Monday, May 2, 2011
Racial Discrimination
Here is a trailer for the movie "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" that i found to be hilarious. The trailer shows many signs of racial discrimination and there are many scenes in the movie that show racial discrimination and stereotypes. I found this trailer and topic that is being illustrated in the trailer to be really good for the blog. So i hope you enjoy the clip and i have a couple of questions to ask you.
1) What did you think of the video?
2) How many racial stereotypes can you identify? And what did you think of them?
3) Do you think that the Americans are going "Overboard" with these stereotypes? Explain
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The video was funny because the media uses racism as comedy. The steretypes are that Harold is a North Korean terrorist and has messed up eyes, and Kumar is a terrorist working for the Alcaida, but also another one is that white people are the ones who judge and are racist to others even though anybody of any race can be racist.
ReplyDelete1. I think it's hilarious. Harold and Kumar is a great franchise.
ReplyDelete2. I can see a number of stereotypes:
Old people are racist
Arabs are terrorists
All koreans are north koreans.
3. The movie went overboard with the stereotypes, but it's part of the comedy. I think a lot of sensible Americans know not every muslim is a terrorist.
1. AHAHAHAH. Okay, this video is totally hilarious. I know what movie to watch this weekend, if we ever finish that Zine :P
ReplyDelete2. Brown skin = Al Qaeda terrorist.
All authorities in USA are white and racist.
Like Clarence said, old people are racist and a Korean must be a North Korean.
3. Well, clearly the movie is going overboard with the stereotypes, because they are obviously not true, and these stereotypes seem to be the entire premise that the movie has been built on. But like we've learned, I think it depends on the mentality of the person viewing such movies. To me, it was simply funny leave-your-brains-at-home' comedy. I even laughed at the terrorist scene and the korean comment, though I am brown skinned myself and am crazy about korean dramas and music <3
However, a person who is easily influenced by such media and actually takes something away from it is subconsciously going to think the same thing the next time they see a brown or Asian person. However, I do not know if the mentality of some individuals is reason enough for movies and TV to control what they show!
1) This is extremely offensive under any aspect as you see it right here. The officer making fun of his Asian appearance and what was the terrorist joke all about, he is brown he must be terrorist that's what I'm assuming from this movie although is made humorous.
ReplyDelete2) ooo I can identify as many racial stereotypes as you can possibly think of, I can be a dictionary of racial stereotypes. It's funny how people think is not offensive until they hear their own stereotype and they go complain. For those people my suggestion is just hear them don't say them because what goes around comes around.
3) They are going nuts, they are trying to create as many stereotypes as possible, you know they have this fake propagandist ego of being the untouchables and the perfect nation. Again I can find a billion more stuff of what's wrong with the American life style and their philosophy of life. This is pure and crude propaganda to insult North Korean Which apparently happened to be not a supporter of USA and Middle east which we all know is their favorite target all the time. One of those propagandist movies US style! Someone should advice them of that cold war is over.
I think it's okay to portray those stereotypes, i mean the producers know what they're doing and they know that this is the reason behind the movie's success. The general public likes that kind of movie once in a while and i think it is needed, for there is already a huge debate about stereotypes and we hear about them almost everyday. This sort of movie serves as a type of relaxation for some people since they can get away from all the seriousness present in their life when watching it. Sure, there are some scenes which are very offensive, perhaps to my own race and culture I'm sure but i would not take it seriously, like many of you have suggested, it's just there for the purpose of having a good laugh. However, it has to be made clear that the audience for this type of movie has to be a mature one, maturity is not needed for this kind of movie you might say but on the contrary, not being mature enough (such as a young child watching it) would result in making the person believe that those stereotypes are true. That said, there would still be some adults believing in those stereotypes and those are going to be ones that are never going to change.
