Slaying the Dragon (1988 TV Movie) User Reviews

VERY EYE-OPENING VIEW OF DEPICTION OF AA WOMEN IN MEDIA

[qtnn · 10/10 · 16 March 2004]

This is a really a fantastic, eye-opening, critical look at the history of American media's images of Asian/-American women. I do NOT think it's supposed to be a history of actresses (as a previous reviewer described).

I saw this in college and was blown away by the blatant archetypes (dragon lady v. lotus blossom), but also the subtle shifts in portrayal depending on how mainstream Americans feel about Asia. I valued the unknown attempts by actresses such as Anna Mae Wong to broaden their roles.

The most hilarious part was Asian American anchorwomen describing how broadcasters wanted to Connie Chung-ize them all. OK, almost as hilarious as the footage of Caucasian actors with taped eyelids, like Marlon Brando and Katherine Hepburn.

The only downside is that the documentary's 20 years old. I hope it gets updated soon.

This is must-see for all Asian American women, but would also be very entertaining/enlightening for everyone else.

Interesting but somewhat biased documentary

[weenapoon · 2/10 · 23 March 2002]

This is a documentary about the history of Asian actresses in Hollywood. Even today, we still need more positive roles to improve the perception of Asian American women in the media. I liked the montage of images from classic movies such as "The Good Earth" and "Flower Drum Song" that showed the Chinese in a positive light. These images contrast with disturbing clips of movies that portray Asians as evil villains. It was very sad that back then the few good Asian roles out there usually went to non-Asian actresses wearing ridiculous heavy "oriental" makeup. However, rather than celebrating the efforts of pioneering actresses such as Anna May Wong and Nancy Kwan, the documentary would rather run them into the ground. Also, there was no mention of France Nuyen, another popular early Asian actress, which I thought was a bit unfair. In many ways these actresses helped "open the door" for the Asian actresses of today. So in summary, I would say it was in an interesting but, disappointedly, a somewhat biased documentary.