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A Groundbreaking Interracial Love Story in Hollywood history · Asian Adjacent

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, welcome to Asian Adjacent. I'm James Lott Jr. So
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: last week, last episode, I talked about three Asian interracial
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: films and kind of why they were controversial or if
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: they worked or not. This one, I wanted separate because
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: it has its own significance. It's always good to look back.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: So this film was called Bridge to the Sun from 1961. Okay. Okay.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: It's a groundbreaking interracial love story between a white woman
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and an Asian man. You hardly ever see that, right?
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Etienne Pettier was the director. Carol Baker was the white woman.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: James Shigeta was the Asian man. It's a romantic drama and,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of course, a war drama. It's based on my graphical book,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Bridget's Son, by Gwen Terasaki. The setting is the U.S.-Japan
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: during the years leading up to and during World War II.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Gwen Harold, the white American, falls in love and marries
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a Japanese diplomat, Hidnari Terasaki. But what it does is
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: it really shows them in a very loving marriage, which
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: just wasn't being done for interracial stuff, especially back then
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and there. The marriage does face prejudice. There's cultural differences,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: of course. and increasing political tensions between America and Japan.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: The attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the war,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: World War II, places enormous pressure on their marriage and family.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: It's based on real people, Gwyn and Inari Terasaki. They
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: were a real couple affected by the war. James Shigeta,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: one of Hollywood's few prominent Asian American leading men of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the period. He was portrayed, because he was Japanese, romantic, intelligent,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: and dignified. Very much like, oh yeah, somebody texted me
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: at the same time. Yeah, it's just crazy. Now, Carol
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Baker plays Gwen. She has to portray an American woman
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: whose commuter husband is tested by war and divided loyalties.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: The film challenged Hollywood's traditional Asian men, which is still
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: happening today, by making him as a lead. We're getting
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: a few leads now, but it's still few and far between.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: It's not as famous as Sayonara, which we talked about
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: last time. I love it, it's a very splendid thing.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: But it's very important. Bridge to the Sun was this
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: unusual film that centered on an Asian man and a
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: white woman as a married couple that were happy. Usually
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: it was a white man and an Asian woman, so
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: it was the opposite. So find it, check it out,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and let me know what you think if you go
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: out there and find it. It's an important, important, important film.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I'm James Lott Jr. Talk to you next time.