There are two sides to a movie like this, which I think makes its history and cultural impact all the richer for it. On the one hand, from an artistic or critical perspective, and putting the film into a purely historical context, it is a wonderful cross-section of Americana in the early 60s, a texturally rich character study painted in equal measures of comedy and drama. On the other hand there are some quite regrettable and problematic portrayals, such as Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi.
It is important, as always,to contextualize any piece of work because art and cultural representation do not exist in a vacuum. That being said, I recall a critic, looking back on an older work and making a distinction that, while yes there were stereotypes that were acceptable and in fact even expected at some points in time, it is still a mark of a strong artist that does not give in to these stereotypes. A writer or director working at a time when a particular stereotype is acceptable, then, can be forgiven by history for using these stereotypes, but can make a stronger statement by rejecting such prejudices, by being forward thinking and rising above those expectations.
So the trouble with Breakfast at Tiffany's for me is that, while I do love this movie dearly I cannot profess my whole-hearted love for the work due to its problematic representation. Fortunately, it did serve as a teachable moment and was in some ways a catalyst to help Hollywood move away from negative, yellow-face portrayals and indeed before the end of the decade shows like Star Trek would start to have more positive portrayals of Asian characters.
All that being said, this film still rests among my top 25-50. It's a wonderful script, deftly directed by Blake Edwards. It contains many tropes inherent to romantic comedy that track from It Happened One Night to more current hits like (500) Days of Summer.
I am sure there were other characters previous to Holly Golightly that also contribute to the manic pixie girl model, but I would have to say Ms. Hepburn's portrayal is the most popular, recognizable, and iconic, thus the most influential.
For 1961 there are quite a few things about this movie that push boundaries. One scene involves a burlesque striptease - albeit a milquetoast one - and the taboo subject of both the male and female leads being an escort or otherwise..."kept"...in some way make it quite unique in that regard.
The real beauty of Breakfast at Tiffany's lies in the simplicity of its tale. It's not particularly innovative or ground-breaking. But iconic movies need not always be forward-thinking.
It's not always about setting a new standard or finding a new trope, but in finding new ways to employ established tropes.
No one would have expected an established starlet, cresting the height of her popularity, to play a call girl.
Of course, they also could not come right out and say she was a call girl, so they had to couch her profession in coded phrases like, "Fifty dollars for the powder room."
Breakfast at Tiffany's, although flawed and problematic, remains a picture of a particular moment in time. America, and indeed the world, was on the verge of a tumultuous and transformative decade and era. In many ways it's a last gasp of the post-WWII time of prosperity. I often wish I could have been around in the sixties, and part of the reason I desire that was to experience movies like this and other classic favorites in a theatre for the first time. As art shapes culture and history, history and culture also shape art. This film is stuck somewhere between the classic Hollywood model, and the New Hollywood. I wouldn't have it any other way, because it doesn't fit either of those models or paradigms. It's completely its own thing and could not have been made any other way or at any other time. In this way it is a nearly perfect movie because it was made at the perfect time for it to be its own thing.
The lessons that can be drawn from Breakfast at Tiffany's are plentiful. Just as Paul and Holly learn to accept their flaws and become better people for it, similar lessons can be applied at the macro level, as Hollywood eventually learned (and, regrettably is still in some cases continuing to learn) not to rely on stereotypes and tropes for comic or dramatic effect. I hope everyone who sees this comes away a better person, or at least a bit more aware.
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