Staging the Orient
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Illustration by Shuhua Xiong 熊姝华
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Scene from Broken Blossoms, or The Yellow Man and the Girl. 1919. USA. Directed by D. W. Griffith.
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Martha Vickers playing the character of Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep (USA, 1946, Dir. Josef von Sternberg).
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Posters for Josef von Sternberg’s 1932 melodrama Shanghai Express, and 1952 film noir Macao.
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Jean-Léon Gérôme, Le Charmeur de Serpent (The Snake Charmer), c.1879, oil on canvas, 82.2cm × 121cm (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts)
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Los Angeles in 2019, as depicted in Blade Runner, 1982, Dir. Ridley Scott (Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Warner Bros)
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Rihanna's Met Gala dress in 2015, designed by Guo Pei for the theme: “China: Through the Looking Glass”. In an interview for The Cut, the fashion designer stated: “The focus and the attention paid to this dress will make it remembered by the world—[what] I want is to make them remember. ... It is my responsibility to let the world know China’s tradition and past, and to give the splendor of China a new expression. I hope that people do know China in this way”. (Kathleen Hou, Exclusive: Chinese Couture Designer Guo Pei Releases M.A.C Collaboration, The Cut, 2015)
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Anna May Wong in The Toll of the Sea, USA, 1922, Dir. Chester M. Franklin (courtesy: UCLA Film & Television Archive, Los Angeles)
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