Licorice Pizza garners Twitter controversy upon its wide theatrical release over racist behavior and age gap in romantic comedy
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The new film Licorice Pizza faced a number of criticisms upon its widespread release on Saturday, with many people taking to Twitter to sound off on scenes depicting racist behavior against Asian people, and a storyline involving a 25-year-old woman in an implied romance with a 15-year-old boy.
The motion picture from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, 51, had previously opened in a limited run last month prior to opening in theaters Christmas.
Among the controversies of the film, which is set in California‘s San Fernando Valley in 1973, included the 15-year-old character Gary (played by Cooper Hoffman), who is infatuated with and tries to pursue a relationship with 25-year-old Alana (played by Alana Haim), with one scene in which she shows her breasts to him.
The latest: The new film Licorice Pizza faced criticisms upon its wide release on Saturday, with viewers taking to Twitter to sound off on scenes depicting racist behavior against Asian people, and a storyline involving a 15-year-old boy (played by Cooper Hoffman) pursuing a romance with a 25-year-old woman (played by Alana Haim)
One user wrote that the film made them ‘uncomfortable,’ adding, ‘I’m sorry she was 25 and he was 15. it’s gross.’
Another user noted that ‘watching a movie where a 15 year old boy obsessed with a 25 year old woman is weird.’
One user questioned, ‘I’m sorry but how did Licorice Pizza get the pass? It’s a movie based on grooming and racist humor. Conner Hoffman was a minor at the time when the movie was shot and Alana Haim is 30.’
Another point of contention was a scene in which a white restaurateur named Jerry Frick (played by John Michael Higgins) has two wives of Japanese descent, and talks to them in an exaggerated accent.
A number of moviegoers were critical of the film on Twitter in recent days
‘I like Licorice Pizza so much,’ Variety international editor Manori Ravindran said. ‘Only thing I’m stumped on is the weird anti-Japanese racist nonsense with John Michael Higgins’ character. PTA says he doesn’t want to make a period movie using a 2021 lens, but… it just comes off as jarring and offensive.’
One user said they walked out of the film amid the aforementioned issues.
‘An hour into Licorice Pizza and I had to leave the theater because of how incredibly weird and racist it is,’ the user wrote. ‘A 25 year old woman and a 15 year old boy have a romance where she flashes her breasts at him? The mockery of the Japanese language? Like really? F*** that s***.’
The film was also criticized by the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, as it issued a statement to the Rafu Shimpo — Los Angeles Japanese Daily News last week calling for it to be excluded from award season consideration ‘due to the casual racism found in the movie.’
Variety international editor Manori Ravindran said that the scene involving Higgins came off as ‘jarring and offensive’
Anderson addressed both issues speaking with The New York Times about the film last month, saying that ‘there isn’t a provocative bone in this film’s body.’
Asked about the age gap between the Alana and Gary characters, Anderson said that ‘there’s no line that’s crossed, and there’s nothing but the right intentions.’
He added: ‘It would surprise me if there was some kind of kerfuffle about it, because there’s not that much there. That’s not the story that we made, in any kind of way.’
Anderson defended the scene involving Higgins as saying the behavior depicted in the film was consistent with the timeframe.
‘I think it would be a mistake to tell a period film through the eyes of 2021,’ he said. ‘You can’t have a crystal ball, you have to be honest to that time.
‘Not that it wouldn’t happen right now, by the way. My mother-in-law’s Japanese and my father-in-law is white, so seeing people speak English to her with a Japanese accent is something that happens all the time. I don’t think they even know they’re doing it.’
Director Paul Thomas Anderson said that ‘there isn’t a provocative bone in this film’s body.’ He was pictured in LA in 2018
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