- the neighborhood in the beginning of the movie looks a lot like the Salishan neighborhood in tacoma (predominantly asian immigrant + low income neighborhood)
- suburban feeling – there’s nothing to do so thrill seeking begins
- virgil saying the n word
-asian folks’ fascination w/ black culture - MTV movie
- tons of hypermasculinity (fragile asian guys puts up fronts to protect his image/ego)
-drug abuse, weapons, fighting, sexualizing women - character breakdowns:
ben:
virgil: follower, impressionable, emotional
han: big brother figure, brawns, tough guy
daric: enabler, charismatic, power-hungry, narcissist (probably)
steve: rich, bored, lonely, probably also a narcissist
stephanie: love interest, smart, mysterious - tokenization: daric writing that affirmative action article about ben being a benchwarmer on the basketball team
- 90’s vibe (pagers, clothing, flip phones, etc.)
- no parents involved w/ the characters (all high schoolers,,, somehow)
- no major roles for white people
- “invisible clique” in school aka erased/absent asian presence
- no specific asian ethnic group -> words used: oriental, asian, but they’re percieved/are chinese
- stephanie being adopted not getting explored as much as it should
- coming of age film
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) film notes
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