The next is a short montage of Asian characters who have been played by non-Asian actors. (The practice is often referred to as 'Yellowface'. This term comes from the term 'blackface' - the practice of black characters played by caucasian actors.)
Now check out this clip from Breakfast at Tiffany's:
Question: How racist is Mickey Rooney's portrayal...
of Mr. Yunioshi?
I think it is as racist as possible. the accent on Mr. Y, the lamps, the soup, the chopsticks and my favorite, the yellow buck teeth. I dont really have a problem with it because its all humor. everybody knows racist jokes are the funniest ones and i think the director just wanted to make the viewers laugh at the annoying Asian neighbor who can barely speak english.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Allen, Mr. Yunioshi's character is as racist as it can get. His distinct character traits and personality traits are of a stereotypical Asian man at this time. The director clearly gave him buck teeth and filed his apartment with Asian decor to emphasize how how much of a stereotypical Asian he was. I think the director also put his character in the movie as a laugh.
ReplyDeleteRachel - "The director clearly gave him buck teeth and filed his apartment with Asian decor to emphasize how how much of a stereotypical Asian he was. I think the director also put his character in the movie as a laugh." But are we laughing at Mr. Yunioshi as a character who is - by himself - funny, or are we laughing at Asian people because that act funny?
ReplyDeleteWell i have to agree with everyone so far, the portrayal of asians in this movie is incredibly racist. but as you look at different movies, most movies during this time period played asians in the same way, as this ridiculous race of people who were made fun of on the silver screen for comic relief. in these cases we are laughing at the stereotype that they are playing asians to be, so in some aspects, we are laughing at both asian people as well as Mr. Yunioshi's character.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Mr. Yunioshi's is very racist as much as it is inappropriately stereotyping Asians (Maybe that's considered racism, but I don't know). The buck teeth and the way that he talks can be very offensive, but I doubt his character was created specifically to offended Asian people. His character was put in there for the comedy. Aside from the offensive part though, Mr. Yunioshi's character is just a funny in general (ex. how clumsy he is). I also don't think it's a bad thing to have actors of a certain race portray a character in a movie of another race, just as long as it's not in a derogatory way (and in this movie's case, it kind of was).
ReplyDeleteMr. Yunioshi is extremely racist and offensive now, but back then it was an actual, likely joke to be used. Nowadays, nobody would dare put such an offensive character in a film. There would be way too much controversy and anger among people. But back then Mr. Yunioshi was a stereotyped Asian man, just mimicked and highly over exaggerated to the point where it's ridiculous. Although we still laugh now, we're also thinking "Oh my, did that really just happen? Did they actually have him do that?"
ReplyDeleteTo answer Mr. Cowlin's question, I think the audience is meant to share a laugh at both Mr. Yunioshi's character and Asian people in general. What's interesting though is how these stereotypes have evolved. I suppose that in the 1960s the general sterotype was that Asians had really thick accents and buck teeth with a pair of thick framed glasses. I don't know for sure, though. Today, Mr. Yunioshi would instead probably hold a calculator in one hand, drawing utensils in the other, and maybe a cup of shrimp noodles by his side. This film portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi is pretty racist, however.
ReplyDelete"Nowadays, nobody would dare put such an offensive character in a film. There would be way too much controversy and anger among people."
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Stacey's statment because today we still see the same amount of racist films. I think there is a fine line though between being racist and purposely being racist. A truly racist film would be if it was indiscrete and in a serious movie, like if in a drama all the heroes were white and all the enemies were latino. However, comedy films can get away with it by still exaggerating these stereotypes that the audience knows that the characters are sterotyped. Examples would be in the movie 'Barbershop.' The african american characters are pretty stereotyped, yet it was meant to be that way, and so it was not criticized, if that makes any sense.
Stacey: "Nowadays, nobody would dare put such an offensive character in a film." What about Eddie Murphy movies?
ReplyDeleteMr. Y is portrayed in a racist way because its a white man pretending to be Asian and are making him a stereotypical Asian. His teeth, how he talks, his house, and his overall appearance displays that he is as Asian as can be portrayed. The director took a risk of putting this character into the movie and hoped would come off as a joke, and not offensively.
ReplyDeleteI find Mickey Rooney's portrayal to be incredibly racist. It is an over the top exaggeration of the stereotype of asians in that time period. I feel like it is almost making fun of the culture in some ways, like when he is sitting there with the bowl etc. He is really just making a big joke out of the asian race. But to be completely fair, Mickey Rooney played the over the top exaggeration well and definitely makes the audience laugh.
ReplyDeleteMr. Cowlin: What movies was he in where he was portrayed as such a character? I've just never seen them before.
ReplyDeleteWell, i have to say that i somewhat disagree with the comment Jin made about my comment.
ReplyDeleteAlthough i do agree that there are a lot of racist films still being made, but do they go to this extent? Maybe because it was the 1960's that it was easy to get away with this, but do we still see white men getting their faces painted and wearing ridiculous things to portray Asians and African Americans? My point being, if a producer were to have that in a movie today that's where the controversy and anger would begin.