After posting the Dracula and Fu Manchu movie clips a few days ago I dug around in my collection, coming up with some further examples of the Yellow Peril. Here are some of my Dr. Fu Manchu paperback editions which came out in the 1960s.
Ming the Merciless was the head villain in Flash Gordon, and he was right out of the Yellow Peril ilk. No one explained how he was the only Asian amongst the inhabitants of Mongo, but then the Mongoites (Mongoloids?) also included Hawk Men, Clay Men, etc., so in the scheme of that planet's diversity I guess Ming wasn't so out of place.Comics did their share. These are from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Nowadays people recognize how racist this portrayal of Asians was…or do they? I still see this type of image popping up from time to time. I also see how many of these old characters had names like "Fang" or "Claw."
![](<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/parsellpost/photos/hairyeyeball2.jpg">)
1 comment:
We seem to be thinking alike this week! See my post on Dr Wu and Fu Manchu, "Yellow Peril" airing Tues night on TCM:
http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2008/06/wu-vs-fu-manchu.html
Post a Comment