breakfast at tiffanys

Mr. Yunioshi Featurette Decoded with Mark Young

Apr 10, 2009MANAAFilmbreakfast at tiffanys, documentary, dvd, dvd release, featurette, mickey rooney, mr. yunioshi, yellowface

Despite the beauty and iconicity of the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, there was one thing that stuck out as being a terrible mistake, particularly to Asian Americans—the character of Mr.Yunioshi. Played by Mickey Rooney, the role called for using makeup and prosthetics to transform the White actor into a caricature of a Japanese man. This…

An Interview With Mark Young

Apr 9, 2009MANAAFilmbreakfast at tiffanys, dvd, dvd release, featurette, interview, making of, mark young, mickey rooney, paramount, q&a

Q&A with Mark Young about MANAA’s participation in a segment on the new DVD release of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Why did you decide to do the Mr. Yunioshi segment?

Well to begin, I work with my brother Eric Young, his company is called Sparkhill. They actually produced all the extra bonus material for the DVD, so I was the producer on this one and it was his idea. To him it was obvious because of the Mickey Rooney character that the film just had, for its time, a mistake that was made. Now with the perspective since then it needed to be addressed. It was almost was like the proverbial elephant in the room that needed commenting on. He presented it to Paramount as part of the overall proposal for the DVD. They encouraged him to go further and see how it would turn out. When they saw the final product they were pleased with it and were happy to put it on the DVD. We were very proud of it, you know. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is such an iconic film and it just had this mistake right in the middle of it, this character, and here we are in a more contemporary era—it just begs to be addressed and discussed.

When you first proposed it to Paramount there was no resistance?

I wasn’t part of that presentation, but Eric indicated that they were willing to give it a try and see how it worked out. Do the interviews, put the piece together and see how it came across. They were quite pleased with how it was put together.

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MANAA on Breakfast At Tiffany’s

Mar 2, 2009MANAAFilmbreakfast at tiffanys, dvd, film, mickey rooney, paramount, yellowface

We’ve been voicing our feelings about Breakfast at Tiffany’s for years now, which is a bit sad since the movie is 47 years old. Still, the racism of the Mickey Rooney character was too much to let go, even with a movie so beloved, and it continues to teach a valuable lesson about the dangers…