The significance of contemporary playwright David Henry Hwang
by: Thrad Weibley

The Significance of Contemporary Playwright David Henry Hwang

I chose to research the life and works of contemporary playwright David Henry Hwang because I wanted to explore his significance in the history of American theater as well as the nature of the politics and humanity infused in his works. The manner in which Hwang presents carefully crafted dramatizations of race, gender, societal, and political relations strikes a chord with the reality of these issues in not only American culture, but also the world over. His works stand the test of time because they incorporate ideas, conflicts, issues, and relationships that are relevant, if not parallel or identical, to those in the times before America was colonized, the present, and the years to come. Generally focusing on the misconceptions and inequality of Asian culture, more specifically Asian-Americans, each of Hwang’s plays concentrate on personal experiences, either of Hwang himself or of historical events—such as the trial of the French diplomat and the Chinese, transvestite spy. The significance of David Henry Hwang as a contemporary playwright is made manifest through the analysis and research of the author’s writings, interviews, and two major plays: F.O.B. and M. Butterfly.
David Henry Hwang was born on August 11, 1957 in Los Angeles to Henry Hwang--who left his native Shanghai in the late 1940’s, around the time of the communist takeover--and Dorothy Huang Hwang--who was born in China, was raised in the Philippines, and immigrated to America to study music at USC, where she met future husband Henry. In an April 15, 1994 interview at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hwang notes that when he was young, he regarded his Chinese ancestry as “a minor detail, like having red hair”, but added that “the combination of wanting to delve into [Chinese and Chinese-American history] for artistic reasons and being exposed to an active third-world-consciousness movement was what started to get me interested in my roots when I was in college” (“It’s OK to be wrong.”) He graduated from Stanford University in 1979 with a B.A. in English, but Attended Yale in 1980 to pursue a career in theater.
In his MIT lecture and subsequent interviews, Hwang explores how he viewed his heritage and ethnicity while growing up in the suburbs of California. In the San Gabriel suburbs, he grew up mostly with Anglos, Latinos, few African-Americans, and even less Asian-Americans. In regards to his ethnicity, Hwang felt throughout his childhood that “…it was a sort of interesting feature, part of my total make-up, but not of any intrinsic significance in and of itself…” (“It’s OK to be wrong.”). In fact, he was practically ashamed to be an Asian-American. He recalls being embarrassed about his heritage when he would see Asian-American characters in movies and on television, notably the stereotypical evil Asian characters like Fu Manchu, the soldiers in war movies, and even the “benign obsequious” Charlie Chan. All of these factors were a cause of embarrassment for Hwang, yet he felt the weight of an unspoken expectation to identify with them.
Even as a boy, David Henry Hwang felt the need to search for some degree of authenticity behind the overtly stereotypical Asian characters he encountered on television and movie screens. When he was a mere 12 years old, Hwang spent an entire summer with his grandmother—the only member of the family that knew their extensive history—covering a lot of oral histories and eventually turning these into a 100-page non-fiction novel that was copied and distributed throughout the family. It is apparent that from an early age Hwang was concerned with preserving his Asian ancestry and being able to identify himself with his culture. As he began writing plays in college, he found that his works were a continuation of that search for authenticity that he had begun as a child.
As a playwright, David Henry Hwang feels that his “journey is essentially a personal one: I’ve been searching for authenticity in my work and contradicting myself at certain points…” (“It’s OK to be wrong.”). One of the greatest issues with which he struggled throughout his adolescence and continues to tackle today is the perceived definition of what it is to be American. He points out that in the next thirty, perhaps fifty years, Caucasians will not be the majority, but rather a plurality. In this respect, he feels that the country will no longer have a single majority race that directly influences cultural and societal change. The very definition of what it is to be American is changing, therefore the culture is being reexamined, says Hwang. The two places in which this change will be most readily encountered are in the arts and in academics.
Perhaps the foremost issue is the fact that the way people look establishes to a considerable extent the way they are perceived—initial appearances determine perceptions. Hwang feels that persons of Asian descent must struggle with the perception of being “the perpetual foreigner.” He goes on to recall how fifth and sixth generation Asian-Americans still encounter persons that say, “Oh, you speak really good English,” or shouts of “Go back where you came from!” This ignorant discrimination highlights the notion that Asian-Americans are not considered Americans. This was certainly evident in the time of World War II when Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps, while persons of Italian and German descent were considered loyal. These struggles in regards to “fitting in” with Americans, and the influences of Frank Chin and Maxine Hong Kingston lead to the blossoming of Hwang’s literary craft.
