#mr. yunioshi

[nanshe-of-nina]

Wrong definitions of Orientalism I’ve seen online:

Simply using elements from East, South, Southeast, and/or West Asian cultures and folklore as inspiration for fantasy. (This can be problematic, but it's not inherently so.)

A generally racist portrayal of Asian characters. (The portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's is pretty damn racist, but ain't particularly Orientalist.)

Mixing different elements from different Asian cultures together for a fantasy counterpart culture. (As with #1, it can be problematic, but mixing together elements of different cultures is rather common in fantasy works. Furthermore, while Asians are not a monolith, different Asian cultures have, in fact, influenced each other and they are not hermetically sealed.)

A White person liking anime, K-Pop, or any other Asian media.

A White person being attracted to an Asian person. (Do note: this is not the same thing as, say, "I want an East Asian wife because they're more feminine and submissive.")

Depicting Asian characters as having magical powers in a work that’s very clearly supposed to be a work of fantasy. (If this was enough to classify a work as Orientalist, then One Thousand and One Nights and the entire genre of wuxia would both qualify. Both are also generally vague about when and where they’re supposed to be set.)

Having a “stereotypical” villain. (Specifically, stereotypical how? A villain who twirls their mustache and kicks puppies isn't automatically Orientalist.)

The weird thing about these misconceptions is that the Wikipedia page on Orientalism actually does a decent and succinct job of explaining what Edward Said meant when he used the term:

In Said's analysis, the West essentializes these societies as static and undeveloped—thereby fabricating a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced in the service of imperial power. Implicit in this fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior.

This also tends to involve depicting “the Orient” as effeminate, misogynist, decadent, and inherently inclined to tyrannical rule and also conceiving of most, if not all, Easterners as a monstrous horde.

My default go-to when trying to show these attitudes in practice is depiction of the Persians in the comic and its film adaptation, 300. It uses ALL of the Orientalist stereotypes without the slightest bit of irony or nuance.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Hello again M🕵🏻‍♀️,

I just read your answer to the 1950s film anon with the MUBI screenshots and got so very excited! 📽️😻🎞️

Your suggestions are in oh-so-excellent tastes! I had to come here to share my favs (okay some might be from the 60s…😳🫢)

🚬”Breathless” (Jean Seberg & Jan Paul Belmondo, need I say more?!)

🥲”Bonjour Tristesse” (again, Jean Seberg, and the novel by Françoise Sagan was an absolute banger too!)

📸 “Rear Window” (My fav Hitchcock. James Stewart is actually not annoying in this one.)

🌂”Mon Oncle” (Jacques Tati might be an acquired taste, esp. in America…but I love the minute details he obsess over in all his films that create the whole quirky-kitsh-odd, sometimes bizarre atmosphere)

💎”Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (🙄I know, cliche…but I just love Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in this one, even with the despicable depiction of quasi Japonesque character Mr. Yunioshi played by Mickey Rooney. Funny how Peppard also went on to act in action films/shows later, just like Belmondo)

👑”Roman Holiday” (I’m partial to Gregory Peck in this one.)

⛵️”Plein Soleil” (Alain Delon is breathtaking in this one…)

Ohgosh~🫣there already are too many! Sorry! I’m just so excited for the transformation of your space where I can now find and talk about two of my odd varieties of obsessions (Bangtan & films)!

P.S. Much newer, but do you happen to like Wim Wenders films by any chance? What about Jim Jarmusch?

Your excitement is contagious, anon! This list takes me back to high school, each film has a different memory attached to it.

If you like Jean Seberg, I recommend listening to a series from the You Must Remember This podcast. Her career and life was discussed in detail in parallel with Jane Fonda. Look it up and you'll find it easily. The shooting for Bonjour Tristesse was a bit of a hell for Jean.

Your comment about James Stewart took me out because I understand the feeling. I'm not a fan, there's something about him that annoys me (maybe the way he talks?), but I can see that he was a good actor. I don't have anything serious to criticize.

