page_title: Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom
section_title: Summary
hierarchical_section_title: Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom / Summary
caption_attribution_description: Advertisement in Moving Picture World, July 1918
context_page_description: Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom is a biography of actor Sessue Hayakawa, written by Daisuke Miyao, assistant professor of film at the University of Oregon, and published by Duke University Press. It won the 2007 Book Award in History from the Association of Asian American Studies and the John Hope Franklin Book Award from Duke University.
context_section_description: The book is divided in 15 chapters and gives details about Hayakawa's early life, career, popularity, and decline, while focusing on his career during the mid- and late-1910s and Japanese-American relations during the same period. It discusses racial politics that limited the roles the actor was offered, mostly of villains. Knowing that people of different communities, Japanese, Japanese-American and European-American, had different ideas about "authentic" Japanese characters, Hayakawa sought more independence in his choice of roles and started the Haworth Picture Corporation in 1918. Changes in the depiction of Japanese people in films are also discussed in the book. During World War I, Japan, then an ally of the United States was portrayed positively and the country's scenic beauty was also featured. After the war, Japanese control of the Pacific region led to a clash with American interests and, consequently, the depiction of the Japanese in American films changed.
  The book is in four parts. The first part deals with Hayakawa's early career and rise to stardom (1914–15), with detailed information about the themes explored in his early films like The Wrath of the Gods (dealing with Buddhism) and The Cheat (masculinity, violence). The latter film brought him international fame. He married fellow actress Tsuru Aoki in 1914. The second and third parts discuss his films during 1916–18 and 1918–22, respectively, while the final part gives an account of his public image in both America and Japan. When Hayakawa started Haworth Picture Corporation, Japanese residents in America viewed it as a symbol of his success and entrepreneurship. However, his Americanization was viewed as a national shame in Japan. Americans, meanwhile, thought of him as a role model for Japanese settled in United States and an Americanized and refined Japanese. He left Hollywood in the late 1920s and moved to Europe, where he acted in English and French movies, before returning to Japan where he became a priest. Hayakawa's filmography is also provided in the book, with details about the characters he portrayed. The final chapter gives a detailed account of Hayakawa's role in The Bridge on the River Kwai and discusses the similarities between this role and the role played by Hayakawa in The Cheat. His stage works are also discussed in this chapter.
caption: Sessue Hayakawa in 1918
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