Although not American, we as an audience root for Jane and her village. As seen in The Fighting Seabees, at this point in history we have strong feelings against the Japanese. They are teamed with the opposing forces, and we classify them as “bad people”. Even though the characters in the film are supposed to be Asian, hardly a single actor actually has Asian heritage. Main star Katherine Hepburn is most certainly not Asian, and this is not hard to tell even with all the make-up that makes the bone structure in her face angled, and her eyes slant-y and drawn out. Her hair is colored dark and worn up. And she dons traditional Chinese clothing.
Hepburn is not the only non-Asian actor to play a character with such an ethnicity. Only the children extras were played by actual Asians (Miller). In scenes where Hepburn is surrounded by extras, she clearly does not fit in.
Much like The Fighting Seabees, reactions to the films racial context was not very present. Audiences were more concerned with the fact that Hepburn was playing a headstrong woman defining a feminist role.
Although the last film I will be analyzing in this blog, Dragon Seed is certainly not the last of racism in film. Racism that appears in our culture as we look back in history, and forward to the future will always be reflected be cinema in that era. Film allows us to travel back to these times and see the way our society felt and depicted other races, and groups of people.
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| Hepburn dons make-up to appear Asian. |
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| Japanese troop of non-Asain actors. |
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| Also not Asian. |
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| Hepburn stands out in a crowd of Asians. |
