Chinese American Masculinities: From Fu Manchu to Bruce Lee (Studies in Asian Americans)
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Chinese American Masculinities: From Fu Manchu to Bruce Lee (Studies in Asian Americans)
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(2 Votes)Review
...an important text...a valuable contribution to the growing scholarship on media and popular culture, masculinity and gender studies, cultural studies, and, of course, Asian and Asian American studies. Also original, and extremely useful for those interested innot just textual analysis but also in pedagogy and social change, is Chan's own thoughtful reflection on his own course Journal of Asian Studies.
poor research, November 5, 2003
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05/11/2003
05/11/2003
Good book plagued bottom:0.5em;">
Let me preface my review purposes to Fu Manchu's ambitions and the last few books see the character more on the side of the Western protagonists in defeating their common enemy. What is more, Fu Manchu was part of a tradition (owing much to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarity and Sherlock Holmes) of villains and heroes with veiled admiration for one another and who would clearly unite if not for their divisive principles. The author seems to be reacting more to the hackneyed portrayal of the character in film and television adaptations (which are far from faithful to Rohmer's text). Case-in-point, the infamous Fu Manchu moustache which the author emphasizes as a racial stereotype is not the invention of the character's creator who described Fu Manchu as devoid of facial hair in all thirteen novels and four shorter works that he appeared in. Even in the earliest, most racially insensitive books, Rohmer was quick to note that most Chinese immigrants were law-abiding citizens. The harmful stereotype that sprung from the character developed seperately from the writer who loved all things Eastern and wanted to share that love with his readers the world over.
A Customer
So much of men's studies does not take | 
28/12/2001
28/12/2001
American men, and sometimes Latino men. Thus, Chan's book is a direly needed intervention. The book focuses upon Chinese-American men, but it is applicable to Asian-Ams of many ethnicities. This book would be a wonderful edition to any collection of Asian-American studies texts or works on men of color. Chan has two projects. First, he discusses the history and racist underpinnings of four Chinese-Am men in popular culture of this century: Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Shiang-Chi. Second, Chan is trying to formulate a Chinese-American masculinity that is neither sexist nor homophobic. He thus encourages "ambi-sexuality" and borrows the idea of "democratic manhood" from Michael Kimmel. My only critique of this text is that it did not have photos of the characters Chan examines. (I mean, I have heard of Charlie Chan, but I've never seen any of the decades-old films that use him.) In brief, if you enjoyed what Lisa Lowe said about Asian-American women in "Immigrant Acts", you will really love what Chan says about male counterparts in this book. Many readers may be turned off American man should own this book. I am very pleased that I bought and read this book; it's brilliant!
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