Yes, Tati is an acquired taste. It never got to me to the point of wanting to watch a lot of his filmography, but he is one of a kind and an influence to those that came after him (Greta mentions him for the inspiration behind Barbie as well)

With Breakfast at Tiffany's, a cliche or not, does it matter? It's too iconic. Yes, it has a reputation and good material for specific tumblr/pinterest aesthetics, but for good reason. If we take all that aside, we're still left with something of value, given that it's also an adaption of a Capote novel.

There's so much to talk about Audrey Hepburn that it requires a separate post. I don't think Hollywood had another actress like her or even coming close to that kind of presence. She was a movie star in her own category. Anyway, I never became a fan of Gregory Peck (I didn't go and search his films) but damn the guy was hot. Can I have a Roman Holiday too? Just like that? 😄

Alain Delon in Plein Soleil is a sin. And a perfect summer film. With this guy, I have to manage to separate the actual person and his political beliefs from the star he was in the 60s. Same with Brigitte Bardot. Ignore and store that in the back of my head so I can enjoy the films.

As to your questions, I could never get into the Jarmusch vibe, although I did watch a few of his films. I don't have anything against him he's good and a true artist, but it doesn't match with my taste. With Wim Wenders, I know Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas, The American Friend, Pina. Again, it's the type of director that has his place in film history, but I never focused particularly on him.

[stereotypeclass2teachercarmen]

Ami Kano

 Stereotyped movies and TV series increase prejudice and discrimination

Have you ever traveled to a country and realized that the image you had of those people was completely stereotyped? Well, that happens more often than we think and one of the reasons the wrong ideas of people get into our minds is movies. Although it seems a little odd, the explanation is easier than it looks.

 Reducing a group of people to a one dimensional character is one of the ways movies perpetuate stereotypes. Cinematic stereotypes reflect and shape common prejudices. Perceptions can be influenced by portrayals of Asians as nerdy, black men as dangerous and Latinas as fiery.  In Hollywood history there are lots of examples of racist caricatures, their focus is Black and Asian people. The 1961 Audrey Hepburn movie Breakfast at Tiffany's and the bucktoothed Mr. Yunioshi, whose stereotypical “Engrish” accent was intended to mock Japanese people. 

“Racism, in the form of job exclusion and racially stereotyped roles, has defined the Hollywood film industry since its birth in the early 1900s," Since always black people have always been portrayed as villains, bad, poor etc. Asians as laughable caricatures such as Mr. Yunioshi. In addition to everything else, that character is played by the entirely white American actor Mickey Rooney, thus making it an example of yellowface: a non-Asian person impersonating an Asian person.

Even nowadays Asians have been marginalized. "Today, most images of Asians and Asian Americans on screen weren't created by Asians or Asian Americans, but by people who don't know much about them," said Kento Ono, student of media representation at the University of Utah. "This creates a very strange idea of who Asians and Asian Americans are for those who don't know any Asian people. And it also creates a very confused and estranged relationship by Asians and Asian Americans to Hollywood, because they can't fully identify with this bizarre representation of themselves."

Although movies can be a good way of entertainment, it's important to understand that they can influence our perception of the world, potentially causing discrimination. 

To sum up, before judging a culture for what we see on movies and TV series. it's important to remember that you can contribute to the prejudice those people are suffering by believing in a stereotyped side of the story.

[dj-bouto]

01. 00:00 - Tyrone a'Saurus "The monster twist" 02. 01:11 - B Bumble "Bumble boogie" 03. 03:05 - The Lively Ones "Misirlou" 04. 04:34 - Bobby Day "Rockin' robin" 05. 06:26 - The Top Notes "Twist and shout" 06. 07:58 - The Sprouts "Twisting in bandstand" 07. 09:44 - Ruth Brown "Little girl's gonna rockin" 08. 11:03 - Joey Dee "Peppermint twist" 09. 12:52 - Lonnie Mack "Wham" 10. 15:01 - Sammy Masters "Flat feet" 11. 16:47 - Catl Belew "Cool gator shoes" 12. 18:15 - Chuck Willis "There's got to be a way" 13. 19:59 - The Zircons "No twistin' on sunday" 14. 21:38 - The Marvelettes "Twistin' postman" 15. 23:31 - Petula Clark "Ya ya twist" 16. 25:43 - Henry Mancini "The Tiber twist" 17. 28:00 - Lavern Baker "Jim Dandy" 18. 29:55 - Clyde Pitts "The lonely side of town" 19. 32:06 - Louis Prima "Twist all night" 20. 33:44 - Wayland Chandler "Little lover" 21. 35:22 - Rene Hall "Twitchy" 22. 37:44 - Henry Mancini "Spook" 23. 40:39 - Henry Mancini "Mr Yunioshi" 24. 43:07 - Henry Mancini "Arabesque" 25. 44:32 - Tyrone a'Saurus "The monster twist" Stories mother never told me #17 : mixed by Dj Bouto #rocknroll #rockabilly #twist

