Line #48 Main/InscrutableOriental


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6
7	->''"Everyone is polite. Everyone smiles and bows. But beneath their courtesy, I detect a deep reservoir of feeling."''
8	-->-- '''Nathan Algren''', ''Film/TheLastSamurai''
9
10	Throughout the years, people from East Asia have been depicted in European media as being more reserved and stoic than Europeans. This comes from how the comparatively individualistic culture of Enlightenment-era Europe saw UsefulNotes/{{Confucianism}}, then the dominant philosophy of East Asian (Chinese-dominated) cultures. Due to Confucianism's priority of social harmony and filial piety over individual freedom of expression, it had become stereotyped as [[TheNeedsOfTheMany collectivist]] and repressive, like how [[TheStoic Stoicism]] came to be negatively portrayed in modern culture as "emotional repression". Europeans also saw East Asian culture as exotic and highly advanced, but at the same time alien and mysterious, though there was a beauty and intellectualism in their alien-ness. In other words, East Asians had become a real-life equivalent of [[OurElvesAreDifferent Elves]], including the ancient wisdom that [[CantArgueWithElves would make them win an argument with a Western gaijin every time]].
11
12	If treated positively, a character who follows this trope can come across as being a calm, cool, [[JapanesePoliteness polite]] 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. The distinction is similar to that between StiffUpperLip and BritishStuffiness, respectively.
13
14	This can be shown tropewise as being TheStoic in more serious and/or positive portrayals. And as TheComicallySerious or OnlySaneMan in more comedic and/or negative portrayals. The OldMaster may also be this trope.
15
16	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 of "maintaining face", and which [[StiffUpperLip British people would understand:]] ''Don't make a fuss.''
17
18	One reason for this trope [[ValuesDissonance being less popular nowadays]] is its association with offensive YellowPeril villains, who were frequently untrustworthy, scheming {{Chessmaster}}s who used their lack of emotion to disguise their motives.
19
20	Compare JapanesePoliteness, since Japan was considered the exemplar of this trope. Contrast AsianRudeness.
21
22	----
23	!!Examples:
24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
27	* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'':
28	** [[MoeAnthropomorphism Japan]], 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.
29	** Hong Kong seems to be this way too, being depicted in his Drama CD appearance as a DeadpanSnarker EmotionlessBoy.
30	* Taki from ''Manga/MaidenRose'', although done rather interestingly so that he has his [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting]] moments while at a foreign military academy and then suddenly switches to "inscrutable" mode upon returning home, only to confuse the hell out of Klaus who goes with him.
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Comic Books]]
34	* ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'': The new ComicBook/{{Judomaster}}'s first appearance 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 [[DependingOnTheWriter these things happen]]. Mind you, she did warm up a bit when she fell for Damage.
35	* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': The Japanese storm god, Susano-o-no-Mikoto is portrayed leaning heavily into this stereotype. Amusingly, in the actual Japanese mythology he's anything but inscrutable.
36	* ''ComicBook/{{Sturmtruppen}}'': Mocked in a strip of the Italian comic where a crossdressing spy is ordered to escort the Japanese ally to another base, and affirms that "Nothing can surprise these inscrutable orientals". Cue to the Japanese ally trying to hump him.
37	-->'''Spy:''' Hey, does he know the meaning of "disguise?"
38	-->'''Sergeant:''' Who knows, [[IronicEcho he's inscrutable...]]
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Fan Works]]
42	* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': Compared to [[{{Keet}} Italy]] and [[{{Tsundere}} Germany]]—the Europeans—[[TheStoic Japan]], the Asian, is ''far'' more calm and collected. [[NotSoStoic Unless you make him mad]].
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Film]]
46	* The English lawyer's Chinese assistant in ''Film/TheLetter'', who maintains his air of obsequious politeness even as he demands $10000 blackmail in return for handing over a letter that incriminates the lawyer's client.
47	* Mr. Miyagi from ''Film/TheKarateKid'' appears to be this at first. As we (and Daniel) get to know him we learn this couldn't be further from the truth.
48	* Parodied with a line from the western comedy ''Film/TheGreatBankRobbery'', something along the lines of: "You sure are inscrutable, Fong. Just like all you Secret Service fellas."
49	* Seraph and the Keymaker from ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' films are meant to invoke this trope, fulfilling the "Orientalist fantasy".
50	* Subverted in the ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'': Harold's coworkers ''think'' he is this, but for the viewers, he's TheEveryman with a weed habit. Culminates in a spectacular speech in which Harold spells out to his coworkers how very goddamned much he is ''not'' this, thank you.
51	* Spoofed in ''Film/AroundTheWorldIn80Days2004'', where Fogg asks for help from a stereotypical-looking old Chinese man in loud pidgin English. The man turns out to speak English perfectly.
52	* Subverted (and how!) by every role [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sessue_Hayakawa Sessue Hayakawa]] ever played. One of his greatest roles was [[Film/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai a man who was doing his best to appear impassive and inscrutable]] -- but [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain wasn't]].
53	* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Jin is a very stoic and reserved especially in contrast to his wife's AsianRudeness tendencies.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Literature]]
57	* Sean Liu from ''Theatre/AbandonAllHope'' is presented as the OnlySaneMan next to Evan and Melissa until he starts falling apart in the second half of the book.
58	* Shiro and Ancient Mai from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' until we learn that Shiro is a CoolOldGuy and Ancient Mai has elements of an ObstructiveBureaucrat, then they don't seem so inscrutable.
