Being “woke” has become an insult. Yet, the word’s original intent was to praise those people who have “woken up” to the inherent racism, antisemitism and misogyny in our society.

Welcome to another lesson about the reality of progress — one step forward frequently causes two steps back.

But we have progressed. Witness the cringe-inducing message of many “classic” movies. I didn’t invite this lesson into my life, but binge-watching old movies on a winter’s night drives the point home.

Take the oft-rebroadcast Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly and George Peppard as Paul Varjak. Their relationship is not the lesson; the story and their characters are charming and inoffensive — lighthearted.

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When it was filmed in1961, seemingly nobody questioned the role played for “comic” relief by Mickey Rooney as Holly’s upstairs neighbour, Mr. Yunioshi. In essence, the actor is in “yellow-face,” with........

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