Description
Book SynopsisTraces the history of yellowface, the theatrical convention of non-Asian actors putting on makeup and costume to look East Asian. Using specific case studies from European and US theatre, race science, and early film, Esther Kim Lee traces the development of yellowface in the US context during the Exclusion Era.
Trade Review“Written for a wide audience from theater aficionados to Asian American performance makers to academics, this timely book illuminates a fascinating archive of make-up conventions derived from instructional manuals and specific case studies from both the stage and the cinema.”
—Sean Metzger, University of California, Los Angeles
Table of Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction – The Persistence of Yellowface
- Chapter 1 – “A Dumb Chinese Slave”: The Stage Chinaman and Clown Yellowface
- Chapter 2 - “Chinee by Nature”: Physiognomy and Scientific Yellowface
- Chapter 3 – “How to Makeup”: Theatrical Makeup Guidebooks and Private Yellowface
- Chapter 4 - “Dainty as Needs Be”: The White Actress and Cosmetic Yellowface
- Chapter 5 – “The Oriental Eye”: Special Effects Technology and Prosthetic Yellowface
- Epilogue – Casting as Gatekeeping
- Appendix - Yellowface Instructions in Theatrical Makeup Guidebooks during the Exclusion Era
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