[quoteoftheweekblog]

…

30/9/24 - TRUMAN CAPOTE (& JAMES BALDWIN)

'She was never without dark glasses, she was always well groomed ... ' (Capote, 2022, p.17).

REFERENCE

Capote, T. (2022 [1958] ) 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. London: Penguin Little Clothbound Classics.

*****

…

…

' " ... girl-about-New York." ' (Capote, 2022, p.106).

*****

…

…

TO OUR NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT

ON BROADWAY IN TRIBECA/SOHO

…

AND THANKS AGAIN

XXXX

SEE ALSO

' ... "You recall a certain Mr I.Y. Yunioshi? A gentleman from Japan." ' (Capote, 2022, p.6).

...

The character in the film is significantly different from the character as presented in Capote's original novella … and the film version of Mr. Yunioshi, as portrayed by Mickey Rooney, has been the subject of extensive critical commentary and review since its theatrical release due to its use of ethnic stereotypes. ('I.Y. Yunioshi', 2024).

REFERENCE

'I. Y. Yunioshi' (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._Y._Yunioshi (Accessed 30 September 2024).

...

NOT TO MENTION

…

...

BLACK/BAME/GLOBAL MAJORITY MONTH 2024

*****

GLOBAL MAJORITY MONTH 

*****

CONGRATULATIONS 2024

…

TODAY IS THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF TRUMAN CAPOTE - 30/9/1924

NEWS REPORT

...

AUGUST WAS THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF JAMES BALDWIN - 2/8/1924

NEWS REPORT

...

CONGRATULATIONS

*****

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 2011 - 2024

…

13 EPIC YEARS

*****

FROM THE ARCHIVE

…

5/6/23

*****

[nothing0fnothing]

In Breakfast at Tiffany's Holly didn't lose her key. She buzzes Mr Yunioshi to let her in because she's scared of the guys that follow her into the building.

[tayarthur]

Stereotypes in American Media

While my classmates presentation on Stereotypes in American Media touches on this point too, the origins of stereotypes in the US stems from systemic racism. In the article, Blackface: The Birth of An American Stereotypefrom the Nation Museum of African American History and Culture, the author discusses how poor white working Americans in the beginning of our country used skin color and the 'other' as a way to scape goat their struggle and misery. By minimizing the "other" they were able escape the realities of their situations on a surface level. "The whole idea of a stereotype is to simplify," stated Chinua Achebe in the article. 

Graphics, photographs and illustrations have been used across generations to cement stereotypes in the brains of the masses. Some of the best ways this has been implemented is in entertainment. One clear example that comes to mind is Mr. Yunioshi from the classic "Breakfast at Tiffany's" film staring mega actress Audry Hepburn. In theFar Out magazine article  published in October of 2022, the allegations that Yunioshi's character was racist was debated soon after the films release, but it was lauded by movie professionals as a necessary character, despite the foundation of the character having no character arc, depicted in traditional dress and spoken down to by Hepburn in the now famous line, "Don’t be angry you dear little man. I promise not to do it again." 

Depictions in media that focus on someones class, race, physical features, gender etc... reinforce stereotypes, which serve to place human beings into singular boxes. These stereotypes tell us "I am better than him/she/they." This mindset plays perfectly into the "American Idealism" that is historic to our culture. For example, the cartoon my classmates cited, "Speedy Gonzales," had both of these characteristics. The character of Speedy Gonzales in the clip we watched was always steeling his friends women, despite not having 'worked' for the attention. The mouse characters were depicted as fat, short brown beings with large sombreros. The female characters were depicted as helpless, meek, and also fiery at times. By providing something perceivably entertaining to watch, these concepts get unconsciously swept into the audiences brains. 