59	* ''Literature/ATreeGrowsInBrooklyn'' features a ChineseLaunderer character who's stereotypical in other ways, but it actually calls out this trope. The young heroine sees the Chinese man as a wise mystic and assumes he's listening thoughtfully when she talks to him, when in reality he doesn't speak English and is just waiting for her to leave.
60	* In ''Literature/TheWestingGame'', Mrs. Hoo is seen this way at first, but it soon becomes obvious that it's solely a language barrier.
61	* In ''Literature/TheWatchmakerOfFiligreeStreet,'' Mori (the titular watchmaker) plays this trope largely straight.
62	* Inverted in ''Literature/ScannersLiveInVain''. The Habermans and Scanners are astronauts who have had their nerves severed to avoid "The Great Pain of Space" experienced while in orbit. As a result, they are very emotionless, but Chang, the Chinese scanner on the crew, is much more expressive and empathetic than the rest of them.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
66	* Señor Chang, the StereotypeFlip Spanish teacher in ''Series/{{Community}}'', rants about this. Chang himself averts the trop thoroughly, being a loud-mouthed maniac who always wears his heart on his sleeve.
67	%%* Kaito Nakamura from ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
68	* Agent Kimball Cho on ''Series/TheMentalist'' is the deadest of the [[DeadpanSnarker deadpan snarkers]] and most definitely TheStoic. However, he's also willing to go CowboyCop and NotSoStoic when the situation calls for it.
69	* Averted on ''Series/{{FlashForward\|2009}}'', in which Creator/JohnCho played the more HotBlooded, emotional and temper-prone half of a [[RedOniBlueOni pair of FBI partners]]. In fact, John Cho has pretty much made a career out of averting this stereotype (see ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'', above).
70	* In season 2 of ''Series/TheMole'', Dorothy was so withdrawn and emotionless that many other contestants suspected her of being the Mole. [[spoiler:It turns out she wasn't; she deliberately [[InvokedTrope invoked this trope]] to draw contestants' suspicions toward her and away from the true Mole so that they would flunk the quiz about the Mole and be eliminated. It worked well enough for her to win in the end.]]
71	* The series bible for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' explicitly describes Sulu as being the total opposite of this. (This got a nod in the animated show; see below.) Instead we get Creator/GeorgeTakei who revels in LargeHam when he has a chance to do so (see "The Naked Time" for a glorious example). Spock and other Vulcans would end up using many of the characteristics of this trope.
72	%%* Agent Melinda May from ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''
73	* Namechecked in the ''Series/DrTerriblesHouseOfHorrible'' episode "Frenzy of Tongs" when a character actually yells at the YellowPeril DiabolicalMastermind after being betrayed by him, "Damn your inscrutability!"
74	* Played for laughs in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': J.D. is narrating that many factors influence how each individual patient handles pain. On "race," we see a sushi chef with a kitchen knife ''buried in his shoulder'', stoically asking "Does what hurt?"
75	* Occasionally played with on ''Series/BarneyMiller'' with Detective Nick Yemana, who was pretty scrutable but also a world-class DeadpanSnarker. A blind man who claimed he could perceive character described him as calm, stoic, and in control... that or Japanese. And when Dietrich expressed admiration of the stoic Japanese attitude towards death, Nick whispered to another detective that he personally planned to go out kicking and screaming.
76	* Jianyu the monk in ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' never speaks due to his vow of silence, only communicates in writing and facial expressions, and wordlessly comforts Michael by putting his hand on his heart in the midst of a breakdown. Subverted when it turns out that 'Jianyu' is actually [[TheDitz Jason Mendoza]] from Florida, who was put in the Good Place by accident. Jason is actually very impulsive and emotional, and he only managed to hide by never talking.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Music]]
80	* "Some Girls" from Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}' ''Music/SomeGirls''.
81	--> ''Chinese girls are so gentle''\
82	''They're really such a tease''\
83	''You never know quite what they're cookin' ''\
84	''Inside those silky sleeves''
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
88	* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the description of Lacquered Tablet, an Agatean ambassador described in ''[[TabletopGame/DiscworldRoleplayingGame GURPS Discworld Also]]'':
89	--> Someone once told him that the rest of the world sees Agateans as inscrutable, and he decided this was a good idea. He is very inscrutable and goes everywhere with a gang of large guards chosen for their inscrutability.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Video Games]]
93	* Shen Yu in ''Videogame/EvilGenius'' is described as "inscrutable", which is not surprising as he's a take on Literature/FuManchu.
94	* ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'' has this for most of the Asian people, particularly the old men. Especially, the old Chinese herbalist.
95	* Chairman Shen-Ji Yang of ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''. He's like Mao Zedong meets Nietzsche meets Confucius. Your GreyAndGrayMorality may vary.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Web Comics]]
99	* The ethnicity of [[NoNameGiven {...}]] from ''Webcomic/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.
100	* 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".
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Western Animation]]
104	* Lampshaded in the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS1E7TheInfiniteVulcan The Infinite Vulcan]]", during an exchange between Kirk and Sulu. Incidentally, this episode was written by Creator/WalterKoenig, who played Chekov in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'' and was friends with Creator/GeorgeTakei in real life:
105	-->'''Kirk:''' Any chance of teaching me that body throw? Could come in handy sometime.\
106	'''Sulu:''' I don't know, sir. It isn't just physical, you know. You have to be... inscrutable. ''[winks]''\
107	'''Kirk:''' Inscrutable? ... Sulu, you're the most ''scrutable'' man I know.
108	[[/folder]]
109

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