History YMMV / CharlieChan

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: ''Film/CharlieChan at the Olympics'' features Chan investigating a plot at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and features possibly the most sympathetic portrayal of Nazi police ever depicted in American film. Even just a few years later, such a plot would be unthinkable.

** Charlie himself is an example, depending on who you ask. He was considered a [[FairForItsDay progressive and groundbreaking character]] at the time for being a intelligent, positively portrayed Asian hero, but from a modern Asian-American perspective, he's a dated relic who embodies too many condescending stereotypes of his era for comfort (acting subservient, saying {{Ice Cream Koan}}s constantly, and generally being treated like an exoticized "other"). There's also the issue of virtually all of his actors being white and wearing {{Yellowface}}.

* FairForItsDay: Biggers invented the character partly as a refutation of the YellowPeril villains who were common in the MysteryFiction of the GenteelInterbellumSetting. The series shows a Chinese person as a good guy, and the Chan children (played by actual Asian-Americans themselves) are largely non-stereotypical, but the whole thing can still be embarrassing today.

* EthnicScrappy: The truly cringe-worthy appearances of black character actors Stepin Fetchit and Mantan Moreland as characters such as "Snowshoes" (''wince'') and "Birmingham Brown". It's worth noting that [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales Afro-American audiences liked such characters]] and would go to films just to see them. It wasn't just for visibility's sake. Characters like these were common in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_musical_theater Afro-American theatrical tradition]]. As with Charlie himself, it's complicated.

* FairForItsDay: Biggers invented the character partly as a refutation of the YellowPeril villains who were common in the MysteryFiction of the GenteelInterbellumSetting. The series shows a Chinese person as a good guy, and the Chan children (played by actual Asian-Americans themselves) are largely nonstereotypical, but the whole thing can still be embarrassing today.

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Many Asian-American critics dislike the ''Film/CharlieChan'' franchise because of its {{Ice Cream Koan}}s, {{Yellowface}} (despite the fact that the actor playing Charlie in the first iteration was actually 1/4 Mongolian), misrepresentation of Chinese culture, [[AsianSpeekeeEngrish broken English]], and the title character's alleged subservience to whites. However, he's also a brilliant, law-abiding detective [[FairForItsDay in a time]] where most Chinese characters were [[YellowPeril villains]] and some of his Ice Cream Koans are ActuallyPrettyFunny. Plus, Chan is the hero of the series, always defeating the villain. While Chan is a stereotype, his children are shown as being all-American kids (Number One Son, Lee, even wins a Gold Medal in the 1936 Olympics!) and were played by actual Asian actors. This has earned the franchise a few Asian-American defenders, including actor Keye Luke (who would voice his [[WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan animated equivalent]]). Asked if he thought Chan was "demeaning to the race," Luke exclaimed "Demeans? ''My God! You've got a Chinese hero!''... we were making the best damn murder mysteries in Hollywood!"

** Biggers' own attitude toward the Japanese. In ''The House Without A Key'', published in 1925, one Japanese character is called "a smooth little Jap", a brightly colored kimono is an "absurd costume" and so on. Charlie himself has a "what can you expect from those people" attitude towards them. [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting Though this is actually a very realistic stance for a Chinese character to have]], as [[UsefulNotes/FirstSinoJapaneseWar there's no love]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar lost between the]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Chinese and Japanese people]].

** Biggers' own attitude toward the Japanese. In ''The House Without A Key'', published in 1925, one Japanese character is called "a smooth little Jap", a brightly colored kimono is an "absurd costume" and so on. Charlie himself has a "what can you expect from those people" attitude towards them. [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting actually a very realistic stance for a Chinese character to have]], as [[UsefulNotes/FirstSinoJapaneseWar there's no love]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar lost between the]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Chinese and Japanese people]].

** Biggers' own attitude toward the Japanese. In ''The House Without A Key'', published in 1925, one Japanese character is called "a smooth little Jap", a brightly colored kimono is an "absurd costume" and so on. Kashimo in ''The Black Camel'' is Charlie himself has a "what can you expect from those people" attitude towards them. [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting actually a very realistic stance for a Chinese character to have]], as [[UsefulNotes/FirstSinoJapaneseWar there's no love]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar lost between the]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Chinese and Japanese people]]. ''The Black Camel'' has Kashimo (played by [[http://pocinclassicfilm.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-otto-and-iris-yamaoka.html Otto Yamaoka]] in the film version), TheKlutz assistant who's [[SpannerInTheWorks as likely to spoil clues as to discover them]]. A former fish market janitor, Charlie threatens to send him back there if he screws up again.

** Biggers' own attitude toward the Japanese. In ''The House Without A Key'', published in 1925, one Japanese character is called "a smooth little Jap", a brightly colored kimono is an "absurd costume" and so on. Charlie himself has a "what can you expect from those people" attitude towards them. This is [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting actually a very realistic stance for a Chinese character to have]], as [[UsefulNotes/FirstSinoJapaneseWar there's no love]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar lost between the]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Chinese and Japanese people]].

His enormous popularity in East Asia could also be due to ValuesDissonance. The use of color-face (blackface, whiteface, yellowface) isn't seen as offensive as in the US, especially if it's portrayed respectfully and not used spitefully. A commercial by Nippon Airline had an actor dressing up in whiteface for a gag, and most Japanese didn't see the problem, and an English competition in China featured middle school students dressed as "foreigners".

