Images Of Chinese People In Hollywood Films From Past To Present

Recent years has witnessed an increase in the number of Hollywood filmsfeaturing Chinese characters. Chinese people were first shown in Hollywood moviesat the end of the19thcentury. Since then, the images of Chinese people haveundergone changes. What are the features of Hollywood imaging of Chinese people atdifferent times in history? What are the reasons underlying these changes? These arethe two questions this thesis will try to answer.The images of Chinese people have undergone four changes in Hollywoodmovies since the silent film era. The period from the1890s to1937,1937to1949,1949to1972and1972to present are characterized by different attitudes towardsChinese people, namely, discrimination, recognition, hostility and assimilation, anddiversified representation. Hollywood films constitute an important part of Americansoft power, which is aimed at enhancing the national interest of the United States. Sothe changes in China-US relations are inevitably reflected in Hollywood’s portrayal ofChinese people. Furthermore, the commercial nature of Hollywood drives it to pursuemaximum profit. With declining domestic film market, Hollywood tries to exploreoverseas markets, of which an increasingly important one is Chinese film market. Thepolitical and commercial factors are believed to underlie the changes of Chinesepeople’s images in Hollywood films.