Miss Saigon And Her Sisters:

The Portrayal of Asian Women In The Media

Historically in western drama, Asian women have been portrayed in a highly negative light. The Asian women in films like Sayonara and The Sand Pebbles and musicals like Miss Saigon are seen as people who are "submissive, silent..." (Hagedorn, p 74). A young American soldier is often involved in these plots, as most of these plots are war dramas. The Asian girl falls in love with the American because she sees him as a "savior" who will take her back home with him so she can fulfill what she thinks is the "American Dream", meaning that she can go from "rags to riches" (Hux, Jarman, Gleberzon, p 74). ON the contrary, the American fall in love with the Asian girl because he feels a preference for her submissiveness, which he finds more feminine and attractive. As well, the American is embodied with the "Christopher Columbus Syndrome", and feels that he has to dominate her. This passive eastern femininity in relation to western male dominance is portrayed in these dramas.

"Sayonara"

Sayonara, the 1957 movie starring Marlon Brando, portrays him as a southerner who was first against his Air Force buddy, Joe (Red Buttons) marrying Katsumi, a Japanese girl. However, he eventually falls in love with a Japanese actress who is a part of an all female musical company. Katsumi, the young woman Joe marries, is the typical Asian character in western drama. She is weak, passive and demure. In a photo that Joe shows Lloyd (Brando), she is sitting demurely, facing the camera. After the marriage ceremony, Lloyd kisses Katsumi on the lips and she turns red. She is not sexually open and this scene demonstrates her passivity. In an earlier scene, Lloyd and Joe compares pictures of their fiancées. At the time, Lloyd was engaged to a young American woman from a military family with "good blood". Joe is shown two pictures of Eileen, one with her seated with her mother in a very "girl-next-door" look and the other, with her alone and wearing a bathing suit. Lloyd sees a picture of Katsumi, seated quietly, wearing a kimono, gazing at the camera with a very faint smile. Eileen's revealing bathing suit contrasts to Katsumi's conservative kimono. These images establish American openness and Asian passivity.

Another Asian character in this film is Hana Ogi, the actress that Lloyd eventually falls in love with. Hana is with an all female musical company in which she, being taller than some of the girls, consequently gets the male roles. Lloyd has seen her in some performances and eventually falls in love with her. however, he does not fall in love with her until he sees her in traditional Japanese clothes. Being used to seeing Hana in male attire, Lloyd was shocked to see how feminine she was when she was invited to Joe and Katsumi's house for dinner. Lloyd is left alone with Hana and she apologizes to him in a quite monotonous voice, as she tells Lloyd how sorry she was for being rude to Americans. Her previous contact with Americans was unfavorable, as her father was killed by the Atomic Bomb which the Americans had dropped. By speaking softly and passively, she contrasts sharply to the loud, boisterous Eileen. Lloyd appears to be more impressed by Hana's passivity. As a member of her performing group, Hana is not permitted to date. However, when she starts to go out with Lloyd, she states "I am not allowed to love. But I will love you if that is your desire..." (Sayonara) This proves Hana's passivity because she will obey any orders that Lloyd makes.

Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon is the updated version of Madama Butterfly . Kim is an orphan who is "captured" by the Engineer, who runs a "girlie bar catering to soldiers. If Kim were not passive, but a strong woman, she may have fought off the Engineer.

Kim is seen as more "feminine", as more "submissive and passive" than the other girls working for the Engineer. Instead of wearing a revealing bikini in the opening scene, she is wearing a virginal shift. The other girls who are wearing bikinis, are seen as more liberated because they were more experienced than Kim, who is the new girl. Purity is one of the reasons why Kim was wearing the shift rather than the bikini. Her virginity shows her submissiveness. Right before the girls entered the stage, the Engineer told Kim "That bridal gown gives you some class, lower your eyelids as you pass..." (Miss Saigon, Original London Cast Recording, 1989) She is also shown as more passive because her solo is a lot slower and more demure than the aggressive tones of Gigi, Mimi, Yvette and Yvonne.

Kim meets Chris Scott, a young U.S. Marine while she works for the Engineer. In the song "The Movie In My Mind", the girls sling about their fantasies. Lines like "the movie in my mind/the dream they leave behind.........A man who will not kill.....who'll fight for me instead/He'll keep us safe all day/So no one comes at night..." ("The Movie In My Mind" Miss Saigon Original London Cast Recording,1989) tells the audience about their dreams of real romance, something that they have only seen in the movies. This is another form of the "American Dream" because they feel that if they go with the Americans, they will get rich.

