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181 The Stilling of the Pendulum? Looking back, Scorsese’s refusal to represent traditional Chinese villains in Kundun—oreven to depictChinese atrocitiesina conventionalrealistic manner— seems prescient: by the late 1990s figures like the draconian judge of Red Corner and the cruel and arrogant generals of Seven Years in Tibet had a distinctly anachronistic cast. True, from time to time, one sensed the weight of earlier stereotypes : Kenneth Chan points out that the dominatrix teacher played by Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels (McG, 2000) has a whiff of the Chinese dragon lady about her and that the evil pirate played by Chow Yun-fat in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Gore Verbinski, 2007) hints at more than one earlier Chinese villain .1 Still, these figures seem pale echoes of the past rather than vibrant creatures of the present. Generally speaking, the new millennium has witnessed both the disappearance of earlier stereotypes and—though this is more debatable—the stilling of the pendulum that governed images of China throughout the twentieth century. The fading of negative stereotypes does not mean that fears of China have disappeared. On the contrary: China casts the darkest of shadows over contemporary America. But it does mean, as the first part of this chapter attempts to show, that other factors—economic, cultural, and social—have conspired to banish earlier stereotypes and foster radically changed representations of China. Not only have social and demographic changes altered the face of America, but the world of film production and distribution has become increasingly global as well. Does it still make sense to classify films as American or Chinese in the face of a coproduction like Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)? Does it really matter where Jackie Chan triumphs over the bad guys—be it in the Bronx (Rumble in the Bronx, 1996), London (Shanghai Knights, 2003), or Japan (Shinjuku Incident, 2010)? Moreover, these changes were accompanied by still another C H A P T E R 6 Challenges and Continuities 182 Chapter 6 far-reaching development: the rise of so-called transnational Chinese cinema—a term that encompasses films from so-called Greater China (Taiwan, Hong Kong, the mainland) as well as from the various far-flung communities of the Chinese diaspora—has meant that Americans can finally see China (or the various Chinas ) through Chinese rather than American eyes.2 Of course, things are not quite that simple where American perceptions and images of China are concerned. Indeed, I would argue that, while films of the last decade have largely banished the negative impulses of the past, they have not banished something even more fundamental: the impulses—in particular the ethnocentrism that gave rise to a binary view of the world—that engendered such stereotypes. In the second half of this chapter, I would like to explore the persistence of these impulses in two enormously successful animated features set in China: Mulan (1998) and Kung Fu Panda (2008). In a sense, it may seem strange to conclude this study with films clearly designed for children, or, at least, for a youthful market. But just as fairy tales often testify to attitudes that are repressed or held in check elsewhere, these films bear witness to feelings and impulses that are not always openly acknowledged or expressed. Creating an image of China more unreal and imaginary than ever before, they turn that country into a site of spectacle as well as a repository of American attitudes and beliefs. In so doing, not only do they firmly erase the real China, but they also point to the creation of what might be seen as a new—and distinctly postmodern—form of Orientalism. The challenge to earlier images and representations of China stemmed, as I have suggested, from a diverse panoply of important social, cultural, and economic changes. To begin with, as we are constantly reminded, the United States is no longer the country it was a generation ago. Not only have huge numbers of immigrants reduced white majorities, but they have also accustomed Americans to seeing erstwhile “others” as people much like themselves. Moreover, as America has grown increasingly diverse, formerly inviolable taboos—especially those surrounding interracial sex and marriage—have receded into the distant past. In a country that is finally allowing same-sex couples to wed and that elected (and reelected) a biracial president, the notion of transgression—at least as it bears on sexual or racial difference—seems an almost incomprehensible relic...

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