A brouhaha has been started because the Brooklyn Bridge Conservancy wants to have a public showing of Breakfast at Tiffany’s which contains Mickey Rooney’s mocking and over the top portrayal of a Japanese-American. The over done makeup, squinting eyes and Rooney’s accent are clearly racist, but this alone is not reason enough to not show the film. It has many redeeming qualities and the depiction of the Mr. Yunioshi character is telling of attitudes of the time and allows us to get a glimpse into the mindset of what film makers thought was appropriate at the time, which was 1961.
The following are all films that have overt racism, sexism, classism or other offenses but that you should still see.
- Deliverance – A film where the name Lewis is said more times than in any other film before or since. It stereotypes the people who live in the backwoods of Georgia (and really any Southern state) as toothless, banjo savants, rapists, dullards and any number of other stereotypes applied to Southerners who don’t live in major metropolitan areas. Don’t go in the woods, you might not come back alive. But it’s also a gripping thriller that makes you reconsider how you would react when put in these circumstances.
- Sixteen Candles – Any film that has a character named Long Duk Dong is going for a cheap laugh at the expense of another culture. The character is a walking talking stereotype, though at least the actor isn’t Mickey Rooney but rather an actual Asian-American. However, if you deny yourself seeing this classic John Hughes film you are missing out on one of the best movies of the 1980’s.
- Every Woody Allen movie – If your only exposure to Jewish New Yorkers was from Woody Allen movies you would have a very distorted view of how people live. Not every Jewish New Yorker is a bumbling, neurotic mess. You should still see Annie Hall though.
- The Jazz Singer – Yes, they use blackface makeup in this movie and this has been examined and dissected to no end. If all you know is that the film employed blackface and refuse to see it on those grounds then you’ve done yourself no favors.
- Gone with the Wind – The depiction of Hattie McDaniel’s character Mammy and almost every other black character is done in an almost cartoon like way and as slaves they come across as often happy with their circumstances. These things aside it is a visually stunning movie with great acting and some of the most memorable dialog in any movie.
- The Women – The 1939 original that is. If you thought the women in Sex and the City were cliched stereotypes then The Women will bring you a whole new level of cliche. But it is also a funny movie with great actors and a great script.
