Week 3

  

  In Better Luck Tomorrow, it mainly expresses masculinity and the stereotype of Asian Americans in the United States. But does this really change the stereotype? Does this change promote the integration of Asian Americans into the United States? 

  I am a Chinese, so I understand the life of most Chinese (or Chinese students) in the United States: mainly studying. But Asian Americans are different from us. They not only need to integrate into American community and culture, they also need to respond to it. They need to prove that they are smart, useful and can integrate into American life. So, what is the American impression of Asian Americans? They have good grades, they are not very strong, they are weak. Therefore, at this time, channels like movies or videos are needed to publish the correct and true facts. So there are movies like Better Luck Tomorrow. However, in my opinion, the change of the protagonist does not really change the stereotype. They just changed from a serious student to a criminal. Such changes are not good, and the impression of Asian Americans has not improved. At least, in my opinion, such a change merely changes the Americans’ current impression of Asian Americans. But whether this impression is positive or negative, I am skeptical. 

  "Indeed, perhaps the key point here is that the Asian American cinematic tradition has been as shunning of the mainstream as it itself has been shunned by it: the fear of selling out or of being subsumed has kept it highbrow and self referential-and, to an extent, uptight." (Margaret Hillenbrand, 55) As said in this passage, Asian American movies are afraid to merge into the mainstream, so they maintain their characteristics. However, only what is acceptable to the public can be called mainstream movies. if you don't integrate into mainstream movies, then the thing that wants to change the stereotype of the public cannot be achieved.

  So, overall, this movie did change the original image of Asian Americans, but it needs to continue to change. To make a real change, we need to understand the culture of both parties, not just a one-side thing.