Meghan Markle returned to her podcast to criticize the films “Kill Bill – Volume 1” (2003) and “Austin Powers in The Golden Limb Man” (2002) for their negative and stereotypical portrayal of Asian women.
In the latest episode of the “Archetypes” podcast, Markle accused these and other films of representing what has become known as the “Dragon Lady,” a stereotype used to define Asian women as strong, dominant, mysterious and sexually attractive.
However, actress Lucy Liu, who starred in “Kill Bill,” has already debunked that allegation, calling the statement itself racist.
“Films like ‘Austin Powers’ and ‘Kill Bill’ presented these Asian female characters as sexualized or aggressive,” said Markle. “And it’s not just these two examples, there are many more. It has crept into our entertainment. But this toxic stereotype of women of Asian descent doesn’t end after the credits roll.”
Markle’s guest on the podcast was Nancy Wang Yuen, who wrote about the “Dragon Lady” stereotype in her book “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism”. Yeun related the case of a man who yelled at her the phrase “I’m so horny” (I’m so horny), originally uttered by a Vietnamese prostitute in the film “Born to Kill” (1987).
“I myself was approached at an Atlanta airport by a stranger who said ‘I’m so excited’. He just yelled at me,” Yeun said. “I knew why because I looked around and saw that I was the only Asian woman there. I knew she was talking to me, although I don’t even know if she had seen ‘Born to Kill’.”
It is worth noting that the phrase was sampled in a hit by rap group 2 Live Crew, which was much more successful than the movie at the time.
However, Lucy Liu, the alleged dragon lady from “Kill Bill – Volume 1”, was once adamant about this kind of interpretation.
In 2021, Teen Vogue published an essay titled “Hollywood played a role in the hypersexualization of Asian women”. In that essay, author India Roby defined the Dragon Lady as a character who “uses her sexuality as a powerful tool of manipulation, but is often emotionally and sexually cold and threatening to masculinity.” Roby, like Markle, cited the character O-Ren Ishii (played by Liu) as a contemporary example of the stereotype.
However, Liu disputed that claim. In a post in the Washington Post, she said the accusation doesn’t make sense, as Quentin Tarantino, writer and director of “Kill Bill,” created other similar female characters for the film. “‘Kill Bill’ features three other professional assassins besides Ishii. Why not call Uma Thurman, Vivica A. Fox or Daryl Hannah a dragon woman?” Liu questioned.
“I can only conclude that it is because they are not Asian,” he continued, explaining the racism of the prosecution. “I could have worn a tuxedo and a blonde wig, but I still would have been labeled a dragon woman because of my ethnicity,” she added.
“If I can’t play certain roles because traditional Americans still see me as Other, and I don’t want to be cast only for ‘typically Asian’ roles because they reinforce stereotypes, I begin to feel the walls of the metaphorical box in which we Asian women countries, we are placed “, he concluded.
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Source: Terra
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
