MovieChat Forums > Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) Discussion > Why as an Asian I have no problem with R...

Why as an Asian I have no problem with Rooney's character


First of all let me state right away that I am in fact Asian. Full-blodded Asian. I have lived in Europe for many years and then in the US. Yes I am completely familiar with stereotypes and distorted visions of Asians. Yes I have been victom of prejudices, mockery and other issues related with being the odd one out.

I have watched countless movies from the classical era of American cinema (of which I am a great fan) and yes I do bemoan the dirth of good complex Asian characters.

However I believe that most who feel offended at Rooney's characterization have little knowledge of the way Asians in general were portrayed in American movies up until the 1960s. Apart from the questionable Charlie Chan movies (which did portray one Asian positively), the field was largely empty.

Rooney's characterization while caricatural and slightly grotesque was not particularly unusual for its time. Perhaps one could argue that by the 1960s we should have "known better", but this was still the EARLY 1960s.

In fact if we compare Mr. Yunioshi to that of countless - no less caricatural - portrayals of Asians done today I would its only fault is to be a little bit exaggerated. Are there many Asian who are actually similar to Jackie Chan or as athletic as Lucy Liu? Have Asians have really gained much in depth of character in the past 45 years apart from a few notable exceptions?

The answer is sadly no. Most Asians in films are still seen as fodder for ridicule and seen as either hopelessly boring nerds, impish clowns or super human martial arts virtuosos.

Thus I believe the entire condemnation and targetting of Rooney's chaerstization as nothing less than hypocritical and holier than thou.

Rather than be shocked at this very minor bleep in an otherwise intersting movie one should instead ponder the many shocking and unusual ideas introduced by this movie. Among these:

- The fact that Holly was married at 14 to a man at least 30 years older than she.
- The fact that Holly was ready to marry purely for money in order to support a brother old enough to be in the army (and falls in love with a man who looks like her brother)
- The fact that Paul is essentially a gigolo
- The fact that shoplifting is seen as a source of entertainment

and a few other quite unorthodox and questionable issue which even today challenge our puritanical sense of morality.

This movie is not meant to be easy to watch or to make the viewer feel smug or comfortable. It rips away most of our assumptions about what "good american boys and girls" are supposed to be like.

In this sense Mr. Yunioshi may turn out to be the more understandable traditional character...

Food for thought.

reply

It's certainly a very adult film, isn't it? But that's what I personally don't like about the characterisation of Yunioshi - it's so crude and mean-spirited for such an otherwise sophisticated and grown-up movie.

Sits in corner counting inconsistencies and Spoiling It For Everyone

reply

The worst thing to have ever happened to society as a whole was the institution of the sentiment and catch phrase 'political correctness' or PC. What a load of BS! All this has done is turn people into even bigger liars and deceivers. The incident concerning John Rocker (relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves) and his disparaging remarks concerning NYC (google it if you are not familiar with the story and read the Wikipedia account)shows just how idiotic (uhh, I mean...thinking challenged)Americans have become. He said absolutely nothing wrong and yet his remarks pretty much ended his career. Whatever happened to free speech? I'm sorry but I find it brain-numbing that curse words like GD and MF and many others have become so common that you expect to hear them on Sesame Street and yet God forbid that you should use the N word. Ozzie Guillen (manager of the Chicago White Sox) had to take sensitivity training because he used the word 'fag' (shh, you can't say that word). They've got it backwards...if you are easily offended, you should have to take insensitivity training...get over it, already!

What's wrong with stereotyping? If you are from the South where Southerners have been stereotyped as being inbred stupid morons, then just show people how that stereotype doesn't apply to all Southerners (unless, of course, it DOES apply to you...in which case, wear your badge with pride).

Ever seen Blazing Saddles? Amos and Andy? Dean Martin's Roast (especially Don Rickles)? These shows were FUNNY with capital letters.

The scenes with Rooney were meant to be funny and not indicative of the Asian race. Grow up people and quit wearing your feelings on your sleeves...where you keep wiping your nose.

Ask your doctor if thinking is right for you

reply

But that's the point - THEY'RE NOT FUNNY. The only person who would find such a dumb stereotype "funny" is... well, an inbred hick with a single-figure IQ.

Sits in corner counting inconsistencies and Spoiling It For Everyone

reply

Sorry, I disagree...and I know that I am right. How do I know? Because my IQ (when measured in school) was 128. I went to a special school for advanced students, took advanced placements when starting college, had the third highest ACT test scores in my school, etc., etc. I am a blue-blood coming from French and Spanish royalty. The only one of YOUR stereotypes that may fit me is 'hick', being a country boy from the South. My grandfather had slaves and my parents had servants. I was raised to be a racist but I'm not.

