Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism

224 Pages·2016·1.61 MB·English

by  Nancy Wang Yuen

Reel Inequality
✮

Reel Inequality
✮
Hollywood
Actors and Racism
Nancy Wang Yuen
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Yuen, Nancy Wang, 1976– author.
Title: Reel inequality : Hollywood actors and racism / Nancy Wang Yuen.
Description: New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016012315| ISBN 9780813586304 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780813586298 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780813586311 (e-book
(epub)) | ISBN 9780813586328 (e-book (web pdf))
Subjects: LCSH: Minorities in the motion picture industry—United States. |
Motion picture industry—United States—Employees. | Race discrimination—
United States. | Discrimination in employment—United States.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.M56 Y83 2016 | DDC 791.43089/96073—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016012315
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Copyright © 2017 by Nancy Wang Yuen
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers
University Press, 106 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. The only
exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law.
Visit our website: www.rutgersuniversitypress.org
Manufactured in the United States of America
For Spencer, Tabitha, and Eden

CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Hollywood’s Whitest 19
2 Hollywood’s Colorblind Racism 49
3 Hollywood’s Typecasting 69
4 Hollywood’s Double Bind 82
5 Surviving Hollywood 93
6 Challenging Hollywood 106
7 Diversifying Hollywood 138
Appendix A: Media Advocacy Organizations 161
Appendix B: Methods 165
Notes 167
Selected Bibliography 199
Index 203
vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As the first in my family to earn a doctorate and to write a book,
I am indebted to the artists, mentors, friends and family who sus-
tained me through sixteen years of research and writing. I began my
research in 2000 at a panethnic theater in Southern California. The
vibrant young artists of color embraced me and told me about their
adventures in racist Hollywood. I am grateful to them and all of the
actors and industry personnel who generously imparted me with
their stories. Special thanks to Philip W. Chung and Clyde Kusatsu
for sharing their industry knowledge and contacts.
My UCLA advisors were the first to read, encourage, and cri-
tique my research. When I doubted whether anyone in academia
cared about Hollywood actors, Bob Emerson wisely explained the
built-in popular interest in my work. Steve Clayman’s kindness
sustained me through grad school and beyond. He and John
Heritage took a chance on me as a research assistant and taught
me how to analyze media data. Min Zhou, whose mentorship
began in my undergraduate years, opened doors for me to pursue
a PhD in sociology and to publish my earliest research on Asian
American actors. Rebecca Emigh’s dedication, investment, and
love made me a sociologist. Darnell Hunt’s training in content
ix
x acknowledgments
analysis, ongoing mentorship, and research shaped me into a
media scholar.
Book writing and publishing is a complex process fraught with
mystery, heartache, elation and fatigue. I am deeply indebted to my
friends Gilda Ochoa, Hung Thai, Faustina DuCros, Leisy Abrego,
Christina Sue, Noriko Milman, Christina Chin, Shelley Garcia,
Chinyere Osuji, Arpi Miller, Zulema Valdez, David Cook, Anthony
Ocampo, Maria Su Wang, Susan Lim, Jenny Lee, Timothy Clark,
Sarah Liu, Rebecca Hong, Esther Chung-Kim, and Jane Hong, for
reading drafts, mentoring me, and keeping me accountable through-
out the long journey. Thanks to Jooyoung Lee for suggesting the cover
design. Thanks to my Biola colleagues and students (present and
former)—Brad Christerson, Deshonna Collier-Goubil, Stephanie
Chan, LaDawn Prieto Johnson, Cassandra Van Zandt, Carlos Delgado,
Diana Rongavilla, Janelle Paule and many others for wishing me
success. I also appreciate Eugene Hung, Linda Bugge Perez, Mandy
Robles, Julie Nievas-Barajas, Jason Chung, Lisa Cortez, Katie
Liddicoat, Gil Gonzalez, Amber Janeczek, Kelli Clifton, Heidi Beltran
Santillan, Nadina De Souza and all of my friends for cheering me on
and assuring me that my work has significance beyond academia.
Thanks to the editors and copy editors I worked with—Jenny
Gavacs, Jude Berman, Pam Suwinsky, and, most of all, Leslie
Mitchner—who believed in my book. Thanks to the entire Rutgers
University Press team for making this book happen. I also appreci-
ate the anonymous readers whose comments improved my writing
and whose critiques helped me develop a thicker skin. Deepest
thanks to my research assistants, Steven Morrow and Karissa Yaw,
for their data coding and graphic support. I am also grateful to the
National Science Foundation and UCLA for funding my early
research, and to Biola University for the grant and sabbatical that
made my writing possible.