2006-07-24

Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi

















This is my final foreigner as Japanese posting for a while. It was the incentive for running these in the first place, for it is the MOST RACIST portrayal of a Japanese I have ever seen committed to celluloid. I've never sat all the way through "Breakfast at Tiffany's" but it was on the other day and I caught a few minutes of it. When I saw Mickey Rooney with the bucked-teeth and coke-bottle eyeglasses, it inspired me to write about the portrayal.

Apparently on the DVD, the producer (not the director, Blake Edwards) apologizes for the portrayal yet I'm sure Mickey is quite proud of his work.

I don't have any video clips of Mickey as Yunioshi, but I do have something even more racist for you (I'm definitely NOT condoning this clip!)



On a positive note about Mickey, I saw him perform in "Crazy For You" about 15 years ago, and he was quite spry for a 70-year old.

If anyone has any more gaijin as nihonjin portrayals they can recommend, I'm all ears.

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