Chris falls in love with Kim because he feels sorry for her. Kim tells Chris how she was orphaned. However, the Americans had to be evacuated from Vietnam, and Chris was not able to find Kim. Kim was left behind, and pregnant. Chris returned to the US and married Ellen. They find out that Kim had Chris' child and was now working as a prostitute in Thailand. The Scotts go to Thailand to deal with the matter. Upon hearing that Chris was in town, Kim rushes to the hotel to find him. Instead of finding Chris, she sees Ellen, Chris' wife. Kim then runs back to her place and kills herself. Chris finds Kim just moments before she dies. Her suicide was a form of passivity because she felt that she was dedicated to Chris. Kim presumed that she was legally married to Chris and was angry at him for deceiving her when he married Ellen.

The Sand Pebbles

The Sand Pebbles, a 1966 film starring Steve McQueen had a subplot about a young woman who was raised by a missionary and therefore speaks English and can relate to each state that the sailors were from, either to historical or geographical fact. She was placed as a hostess because she had done something wrong, and the bar was her punishment. When the sailors ask her where she learned to speak English, we always says that it is her "secret".

This is the same answer she gave when sailors asked her who she was working in a bar. She feels that if she were to tell them, she would be "punished" again, likely by having her virginity taken away.These issues are significant because they continuously portray her as a victim. She speaks in a soft, quiet voice, therefore making her more feminine than the American missionary teacher, played by Candice Bergen. This young woman is weak and cannot help herself. She is "Saved" from further repression when a sailor grabs her off the chair where she is auctioned off. He feels sorry for her and promises her many things.

The American "Savior"

The Asian women in these dramas see the American as a "savior". The women are generally either in poverty or are trapped in a situation where they are not allowed to do anything. Hana's case proves this idea since her performing company does not allow her to have personal freedom. They feel that they would be more liberated if the were with Americans.

These women have seen that the women in America seem to have more freedom than the women in their own country, likely due to Asia's deeply rooted Confucian philosophy.

In The Sand Pebbles, after the young woman told a sailor how she ended up in the bar, he promised her that a situation similar to that would not happen again. This young woman trusts the Americans, because she sees them as strong people who would never lie. She trusts him to take her away, so she would be free.

This may also relate to the song "The Movie In My Mind" from Miss Saigon. The girls sing about romantic Hollywood films, where the woman is carried away by the man in the final scene. This kind of romance takes the young women away from the situation they are in, and lets them dram about the American Dream.

This fantasy lets them dream that they are married to one of the American men, living in a middle class neighborhood, with their two children, probably a boy and a girl. Marrying an American means to these women that they are moving up a social class. They feel that they would be better off, financially and socially if they were American; another aspect of the "rags to riches" American Dream.

"Christopher Columbus Syndrome"

Christopher Columbus, given his image of a New World Conqueror, has long been a major historical figure in America. The American characters in these dramas all have some form of the "Christopher Columbus Syndrome". This is a "disorder" that the American character gets because he feels that he is more superior than the Asians.

Columbus' original destination was actually Asia, in search for spices. Instead he arrived in what is now Cuba, and tried to force the natives to be more "European". Like all the conquerors in history, the Americans feel that they were able to have anything they wanted in their new "colony", which includes the women. This "having everything" includes sleeping with the women and then leaving.

Sayonara takes place during the American occupation of Japan, which shows not only the conquering of the women, but of the nation itself. Miss Saigon shows the "sleep-with-the-girl-then-leave-her" aspect of "Christopher Columbus Syndrome" since Chris (though unintentionally) deserts Kim, leaving her pregnant.

Many of the other sailors in The Sand Pebbles wanted to buy the young lady, and were bidding for her. That was a sign of the domination because these men feel that they could have anything they want.

American characters within these noted productions feel that Asian women are more feminine because of their passive upbringing, which makes them submissive.

Asian women are brought up in a tradition where they are taught to respect their parents, siblings and husband. They were also brought up to believe that "husbands should be the head of the family , and therefore, these women typically do not believe in feminism. Unlike an American woman, the Asian woman would likely stay at home, and be a "good wife", cooking, cleaning, and looking after her husband.

Asian women are also typically more petite than western women. Because of their size, Americans feel that the Asian women are more feminine and graceful than the women back home. The twentieth century beauty myth indicates that women have to have a waist size under 26 inches to be considered beautiful. Since Asian women are more likely to have that size, the American characters in these films tend to fall for them.

Conclusion

Because of this portrayal of Asian women, many Asian women feel that they are being approached by men in a bad way. The submissiveness and weakness of these characters have angered many. When Miss Saigon first opened in Toronto in 1993, many Asians refused to see it because they did not want to see anymore of the submissive Asian woman. In a November 1995 Mademoiselle article, entitled "To Slur With Love", the writer, Ellen Tine, was approached by a man saying "Hey, Miss Saigon-wanna be my Geisha girl tonight?" (Tien, p 30). Western dramas have portrayed Asian women as submissive and passive because of their size and upbringing., and the American as the conqueror because of his "Christopher Columbus Syndrome".

Works Sited