I’ve watched this movie probably dozens of times, but this year’s viewing made me wonder something.
I’m most definitely not trying to be offensive, but didn’t the movie mix up its stereotypes in the Chinese restaurant scene at the end? The Chinese waiters sing, “Fa ra ra,” etc., instead of “Fa la la,” etc. The joke, of course, is that, because of their national origin, they can’t make the “l” sound required for the song.
But isn’t this the wrong stereotype? I thought it was Japanese that didn’t have a sound for “l,” not Chinese. In fact, I thought that Chinese had no sound for “r,” and often replaced it with an L-type sound.
Am I totally wrong here? I know that the movie’s scene is still funny, but I’m just curious. Again, I’m not trying to offend.
Actually, now that I think about it, was there anything about the restaurant that specifically said “Chinese” ? The staff could have been Japanese, I guess. The movie was apparantly set before Pearl Harbor (Ralph is using what looks like a 1940 Little Orphan Annie decoder ring), so it’s not inconceivable that it was a Japanese rastaurant.
Anyway, it’s an amusing scene at the end of a great movie.
Japanese restaurants weren’t common back then, and the whole duck (or goose or whatever) is commonly seen in the windows of Chinese grocery stores, and the staff look Chinese (not Japanese) so… one assumes.
Don’t believe Japanese cuisine was popular enough on anyone’s list back then, certainly not in small town America. My bet goes that it WAS a Chinese restaurant. At one point in the scene, the owner/boss attempts to correct their r’s to l’s, but none are forthcoming. Now for a hijack: Were the scenes with the witch something recently added, I’ve never noticed them before. Because this movie is on a loop for Christmas marathon showing, I guess I feel I’ve seen the entire thing-perhaps I haven’t. Would I be likely to forget a witch at Christmastime?
The movie pretty much has to be taking place in 1940. Christmas in 1941 was probably not such a carefree affair, and the “Orphan Annie” radio show ended in 1942.
The only anachronistic item I see in the movie is Scutt Farkas’ coonskin hat. While these have been around since people started hunting raccoons, the fad didn’t happen until the 50s.
Ralphie (as the adult) does say, “That year was the year we were introduced to Chinese turkey.” He means, of course, the duck. So it is definitely Chinese. In fact, I don’t have the movie in front of me, but I think it may even say “Chinese food” in the window of the shop.
Fair enough, I vaguely remember the word “Chinese” popping up. I have to point out, though, that it doesn’t matter if the restaurant was popular or not. It’s the only one the family could find open on Christmas Day.
When I referred to the popularity of Japanese cuisine at THAT time, I meant would anyone have thought it was a good idea to open such a restaurant in a small town. Chinese food wasknown to a large segment of the population, even if they only ordered the less adventurous items on the menu. Would Japanese cooking, with it’s new and different raw materials, have been as good a money-making operation? Would a Japanese restaurant even have been a possibility in 1940’s Midwest. Bryan Ekersyou are undoubtedly quite right about it being the ONLY one they could fine open on Christmas.
Everything else in the film is consistent with the 40s except for one other small thing. When Ralphy is spaced out in front of his teacher and she brings him back to reality and tells him to take his seat, as he is walking back to his chair you can hear another kid say, “what a geek, man”. I don’t know the etymology of ‘geek’, or the use of ‘man’ after a phrase, but it seems more today than yesterday.
As far as the OP question, yes the stereotype is backwards. Typically Chinese speakers say “flied lice” and Japanese speakers say “rots of ruck.”
Apparently distinguishing between “L” and “R” is one of those things you have to hear within the first six months of life, otherwise the brain loses the ability to make the distinction. Most (all?) oriental languages have one sound similar to L and/or R, and to those who grew up hearing only that language L’s and R’s sound the same. If you say “No, it’s fried rice,” the response could be “Exactly, flied lice.” They just don’t hear the difference.
I think “Geek” was originally a sideshow freak term—it was the guy who bit the head off of live animals (like chickens). If you watch Carnivale, Hank Scudder was the “Gentleman Geek”.
Well, the witch in the store was one of the characters from the Wizard of Oz, you could see some of the others in the background and one of the kids in line with Ralph said something to the effect that he liked the Wizard of Oz. That film came out in 1939 so that would seem to support a pre-WWII setting.
Well, the Little Orphan Annie Decoder pin received by Ralphie in the film is clearly dated “1940.”
The Chinese restaurant is actually a (former) bowling alley; the “w” in the neon sign has burned out, and so the name of the restaurant is the “Bo ling.” I’ve often wondered if that was just lucky happenstance for the filming of the movie, or was it deliberate.
I’ve seen plenty of uses of the word “man” before and after phrases in dialogue from books pre-1939.
I think it could be the “stoner/60s” drawling of the word “man” that may be anachronistic. I haven’t seen the movie in ages, I’m just assuming it may be pronounced that way.