History Main / InscrutableOriental

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the description of Lacquered Tablet, an Agatean ambassador described in ''{{GURPS}} Literature/{{Discworld}} Also'':

* Subverted (and how!) by every role Sessue Hayakawa ever played. One of his greatest roles was [[TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai a man who was doing his best to appear impassive and inscrutable]] -- but [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain wasn't]].

* The ethnicity of [[NoNameGiven {...}]] from HannaIsNotABoysName is unknown, although he's [[AmbiguouslyBrown vaguely Asian]]: he has almond-shaped eyes (more noticeable when they're not [[LooksLikeCesare surrounded with black stuff]]) and black hair, and apparently has a sentimental attachment to paper cranes. And he matches the wise-but-stoic part of the trope well, commenting that he's been told he's "hard to read", and smiling so rarely that Hanna considers it a bit of an event when it happens. So he might be this, or he might not. Or maybe being dead leaves you a little detached from emotional ups and downs. It's hard to say.
* Damara from {{Webcomic/Homestuck}} is "[[{{Fauxreigner}} fake]] [[FantasyCounterpartCulture troll]] [[AliensOfLondon Japanese]]" and her insistence on [[BilingualDialogue speaking in bad Japanese]] while maintaining a generally deadpan expression causes Meenah to refer to her in frustration as an "INSCRUTABL-E FIS)(WIF-E".

* The series bible for ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' explicitly describes Sulu as being the total opposite of this.

* [[MoeAnthropomorphism Japan]] from ''AxisPowersHetalia'', pictured above, who is extremely popular in his country's fandom due to the self-deprecating stereotypes he embodies. His memorized rules of conduct consist of gems like agreeing to consider options when he actually means 'no', never giving straight answers in a corner, becoming more polite when he is annoyed by other people, and apologizing when others are causing trouble.

* Parodied with a line from the western comedy ''TheGreatBankRobbery'', something along the lines of: "You sure are inscrutable, Fong. Just like all you Secret Service fellas."

Throughout the years, people from East Asia have been depicted in European media as being more reserved and stoic than Europeans. This comes from the perceptions of European merchants, soldiers, and officials unable or simply unwilling to appreciate the astonishingly diverse social customs of a region of many million square kilmetres and more than 300 million people (from the 17th century onward). Faced with a continent even more heterogenous than their own they more-or-less gave up and collectively wrote them off as 'inscrutable' or mysterious/unreadable.

Throughout the years, people from the far East have been depicted in Western media as being not quite as willing to visually express their emotions compared to their peers. This stereotype derives essentially from the attitudes of Western colonialists who, unwilling or unable to learn the social conventions of "natives" or treat them as equals, simply wrote them off as inscrutable.

* The new Judomaster's first appearance in ''JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'' is characterized by her being silent, cold and reserved out of combat. Mind you, before then, she'd been portrayed as witty and perfectly capable of speaking English, but [[SarcasmMode these things happen]]. Mind you, she did warm up a bit when she fell for Damage.

If treated positively, a character who follows this trope can come across as being a calm, cool, and fairly collected (if a bit eccentric) person who may also serve as a source of wisdom and encouragement. If treated negatively, characters come across as being overly dour, uptight, dull, and all around boring fellows who seem to have trouble comprehending concepts like leisure or fun.

* Shiro and Ancient Mai from ''TheDresdenFiles'' until we learn that Shiro is a CoolOldGuy and Ancient Mai has elements of an ObstructiveBureaucrat, then they don't seem so inscrutable.

[[quoteright:350:[[AxisPowersHetalia http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/am_I_the_only_one_who_finds_this_oddly_moe_517.jpg]]]]

* Shiro and Ancient Mai from ''TheDresdenFiles'' until we learn that Shiro is a Cool Old Guy and Ancient Mai has elements of an Obstructive Bureaucrat, then they don't seem so inscrutable.

* Shiro and Ancient Mai from ''TheDresdenFiles''.

* The ethnicity of [[NoNameGiven {...}]] from HannaIsNotABoysName: he has almond-shaped eyes (more noticeable when they're not [[LooksLikeCesare surrounded with black stuff]]) and black hair, and apparently has a sentimental attachment to paper cranes. And he's ''decidedly'' TheStoic, commenting that he's been told he's "hard to read", and basically fits the entire personality component of this trope. So he might be this, or he might not. Or maybe being dead leaves you a little detached from emotional ups and downs. It's hard to say.

* Seraph and the Keymaker from ''TheMatrix'' films were meant to invoke this trope, fulfilling the "Orientalist fantasy".

All in all, this trope can be described as the Eastern counterpart to GermanicDepressives. Any [[TruthInTelevision kernel of truth in the stereotype]] can be attributed to the one universal social mannerism throughout East and Southeast Asia, and which [[StiffUpperLip British people would understand:]] ''Don't make a fuss.''

* Averted on ''[[FlashForward2009 Flash Forward]]'', in which JohnCho played the more HotBlooded, emotional and temper-prone half of a [[RedOniBlueOni pair of FBI partners]]. In fact, JohnCho has pretty much made a career out of averting this stereotype (see ''HaroldAndKumar'', above).

* Subverted in the ''HaroldAndKumar'' movies: Harold's coworkers ''think'' he is this, but for the viewers, he's TheEveryman with a weed habit. Culminates in a spectacular WorldOfCardboardSpeech in which Harold spells out to his coworkers how very goddamned much he is ''not'' this, thank you.