tokyo breakfast

Tokyo Breakfast manages to squeeze numerous stereotypes of two distinct ethnicities into a six minute piece. I think this short film clip has many implications. First, I believe it alludes to the over-saturation of the n word in the hip hop culture (which is increasingly permeating mainstream American society). A Japanese family that wishes to be more “American” may get inspiration from popular American music and music videos, of which rap and hip hop is a big part. The family may hear the word through the media and think it reflects a modern American speech without giving much thought to its literal meaning or purpose. The clip, therefore, suggests that many do not know the history and connotations of the n word but simply lift its use from pop culture. In the film the n word is overused and misused. It is spoken by an Asian family that is clearly supposed to be of the middle or upper class and that speaks broken English with relatively strong accents. Overall, I think the piece is meant to speak to the role language plays in trends and fads and the disconnect between that and reality.