''The Slanted Screen'' is a 2006 documentary film written, produced, and directed by

Jeff Adachi Jeffrey Gordon Adachi (August 29, 1959 – February 22, 2019) was an American attorney, pension reform advocate, and politician who served as the Public Defender of San Francisco from 2003 to 2019. Early life and education Adachi was the ...

which examines the

stereotypical In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

portrayals and absence of East Asian males in the cinema of the United States. The film analyzes Hollywood from the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

to the 21st century.

Synopsis

''The Slanted Screen'' features interviews of variety of Asian American filmmakers, critics, producers, and actors, along with several film clips. It observes stereotypical portrayals of Asian American men in Hollywood such as Mr. Moto and Charlie Chan. The film also discusses the importance of influential Asian actors in Hollywood, such as Sessue Hayakawa and

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

. The film is organized in chronological order, examining the portrayal of Asian Americans in Hollywood from around the 1920s to the 21st century and the future of Asian Americans in film. In order to have more inclusive representation, the film highlights the importance of having more roles that are designed for Asian Americans, and also having more directors, writers, and executives of different ethnicities. With the rise of independent Asian American writers writing outside of the Hollywood system getting critics' approval, the film concludes on a positive note and encourages young actors to be rebellious and creative.

Release and Reception

''The Slanted Screen'' had its formal premiere on March 19, 2006, at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, though the first screening of the film took place at the Laemmle Fairfax Theatre in Los Angeles on March 12, 2006. It was later shown at the New York Independent Film and Video Festival, where it won Best Documentary, and the Berkeley Film Festival, where it won the Grand Festival Prize before its television premiere on PBS in 2007.

Critical Response

G. Allen Johnson of SFGate called it "an informative and extremely entertaining look at how Asian American men have been portrayed by Hollywood." Marilyn Moss wrote in The Hollywood Reporter that the documentary was "a no-nonsense, humorless trek through much footage, without much context and without a large idea." Dennis Harvey's review in Variety noted "squeezing too much material into a TV-styled hour, pic’s insights are mostly superficial."

Interviewees

Films and television shows featured

The following films and television shows are featured in ''The Slanted Screen'':

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slanted Screen, The Documentary films about Asian Americans Asian-American issues Chinese-American films Documentary films about racism in the cinema of the United States