Russia caught a break this weekend in its quest to start World War Three (Four?) when it was eclipsed by the most important news story to hit Sacramento in decades: Breakfast at Tiffany’s — Racist?
- Was ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ a racist movie?
- Sacramento official cancels ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ over anti-Asian scenes
- Rooney says racism charge at ’61 film role ‘breaks my heart’
The Bee’s Stephen Magagnini sure made the most of having to work the weekend.
Now, I don’t really want to talk about whether the movie is racist. I don’t think Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of Mr Yunioshi, the over-the-top Japanese landlord character, is enough to condemn the movie overall. Most people probably view it as a cringeworthy element to an otherwise fabulous film. I think it’s hard to argue that Mr Yunioshi is 100% acceptable. I’m sure it is probably easy to argue that every week at the multiplex there is more offensive stereotyping going on, especially with your grossout comedies, your Harold and Kumars and whatever spoof factory is responsible for those “Meet the Spartans” movies.
That being said, for Mr Yunioshi alone “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is probably not a movie to put on a list to be shown to boost civic pride. Deciding to do so, and pulling the film after what I assume was only mild protest, what with the movie being 47 years old and all, makes Steve Cohn look flighty and stupid.
“It’s got nice music, the ‘Moon River’ theme song, and Audrey Hepburn’s a great actress, very classy, playing a young woman in New York City trying to strike out on her own,” he said. “I’m sure there’s a love story attached to it.”
How many people were involved in picking this film, and did nobody think to bring this up? Or even ask Cohn if he had seen it recently?
And while we’re at it, where was the outrage against Jonathan Ke Quan’s portrayal of the silly-sounding, science whiz “Data” Wang? (Wang??) or the cartoonish, dangerous retard “Sloth” in Goonies, the previous film at Screen on the Green? Or against “Tiffany’s” replacement “Ratatouille’s” portrayal of French people as being too stupid to know when they are being served food prepared by a hideous army of rats?
On a more serious note: it is unfortunate that Cohn had no problems continuing with a fun family movie in the park a few days after a girl was sexually assaulted in broad daylight there, but bent over backward to change the offering so nobody would be offended–having a replacement movie overnighted, and at whose cost?
P.S. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” trivia tidbit for you punk rock fans out there. On Holly Golightly’s wall in one scene toward the end, a large poster for an airline, with the title “JETS TO BRAZIL”…
The Sac Rag 
Oh, this one is a quote-fest:
“I wasn’t going to make everybody happy editing out the scenes, and I’m never going to make everybody happy,” he said. “Let’s have a fun, relaxing evening and not get embroiled in controversy.”
So, why did you pull the movie?
“Ratatouille,” rated PG, is an animated film featuring rats in the kitchen of a French restaurant. Cohn didn’t expect animal rights activists to protest, since “rats are pretty well-represented in the movie.” But the film’s depiction of “stuffy French people” might offend somebody.
This is one of those things where you are reminded that we’re all just walking a tight rope every day of our lives. Can’t we all just agree that we hate everyone equally?
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When the activist Fa claims that “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is “arguably the most racist anti-Asian film in American cinematic history”, it shows, if nothing else, his glaring ignorance of the history of American cinema, especially considering that Rooney’s is a minor character. Personally, I never would have scheduled that movie in the first place, given the obvious time-capsule racial caricature of the character (also, it’s just not great). But then, whenever the movie is remembered fondly in clip shows and AFI lists, all anyone recalls is “Moon River” and Audrey Hepburn’s hats. All in all, this was a good post, with some very salient points; however, I should point out that Magagnini writes about racial issues for the Bee, so this story is very much in his purview.
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Thanks, DB. I’m glad you were able to look past the absence of any discussion of Zydeco and enjoy the post.
pointfinder: quotefest indeed, especially when Mr Rooney is reached at home for comment. He should be stoked he can even remember being in the movie at his age!
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Ratatouille made light of both the hunger and eating disorder problems of urban rats. Shame.
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I enjoy the DB.
“All in all, this was a good post…”
Rooney “…was the number one star… in the world, you hear me? Bang! In the wooorld.”
Props to anyone that can place that reference…
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Ha, got it. I appreciate the long history of making fun of…. THE MICKSTER.
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I love that Micky is being harassed for an appology over this. Too bad we can’t force Al Jolsen to appologize for the Jazz Singer. But all is not lost: Shirley Maclaine played a couple of asian characters; Gene Wilder, Jackie Chan (playing an American Indian), and Shawn and Marlon Wayans all played to outragous stereotypes, and are still around! Have at ’em for an appology.
And then don’t forget Julie Andrews trying to play a guy, playing a girl, playing a guy (or was it the other way around?). Time to start editing them films to clear out ALL the offensive stuff. I hope people without fathers arent’t offended by Star Wars’ “I AM your father”…
At least we can show the cleaned-up movies in a park without a controversial origin. Oh- wait…
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Personally, I would have liked to see them replace the movie with a Bela Fleck concert documentary, because that’s something the whole family can enjoy.
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This is all reminding me of the time I forced my husband to rent “Holiday Inn” starring Bing Crosby. I had seen it many times, but only on TV. I sold him on what a charming movie it is, so romantic and sweet, blah blah blah. Only to realize that the TV versions had cut out the gigantic scene in the middle of the movie featuring Bing Crosby in blackface, along with a number of other horrifying depictions in a dance number “celebrating” Abraham Lincoln Day. I guess what I’m trying to say is it could be worse.
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We’d better never see any old westerns then…the shame of not thinking of hiring authentic Native Americans. The total shame of it all. We could look back at the old films and say, “look how far we’ve come”..but nooooooooooo.
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I think the City ought to institute a policy of only booking movies that are intentionally offensive. They’d probably choose better movies that way. Let’s start with a John Waters retrospective.
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“Holiday Inn” is a great movie, with one of the best dance scenes in any film, but that blackface scene is just dreadful. Because of that, it’s a movie that you can’t go around recommending willy-nilly, even though you’d like to. Another one is “Swing Time”, a brilliant Astaire/Rogers musical with a blackface “tribute” to Bojangles. I have a feeling Steve Cohn’s head would explode if he ever saw either film.
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