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Film Still Archive/Museum of Modern Art.
Richard Loo in "The Purple Heart"
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During the 1920s and '30s, Hollywood ignored Japan. Until World War II, when
anti-Japanese propaganda was at its height. War movies reveled in a grim picture
of the superhuman, subhuman foe: the "Japs" were seen as fanatics who gleefully
died for Emperor Hirohito in suicidal charges against American troops or in
kamikaze raids. In the POW drama "The Purple Heart," American airmen are
tortured and executed for not rattling on their pals.
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RELATED LINKS
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Geishas & Godzillas
Which is odder—the image of Japan in Hollywood movies or the image of Japan in its own films?
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