Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson, November 26, 2021) Movie • Page 22

There should have been a pause in There Will Be Blood that said "even though the man was deceiving Daniel by pretending to be his brother, murder is never okay!"

 

“I’m lost when it comes to that. To me, I’m not sure what they - you know, what is the problem?” is pretty tone-deaf when Asian people have said it bothered them.

 

I could see people interpreting his answer as flippant or dismissive but I also think he’s being honest. Of course he doesn’t see it as racist, he wrote it, and he admits he could have missed the mark even if he doesn’t feel like he did.

 

In an earlier interview he said his mother in law is Japanese and he saw that type of thing growing up.

 

I get that segments of the internet often have really dumb discourse about when/if or depiction = endorsement. But, I think it’s fair to have nuanced discussion on what is or isn’t worth including in a particular film. Not sure why all attempts at such a discussion should be treated as bad faith and/or just bad.

 

I can definitely say there were a few people in my screening that were laughing in a way that made me think they didn’t quite get it.

 

but I also don't think it's fair to say PTA condones racist shit because some people are dumb

 

he definitely doesn't condone that, but that doesn't mean those scenes can't be at best feebly executed. had more than a few others in my audience who couldn't have seen that shit and thought "damn, there really were dudes like that back then! THAT'S why it's hilarious!"

 

It’s more nuanced than whether or not certain audiences “got it,” tbh, depending on what you’re trying to do with your film. My personal experience of watching those moments in the theater didn’t give me good vibes, but movies don’t have to be perfectly bad-audience-proof.

However, if enough people in good faith, many of them fans, some of them writers and/or critics, some of them actual people of Asian descent, bounced off that bit… maybe those defending it should be more thoughtful in saying why the movie is definitively better with it? Especially when PTA himself doesn’t actually defend the bit himself in that snippet (so much as explain his own perspective, which he admits could be incomplete).

 

The idea that there are people out there who are missing the joke or “giving people permission to laugh at the stereotype” - if the only evidence that this has at all happened amounts to nothing more than “complete strangers to me were laughing at it in my theater, and I was somehow able to detect by the tone of their laughter that they were laughing in the wrong way,” then I think you have to realize just how spurious of a claim that is.

This is not to say whether it should have been included or not. But…it is just the most surface level joke. You don’t need to have a degree in literature to recognize that when a man thinks he can just use a stereotypical accent to get around a language barrier, he is the one who is the buffoon to be laughed at

 

Psst, this quietly hit VOD today.

 

Where are you seeing it? It's not showing up on Prime.

 

You also don’t need a degree in cultural studies or sociology to know that a lot of regular ass people still talk in caricatured Asian accents and laugh when they hear other people do it.

I agree that you can’t know for sure what people’s intent is when laughing at something. Of course. I described my experience as “vibes” because I didn’t wanna be too presumptuous, but yeah, even that might’ve been too uncharitable? I dunno (don’t remember enough about the crowd besides the lady next to me being a major verbal processor). The intent of the film is certainly clear to me.

But, like, you also gotta be pretty ignorant to not know regular people aren’t all “woke.” Which, doesn’t mean jokes at bigotry are all bad (I certainly can find it hilarious), but does mean there’s more nuance to whether or not that bit was the best filmmaking choice.

 

Apple TV / iTunes. Bought + watched last night. (US)

 

View attachment 72654 Still shows coming soon for me

 

Maybe they took it down? I can’t find it on the Apple TV app. All it says is “coming soon”

 

Oh wild. Guess I got lucky?

 

Yes, there are people who laugh at caricatured Asian accents. But the joke here was very clearly that he was genuinely thinking he was able to convey Chinese to a woman just by using the accent. You don't need to be "woke" to get that. Again, it is simply not subtle or ambiguous at all.

 

Eh it seems like many asians and asian americans are speaking out about why the scene was problematic and PTA just being flippant or not even trying to understand as a rich white guy who has never had to deal with anything like that is not a good look. I get him sharing his intention but the rest of that response is insensitive imo. I personally got what PTA was going for I think but it’s not really my perspective that matters.

 

what a bummer! I thought it was available and planned on watching tonight :(

another time!

 

It's out there today.

 

Just need this on blu-ray plz

 

Great interview, haha

 

Man, what a strange film