a video clip history of hollywood yellowface

This recent post over at Sociological Images is a really good rundown of Hollywood's long, ugly history of casting white actors as Asian characters, inspired by the recent furor over the casting The Last Airbender movie. It's not comprehensive, but it's pretty educational: Casting White Actors In Asian Roles: 1957 to Today.

One major omission from the piece appears to be Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's (above) -- one of the yellowface "greats," in my opinion. Though honestly, I don't think I would care for this godawful character whether he was played by a white guy or an actual Asian actor. I'm pretty sure I'd hate him either way.