My classmates argued that to dispel these stereotypes, we must just stop allowing them to occur. Or, if that is not achievable - be educated enough to spot them, call them out for what they are, and ultimately accept our fellow human beings as they are. This means, not putting them into a preconceived box to belittle them or ignore them. 

[adamwatchesmovies]

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Once you see Breakfast at Tiffany’s, you’ll understand why it’s a big deal. Audrey Hepburn is impossibly memorable as Holly Golightly. The story is surprisingly bold for 1961. It’s funny, romantic, and might make you weep… which makes the extraordinarily racist caricature of a Japanese man - played by Mickey Rooney - all the more disappointing. It’s a good movie but unless you sit down and prepare yourself for a long internal conversation, I don’t know if I can recommend it.

Naive and eccentric Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) welcomes Paul Varjak (George Peppard) to her apartment building. He's a writer who hasn’t written anything in five years. How he makes ends meet is as inexplicable as Holly’s income - she gets paid $100 a week to talk to an incarcerated mobster and deliver the weather report to one of his friends. The more time Holly and Paul spend together, the closer they become but Holly is not the kind of woman who will allow herself to be tied down.

Whether actor Mickey Rooney, producer Richard Shepherd or director Blake Edwards felt uneasy or not casting a white man in makeup to play a Japanese character, whether protests at the time were loud enough to be heard doesn’t really matter. The fact is, Mr. Yunioshi does not paint a flattering picture of American-Japanese citizens and said portrayal was brought to life by someone who wasn’t Asian. Editing him out (assuming it would be morally right to pretend like the yellowface didn't happen) would be impossible - Yunioshi appears too frequently and in just enough critical scenes. It’s doubly heartbreaking because this really is a good film that some people will not want to see or be unable to enjoy because of this character. I would, however, encourage you to try - at least once.

As the film begins, you see Holly Golightly and you think you’ve got her figured out. She’s a “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” prototype, right? Beautiful, funny, always up to something wild and positioned to brighten up the life of someone else - usually a man - who might not even realize has fallen into a rut. How could she not realize the “weather report” she gives are coded messages? What is she thinking stringing along all these rich men at her parties? For the first half-hour or so, you think she hasn’t gotten a reasonable thought in her head but that will change. Just as Paul becomes fascinated by her free spirit and the mysterious circumstances that pushed her to become who she is, you'll also take a step back, stop admiring the iconic cigarette holder, hairdo, and dresses and look at what’s behind the curtain. How much of all this is a mask, and what is it hiding?

The longer you watch, the clearer the truth becomes: like Paul, Holly is not happy. She’s far from happy, in fact. This makes her a great match for Paul but their situations prevent them from becoming an item. That's heavy and dramatic but the film is often quite funny. Holly draws to her apartment all sorts of outrageous characters that make for some big laughs. There’s also a mystery aspect that intrigues you. It makes you question every little oddity you see. That guy standing outside the building looking shifty. What’s he really up to?

Any conversation about Breakfast at Tiffany’s will inevitably revolve around Audrey Hepburn and her character but let's not overlook George Peppard. His co-star is bold and out there. He’s reserved and subtle - the perfect complement. When he finally lets it all out, it’s hard not to get a lump in your throat. Praise should also be given to Henry Mancini for his score and the single Moon River (which he co-wrote with Johnny Mercer). They make an already memorable film extra special.

