in old Hollywood
Merle Oberon
Opaque Actress with Racial Malleability
The mysterious yet captivating beauty of Merle Oberon's opaque identity increases the appeal of her movies. She has played in movies in both UK and US. Within more than 12 movies she has played a variety of roles, from the exotic orient to a high-class princess.
Deception needed to survive Hollywood as an Asian
01
Mysterious Background
There are multiple narrations as to Oberon's background. Some narratives suggest that she was born in Tasmania, moved to Calcutta near aristocratic British relatives, before entering the film industry in UK and then U.S.
Yet, she is actually born into a poor Anglo-indian family without her Irish father.
03
Resistance to Transparency
Her beauty is striking as she passes as white in both America and Europe. Even though rules in Hays code requires transparency, she finds herself headstrong with keeping her racial identity opaque. She is well aware of the potential damage to her career as in UK Anglo-Indians are below poor Britains and are seem as degenerates. Similar in U.S where being of mix ethnicity effectively gets pigeonholed into exotic roles. A similar historical hate towards Asian through the lens where they are unclean is shared in both countries.
05
Character Categories
1. In Britain she would play exotic melodrama, historical characters, or romance comedies. The character she would play embodies allure and passion.
2. In U.S she would play less exotic and instead more varied roles such as her award winning Dark Angel.
Only once did she play an Asian woman, however she couldn't escape the sexualized Asian Women trope.
02
Journalistic Descriptions
Many journalists and accounts about Merle Oberon describes her as cold and lacking warmth. She is even accused of having a pet snake! All these imagery is connected to the underlying "orient" narration that follows her even without a confirmed racial identity.
04
Performance of a Lifetime
Oberon is known to carry an Upper-call english white lifestyle performance both on screen and off. She carries herself well because she knows how her career could be easily stripped away only based on her race. Oberon is also known to carry a rather unique accent as she has to shake off the "dirty chi-chi" Anglo-Indian accent to land high profile roles.
06
Publicity Imagery
Keeping restraint in her acting, Oberon had to learn how to balance her english elegance with the natural American white. After the release of Dark Angel, Oberon was able to take on the persona that the New York Times describes as "friendly, fun-loving girl, talented, but not mysterious." allowing her to flourish as a white in America.