할리우드의 아시아 타자 묘사의 복합화

Complexity in Asian Othering in Black Rain and Mr. Baseball

Although their release dates trace back to the early post-Cold War era, Black Rain (1989) and Mr. Baseball (1992) still serve as noteworthy examples of complicating the traditional dichotomy of “us” and “them.” A traditionally stereotyped Japan still can hardly be missed; nevertheless, the Japanese protagonists are no longer those who work in the shadows of the white heroes in old-fashioned Hollywood films located in Asia. Given that they are all human beings with universal weaknesses, the Japanese demonstrate moral superiority and professional work ethic that enhance a mutual understanding and crucial cooperation with the white protagonists of the two films. While examining the significance of the positive portrayals of the Japanese as a slow and ongoing process of lessening Westerners’ prejudice against East Asians, this essay argues that the traditional dichotomy in Hollywood films between the U.S. and Asia is not so much demolished or deconstructed as readjusted under the newly formed socio-economic circumstances of U.S. hegemony in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.