Christine Hoang, a screenwriter based mostly in Austin, Texas, mentioned she additionally had distinct recollections of watching the movie. Hoang, who’s in her 40s, mentioned she conformed to her dad and mom’ pressures for many of her life, going to legislation faculty and finally turning into an leisure lawyer. Hoang mentioned she had simply taken the bar examination when the movie debuted.
“I grew up within the ‘Simply Say No’ period with very strict Catholic dad and mom. You go to high school and your refugee dad and mom are pushing you to achieve success, as a result of in any other case, what are their sacrifices for?” Hoang mentioned. “However once I noticed it, I used to be like, ‘Wow, we had selections all this time? I might go on a visit and journey a tiger? … I didn’t know folks might take paths aside from what was prescribed to you by your dad and mom.”
Hoang mentioned it was eye-opening to see Asian People on display screen act impulsively and selfishly with out calculating their dad and mom’ expectations of their each transfer — a privilege she felt was solely out there to white folks. Whereas it in the end took years for her to pursue her true desires of turning into a screenwriter, Hoang mentioned the movie planted a small seed.
Tony DelaRosa, an Asian American race scholar and the creator of “Instructing the Invisible Race,” additionally famous that there are unmistakably racial components all through the movie. Not solely do the stoner characters themselves subvert the squeaky-clean Asian American trope, Harold, for instance, threatens to get his ignorant co-workers fired for exploiting him. And Kumar finally ends up realizing he does, the truth is, wish to observe in his father’s footsteps, however he has been afraid of conforming to stereotypes. The movie additionally calls out frequent types of racism towards Asian People, like one scene wherein a cop tries to roast the spelling of Kumar’s identify.
With such groundbreaking components, some consider the movie needs to be touted as a historic instance of Asian American illustration. However DelaRosa suspects it’s seemingly that different Asian People are hesitant to take action, for the reason that movie doesn’t conform to some maybe internalized “mannequin minority” expectations. The Asian American motion, he mentioned with amusing, is “undoubtedly not glamorizing a stoner movie.”
However he additionally underscored that the movie isn’t good. He mentioned there are scenes which were criticized as homophobic and others as objectifying girls. It’s time, he mentioned, to demand extra from movies.
“It was an awesome beginning place to speak about race and undoubtedly not the tip,” he mentioned.