What's funny is VERY subjective. You may find crude humor (bathroom type) funny. I don't. Nothing is funny to me if crude (foul) language is used. What you may find funny, I might find disgusting...and vice-versa. I grew up listening to "Amos and Andy" and then "Soap" and then Archie Bunker and then "Married with Children" and found them all extremely funny and EVERY ONE of them was based on STEREOTYPES! I also loved the comedy of Justin Wilson. He was (as he said) a half-bleed Cajun and he constantly poked fun at the Cajuns. Were Cajuns ever offended by his humor? Absolutely! But if they were, it just shows that they were a bunch of inbred hicks with single-figure IQ's.


Ask your doctor if thinking is right for you

reply

Bold thinking, Laurence, but Rooney's performance is so cheesey and crappy, I would have hated it even if he WERE Asian. The fact that Edwards cast a blue-eyed white guy (in keeping with the Hollywood custom of the time, for what that's worth) whose idea of looking ethnic was to scootch up his mouth and pretend to be buck-toothed, as in some WWII propganda film, just exacerbates the problem.

Still, I see his scenes as I would a tear in the canvas of an otherwise priceless painting - the finished product is flawed but still beautiful.

reply

Admirable sentiments. I don't have a problem with people being offended, but they should also realize the context. I also feel that some people (not anyone in mind particularly) not only have to find ways to stop sounding so emotionally distraught about 50 year old films, but also should learn to "not throw out the baby with the bathwater", so to speak. Point out racist stereotypes, that's fine... but there are a thousand other areas you can address as well, positives.

It will help you enjoy things more if a minute aspect of a film doesn't ruin the entire experience.

reply

And asians (not everyone) thinking they are the only people targetted in American movies etc. EVERYONE is targetted. I dont see many other people caring.
Case closed.

reply

I agree. I really don't understand the other posters. Why shouldn't this movie be shown in modern times? Is it going to corrupt our minds? Is it going to make us think that all Asian people are stupid and have buckteeth? No, it's not since we now "know better."

I actually didn't think his character was all that racist. The movie painted him as a stupid character. But it didn't say ALL Asians were stupid. What? There aren't any stupid people who happen to be Asian? If all the Asian people in this movie were portrayed as dumb and there was this one non-Asian character that was supposed to be better than them, then I would say the movie was racist.

reply

''Full-blooded Asian''? I am sorry but such a term is erroneous as it implies that all Asians are genetically and culturally the same when they are not. Japanese are hardly the same as the Chinese, culturally and genetically, and they are not the same as Indians, Thais etc. either. This might not be offensive to a Chinese person, but it really is quite offensive to a Japanese person. Also, are you Chinese? If so, you might actually be genetically mixed as China is one of the most mixed countries in the world (whilst keeping the majority culture) due to the silk road and other factors. Racism in China had always been quite minor, with major racism only cropping up once in a while (the same cannot quite be said of xenophobia or ''culturalism'', though).

Asian, which means ''someone from the continent of Asia'', is not a race nor an ethnicity, it is more diverse genetically, linguistically and linguistically than Europe.



If you are sick of the ''I love Jesus 100% signature'', copy and paste this into your profile!

reply

It's been a while since I've seen this movie, but I do recall Mickey Rooney's character. To me, it was sorta silly and over the top. It was funny. For some reason, I never saw his Asian portrayal as typical of Asians. None of the other characters were exactly typical either. He did, in fact, use some stereotypes that enhanced the funny side of the movie. He was acting; that means he can do anything. He did not, however, do anything grossly offensive--just slightly irritating.

I'm bald and have four technical degrees. I cringe at the sterotypes portraying middle aged bald men as bumbling idiots who rely on their wise children to survive. I quickly get over it.

I'm curious, what is (emphasis on "is") acceptable for an Asian to be funny? Remember, they will have to make you laugh at something they are doing or joke about someone else. That joke may make fun in some way of another person. To be nonoffending, perhaps the Asian could be working a math problem and say "2 + 2 = 5" and realize the absurdity of the obvious error. The Asian would politely giggle, and we the movie audience would roar with laughter. No, not likely. Laughter will have to come at the expense of someone looking a bit more foolish and perhaps in a predicament we may not want to personally be in.

We really ought to get over issues with race at the movies or on TV. Unless you can point to something utterly out of bounds, just be entertained. False outrage has become annoying to me and others.

reply

Haha, very funny jimthebig. :)

Laurence many people agree with you silently but don't want to get involved in such a silly debate. I pushed myself a bit to write this just to let you know. Just leave the poorly educated and narrow-minded people to their delusions. It's not "bold thinking" at all (though it's probably good that you posted it considering some people seem to have such issues). Since when is saying something that is clearly true and obvious "bold thinking"? Oh I expect maybe in some film classes they're probably teaching nowadays that it's racist... though I am unsure, since most people in film are mercifully intelligent about things like this and don't get such hangups. This is just like a sort of cloud of censorship they want hanging over cinema.

