![]() Though both of those series concluded years ago, it is a persistent problem within Hollywood even at the time of this writing. However, in the mid-2000s, there came along a film franchise that sought to rewrite the narrative for Asian men, not only in the United States but across the globe. When Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg introduced the world to Harold and Kumar, they shattered stereotypes and made us laugh while they did it. It is rather uncomfortable to recall how the Asian male has existed within Hollywood over the years. In John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles, for example, exchange student Long Duk Dong ( Gedde Watanabe) is the butt of the joke just for looking and sounding different than his white peers. ![]() Similarly, in Blake Edwards’ The Party, the audience is encouraged to laugh at an Indian character, played by Peter Sellers in brownface, as he struggles to understand and interact with his white supporting cast because he’s a naïve foreigner. And so, American cinema has a tendency to generate comedy by poking fun at Asian men once they are thrown into a world where being white is the norm. ![]() RELATED: Why John Cho Deserves More Leading Roles in Hollywood Interestingly, in the first entry of the Harold and Kumar series, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, there is a curious lack of white presence throughout the entire movie. ![]() Other than Neil Patrick Harris, all of the white characters we do encounter are painted as being ignorant, unintelligent, and somewhat primitive in their thinking. Therefore, this severely limits how much an audience can laugh at either Harold ( John Cho) or Kumar ( Kal Penn) simply for being Asian. In fact, throughout the franchise both characters are essentially the ones providing the laughs rather than being on the receiving end of them. ![]()
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