The first time Zach came to Oregon, I was telling him everything I could possibly think of to make his first experience with air travel happen as smoothly as possible. After all, I wanted him to get here, be relaxed, have fun, and want to do it again. So I did my very best not to sugar-coat things. I wanted there to be no surprises.
I told him about checked bags vs. carry-ons, "pink tags", and how you board a Southwest flight. I told him about getting there early, what to expect going through security, and how tiny and cramped planes are. I explained that the aisles are very narrow, and that the bathrooms barely give you enough room to spin a full circle.
A couple of things surprised him. First of all, his layover was in Kansas City, and depending which gates you must use it can be a horrible place for a layover. He had to leave the area behind security and go back through it. But he made it.
Secondly, nothing I said convinced him just how cramped airplanes are. "That's not how it looks in the movies!" he said.
We know movies and TV are not reality, but if we are not vigilant and questioning, we may allow them to fill in the blanks for things we really know little about. I remember when I was in 9th grade, my English teacher brought to our attention how incongruous the lifestyles of sitcom families were with the professions of the parents and what their income realistically would be. She highlighted how this kind of thing creates this perception about what kind of lifestyles we should be able to afford.
I don't even know what got me started thinking on this. I think I was thinking about how sometimes I like a little brain candy after a hard week of work, so I will laugh it up at stupid mindless comedy movies. In the summer of 2009, I saw The Hangover four times. It cracked me up, came up with ridiculous situations and predicaments, and gave me an escape from a stressful job for a couple of hours. And it got me excited for what would be my upcoming trip to Las Vegas.
I guess it was sometime after that, I started to think about the characters. The four main ones are a bunch of good old boys...and they are all white. Hey, you know, there's nothing explicitly wrong with that. Then I began to think of some of the other characters...the families and significant others of the main characters--also all white. So I started to think about whether there were any characters that were from any minority groups. As follows:
Leslie Chow, an Asian gangster who acts in bizarre ways and is a major antagonist in the plot
Mike Tyson, who acts violently by punching a main character
"Black Doug" who sells drugs
So how does this fill in the blanks for folks, especially people who live in very non-diverse places, like just about anywhere in Oregon?
What do people think? Does this movie perpetuate harmful stereotypes? I mentioned racism, but does this movie also perpetuate harmful stereotypes about women and men?
And why, 3 years after the fact, am I the first person I know of to be asking these questions?
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