Asians in Western Drama: the Changing Face Depiction - Essay Example

?Hali Castro Tobin TH315 OL Taylor Asians in the Western Drama: The Changing Face of the Depiction It was quite late in the nineteenth century that the rich culture of Asia appealed Western playwrights to bring these foreign characters in their dramas and plays. It was on account of the entry of the western traders who brought the elements of these cultures back to their native lands (Frazier, 2005). Though Asian theaters and plays significantly marked the history of the continent yet the appearance of these characters in a changed and alien scenario gave birth to a new phase of drama (Dimitrova, 2004).The provided support for this statement can be witnessed in the examples of the production “Miss Siagon”, “Pacific Overtures”, and “Yellow Face” (Frazier, 2005). All three are the Asian influenced musicals and are the supportive assistance for the opening statement of this paper. The portrayal of the Asian characters’ Post colonial approach brought the literatures of the two poles very closer and today we can find an Asian playing the role of the protagonist or the main supportive character in comparison to the early days of the century where an Asian character was mere a symbol of unwanted occupation (King, 2007). One of the examples of such plays is “Yellow Face” by Henry Hwang in which the appearance of Jonathan Pryce; a white British man as Asian character has been a matter of controversy for over a year and Hwang has to face number of projections and accusations of angry white race who strongly protested for the enactment of Pryce as an Asian character. The purpose of my paper is to primarily focus on the appearance of the Asian characters in Western plays but Yellow Face is a clear example of what this type of play has to go through in contemporary society before it appears as a theatrical performance (Winston, 1998). “Yellow Face” by Henry Hwang is the reactionary result of the protest raised at the casting of Welsh actor Jonathan as an Asian pimp. This constitutes a basic and historic step of the Asian-American presentation of plays. Henry Hwang has to face the music of the public for bringing a controversial character and adding in the changing history of depiction. Engineer’s club has been a matter of controversy in literary houses and some people claim that it was not the racism which created the Engineer’s character, but the imaginary creation of a fictional character by two French men and one English man. Hwang found it extremely difficult for him to tell his theatre fellows that presenting a Welsh as an Asian pimp was very much the same as the Caucasians appearing in black masks. It was very uncomfortable for him to bring his contemporary theatre fellows to this understanding and get them convinced. Asian appearance in western plays does not involve only the racial factor but also the physical appearance, citizenship, national origin and geography factors. Yet the above mentioned play is a testament that this foreign appearance is always a showcase of the producer’s school of though and mindsets. The play is cathartic in spirit and provides frequent funny explorations on the topic. Hwang goes one step further and conjures the character of Marcus who is mainly flawed and provides the vision to the audience that no one is left out. Marcus is widely perceived as Asian though in reality he is not. This provides major assistance in giving a red signal to those who made a lot of noise for the new experimentation genre of art and did not leave it an experiment but made a racial issue (Li, 2007). It appeals to people of all colors, who at first or second glance find themselves engaged in the racial fights directly or indirectly, providing them a showcase of how complex issues are raised on simple struggles. In the beginning of this experimental genre of introducing Asian characters in American plays, the focus of the western writer was primarily upon the struggles of Asians in different parts of the Western world and secondary touch was given to the Asian life style and homeland traditions (Walker and Wise, 2005). Even before that masks were used by the white actors for enacting the role of an Asian which proved that they were undesired people for West. The strong conventions of the theatre have been challenged by the entry of these Asian characters in the Western dramas (Cardullo, 2010). “Yellow Face” subsequently marks the answer to all the objections put on the production of “Miss Saigon”. The credit is undoubtedly given to Hwang for being the winner of numerous Tony Awards, who has been successful in his purpose of producing provocative, funny and purposeful plays (Winston, 1998). In “Pacific Overtures” Asian art has been revived through the musical in the way Japanese have reacted to the American decision of establishing a “floated kingdom” (Lei, 2006). The way Japanese defended them and made Americans a failure apparently invites the audience to give applause for the Asian appearance who can go to the utmost extent in holding onto their identity and bidding the westerns away from their land (Li, 2007). This is very unusual in the stereotypical appearance of the Asian souls in the western plays, where the audience assumes any Asian found in the play longs to be a part of the western land and ready to sell everything for having the dream life that the Western world seems to offer (Dimitrova, 2004). The use of the western lyrics in the Japanese version brings a beautiful and artistic blend of Asian art embedded in the tapestry of the western plays. “Someone in a Tree” is the best example revealing the negotiation between Japanese and American; indeed it is symbolically a conversation between a milestone and a ladder, between the glowing present and the ignorant past making a stone foundation for historic art (Cardullo, 2010). Mr. Sondheim has been very witty in making an amalgamation of kabuki with the western forms which has brought an innovative blend and has supported the hybrid depiction which was thought to be more prone to western criticism. Yet things did not go as expected. It left the audience with the feelings of respect for the dignified way the Japanese have reacted to the civilized attacking invaders. This is a reversal of the typical disgust specified for the Asians whose primitive appearance was in the masks in American plays (Li, 2007). “Pacific