Harold and Kumar Go to White castle: February 2007

Independent Study.

“Who’s looking after the Kwiky Mart while you gone” [1] How are stereotypes used in the media to shows Asians? Paying particular attention to ‘Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle’.

Statistics show that 3.5% of the U.K Population are Asians, this makes Asians ‘The largest single ethnic minority group in Britain - making up almost one quarter of the total ethnic minority population’. [2] Since the influx of Asians in the 1970’s we as an audience of the media have seen many representations, mostly being stereotypes. Whilst there are many varied representations in contemporary 21^st century, we still see Asians in roles which conform to the typical stereotypes which are rife in ‘Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.’ Comparing such a text with existing and historical texts, changes in representation, if any can be analysed using theorists such as Homi Bhaba, Stuart Hall and Laura Maulvey. Theorists such as Homi Bhaba and Laura Maulvey. The rise of the ‘brown pound’ combined with the political and social landscape has meant that Asians have become a more successful segment of society. Asians have become so successful they know rank amongst the elite names such as Lakshmi Mittal worth £14,881m have made there mark in the Asian Rich List in the UK. [3] This has inevitably led to the increase of power and status thus suggesting stereotypes are less commonly used. The British Asian genre broke through with the success of shows such as ‘Goodness Gracious Me (1998) and films such as ‘Bend it like Beckham’ (2002), with the break through of these the British Asian genre became a hit and helped with the success of Asians.

Ethnic minorities especially Asians have been subjects of stereotypes for several years now, despite gaining success within society, there are still outdated stereotypes that are present within contemporary society. ‘Stereotypes are seen by many as undesirable beliefs imposed to justify the acts of discrimination and oppression.’ Stereotyping is valid within many texts but rather than people being discriminated by it they know sees it as humour and a source of entertainment. Stereotypes are not always negative, texts do portray positive stereotypes. H&K shows the father and brother of Kumar as high positioned doctors this tie in with the stereotype that Asians are successful and hard workers.

Britain has now become more multicultural, this does not mean that British people are no longer racist. ‘Racism through representation has a long history.’[4] In H&K (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle) we see one of the main protagonist being a subject of racism a white police officer says “What kind of name is that anyhow? Is that like five o’s or two u’s ” [5] this quote shows us that he is making fun of Kumar’s name thus inflicting a racial remarks towards him. Though this text may not be of an Asian British genre it still shows similar incidents that happen through the UK and America. Acts of racism are still valid in today’s date, evidence of this is shown through recent disruption in the media due to reality TV show Big Brother (2007). ‘Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood actor and the alleged victim of racist abuse from several housemates, especially Goody.’ [6] Racism is still valid in contemporary society, Britain has become more multicultural over the years therefore racism is less mainstream but still evident.

H&K subverts the stereotype of Asians being hard workers, the character in role of Kumar is an Asian who is living out applying for a course in medicine, well that is what his parents think. ‘I am going to be honest, the only reason I’m applying is so my dad will keep paying for my apartment’ [7] we can see that the character of Kumar is challenging the stereotype that conforms to Asians being hard working. ‘The Asian Rich List is an annually published magazine and website, it list 300 most riches Asians within the UK’ [8]. This is a step forward which shows that Britain is accepting successful Asians, Britain has liberated over decades, successful Asians where not accepted as much in society as they are today.

Historical texts such as ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ (1985), ‘finding an identity in a country which is your home but which can never feel quite like your real home’ [9]

Was a text that looked at serious issues which were affecting the Asian society at the time, whereas H&K is shown in a more comical way rather than in a serious manner? The two texts differentiate in many ways mainly through the values they show and how they show them. My beautiful laundrette shows the struggle of a family going through a very racial time period and to make things worse the Asian protagonist is gay.

A more contemporary text that can be compared is ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ (2002) Gurinder Chada, this is a light hearted humour text which shows a typical Indian family trying to teach there daughter to not be interested in football but more in household works. ‘What family would want a daughter-in-law who can run around kicking football all day but can't make round chapattis?’ [10] Similarly to H&K this text show that Asian families always have expectations from their children and these two texts similarly challenge the expectations and reach out to do what they want. Gurinder Chada is an Asian director yet she has producing a text which conforms to stereotypical Asian roles, thus showing that Asian producers know that people want to see this type of humour, British Asian Genre directors know the peoples needs so therefore they are producing texts which Asians can relate to and laugh amongst the other ethnicities, without being offended.

Two further media text that can be looked at are ‘Mind your language’ (1977) Vince Pownell, this was a text that showed a class of immigrants that were wanting to learn English. The class consisted of several ethnical background people who didn’t always get on due to race relations. It could be said that light racism was used in the programme, the producer of the programme was a white person, but due to the comical nature and a passive audience these remarks may have been passed. ‘All Sikhs are VERY BIG LIARS.’ [11] Another sitcom well known, ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ (1998), apart from this sitcom being very successful it was also labelled as having the ‘racial clowns’ as the cast were using light hearted humour with references to stereotypes of Asians. Whereas in contrast H&K uses past representations towards the Asians by the white character, in Goodness Gracious Me it’s the Asian characters representing themselves. Characters in Goodness Gracious Me are conforming to the theory of the ‘Brown Clown’ [12] this is where the characters uses stereotypes which are outdated, these stereotypes usually make the audience laugh. This theory shows postmodernism is in affect as Asian characters follow stereotypical roles as on screen this type of representation caters for the viewers wants.