David Henry Hwang fancied the idea of the juxtaposition of quasi-mythological characters—specifically, female warrior Fa Mu Lan from Kingston’s book and Gwan Gung from Chin’s plays—with a modern setting. In a sense, this idea represented the clash of two cultures that provided the crux for Hwang’s work—the stereotypically Asian character encountering the Americanized un-Asian character. Out of this idea was born Hwang’s first play, Fresh Off the Boat. In his story, the American-born Chinese character Dale is struggling with his own identity and dealing with the irritation caused by the “fresh-off-the-boat” (FOB) Chinese immigrant, Steve. Steve’s character is the epitome of a foil to Dale’s character. Dale has basically spent his life disregarding his ancestry and trying to become white, whereas Steve serves as a painful reminder of the idea that Dale may just be someone different. As the story unfolds, Steve and Grace begin to embody the characters Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan, respectively. As they do so, their rich ancestry is brought forth, while Dale simply stands back and watches, since he has removed himself far from his roots. He either does not know, or refuses to learn the myths and legends (with which Steve and Grace are consciously aware) of his country of origin.
In developing this story, Hwang was “trying to search for something authentic beyond the stereotypes…and reaching out to a Chinese-American literature as well as a root culture Chinese tradition and through this I thought I was touching something authentic.” (“It’s OK to be wrong.”). This first foray into playwriting heavily sparked Hwang’s interest in Asian-American culture, and he began a period in his life which he considered his “isolationist/nationalist” phase. In this time, Hwang tried to infuse a sense of authenticity as well as deal with the ideas and conflicts of the merging of East and West cultures. However, he discovered that one major problem Asian-American authors encounter is the criticism that their works serve to reinforce stereotypes. Hwang himself criticized Miss Saigon for reinforcing the stereotype that Asian women are submissive, while Hwang’s F.O.B. was criticized for inauthentic use of mythology and M. Butterfly was criticized for reinforcing the stereotype that Asian men are effeminate. He refers to the criticism as the “Asian-American syndrome”, where one person is in the spotlight at a time, and thus that person’s every word is taken as representative of the entire culture. Naturally, no single artist can or should represent their community; rather the community of artists can and should represent themselves.
With these realizations, Hwang identified that his “isolationism/nationalism” phase was rendering him stagnant, and writer’s block ensued. He felt that ethnic isolation ran the risk of reinforcing larger stereotypes, such as the prejudice that, for example, Asian-American writers can only write Asian-American works. Of course, sticking to writing about a particular ethnic group worked very well for playwrights such as Tennessee Williams and August Williams. Hwang tried to work his way out of writer’s block by taking a different approach to his playwriting. He wrote an autobiographical play entitled Rich Relations; however, he basically wrote the play about his family then made the characters white. His breakthrough came when a dinner conversation with a friend introduced him to the story of the French diplomat who had a 20 year affair with a Chinese transvestite spy. The story fascinated Hwang, and he came to the conclusion that the events came to be because of a Madame Butterfly fantasy ideal situation.
In M. Butterfly, Hwang infuses his idea of the juxtaposition of fantasy and reality, in exploration of the issue of authenticity. He raises the question, “Are we always going to be imprisoned within the realm of our own subjectivity and forced to perceive meaning through our own prejudices?” (“It’s OK to be wrong.”). He crafts the story of Gallimard and Song based on the lust for a fantasy ideal. Once Song reveals his true gender, Gallimard reveals that all is ruined, for he loved the fantasy of who Song represented, not the actual person. Therefore, in the end, the issue was not that of a political nature, but that of a personal nature. With this groundbreaking play, Hwang had broken free from his writer’s block and dead end cycle of seemingly inauthentic Asian-American works.
With his focus primarily on the trials of Asian-Americans in search of a true sense of identity, David Henry Hwang succeeds in significantly contributing to contemporary American theater. More importantly, his works make it known that Asian-Americans are still on a quest not only in search of identity and authenticity, but also for an equal share of significance in American culture. According to Hwang, we are still decades away from a time when American society and culture are not dictated by a single majority race. However, our culture is ever-changing; we are witnessing through both the arts and academia that the definition of what it is to be American is evolving. Dramatists like David Henry Hwang are a key component in the progress of American culture.