Casting Fu Manchu

2020, 45 minutes

A short documentary filmed entirely remotely exploring the idea of Yellow Peril in light of the coronavirus.

Casting Fu Manchu is an exploration of Yellow Peril in light of the coronavirus. In 1912, when Sax Rohmer invented his character Dr. Fu Manchu – the evil Chinese doctor set on world domination – Yellow Peril was rife. Often painted as a faceless existential threat to the 'Western world', East Asians were seen as a force that needed to be suppressed. With successive white actors 'yellow-ing up' to play the fictional villain, including Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, Eelyn's film will subvert these racist tropes through re-imagining Fu Manchu for 2021.

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