Overtures” resembles with “Miss Saigon” in the sense that the play brought the same theme of a secluded nation. Pacific Overtures is a big revival of a sense of dignity, respect and self consolidation to the Asian land and people. However, Miss Saigon is a tragic tale and reveals to us the doomed romance of an Asian woman who was abandoned by her American lover. Asian woman symbolizes here the tragedy of the fate which often haunts Asian female characters by the dazzling attire of the western characters landing in their country (Cardullo, 2010). It also stands for winning the sympathy of the audience at the end and historically revives the tradition where Asians have always been down trodden by the western footsteps. It was a typical exploitation which led a Vietnamese bar girl Kim falling in love with Chris, an American and opening the doors of her dignity to him. Asian history is abundant with such examples and incidents happening during war as like the atmosphere of “Miss Saigon” (Dimitrova, 2004). The portrayal of Kim is very typical of Asian characters that wish and dream of a new western life, free of fears of being caught and imprisoned or being lost in War’s horrors. Kim stands for the ardent urge of finding peace and serenity in life. Kim’s tragic tale turns when Chris is in the American embassy and the gates outside are closed (Dimitrova, 2004). Kim’s son Tam, a three year old child, is a symbol of lost identity; being an off spring of an American father, of which no news is heard from for years. The writer is very specific in mentioning Tam having an American father, who is unsure of his future and lost in his life (Frazier, 2005). It is very kind of the writer that his pen took the side of Kim, a poor Asian girl, which is very unusual of western playwrights who have always introduced their Asian characters as mere symbols of disgust and racial prejudice. Therefore “Miss Saigon” is remarkably known in the changing history of depiction and narratives of Asian characters (Frazier, 2005). Claude Michel has portrayed the character of “Kim” in reverse of the western tradition where Asians were taken to show the vivid contrast of the western modernization with the Asian ignorance (Frazier, 2005). Michel also went a step further and did not only focus on the struggling efforts of poor Asians to make their lives better but also touched upon the rich tradition of their culture through music and lyrics. Engineer’s club in general and Kim in particular is the person who thrives and longs for a better life, and spends whole youth in hopes of a better future. Therefore they are easily deceived and sacrifice their whole life in nurturing a simple pledge of love (King, 2007). These plays often bring a challenging question of identity crises and depict double sides of the same picture. Today, an Asian stands for the representation of a whole entity and cannot be taken or considered in isolation. These characters usually are the spokesperson of the writer and say what a writer feels to say though his writings. These address the social issues and leave the audience with the open questions, the answer of which are very close to them and may be found all around (Lei, 2006). Some of these depictions are biographical and reflect the story of a real life being in the world by the Asian- Western parents. This identity crisis addresses different ethnicities and calls many traditions in question. An Asian character is the symbolic of traditional mindset with the yearning urge of exploring the western world (Li, 2007). Western playwrights deliberately use these symbolic characters to reveal the impact of amalgamation of the two different cultures, societies and code of conducts (Lima, 2005). It also leads to the result of the question what can be the ultimate point if one controls the other’s identity or if they both co-exist peacefully (Singh, 1992). This is in fact a provision to audience to show their response to these familiar incidents and events. As Asia has a long history of being usurped by the White man in different forms and on the different pieces of the same land of the same continent, the trend of making Asians appear in Western plays was based on the notion of presenting a filthy nation and (Lima, 2005). The shift of focus got changed when it also brought the background of the rich culture Asians have been a part of and thus creating some space not at the national level but at international platform as well. This is the slogan that many Asian and western writers have worked upon and it brought international fame to them (Lima, 2005). Though now the western audience has not been unfamiliar any more with this Asian appearance, some exceptions in the form of protests are still found. This blend may bring a sense of global adjustment in the people of the planet and thus helping mankind make this earth more humane and equal. It may be helpful in lessening the feeling of being an “other” which is often felt among the Asians, and it can also be an initial step to bringing the western world to the level of mutual thinking which would be a solution to many problems (Winston, 1998). I hope that I have done justice with this subject and have been able to focus on the issue particularly and the associated elements generally. References: Cardullo, Bert. Eight Modern Plays: An Archeology of Western Drama. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2010. Print. Dimitrova, Diana. Western Tradition and Naturalistic Hindi Theatre. Peter Lang Publishing. 2004. Print. Frazier, Adrian. Playboys of the Western World: Production histories (Drama). Carysfort, Pr. 2005. Print. King, Kampbell. Western Drama Through the Ages. Greenwood Publishers. 2007. Print. Lei, Daphne. Operatic China: Staging Chinese identity across the Pacific. 1st Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. 2006. Print. Li, Kay. Bernard Shaw and China: Cross-cultural Encounters. 1st Edition. University Press of Florida. 2007. Print. Lima, Robert. Stages of Evil: Occultism in Western Theatre and Drama. The University Press of Kentucky. 2005. Print. Singh, Avtar. Perspectives on Western Drama. Stosius Inc./ Advent Books Division. 1992. Print. Walker, Craig and Jennifer Wise. The Broadview anthology of Drama, concise Edition: Plays from the Western Theatre. Broadview Press. 2005. Print. Winston, Joe. Drama, Narrative and Moral Education. 1st Edition. Routledge. 1998. Print. Read More