Breakfast At Tiffany's Analysis

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Introduction Popular culture has an effect on its audiences (Wilson et.al, 2003 p. 74). It has the ability to invoke reactions and change public opinion. A popular type of popular culture is film. Films are a reflection of society, primarily the thoughts of the elites in society (Wilson et al.,2003, p. 74) Films that have the most influence on the public are cult classics or iconic films. Iconic films inspire people to change anything from their style to their career, but they also have the ability to change the way people think, by conveying a message that promotes elitist views. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is an iconic film that does just that. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is regarded as one of the most influential films of the twentieth century and for …show more content…

The emergence of the Civil Rights Movements, caused early filmmakers to re-evaluate and revise the way that they were portraying minority characters, however, they continued the use of stereotypes within their characters (Smith,1997, p.268). The filmmakers believed that they were making a positive switch to portraying Asian Americans as comical fools, as shown in Breakfast at Tiffany’s as opposed to the cold and menacing villains they once shown to be, but the new portrayal played off racial stereotypes that offended those who watched it (Smith, 1997, p.268). Another factor that Silk (1997) explains is the reason behind production. Mainstream media was producing for audiences that were primarily white families, so they wanted their products to reflect the lives of those who consumed the media (p. 369). At this point in time film was used as an assimilation tactic, which is why white actors were used to play characters of all race (Smith,1997, p.369). By hiring white actors to play other races, producers believed that their target audience would be able to relate to characters. (Smith,1997,

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