I’m glad to have seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s and foresee myself re-watching it. I’ll probably like it more the second time around but Mickey Rooney’s role will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. This would be a great choice for a remake for the obvious reasons (some of the language is a bit dated here and there as well) but you couldn’t imagine anyone but Audrey Hepburn in the main role so there would be no point. (On Blu-ray, March 19, 2021)

[benchowmein]

Once again … Mr Yunioshi only appears in the same shot as any other character once in the whole of Breakfast at Tiffany’s….every time I see a post about AI I ask myself … why aren’t we using this technology to make a cut of the movie with an actual Japanese man … literally the establishing use of this technology that cemented it in public minds was Audrey in that galaxy advert

[nachoaveragejoe234]

Again, I could name so many instances of Asians being hated or mistreated, even by each other:

The Chinese Exclusion Act

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Japanese internment camps

Japan invading Asia in WW2

Uiyghur and Tibetan abuse by China

Attempted theft of Hong Kong (maybe the British should have kept it)

China menacing Taiwan

All the hate crimes against Asians, notably the pandemic induced Sinophobia and that guy who was murdered for working at a Toyota factory by Japanohobe in the 60s or something.

A lot of the hate towards Yoko Ono was because she was Japanese (I don't like Yoko, she was part of the reason the Beatles split up, she isolated John from his friends and bandmates and HIS SON, and when he died, took the Lennon name and John's glory for herself, but her being Japanese or Asian should NOT be the reason you dislike her).

Look at how Japanese people were portrayed even quickly after the war ended. Mr. Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany's makeup is literally the "WW2 Army Propaganda Tojo Face" and is portrayed as a bumbling idiot. They then decided Mickey Rooney, an Irish-American man, should be marketed with a fake "Arigato Sayonara" name (Seriously, some books and promos called Mickey that to make him seem actually Japanese).

Took a looong time for the Japanese to get apologies for the internment (I mean kidnapping), many of them had to buy new houses since they couldn't get their homes that the government ripped from their homes back.

Long Duk Dong from 16 Candles. A gong plays EVERY time he appears. Not once but every time, which is like "OK, we get it he's Chinese!", and he's again.... a joke.

The Aristocats with the piano playing Chinese cat with buckteeth... his lyrics are and I quote: "Shanghai, Hong Kong, egg fu young! Fortune cookie always wrong! Oh that's a hot one!"

The Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp have a song set to a Japanese/Chinese melody (Chinese sounding main part, gongs and shamisen) despite being THAI.

Fu Manchu.

The Mikado literally mocks Japan. They don't use Japanese names, they use names like Poobah, Yum Yum, and NANKI-POO which sounds suspiciously close to Ching Chong territory, as well as "Nanking" and "Nip".

So yeah, Asians have the right to be mad when you erase Asian rep with your edits.

I saw an editor meme comp and thought it was really funny so i thought i’d make one black editor themed

[andybeckerman]

Just when you think things at HBO Max can't get any worse...

[beautifulfaces-icons-and-gifs]

Mickey Rooney on Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

as  Mr. Yunioshi on Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Information on beautifulfaces

Like or reblog.

[221brownstone]

Washington Post Opinion by Lucy Liu: My success has helped move the needle. But it’ll take more to end 200 years of Asian stereotypes.

Lucy Liu is an award-winning actress, director and visual artist.

When I was growing up, no one on television, in movies, or on magazine covers looked like me or my family. The closest I got was Jack Soo from “Barney Miller,” George Takei of “Star Trek” fame, and most especially the actress Anne Miyamoto from the Calgon fabric softener commercial. Here was a woman who had a sense of humor, seemed strong and real, and had no discernible accent. She was my kid hero, even if she only popped up on TV for 30 seconds at random times.

As a child, my playground consisted of an alleyway and a demolition site, but even still, my friends and I jumped rope, played handball and, of course, reenacted our own version of “Charlie’s Angels”; never dreaming that some day I would actually become one of those Angels.

I feel fortunate to have “moved the needle” a little with some mainstream success, but it is circumscribed, and there is still much further to go. Progress in advancing perceptions on race in this country is not linear; it’s not easy to shake off nearly 200 years of reductive images and condescension.

In 1834, Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman known to have immigrated to the United States, became a one-person traveling sideshow. She was put on display in traditional dress, with tiny bound feet “the size of an infant’s,” and asked to sing traditional Chinese songs in a box-like display. In Europe, the popularity of chinoiserie and toile fabrics depicting scenes of Asian domesticity, literally turned Chinese people into decorative objects. As far back as I can see in the Western canon, Chinese women have been depicted as either the submissive lotus blossom or the aggressive dragon lady.

