- What is the place of race/ethnicity in these stories?
- What does the crime in these stories tell us about life in the USA more generally?
- What do they say about class/economics?
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
Justin Lin's film is interesting to think about in conjunction with Wiseguy (also, I think you'll notice that, cinematically, it owes a debt to Scorsese's adaptation). Some things I'd like you to think about re both texts:
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I think that by not showing parents it let you pay more attention to the kids. Most of the time in my eyes these young kids that join gangs/mobs tbere parents are paying them no attention. I'm pretty sure if there parents were paying them soome attentioin and telling them know they would have done it any way because if the kid couldn't start up to his friends and say no by himself, his parents weren't going to be able to help and hold his hand for him to say no. I think that sometimes parents can only do so much. Some young kids just don't no how to stay out of trouble. I know plenty of times my friends tried to get me to do dumb things. I was strong enough to stand on my own and say know. Nobody told me to say yes or no. When growing up I got good grades and trust me know of my parents were in my face. I didn't do crime or participate in bad things. Because I just knew it was wrong. jn my eyes it's about how you want to live your life and how you want to be presented. In both of these stories these kids made there own choices for what ever reason. Anybody can become a criminal if that's what they think is best and easier. But is it really an easier way of life?
ReplyDeleteI just wanna ask everybody a question why Ben kills Steven. He can stop beating Steven after Steven drops his weapon. I came up with an idea on the top of my head but i may not convey my thought correctly due to using wrong words. So, your ideas and thoughts help me to chose a right vocabulary that I supposedly use. Please, share your ideas with me.
ReplyDeleteWell I think the main reason he kills Steven is because he just flat out dislikes him and thinks that Steven is smug. He believes Steven is just spoiled and he just trying to act tough. Also Steven is with the girl that he most desires to be with.
DeleteI found a similarity between "wise guy" and the film with regard to a murder. In the book, Henry tells us a story about a kid killed other kid because of the fight about a card game. It seems like a sad accident and, if there was no gun, the accident would be avoidable. The episode is like an accident that a two-year old kid kills mother in accident with a fire arm at home. Those are categorized into “accident” but the thing happened in the film was much darker to me.
ReplyDeleteWe always have two sides in our mind: strong side (like Shanaya says) and weak side. You can be stronger but, on the other hand, you may be weaker somewhat compared to the other days. You struggle to achieve your job, mostly, but sometimes you wanna forget about it and just grab a couple of beers a day before the due date and go to bed. People work for harder money most of the time but sometimes they try getting easier money, then fail, and come back to the normal way. This is real. We adults can balance these two sides in our real life. I agree kids may not balance it unless they have a guidance and tend to go to one way if they don’t have good adults who take care of them.
However, the film seems depicting much darker images. Overachievers tend to have too much stress. Bullying never goes away. I heard that if we pack too many fishes into a water bath some fishes start bullying one fish. If they have enough space, it doesn’t happen. This is true either in kids or adults. In our world, social communication makes too much stress to us and, as a result, some people lose their balance and go to crime. Jealousy, hates, animosity can become much much darker under a special situation, like the film shows. SO, the crime (murder) is a part of our social (culture) activity that never goes away.
In both texts we can see how there is a focus on a specific race/ethnicity. I believe that the attention to this in both stories stems from a sense of inclusion. For non-Asian Americans our connection to the story may only go so far. However, for Asians growing up in America there is more of a relationship established even before the story begins to take off. For example, when a story contains someone of Hispanic descent I feel a connection to that narrative before it even begins because I have a sense of what to expect. That's not to say that all Hispanics, or Asians growing up in America have the exact same experiences. More so, I'm saying that there is an understanding of culture and background that can be introduced without any dialogue. Another example can be found in Wiseguy where Henry's mother feels trust towards relative strangers just because they share the same ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteThe way crime is dealt with and told makes life in the USA seem way more "dramatic" than it might be for the average American. However, there tends to be truth behind most stories told; "fact is stranger than fiction." Although this may not be the setup of every American's life, this type of 'true crime' life can be found. I believe it can also depict America as this dog-eat-dog world riddled with greed and corruption. As a non-American who views American cinema, I wonder what their interpretation of American youth culture is.
