earl Derr Biggers’ Chan stories. These archetypes (and indeed stereotypes would be a better word in some instances), nonetheless permit the argument that Get Smart brings onto the screen a reasonably complex understanding of its Chinese characters and a critical view of the American characters. |
Keywords | Get Smart, American television comedy, race, Fu Manchu, yellowface casting, espionage |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 430321. North American history |
360505. Screen media | |
470214. Screen and media culture | |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | School of Arts and Communication |
Open Access College | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q2z36/the-old-white-actor-playing-a-chinese-man-trick-get-smart-and-race
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