The third stereotype that is challenged by the film is that all Chinese Americans want to become part of the greater US System. The film suggests that Chinatown has enough problems of its own. It does not need to be part of the larger society which demands conformity to America’s version of the Asian other. Racism is right here, at home, with Asians who hurt each other (two-faced schizophrenic Chinaman, jade-faced rich old men, FOBS). No heroes or heroines here. No stars, no cultural models, for every model is a stereotype, and every stereotype itself a stereotype. Here in Chinatown there are no perfect western others who would stand as a measure of the Asian self. This identity has become so thoroughly westernized, no otherness is any longer possible. That is why Chan Is Missing.
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