Lastly, these stories seem to tell opposing views on class and economics. In Wiseguy, the average Italian-American is a hard worker who rarely sees any pay back. They aren't desolate; however, they have just enough to put food on the table. On the other hand, Better Luck Tomorrow shows a different narrative where, although the main characters are minorities, they live as though they are in the majority with really nice houses and cars. The Asian-American depicted in Lin's film seem too smart, and too wealthy for their own good resulting in boredom leading to an addiction to the thrill of the 'hustle.'
Really good response, Alex. Do you get the sense that all the Asian kids in the gang are in the same economic class?
DeleteThe crimes tell us about different level of social classes in the USA society and the available opportunities for people of any age to engage in any crime. Both in the "Wise Guy" and in the movie, we see kids from middle class working family and as they enter the world of crime the paths to be spoiled are near to their reach. For example: Guns and drugs are easy to get in the USA than a third world country like "Bangladesh". Though there is law against illegal drug and gun, still kids in Bangladesh, most of the time, have to wait till a certain age so that they can get out of the supervision of their family to do anything near to what these kids did in the movie and in the book. Rich countries are flooded with opportunities in both good and bad. People come here as immigrant with nothing and with their hard work they secure their position in the society. And some other people go out and want to have everything for free, without any process of work, by hurting others. Another thing about hard working middle class family is that they work so hard that they don't have enough time to spend with their kids. There is another factor which can make a huge different in the pattern of parenting in middle class society. This factor is education, not the general education but the specific parenting education. Parents can be highly educated but never pay attention to the topic of parenting. They might merely follow the parenting of their parents which might not a good fit for their kids. This important aspect is not valued by many middle class parents. They think they need to earn money for their kids and let them go to school and every other things will come into places on their own. But the reality is completely different. It's for sure that no one can ever be a perfect parent. But it is also true that anyone who wants to learn continuously about good parenting can have the chance to repair their mistakes in future. In both cases, we don't see any parent figure who is concerned enough about his or her child's life. Henry's dad works really hard. We don't know his educational status. Suppose he never thought of learning anything about good parenting. But the moment he realized his son is not regular in school, he could have thought things through and tried to talk to somebody who is educated or an adviser to him. His effort could stop Henry to move forward with his career in crime. Same in the movie, when kids knew that their parents don't mind them going home late as long as they are "A" students, the parents should at least try to know with whome they are doing the homework and where. In the movie, the houses and the neighborhood looks more sophisticated than the book. Still in both stories parents are so indifferent about the events of their kid's life. When Ban started smoking, drinking and taking drugs his parents should have realized it from very beginning if they paid enough attention to their kids. Family values, effective and knowledgeable effort from parents, neighborhood, individual characteristics and the availability of opportunities for getting onto bad habits these all have equal contributions in a person's life to make him or her a criminal.
ReplyDeleteIn both stories, race and ethnicity play a significant role. In Wise Guy, Hill is embraced by the gangsters in his neighborhood because he is half Italian. When he is detained by cops for the first time, they did not believe his real name was Henry Hill due to the fact that he doesn't have an Italian last name. Hill has the same last name as his father who was Irish and the cops couldn't believe somebody who's last name was not Italian was associated with the particular crime family and organization that he was associated with. Which tells you that most crime families and organizations were pretty much made up of people of the same ethnicities and cultural background. In Better Luck Tomorrow, there are Asian clichés, the main characters are all smart and straight-A students and they go on competitions with students of other schools, at the same time they behave in ways that people wouldn't associate with straight-A Asian kids. They become drug dealers, the main character does drugs. They hire a prostitute while in Las Vegas. The character Virgil acts the least like a straight-A Asian student cliche. He talks and dresses Hip-hop and he gets excited about guns and fights.
