The cinematic representation of Asian homosexuality in The Wedding Banquet

Over the last decade, there has been an increasing number of western films which represent both homosexuals and Asian people. However, the homosexuals depicted in these films are often white, and the Asians are almost always heterosexual. In an attempt to account for the scarcity of western films containing Asian homosexuals, this paper aims to examine some of the common cinematic tropes and theoretical discourses used to depict and define both Asians and homosexuals. As one of the few feature-length films containing an Asian homosexual central character, Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet will also be discussed.