Romance and the Yellow Peril: Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction

Hollywood films about Asians and interracial sexuality are the focus of Gina Marchetti's provocative new work. While miscegenation might seem an unlikely theme for Hollywood, Marchetti shows how fantasy—dramas of interracial rape, lynching, tragic love, and model marriage are powerfully evident in American cinema.

The author begins with a discussion of D. W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms, then considers later films such as Shanghai Express, Madame Butterfly, and the recurring geisha movies. She...