Lady and the Tramp has always been my favorite movie. It’s
funny, sweet, and charming. And offensive, at least by today’s standards. I
wasn’t surprised to hear when a “live action” version of the cartoon classic
appears on Disney+ this fall, it won’t feature Siamese cats. In the 1955 movie,
Si and Am were two-faced sneaks with buck teeth, squinting eyes and broken
English – pretty much the only way Asians were portrayed in the 50’s. Now I
think of it, nearly every character in that movie was some sort of slur: the Italians
who serve the dogs spaghetti and meatballs, the beaver with a serious speech
impediment, the miserly Scottie and slow-drawling bloodhound next door, the
Russian, German, British and Mexican dogs at the pound, even the Irish beat
cop. I checked. Almost NONE of these characters will be in the new movie. I’ll
watch Lady and the Tramp 2019 when it comes out. But I probably won’t recognize
it.
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