I wrote an essay about this for a class on Asian American Religions in America. I hope this answers your questions! Also, the wikipedia citations are just for info about movie facts and stuff.

The portrayal of the "oriental man" first appeared in Western Media in 1913 in the print "The Mystery of Fu Manchu", and later on screen in "The Mystery of Fu Manchu" (1932). The evil portrayal came from stereotypes of Buddhist Monks, but simply a Western parody of these monks. Because of racial issues at the time, it was simply a charicature. (Forbes, Mahon)

Your interest comes into play of the positively oriented Oriental Monk. The first appearance of this character is in "Broken Blossoms" (1919) The Oriental Monk is used in this case to create the iconography of what can be referred to as a version of the "model minority", by "eschew[ing] the standard stereotype of the "heathen Chinee [sic]" already well established in the previous century, and adapts the alternative image of the good-for-the-West "John Chinaman.' (Forbes, Mahon)" The idea of the model minority is the belief that the minority is somehow better and receives higher success than the current majority population. This belief, while it may seem positive on the surface, is in fact harmful to Asian populations. (Le 1) The act of stereotyping often causes social anxiety and prejudice, even when associated with positive concepts. Forbes makes the point on page 30 that Griffith, the director of Broken Blossoms, is making the veiled threat that “if the Christianized West is unable to take care of their children, the noble Buddhist East will.” The message that Griffith is trying to spin later becomes a message of positivity as the belief that the East will gladly and properly take care of the children that the West cannot (Forbes, Mahon 31).

As we get into the ‘70s and ‘80s, media begins portraying the Oriental Monk as a spiritual figure to guide and bring revolution to the diabolical hegemony of capitalist greed. In the TV series Kung Fu (1972‐75), Chang Caine is taught by Master Po, portrayed as a blind monk there to teach Caine (played by a white man) the ways of the Chan Buddhism and kung fu. The spiritual and kung fu figure of Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid (1984) is, again, an aging master of karate, there to impart the knowledge of the East to a Western hero figure. This act of bestowing the knowledge of the East onto the West is a move of “subjecting them [asians] to a narrative of obsolescence” (Forbes and Mahon 33), as if Westerners are the last hope for Eastern traditions to continue on in the world. Western media takes the Eastern traditions and forms them into molds that are created by Western pop culture. They take the religious ideas and change them to fit into the ideology of both the model minority and theold Eastern religious guru.

Sorry if this is illegible, I copied it out of my essay. If you want to read the essay for more information, I could upload it to issuu.

• “Broken Blossoms.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2012.
• Derné, Steve. “Market Forces at Work: Religious Themes in Commercial Hindi Films.” Media And The Transformation Of Religion In South Asia. Ed. Wadley and Babb. Philadelphia, Pa. : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. 191‐216. Print
• Forbes B, Mahan J. Religion And Popular Culture In America. Ed. Bruce David Forbes And Jeffrey H. Mahan. Berkeley [Calif.] : University of California Press, 2005. Print
• “Kung Fu (Series).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 5 Dec 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2012.
• “The Karate Kid (1984 film).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 19 Dec 2012. Web. 16 Dec 2012.
• Le, C.N. “The Model Minority Image.” Asian Nation. n.p. Web. 8 Dec. 2012.

Edit: this is the full essay if you want to read. Remember though, I did this for an elective seminar, so sorry if it sucks. Essay on Issuu

Can you clarify what you mean by "Asian films?" Do you mean films that originate from Asian countries or American films with Asian American actors?