Today, the cultural box Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders find themselves in is more figurative than the box Afong Moy performed in, but it is every bit as real and confining.

Recently, a Teen Vogue op-ed examining how Hollywood cinema perpetuates Asian stereotypes highlighted O-Ren Ishii, a character I portrayed in “Kill Bill,” as an example of a dragon lady: an Asian woman who is “cunning and deceitful ... [who] uses her sexuality as a powerful tool of manipulation, but often is emotionally and sexually cold and threatens masculinity.”

“Kill Bill” features three other female professional killers in addition to Ishii. Why not call Uma Thurman, Vivica A. Fox or Daryl Hannah a dragon lady? I can only conclude that it’s because they are not Asian. I could have been wearing a tuxedo and a blond wig, but I still would have been labeled a dragon lady because of my ethnicity. If I can’t play certain roles because mainstream Americans still see me as Other, and I don’t want to be cast only in “typically Asian” roles because they reinforce stereotypes, I start to feel the walls of the metaphorical box we AAPI women stand in.

Anna May Wong, my predecessor and neighbor on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, lost important roles to White stars in “yellowface,” or was not allowed to perform with White stars due to restrictive anti-miscegenation laws. When Wong died in 1961, her early demise spared her from seeing Mickey Rooney in yellowface and wearing a bucktooth prosthetic as Mr. Yunioshi in the wildly popular “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Hollywood frequently imagines a more progressive world than our reality; it’s one of the reasons “Charlie’s Angels” was so important to me. As part of something so iconic, my character Alex Munday normalized Asian identity for a mainstream audience and made a piece of Americana a little more inclusive.

Asians in America have made incredible contributions, yet we’re still thought of as Other. We are still categorized and viewed as dragon ladies or new iterations of delicate, domestic geishas — modern toile. These stereotypes can be not only constricting but also deadly.

The man who killed eight spa workers in Atlanta, six of them Asian, claimed he is not racist. Yet he targeted venues staffed predominantly by Asian workers and said he wanted to eliminate a source of sexual temptation he felt he could not control. This warped justification both relies on and perpetuates tropes of Asian women as sexual objects.

This doesn’t speak well for AAPIs’ chances to break through the filters of preconceived stereotypes, much less the possibility of overcoming the insidious and systemic racism we face daily. How can we grow as a society unless we take a brutal and honest look at our collective history of discrimination in America? It’s time to Exit the Dragon.

[nachoaveragejoe234]

Like, there are things that bother us, like the "did she put up a fight" line in Grease, and caricatures like blackface (including the Black Pete of the Netherlands), Birth of a Nation, Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's, the constant gongs for Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles (I'm also offended by the "oily bohunk" line as that's anti Hungarian slang). Gone With the Wind and Song of the South are kinda yikes (so are the Siamese Cats in Lady and the Tramp) but honestly I think the drama is overblown, it's bad but I've seen worse. Again, Birth of a Nation, and for "Asian caricatures" Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Siamese cat in Aristocats who not only actually looked like an anti-Japanese propaganda poster despite being Chinese, but also had a line that was gibberish Chinese and played the piano with chopsticks. Si and Am looked like Siamese cats, they actually lookes quite normal. The melody is what bothered me not because it's an "Asian melody" (nobody finds it offensive to play bagpipes for Scots or mandolin for Italy, and the Asian melody according to Wikipedia was used in an anime at least once), but because it was a Japanese melody when the characters were Thai.

Fandom Problem #4085:

It's all "respect minorities" until a minority likes something you don't like. I've lost track of the times I've been told I'm brainwashed for being a woman who enjoys drawing pretty dresses and skirts, an asexual who enjoys reading smut, a woman of colour who enjoys old Hollywood movies... Worst part: it's always other women, other queer people, other people of colour being smugly condescending.

