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At first sight, Lost Horizon may be understood as a utopia, a paradise opposed to the war-torn world of 1937. At that time, there had already been quite a number of incidents which would lead up to the Second World War, especially concerning the Japanese attempts to colonize Asia. One of these attempts would be the 1931 invasion of Manchuria by the Japanese army, and the establishment of the puppet state Manchukuo, another would be the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which brought about the beginning of the second Sino-Japanese War. However, I do not consider Lost Horizon as the portrayal of a paradise: in my opinion, the movie perpetuates stereotypes about Asians. This was certainly true in the 1930s, but this effect may still show today for many people still hold the same stereotypes today. They include the idea that Asians are followers, that they belong to an inferior culture, that they have accents, and so on.

The idea that Asians are followers is most evident in the leading role of white people like the High Lama, Father Perrault, and Robert Conway, a little less evident if one looks at the fact that Sondra, a white woman, is the school teacher of the Asian children, and, therefore, a leader, too. However, most leaders are men. We soon find out that Chang, who first appears to be a leader, is, in reality, only a puppet of the High Lama. Except Chang, who is, in a way, a perfect imitation of a white man and a product of Father Perrault, Asians hardly speak or act at all as individuals. This idea of whites leading and Asians following is also apparent in the music played in the background of many scenes: tranquil and monotonous music is used to assert Asian passiveness, whereas loud music is used to emphasize white activeness. All seems to indicate, moreover, that there is a definite need for a white leader in Shangri-La. It seems unimaginable for Father Perrault to make an Asian, even his creation Chang who is the imitation of a white man, a leader. He rather takes immeasurable efforts to lead Conway, a real white, to Shangri-La.

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This apparent need for a white leader reinforces the idea of white culture as superior to Asian culture ¹ . First of all, this is a story about white people, Asians are only present in the background as a contrast to the leading white “class.” Moreover, whereas whites speak English, the Asian language sounds like an unintelligible chatter. Whites possess all the power in Shangri-La, and the yellow race is degraded to either servants or children. I especially got the impression that there is a supposed necessity for white leadership when Robert is told that Shangri-La had only been waiting for him. In addition to this, Asian culture is rendered inferior by the fact that all important culture was brought from the outside, in other words, the Asian culture Father Perrault found in Shangri-La was not important enough to preserve. This bringing of culture continues with Conway and his group who play bridge, want to teach geology and bring plumbing to the “poor people” of Shangri-La. In other words, whites are seen as teachers and creators who bring culture to an uncivilized culture. That Asians are considered uncivilized is obvious when George Conway says he wants to go “back to civilization.” This alleged need for whites to take care of the Asians made me think of the idea of the “white man’s burden” which I would basically associate with Native Americans. Another example illustrating the idea of Asian inferiority is the fact that when the two Conways and Maria try to leave Shangri-La with Asian guides, the Asians do not survive, whereas Robert Conway does, and he does not need a guide to get back to Shangri-La either. And last but not least, there were two brief moments that I remember very well: when Conway and his group arrive in Shangri-La, there is a music to be heard that made me think of heaven, in this case a heaven led by whites as we find out later. This implicates that a place can only be like heaven if whites lead. The second point was the remark by Conway to

In this short essay I do not want to address the question of what the term “culture” actually means. In other 1

words, I leave it open here whether “culture” should be meant to signify a way of life, items used in everyday life, language, food, religion, etc.

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Chang à la “You do speak English” which can often be found today when people do not expect someone who looks Asian to speak English.

Another stereotype reinforced by Lost Horizon is that all Asians have an accent when speaking English. The Asian children taught in English by Sondra speak with an accent. Chang does not really speak with the accent usually attributed to Asians, but he walks in a funny way, bent forwards, which makes him appear kind of funny. But regarding accents, not only Asians get their share: the Russian woman also speaks with a heavy accent and is depicted as treacherous. I don’t know about the impact of this in the 1930s, but in a Cold War context this may have been well received by an American audience. There are, however, other things I kept in mind about Lost Horizon that surpass the reinforcement of stereotypes about Asians. The society depicted in Lost Horizon’s Shagri-La is a white anarchy. Whites are the leaders and only as long as no one wants to leave this world seems to be a paradise. Moreover, identity is expressed in the costume a person wears. Asian clothes show affinity for Shangri-La, the white-dominated Asian “paradise,” and Western clothes show affinity for the world outside Shangri-La. I was also wondering if the overall message of the film could not be the idea that whites manipulate the world in order to make it better. This came to my mind because whites are dominant in Shangri-La but they say it is only for the best of the Asian population.

This whole film reminded me a little bit of Chin and Chan’s concept of racist hate and racist love. Asians, in Lost Horizon are either under control, for example Chang, or they are dangerous, for example the leaders who are supposed to lead the white group out of Shangri-La. In other terms, one could say that Asians are either depicted as tamed, passive, and inferior followers or as bad and dangerous. What does not fit in really, however, is the pilot Perrault had given the order to bring Conway to Shangri-La. Even though he is a “bad”