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Many Asian-American critics dislike the ''Film/CharlieChan'' franchise because of its {{Ice Cream Koan}}s, {{Yellowface}} (despite the fact that the actor playing Charlie in the first iteration was actually 1/4 Mongolian), misrepresentation of Chinese culture, [[AsianSpeekeeEngrish broken English]], and the title character's alleged subservience to whites. However, he's also a brilliant, law-abiding detective [[FairForItsDay in a time]] where most Chinese characters were [[YellowPeril villains]] and some of his Ice Cream Koans are ActuallyPrettyFunny. Plus, Chan is the hero of the series, always defeating the villain. While Chan is a stereotype, his children are shown as being all-American kids (Number One Son, Lee, even wins a Gold Medal in the 1936 Olympics!) and were played by actual Asian actors. This has earned the franchise a few Asian-American defenders, including actor Keye Luke (who would voice his [[WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan animated equivalent]]). The enormous popularity in East Asia could also due to ValuesDissonance. The use of color-face (blackface, whiteface, yellowface) isn't seen as offensive as in the US, especially if it's not used spitefully. A commercial by Nippon Airline had an actor dressing up in whiteface for a gag, and most Japanese didn't see the problem, and an English competition in China featured middle school students dressed as "foreigners".

* FairForItsDay: As noted here, the series actually averted the YellowPeril stereotype by showing a Chinese person as a good guy, and the Chan children (played by actual Asian-Americans themselves) are largely nonstereotypical, but the whole thing can still be embarrassing today.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Biggers invented the character partly as a refutation of the YellowPeril villains who were common in the MysteryFiction of the GenteelInterbellumSetting.

** Biggers' own attitude toward the Japanese. In ''The House Without A Key'', published in 1925, one Japanese character is called "a smooth little Jap", a brightly colored kimono is an "absurd costume" and so on. Charlie himself has a "what can you expect from those people" attitude towards them. This is [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting actually a very realistic stance for a Chinese man to have]], as [[UsefulNotes/FirstSinoJapaneseWar there's no love]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar lost between the]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Chinese and Japanese people]].

** Biggers' own attitude toward the Japanese. In ''The House Without A Key'', published in 1925, one Japanese character is called "a smooth little Jap", a brightly colored kimono is an "absurd costume" and so on. Charlie himself has a "what can you expect from those people" attitude towards them. All of this is certainly appropriate in the context that [[UsefulNotes/FirstSinoJapaneseWar there's no love lost]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar between the Chinese and Japanese people]].

* FairForItsDay: As noted here, the series actually averted the YellowPeril stereotype by showing a Chinese person as a good guy, and the Chan children (Played by actual Asian-Americans themselves) are largely nonstereotypical, but the whole thing can still be embarrassing today.

* EthnicScrappy: The truly cringe-worthy appearances of black character actors Stepin Fetchit and Mantan Moreland as characters such as "Snowshoes" (''wince'') and "Birmingham Brown". It's worth noting that Afro-American audiences liked such characters and would go to films just to see them. It wasn't just for visibility's sake. Characters like these were common in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_musical_theater Afro-American theatrical tradition]]. As with Charlie himself, it's complicated.

* FairForItsDay: As noted here, the series actually averted the YellowPeril stereotype by showing a Chinese person as a good guy, and the Chan children are largely nonstereotypical, but the whole thing can still be embarrassing today.

* EthnicScrappy: The truly cringe-worthy appearances of black character actors Stepin Fetchit and Mantan Moreland as characters such as "Snowball" (''wince'') and "Birmingham Brown". It's worth noting that Afro-American audiences liked such characters and would go to films just to see them. It wasn't just for visibility's sake. Characters like these were common in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_musical_theater Afro-American theatrical tradition]]. As with Charlie himself, it's complicated.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Biggers invented the character partly as a refutation of the YellowPeril villains who were common in the MysteryFiction of the GenteelInterbellumSetting. He wasn't above racism elsewhere; one Japanese character is called "a smooth little Jap", a brightly colored kimono is an "absurd costume" and so on. Charlie himself has a "what can you expect from those people" attitude towards them, certainly appropriate in the context that there's [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar no love lost between the Chinese and Japanese people]].

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Biggers invented the character partly as a refutation of the YellowPeril villains who were common in the MysteryFiction of the GenteelInterbellumSetting.

* EthnicScrappy: The truly cringe-worthy appearances of black character actors Stepin Fetchit and Mantan Moreland as characters such as "Snowball" (''wince'') and "Birmingham Brown".

* FairForItsDay: As noted here, the series actually averted the YellowPeril stereotype by showing a Chinese person as a good guy, but the whole thing can still be embarrassing today.

* DesignatedProtagonistSyndrome: In some of the books, Charlie disappears for whole ''chapters'', with most of the narrative. Hell, in ''House Without A Key'' he doesn't show up until '''''chapter 7!'''''

* FirstInstallmentWins: Largely averted. Charlie Chan sequels, spoofs and homages pay little attention to ''The House Without a Key'', which in both film and prose started the Charlie Chan series (the film remains lost as of 2009, however). The "Number One Son" Henry first appeared in the novel ''Black Camel''. Keye Luke played him in the films (in the first film, they explicitly refer to Luke's role as Henry; later installments generally preferred the name "Lee").

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Biggers invented the character partly as a refutation of the YellowPeril villains who were common in the MysteryFiction of the GenteelInterbellumSetting.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Biggers invented the character partly as a refutation of the YellowPeril villains who were common in the MysteryFiction of ChristieTime.