[tfc2211]

Play ▶ Breakfast At Tiffany’s (Music From The Motion Picture) 

A1 - Moon River (Lyrics By: Johnny Mercer) A2 - Something For Cat A3 - Sally's Tomato A4 - Mr. Yunioshi A5 - The Big Blow Out A6 - Hub Caps And Tail Lights B1 - Breakfast At Tiffany's B2 - Latin Golightly B3 - Holly B4 - Loose Caboose B5 - The Big Heist B6 - Moon River Cha Cha (Lyrics By: Johnny Mercer)

[liunaticfringe]

Opinion by Lucy Liu April 29, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EDT Add to list

Lucy Liu is an award-winning actress, director and visual artist.

When I was growing up, no one on television, in movies, or on magazine covers looked like me or my family. The closest I got was Jack Soo from “Barney Miller,” George Takei of “Star Trek” fame, and most especially the actress Anne Miyamoto from the Calgon fabric softener commercial. Here was a woman who had a sense of humor, seemed strong and real, and had no discernible accent. She was my kid hero, even if she only popped up on TV for 30 seconds at random times. As a child, my playground consisted of an alleyway and a demolition site, but even still, my friends and I jumped rope, played handball and, of course, reenacted our own version of “Charlie’s Angels”; never dreaming that some day I would actually become one of those Angels. I feel fortunate to have “moved the needle” a little with some mainstream success, but it is circumscribed, and there is still much further to go. Progress in advancing perceptions on race in this country is not linear; it’s not easy to shake off nearly 200 years of reductive images and condescension. In 1834, Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman known to have immigrated to the United States, became a one-person traveling sideshow. She was put on display in traditional dress, with tiny bound feet “the size of an infant’s,” and asked to sing traditional Chinese songs in a box-like display. In Europe, the popularity of chinoiserie and toile fabrics depicting scenes of Asian domesticity, literally turned Chinese people into decorative objects. As far back as I can see in the Western canon, Chinese women have been depicted as either the submissive lotus blossom or the aggressive dragon lady. Today, the cultural box Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders find themselves in is more figurative than the box Afong Moy performed in, but it is every bit as real and confining. Recently, a Teen Vogue op-ed examining how Hollywood cinema perpetuates Asian stereotypes highlighted O-Ren Ishii, a character I portrayed in “Kill Bill,” as an example of a dragon lady: an Asian woman who is “cunning and deceitful ... [who] uses her sexuality as a powerful tool of manipulation, but often is emotionally and sexually cold and threatens masculinity.” “Kill Bill” features three other female professional killers in addition to Ishii. Why not call Uma Thurman, Vivica A. Fox or Daryl Hannah a dragon lady? I can only conclude that it’s because they are not Asian. I could have been wearing a tuxedo and a blond wig, but I still would have been labeled a dragon lady because of my ethnicity. If I can’t play certain roles because mainstream Americans still see me as Other, and I don’t want to be cast only in “typically Asian” roles because they reinforce stereotypes, I start to feel the walls of the metaphorical box we AAPI women stand in.

Anna May Wong, my predecessor and neighbor on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, lost important roles to White stars in “yellowface,” or was not allowed to perform with White stars due to restrictive anti-miscegenation laws. When Wong died in 1961, her early demise spared her from seeing Mickey Rooney in yellowface and wearing a bucktooth prosthetic as Mr. Yunioshi in the wildly popular “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Hollywood frequently imagines a more progressive world than our reality; it’s one of the reasons “Charlie’s Angels” was so important to me. As part of something so iconic, my character Alex Munday normalized Asian identity for a mainstream audience and made a piece of Americana a little more inclusive. Asians in America have made incredible contributions, yet we’re still thought of as Other. We are still categorized and viewed as dragon ladies or new iterations of delicate, domestic geishas — modern toile. These stereotypes can be not only constricting but also deadly. The man who killed eight spa workers in Atlanta, six of them Asian, claimed he is not racist. Yet he targeted venues staffed predominantly by Asian workers and said he wanted to eliminate a source of sexual temptation he felt he could not control. This warped justification both relies on and perpetuates tropes of Asian women as sexual objects. This doesn’t speak well for AAPIs’ chances to break through the filters of preconceived stereotypes, much less the possibility of overcoming the insidious and systemic racism we face daily. How can we grow as a society unless we take a brutal and honest look at our collective history of discrimination in America? It’s time to Exit the Dragon.