H&K being the most contemporary text shows portrayal of characters different to all the other texts, ‘Gradually the shape of Britain's multi-culturalism is becoming clear - and nowhere is the outline more distinct than with the role Asians are playing.’ [14] This shows that society has become more multicultural as Asians are accepted within society whereas before it was hard for Asians to make a stand. The use of the accent within texts allows western viewer to feel less threatened as it gives them the satisfaction that the characters are still filling the ‘third space’ and that they are still ‘the other’ rather than one of them.

The father of Kumar conforms to the stereotypical profession of Asians of being doctors, the father carries an accent, this accent allows the western audience to feel safe as mentioned before, the father is known as ‘the other’. Whereas characters with American accents such as the police officer would be known as ‘one of us’. This shows that hegemonic values are existent within western culture, as they would define themselves as the ruling classes.

Asian and black characters are mostly seen in comedy genre texts which connotes that they are willing to entertain through comedy, thus labelling them ‘brown clown’. ‘One may or may not find something humorous because it is either too offensive or not offensive enough.’ [15] The comedy genre has to consist of offensive or stereotypical elements in order to make an appeal to audiences. ‘…Asians or race were usually the butt of the joke, these comedies tended to hit a racist note, but always in a well meaning, benevolent tone.’ Ethnic minorities have always been the joke it is just that they have always been portrayed this way in the least racist tone. Western audiences do not feel threatened by characters as they are making references in comical ways, whereas if this was not the case they would feel unsecured. H&K go through a night on a road trip adventure meeting many difficulties, the use of light-hearted humour makes the viewer laugh at the characters and situation, the seriousness of the scenes is not identify by the audience suggesting that the audience is ‘passive’.

Due to success of British Asian Genre texts has led to the genre growing dramatically, after the release of texts such as ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ the British Asian Genre has reached the mainstream market. Due to this it has led to American Asian films being successful such as ‘Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. H&K has been directed by ‘Danny Leiner’ who is middle class white producer, the representations shown in H&K maybe of a comical nature but it could be challenged that the producer has represented Kumar from his point of view, rather than how he should be in reality.

H&K are the protagonist throughout the text; they are represented as two potheads who love smoking weed and getting high all the time. This could be considered a misrepresentation as the director may have included this as his point of view. It could be used to raise awareness of how much there has been an increase of young adults and students taking drugs. ‘16-29 year olds were interviewed between January and April. They were asked about drug use (cannabis, heroin, methadone cocaine or crack) in the previous 12 months’ [16].

H&K is a light hearted humour text which appeals mainly to a male audience of age 16-29. This demographic is suitable as they can identify with characters and roles that they fulfil. This age group will also be going through a similar phase in life as the two characters are doing, as they either start work or they go to university. Apart from this audience there is also a bigger, mass audience; Hollywood and the British film industry have become more multicultural this is shown through the use of ethnic characters within films.

H&K has been produced by ‘New Line Cinema’ [17], this studio has created many big hit movies and trilogies such as ‘Lord of the rings: Trilogy’, ‘American History X’, ‘Austin Powers’ and other such big films. New Line Cinema is one of ten major Hollywood studios; founded in 1967 it has made its mark. New Line Cinema is a subsidiary of ‘Time Warner [18]’.

H&K follows an unusual narrative; the two protagonists are set out on a road trip in search of a specific burger bar named ‘White Castle’. H&K follows Todorov’s narrative structure as in the beginning of the film they are happy and smoking weed, this is the equilibrium. The hunger is the disruption, the advert then is the realisation of the disruption, the journey they embark on is the attempt to set it right and once they have reached there destination that is the restoration of the equilibrium. As the story ended on a cliff hanger this would be the new equilibrium.

The presence of females is shown as a negative stereotype, whenever we are introduced to a female character within the text, they are shown as sex object purely for the male gaze. This representation conforms to ‘Laura Maulvey’s’ theory, which states that women are shown as sex objects for the male gaze. Maulvey is also known for a text that she wrote, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ (1973).

The Asian society as a whole has gained a lot of success, over the decades Asian have built up empires that are worth millions: ‘Brown Pound’, ‘The combined disposable income of ethnic minorities in the UK is £32bn’ [19]. Due to population growth and an increase in a more multi-cultural and diverse society, ethnic groups have been accepted, thus the recognition in the rise of the brown pound.

Bibliography

Books

Sarita, Malik(2002)Representing Black Britain:London, Sage Publications

.Jones,Marsha & Jones,Emma(1999),Mass Media.Basingstoke,Hampshire:Macmillan press Ltd

King,Geoff(2002):FILM COMEDY.London:Wallflower Press

References

[1] Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) Danny Liener

[2] http://www.bl.uk/collections/business/asiandemographics.html

[3] http://www.asianrichlist.co.uk/richlist_more.asp?rank=1&id=1

[4] Representation, Race and Youth Culture

[5] Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) Danny Liener

[6] http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1994833,00.html