"Harold & Kumar Go To White-Castle" was a college-age stoner movie with a bit of a difference. Besides some well-acted, unique minor characters (the volatile pick-up window attendant at the sub-par burger joint, the helpful "Freak Show," and all the cops and prisoners at the police station) and some interesting plot twists involving Doogie Howser and escaped zoo animals, it also dealt with the racism endured by second-generation North Americans (hey, it was filmed in and around Hamilton, Ontario Canada!) who just want to enjoy the same things white North Americans do. It's one of those comedies that pokes fun at the ridiculousness of white stereotyping of others (in this case a South Asian and an East Asian man).
It wasn't politically correct. There's a pervasive heterosexism, and women are presented as they always are in these movies, as beautiful, idealized objects of desire, or as party-girls flashing their tits. Still, it did manage to score some strong points on racism and politics while being a well-written example of the stoner-movie genre.
That's why I'm excited that these two cultural sign-posts have apparently gotten even more political their second time out. This time, they're confronting the absolutely hysterical racism that's been given a free ride since "9-11 changed everything." This time, our heroes have been shipped off to that blight on everything the United States imagines it stands for: the gulag at Guantanamo Bay. I'm interested to see how they deal with the subject.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
That could be pretty funny. I saw Kumar [whatever his real name is] on House recently. He's not a bad actor.
Post a Comment