A week from Friday, MTV Films is releasing its new film,
“Better Luck Tomorrow,” which features overachieving
American high schoolers who idle in their idyllic suburbia until
they develop violent lives of crime.
It’s a vibrantly tense picture about teenage identity that
caused controversy at Sundance. In a post-screening discussion, the
negative hubbub even prompted critic Roger Ebert to defend the
film. The controversy stemmed not only from the fact that the film
shows how these kids develop Columbine-esque behavior, but also
because the entire cast is Asian.
Excuse me, Asian American.
The epithet is important, because “Better Luck
Tomorrow” never makes any reference to the Asian-ness of its
characters. The film fights against painful stereotypes that often
involve traditionalist parents wearing ethnic garb and speaking
with thick accents. On the contrary, the film has a rock
soundtrack, and the story and characters have more to do with Bret
Easton Ellis than “Kiss of the Dragon.”
Justin Lin, a UCLA alumnus and writer/director of “Better
Luck Tomorrow,” grew up in Orange County, and his film may be
the breakthrough Asian Americans and perhaps other epitheted
peoples deserve. To get a taste go see the film for free Wednesday
night at the James Bridges Theater.
If you think this breakthrough is good, or if you’re a
minority and would like to see yourself portrayed on screen as an
American and not as an “other,” then you should not
only watch the free on-campus screening Wednesday but also watch it
in theaters opening weekend. As concerned about social justice as
big media conglomerates are, I’m guessing they’ll
follow their pocketbooks a bit more reliably.
The appearance of Asians in film is certainly not new. The first
film to feature an entirely Asian American cast was “Flower
Drum Song,” the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about a clash
of cultures: arranged marriages versus love, rock and roll versus
Chinese opera, and Eastern versus Western. Setting the standard for
future Asian American film ventures, the “Flower Drum
Song” cast proved they could hold their own, but never
managed to shake off their Asian-ness.
The same phenomenon occurred with Margaret Cho’s
well-intentioned but short-lived sitcom “All-American
Girl,” which even employed an Asian consultant to spice up
its ethnic “otherness.”
Today, more often than not, the reason Asian Americans are on
screen is still because they are Asian. Films such as
“Shanghai Knights,” “Kiss of the Dragon,”
“Cradle 2 the Grave,” “Ocean’s
Eleven,” and the upcoming “Bulletproof Monk”
carefully make it clear to the audience that Jackie Chan, Jet Li
and Chow Yun Fat are in a movie because the movie is about some
international/Chinese hooey, not because they are good actors.
Studios are afraid to show Asian Americans as Americans without
including overblown Asian-ness. Chan, Li and Chow remain celibate
fighting machines, not romantic or dramatic leads, and the
stereotypes don’t dissipate but merely evolve.
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was a breakthrough
on this level. While all the characters were fighting machines,
they also had complex sympathetic emotions and (oh, my god) the
ability to have raunchy sex. Zhang Ziyi’s deflowering remains
the most potent image of Asian sensuality to hit the American
mainstream.
Sensual Asians have been around for a while, and Lucy Liu is
only a recent incarnation of a species of Asian stereotypes known
as the dragon lady. Her short stint on “Chicago” as a
Hawaiian pineapple heiress (read: exotic Asian), was a
stereotypical throwback, though her non-accented, aggressive
character was progressive. But the difference in “Crouching
Tiger” was that Zhang Ziyi was deflowered by a strapping
Asian male.
Justin Lin takes that to a whole other level in “Better
Luck,” showing a hornier, drunker side to what is believed to
be the model minority. In fact, this is why Lin was attacked by
critics who think a sexual, bad-boy, Asian American male is too
threatening of a screen presence. In other words, they missed the
kung fu, straight-laced frame around Asian Americans. I find the
portrayal of the Asian American gangster not only refreshing but
also realistic (I was asked to join the Black Dragons in high
school).
The liberalization of minority portrayals is increasing, and
it’s no longer weird to see Michael Clarke Duncan as the
Kingpin in “Daredevil” or John Leguizamo as a European
artist in “Moulin Rouge.” Look out for Russell Wong in
the WB’s new show “The Black Sash” on Sunday
nights. His character’s name is Tom Ballard, and the part is
not “Asian.”