I cannot understand this desire for people to take things from back years ago and say "oh that's racist, oh we know so much better now".... it's so stupid it makes me almost cry. It has nothing to do with him being asian, just like if a black man commits a crime in a movie it's not racist.

Laurence, these people who are debating with you, are... well you know what I think they are, I don't want to be moderated. Leave them to their ignorance, with such little self-esteem that they can only rat on and badmouth times past. There was a lot of crap that went on in the old days, there is a lot of crap that goes on today. The old days were NEVER as bad as some clowns try to make out.

Edit: Lawrence, I have just read a piece of a post you wrote on the first page...: "(I would label Prissy's portrayal as far more offensive to blacks than Rooney's even though the actress was genuinely black)".... I think that is an extremely offensive thing to say against Blacks and that fine woman, I think you are extremely offensive and racist, and I feel ambivalent that I agree with you on this issue with Mickey Rooney as you obviously don't appreciate this issue or films like they should be appreciated.

reply

I don't have a problem with it. Come on, Mickey Rooney playing a Japanese guy is funny! Just like Toshiro Mifune playing a white hillbilly would have been funny. People have gotten way too sensitive about race. If a Japanese actor, or even a Chinese actor, had played Mr. Yunioshi, and had given the exact same performance, no one would care. Why is it not okay for Mickey Rooney to portray an Asian stereotype, and yet it's okay for, say, William Hung to walk around actually being an Asian stereotype?

As Avenue Q put it: "Ethnic jokes might be uncouth, but you laugh because they're based on truth. Don't take them as personal attacks. Everyone enjoys them, so relax!"

reply

I'm Japanese American, which is not the same as Mr. Yunioshi, who I believe came from Japan. I watched the movie when I was in my forties and felt his part offensive, although I love and respect Mickey Rooney, the actor. What is strange was that had I watched it when I was younger, I wouldn't have felt the same. I have lived in Japan for the past 20 years and have seen the other side of the coin. I watch Japanese stereotypes of Americans/caucasians on TV here, (fake noses for one, accented speaking for another) especially on the late night shows, which can be more freewheeling, and can say that they are not laughing with you and the same can be said for Mickey Rooney's performance. There were many fine Asian actors that they could have used, and if allowed to creatively develop the character rather than following the script or the director's instructions, might have been created a memorable character commensurate with the rest of the movie.

On similar lines, I have seen many examples of American TV getting Asians right, whether it's Asian Americans like Jack Soo's character on Barney Miller or as foreign visitors in police dramas. They often go the extra step of making them use believable accents. But the fact is that I can watch American TV and can see positive Asian role models, whether heroes, villains or ordinary joes. It outweighs the stereotypes that sometimes crop up. For example, I could predict beforehand which person on the Challenger crew would be stuck with the comedic relief role on the TV movie.

To add to the comments about East Of Eden, Eli Stone's Chinese acupuncture doctor also did the same. The movie and TV series of East of Eden, both excellent, also marginalized Lee, who was more important in the book.

Something not mentioned enough is that Mr. Dang is not Japanese but perhaps Chinese or from South East Asia and also that the Japanese still have some image problems with other Asian nations. As others have said, not all Asians are the same and for one to say that he was not offended, cannot be taken as applicable across the board, but one point of view.
If a TV show made in England had a British actor portraying a Yankee as overweight, loud, obnoxious, ignorant, smarmy and money grubbing, and a person from the South had said that he had no problems with it, we would not take his opinion as applicable to all Americans.


reply

An American that goes to Japan does have to develop a strong mind if he wants to see things as they are, I grant you this. But there's no comparison whatsoever between the two types of discrimination, and this can be illustrated by the fact that a good-looking American man in whom Asia has made a deep and altering impression will typically attract a much higher percentage of women (and men) than a similarly sensitive Japanese assimilating in America. This, to me, is as much a comment on a graciousness in the Japanese spirit as it is on a superior potential in Western character. There are not many Westerners (to say nothing of Americans) who can really relate (notice I don't say 'assimilate', which I believe to be impossible) in the East. In other words there are fewer of us who can do it well than there are Asians who can mix well in the West; however, the few of us who can do it end up penetrating much more deeply. Japan's stereotyping is more rooted in truth and experience, and they are readier to love foreigners. Japanese fall in love with foreigners (I don't necessarily mean romantically) in a way that Americans don't. Does that make East or West superior? The question is and will always remain a paradox.

