Mandatory Supplementary Video (M5-A):

An example of the "yellow peril" press: "Church and State: The Chinese Opium Den, which has thriven under the Police, are broken up by the Priests." Judge (1882)

A very short (5:43) clip from the "yellow peril" film The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932).

This film reflects the racial, "yellow peril" stereotypes and xenophobia perpetuated by the film industry and mass media during the first half of the 20th Century. How do you think these films shaped the perceptions of the public as various laws were passed to control Chinese (and other Asian) communities in the US? Notice the interplay between the white protagonists and non-white antagonists (inc. how are African-Americans portrayed?)? Pay attention: what actors play what roles using "yellowface"?

Imagery and stories such as this illustrate how powerful and irrevocably film and mass media will become in constructing our perceptions of crime, law, and justice (for "good" or "bad" depending on the interests of the stakeholders). As in this case and others, it also helped shape the development of "alien conspiracy" theory in Progressive Era criminology which generally argued that immigrants to the US brought crime and disease and moral laxity to an otherwise "pure" America. One needed to stop and/or reverse immigration to stop the "virus" from spreading to--and killing--an otherwise healthy patient: the United States. This eventually led to the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924 that imposed the first numerical limit on immigration and set immigration quotas (the National Origins Formula) for specific countries.

PS: The Dr. Fu Manchu franchise has a fascinating history perpetuating the "bad Asian" stereotype. Indeed, it is Dr. Fu Manchu that created the archetype of the "evil genius" and "mad scientist" seen in films ever since like those in James Bond and Austin Powers. The "good Asian" stereotype was embodied by Charlie Chan (based on real Chinese-Hawaiian Honolulu PD detective Chang Apana).

The Mask of Fu Manchu (CC)

Watch here (no CC):