Before watching the movie, my expectation was that the film would focus on murdering the model minority myth. I wasn’t disappointed.

random fact: MC Hammer was a last minute angel investor of this film.

 

concepts explored:

Asian Americans as cultural intermediaries (re: scene with Ben translating between a Black nurse and Latinx patient)

rich & disaffected “high school” life (where on earth were their parents?)

white women as comfort women (what a twist!)

the gun as an extension of the yt mans penis (this is a nugget of wisdom from Dr. Maxine Mimms, founder of the Tacoma campus of TESC; guns ain’t nothing good for poc)

great murder scene (cinematically thrilling)

 

few character comments:

steve – hinted at self-hatred (wanted to punish his family) (told dude he was cool “for an oriental”)

virgil – completely misguided whipping boy/wanted to fit in so badly that he went to the utmost extremes, violent suicide attempt from guilt

 

the film was left open ended:

implying they were clever enough to get away?

powerful enough?

or maybe it was ambiguous because Asian American lives don’t matter enough to “mainstream” America?

 

my thoughts of Justin Lin’s solo directorial debut:

  • all Asian cast
    • necessary for the story as a reference to real life events
    • a measure of industry solidarity by pairing an Asian director with an Asian cast
      • within the movie, a character referenced Hong Kong actor Chow Yun Fat, who is known for frequent collaboration with Hong Kong director John Woo.
  • conveying underrepresented history through media
  • white women as comfort women
    • a type of role reversal? having Asian men patron (and brutalize) a white prostititute could be commentary on how Asian women have historically been fetishized and brutalized by white & other “foreign” men
  • complex individual characters
    • no easy stereotypes were given.
  • the tension of representation
    • do creators from underrepresented groups have a responsibility to portray their cultures in a strictly positive light?
    • all forms of representation are necessary.
    • fetishization, glorification, and romanticizing are all still dehumanization.