ReplyDeleteIn both stories race and ethnicity play a big role for Henry and Ben. In Henrys case he was half Italian half Irish But because of his half Sicilian side Paulie didn't hesitate to welcome him in the group. In the movie Ben only associates with friends of Asian decent. This shows us that they would only associate with people they would trust and feel comfortable around because they come from the same background. Even Henry's mom felt comfortable enough with her son being around Paulie and the crew because she was Italian like them. When it comes to crime in the USA with both movies we can compare that it doesn't matter where you come from or your social status anyone can commit a crime. Henry was in a gang of mobsters where he had to do as he was told because he had to obey out of respect and obligation. Ben commited a crime I believe out of frustration. He felt like the other guy thought he could control him or anything that moved around him. This was for Ben to show him he didn't have control of what was about to happen to him. Henry came from a middle class family and from what I could take from the movie it seemed that Ben came from a well off family that seemed to give him a hat he needed and wanted. We don't ever see Ben's parent but we do read about Henry's. They are involved and care that Henry finishes school even though we see they care about Henry's well being, Henry still decided to do as he pleased because he knew he had the protection from his crime family. With Ben it seemed he had more liberty because he was a straight A student so nothing wrong was expected from him. But like I said these stories show us that no matter what class or economic status crime can be commited by anyone.
ReplyDeleteShinozaki you want to know why Ben killed Steven, may be Ben was jealous of Steven. However I believe some parents do a wonderful job raising their children in the right way. Some children try their best and do the right thing while others chose the wrong path. In deed there are parents who don't do a good job and the kid have to raise themselves.I remember growing up my peers tried their best many times to get me to go with them into people's farm to steal I never went with them. I saw many good kids that were persuaded and they eventually followed the crowd. Many times the farmers would run them with machete, other times they would get a lot of fruits that is when the farmers are no there to confront them. I know peer pressure is real,but some kids can't be persuaded to do the wrong thing while other can.
ReplyDeleteIi think race/ethnicity play a huge roll in "Wiseguy" Henry is fascinated at the lifestyle Vario family lives and wants to be just like that, they're Italian and Henry is half Italian so he fits in partially, but in the eyes of the law because of his last name they wouldn't expect a person with that last name to be apart of what the Vario family has created. His name does fit the picture.
ReplyDeleteWise Guy and Better Luck Tomorrow have a great deal deal of similarities. An Asian version of the Italian Mafia. Respect, power has become the priority in their lives and each act they commit becomes a rush for them. At the killing of Steve, I felt it was out of guilt, betrayal and disrespect. The look in his eyes to me seem as though he was saying "How could you?" Bill could have turned the other way, but made the decision to kill with the bat all because of that look. Excelling students in whatever they put their minds to, straight A's is not what make them have pride in themselves. Its the respect and pride at showing the enemy who's the boss. No parents to acknowledge and applaud them of great achievements and great hard work. Instead they find acknowledgement in one another the rush in the acts they commit. A family unit is what they yearn for which is found in the team. Looking out for one another just like in Wiseguy. I believe in any ethnicity and any economic status, everyone is looking for somewhere to belong. No matter how they are raised, Loving parents caring for their children, striving at providing the best. At the end of the day the final choice is made by the child at which path is best for them and finding the comfort and a sense of belonging, the family unit become a closer nit relationship.
ReplyDeleteWell one of the first things I noticed between Goodfellas and Better Luck Tomorrow is the beginning of the movies. Both movies start with the main characters doing some criminal activity. Moree specifically murder. The movies cast was mainly Asian American. The movie was about these friends who cheat and do a lot of illegal activity for extra income. They are able to get away with it for the most part due to the fact that their families don't really pay attention to what they do as long as they are doing good in school.
ReplyDelete