Neil Simon’s “Murder by Death” is an incredibly funny spoof on detective stories. It is “Clue,” but more clever… much more clever. It is also not without a big question mark. The film puts Peter Sellers into yellowface. Is this done as a cheap, awful, joke or is it done in order to tear down such representations?
This week’s podcast looks at the issue. We may not come to any conclusions, but we look at it.
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photo credit: Shout Select
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The TV and Film Guy's Reviews 
For its time, Neil Simon’s deconstruction of the yellowface in Charlie Chan was pretty subversive and funny at the time, but of course an Asian American perspective could have taken it further. What if he claimed he adopted a Japanese son so he doesn’t have to speak Chinese (which of course Sellers didn’t.) Or that Lionel Twain (spoiler) is revealed to be his father, could have revealed him to be a fake Chinese person.
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both interesting possibilities
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