Is A CHRISTMAS STORY Racist?

So the whole family is all together after a lovely Christmas...and, like many people on Christmas morning, we have TNT's A Christmas Story running in the background...over and over.

Now, my family is a mixed bag of political intellectuals from all over the political spectrum (Gatherings are always a strange kind of fun)....and as the end of one running of the Classic Holiday movie came to an end...with the famous and heart-warming 'Christmas Dinner at the Chinese restaurant' scene (where the waiters all sing for the family),...the casual conversation naturally turned to racism.

Specifically, IS A Christmas Story racist in it's portrayal of the Chinese-American waiter's vocalizing of traditional Christmas songs...and should Ted Turner be labeled a 'racist' for promoting it so much?

Personally, I love the film...so it doesn't matter to me...but, at family gatherings, I'm often in the political minority.

Judge for yourself...
See VIDEO below:
www.youtube.com...

Merry Christmas Everyone.

merry christmas

a reply to: IAMTAT

Short answer: No.

Long Answer. Nooo.

Merry.

People who have heavy accents trying to sing a song in a language they are not used to.

Is that racist?

No, to me it's humor.

Just like a white person dressed up in Chinese garb, trying to sing a song in Chinese.

It would be hilarious to me too, as I'm sure it would be funny to many Chinese.

Having lived all around the world, I can tell you now that most people in a country are glad to see you try and speak their language. They may smile, chuckle or even erupt with laughter after you try to say something. What you tried to say, may very well be quite funny.

Doesn't mean they are being racist to you.

I have seen the movie many, many times, and no, I'm not seeing how anyone is being racist to the Chinese in the movie.

What I'm seeing is an American family trying to have a Christmas dinner in one of the few places that was open on Christmas, with employees who want to give good service, even if it means singing a song they don't know in a language that is foreign to them.

I'd find the reverse of this hilarious too (Chinese family in a Denny's trying to get the staff to sing a Chinese birthday song or something).

But in this day and age of "everything offends someone" and how "everything is racist" I'm not surprised that there are people out that that would see it that way.

Two black actors dress up as "white Chicks" its all funny and humorous. So what's your point?

a reply to: IAMTAT

Specifically, IS A Christmas Story racist in it's portrayal of the Chinese-American waiter's vocalizing of traditional Christmas songs...and should Ted Turner be labeled a 'racist' for promoting it so much?

No.
It is not racist.

As with all language-learning, there is a window of opportunity for certain soundbytes in each baby's brain. It's been proven that if the brain doesn't hear the sound from others around them, they eventually won't be able to. Since there is no sound "L" in Chinese, they can't do it easily; and I can't do the "!" sound in whatever African tribe's language. Very young we become unable to "hear" certain sounds. Some of us learn, like I learned to roll my "rr" in Spanish - but there's nothing racist about a charming scene showing the staff's effort to sing-to-culture. It's absolutely charming.

Perhaps I relate to it more than those who speak only one language. I am bilingual in Spanish - started training/learning at age 8. Kept with it. Pronunciation is a matter of embouchure - how one holds the lips, tongue, cheeks, etc. In fact, when I've been not using Spanish for a while and then go back into it (effortlessly), sometimes I notice afterward that those muscles "hurt."

Any wind instrument person can attest to having to "learn" how to hold one's mouth as well. I play flute.

And lastly, because I used to teach Spanish as a second language to adults (public workers, educators, hospital staff, etc)...they are generally "afraid" to even try, because they feel like they'll be embarrassed and mocked. I always told them, "No. If your listeners chuckle, it's because they are charmed by your effort. Just like when we hear someone use an odd turn of phrase (for example, "i did it by my own" - as my Norwegian friend said), we chuckle. We don't laugh AT them - we are bonding, sort of."

And subtly thanking them for trying.

Being preoccupied with race, and looking for racism in every thing you see must make for such a depressing existence. Even on Christmas.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I love the scene too.
The whole film is charming.

Nope, I honestly don't like the movie that much but I really don't see the racism in it.

Note to self: Continue to weep for society.

How long before this tradition is removed due to twisted PC thinking.

Given the Red Ryder theme through out the movie, when do the anti gun people start the push to have it banned.

OH for heaven sake.

Ya'll think too much. Use though's great brains you have to create something positive.

Merry Christmas. LOL!!



And just to add.

The film protrays an american town in the 1940's. If you pay attention there is an African American in freeze your tongue scene.

I think they did a great job of protraying that time in history.

a reply to: roadgravel

LOL!! I know, right? I was wondering the same with the "lamp" scenes. Is that 'sexist'? 'Porn'?


Oh well, at least you and I called it as to what's coming......

Happy American Winter Solstice Festival that some call "Christmas." Eat, drink, and be Merry!!

I've seen the movie so many times I'm neutral on its quality in general. But 'un-PC' (politically incorrect), it is NOT.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

We watch it many times each year. (currently on now). It's just a fun movie.

The Little Orphan Annie decoding scene is so appropriate to today's world. "A crummy commercial". Yep kid, that's our world.

a reply to: roadgravel

Right? We watched it about six hours worth, then switched it to Comedy Central, and now SNL specials.

Heading out to Mom's in about half an hour...

Mr Wigs got a pair of "knit lounge pants" and was opening them just as the Bunny Suit scene came on. Told him I'd have done well to find him a big pink bunny-suit instead.

It reminds me of the times that my Vietnamese friends convinced me to do karaoke.....in Vietnamese!

Boy was that funny....it even had me rolling in laughter

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

Ha. It's the real world. Take care on your journey and have more happy holiday time.

By no means is A Christmas Story racist, not even the part mentioned in the OP; rather it is a stereotype.

Racist: having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another.
Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

But above all else, it was funny; and likely an accurate depiction of Chinese immigrants in the time period that the movie was set (ca. 1940).

No it`s not racist

if they had the Chinese actors singing in perfect English people would bitch about that too.They would say, "oh look they are portraying the Chinese people as white people with perfect English, oh how racist"

look at the old movies where they used white actors to portray native americans in cowboy movies,people complained about that as being racist or even better that john wayne movie in which john wayne played a Chinese emperor.

IMO no its not racist. Circumstances happen, people of different ilk find themselves thrust together in situations they wouldn't not normally consider. That doesn't make it racist, only realistic. And that is always ok, regardless of what someone 'thinks' it should be.