reply

I think that the Japanese for attraction for caucasians is the same feeling that Americans have for British and Australians. It is the cachet and exotic feeling that has been cultivated in the minds of Japanese, more than any graciousness in the Japanese spirit. Japanese are very gracious and are also human. I think that you are correct that there are differences, but the underlying feelings of anti-foreigners can still pop up in both cultures. I look Japanese so if I don't speak, Japanese will sometimes speak with more candor in front of me than in front of foreigners. I was at a meeting of English teachers in Japan when an older Japanese person came to our group and starting complaining in Japanese about the foreigners, and my friends could only look at me uncomfortably. It is also sometimes the same when I'm part of a crowd in a live house and listen to Japanese crack jokes about foreigners.
But I think that the failure of Westerners to relate (or assimilate) is due equally in part to the Japanese refusal to let foreigners into the final inner 'us' circle as well as the strong core of Western identity that many Westerners have that prevents them from making the last step to become Japanese. And Caucasians in Japan are like Blacks in America, no matter how much you try to assimilate, you can never hide your skin and that prevents you from totally merging or rather being accepted without conditions.
If you are presently living in Japan, have you seen the 'Debu man,' the grossly fat foreigner pretending to be an American who appeared on the afternoon kids show on TV Tokyo, who sat around and pigged out and was too lazy to move, while the Japanese around him laughed? This was before the Mar. 11 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. The effort made by the US Forces in Japan and aid efforts made by citizens in the US did much to balance the resentment against the US that had been building up over the years. There is less overt anti-US feelings shown on the media and I do notice that more people wear clothing with the US stars and stripes than before. Almost no one wore such clothing before the Earthquake, although the British flag on clothing and accessories were very popular. Americans do have a lot to answer for, it is true, but there was and is much good in the relationship.

reply

What I'm tried and failed to say is that Japanese prejudice is more based on experience than America's. Most Americans don't end up mixing well in Japan, and it takes a long time of seeing many different things to be able to do it. I don't think a foreigner should want to completely assimilate, and I don't think it's finally possible. No matter how close one gets there will always be a distance to go. It's a process of relation, but that relationship (in which there are certainly fights) can become deep to the point of seeing each others' weaknesses as long as the outsider is willing for his or hers to be seen first. The Japanese are very conscious of their prejudice and when an outsider stands up to it prettily (very few can or do) they tend to admire it. It takes a long time to be able to do that because it takes a long time to see and admit the truth in the prejudice. As a matter of fact I want Asian nations to resist globalization. I want each country to retain its unique character. I don't want it to be easy. Americans project their mentality too easily and I want other countries to resist it. Our story of overcoming prejudice has no place in Eastern countries.

I did live in a Japan and my story is unique, but I'll use my grandfather as an example. He went to Japan after the war as a missionary and ended up beloved. To me that does denote a graciousness in Asian character--at least a potential for graciousness.

reply

I find it interesting those like the OP who don't have any experience or insight into the unique racial history of the United States (compared to other countries) always try and make excuses for things that are mostly inexcusable, no matter what time period they occurred.

Yes, Mickey Rooney's racist... And I do state it is flat out racist... Portrayal of a Japanese person is offensive no matter what time period it takes place. Just because it was accepted in 1961, doesn't make it right then, or now and this goes triple because of the unique racial discriminatory history of the United States in particular e.g. slavery, ill treatment of non-Whites... Something the OP does not seem to acknowledge at all in their passionate plea to others to just tolerate the scenes and move on. It's great if they are European... Which also has a terrible history of racial discrimination, too... But they shouldn't try and gloss over something that is unique to America's historical and cultural identity and that is race, good and bad, because it IS different compared to most of the world.

I will also make a guess most of those agreeing with him are probably White / Caucasian? So, it is very easy for them to say "get over it" when they live in a culture and society where they and their children are the predominant race and have, or probably never will be discriminated against.

The scenes in question should have been reshot, or just not included because they ARE offensive... Then and now... And more because they don't add anything to the overall story to begin with, IMO.

reply

"I will also make a guess most of those agreeing with him are probably White / Caucasian?"

I've seen plenty of posts from Asians say they do not have a problem with Rooney's portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi on this site and others.

Those who think otherwise feel they are progressing society toward some Great Utopia where no one ever offends anyone. Never gonna happen. Human nature will never allow it. There are more important issues to worry about other than "Is Mickey Rooney being racist in "Breakfast at Tiffany's?" Pull your boot straps up and move on...you will never succeed in getting this movie banned.

reply

The scenes in question should have been reshot...

Now THERE'S an idea! While we're at it, let's do some CGI on Audrey, so she doesn't look so skinny. And you know, a ginger cat is so passé. It's been done to death-wouldn't the cat look better if it was a fluffy white cat? Better reshoot those scenes too-the cat would look so much more pitiful at the end with all its fluffy white hair pasted down in the rain.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

reply