______Techno-Orientalism in the X-M en Film Franchise
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is meant to relish and take delight in his spectacular death in the film. In
Scenes o f Subjection, Saidiya Hartman is concerned with the “spectacular
nature of black suffering and, conversely, the dissimulation of suffering
through spectacle” (22) and how slaves were utilized as “vehicles for
white enjoyment” (23) that articulated the master’s power and authority.
While Hartman’s work deals with the spectacle of black suffering during
the period of slavery, I find the notion of the body of the Other suffering
spectacularly for “white enjoyment” particularly relevant here. As the
menacing neo-yellow peril. Zero must not only perish, but must do so in
a spectacular fashion while suffering greatly. With Zero’s death, we are
supposed to feel some vindication and satisfaction in our white hero
(Wolverine) exacting revenge on the evil Asian Other (Agent Zero), and
we derive enjoyment from it while Wolverine’s power over Zero is
realized through his suffering.
While the X-Men were intended to be representative of the
struggle for equality and liberation during the 1970s in their initial
incarnation as comic-book superheroes, the subsequent iterations on film
have belied this original underlying intention. Race and ethnicity are
muted through the casting of actors such as Halle Berry and David
Heiuiey who possess largely Caucasian physical traits, which becomes
even more pronounced since the majority of the lead roles in these films
are reserved for white actors. In particular, Asian/Americans are re-cast
as the yellow peril in many of the films in the franchise, which reinforces
centuries of negative imagery that the community has struggled to defy
and refute. The X-Men film franchise has been especially effective in
perpetuating
Techno-Orientalist
stereotypes
which
situate
Asian/Americans as being less than human and more machine-like
entities who threaten the “American” (white) way of life.
University of Southern California
Julian Cha
Works Cited
Dave, Shilpa. “Apu’s Brown Voice: Cultural Inflection and South Asian
Accents.” East Main Street: Asian American Popular Culture.
Eds. Dave, Shilpa, Leilani Nishime, and Tasha G. Oren. New
York: New York University Press, 2005. Print.
Dyer, Richard. White. London: Routledge, 1997. Print.
Fawaz, Ramzi. “Where No X-Man Has Gone Before!: Mutant
Superheroes and the Cultural Politics of Popular Fantasy in
Postwar America.” American Literature 83.2 (2011): 355-388.
Web. 15 Aug 2012.