Detective Comics Presents Batman and Robin
date: label: date made
content: January 1969
notes: label: Description
content: “The Fortune-Cookie Caper” : In the opening of this episode, the submissive yellow skin toned Chinese waiter is introduced and immediately put in juxtaposition with the white and masculine Batman. The waiter, along with the other Chinese actors in this story, is caricatured to speak English poorly, and the messages in the fortune cookie are mocked. This comic paints a villainous image on the Chinese actors by holding them responsible for a pearl-smuggling operation, as Batman plays the hero and uncovers the smuggling ring.
label: Description
content: Here, fortune cookies and pearls, both items that are strongly associated with the stereotyped Chinese culture, or in their words the ‘orient’, are used to represent mischief and criminality. This story also appropriates gender dynamics in Chinese culture through the relationship between Yin Yan and his sister Hu Shi. She never fails to regard him as ‘honorable brother’, and is used as bait for her “diabolically clever and cautious” brother’s operation.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Asian Pacific American Business
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2012.3057.05
label: nonaccession number
content: 2012.3057
label: catalog number
content: 2012.3057.05
objectType: label: Object Name
content: comic book
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/4 in x 7 in x 1/8 in; 26.035 cm x 17.78 cm x .3175 cm