ReplyDeleteI thought that it was a very funny trailer. I didn't find it offensive, because the jokes are told in such a comedic way, that they aren't taken seriously. However, this movie is an example of the many movies who resort to uses stereotypes to make jokes, which leads to racism and discrimination to spread.
ReplyDeleteIt showed that the elderly are very racist, all brown people are terrorists, and that all Asians have messed up eyes. The stereotypes are very common, and are depicted in the media all the time. I think that the stereotypes, in the setting of the movie, are not offensives, but in reality, they can be very discriminatory.
I do think they went overboard with the stereotypes (based on the trailer) but it was done with good intentions; to make a funny film.
The video is hilarious! It even gives us some more stereotypes to believe in. As Muskaan pointed out, he’s brown-and thus a terrorist, and Harold has small eyes and so he’s North Korean. At points like these, I get confused on how to react. To laugh on their stupidity or act like I don’t know anything and just let happen on whatever is happening.
ReplyDeleteI think they took racial stereotypes as their basis for comedy. Like an old white lady thinking that a brown skinned person is a terrorist, all Koreans are North Koreans. I actually saw the movie, and it has a lot of stereotypes in it.
Well yes and no. If you go and tell a white person to watch movie, he might not find it that stereotypical as a majority of time, there are white people in the movie who are considering the stereotypes, like the old lady and the officer. On the other hand, if you go to a young brown or Korean person, they might just find it funny that people in the twenty first century are still or stereotypical.
1) What did you think of the video?
ReplyDeleteBeing a fan of this movie, I think I'm going to have to be honest and say I loved the video! It's these types of movies that yes, they are racist, but they are also making fun of the stereotypes being made and how pathetic they are. It really makes you think, if every Arab is a terrorist, than that means there MUST be one in our school, I mean seeing that ALL Arabs are terrorists... (Please take note of the sarcasm.) People have grouped and stereotyped the same race as a terrorist because of the doings of a couple of people in that race.
2) How many racial stereotypes can you
identify? And what did you think of them?
I pretty much identified the same stereotypes as everyone above did. But, I personally thought that the stereotypes were... well, stereotypical. Like I said, it's sad that we can be biased and being judgmental due to one bad experience.
3) Do you think that the Americans are going "Overboard" with these stereotypes? Explain
Well I'm not sure if I can pin point just Americans to portraying these stereotypes because it really is in all movies internationally. But in regards to this specific movie, not necessarily. Like I stated above, the point is to be subtly making fun of the stereotypes made, not to make fun of the actual race portrayed as a stereotype.
Harold and Kumar is hilarious, and bringing two characters together with different backgrounds and seing from their point of view the racial discrimination that happens to them is very creative.
ReplyDeleteI also like the fact that their franchise takes a comedic approach to racial discrimination/profiling. And by making fun of these racial stereotypes in society, it demonstrates how unreasonable and laughable they actually are.
This movie/video is a great example of racial discrimination. I have wanted to watch this movie for a very long time because I heard some very funny comments from couple of my friends. The video uses a number of stereotypes to summarize the current issues we are encountering in our societies. The first stereotype expressed is the brown guy (Kumar) on the plane who gets quite a dirty look from the women at the back row and who screams at him saying “terroristtttt” just because he looks or reminds her of a terrorist. Americans portrayed in this video tend to label the people of color or other race as automatically being terrorists who want to crash a plane or cause some other form of catastrophe to their home or surroundings. This is a very offensive stereotype from my part as not everybody is the same, especially in the case of Kumar who is only a young, decent guy, wanting to go on board with his friend and enjoy their trip to Europe. The next stereotype shown is when the American Police or detective looks at both Kumar and his friend and ironically claims “North Korean and Alkaida” working together, just because they arrested a Korean and an Arab looking guy. I do agree with most of people’s opinions about Americans going overboard with these stereotypes, but at the same time I also believe that it is only a comedy and all the intentions of racial discriminations portrayed are not actually meant to be personal or serious to anybody in particular.
ReplyDelete