Analysis Harold and Kumar

This is what really sets â€Å"Harold and Kumar† apart not just from â€Å"Stoner films† or the entire Comedy genre, but from every film ever made. Casting two â€Å"minorities† in the leading roles. The opening scene involves two â€Å"higher ups†, who we assume are Harold’s bosses, at an accounting firm who are trying to get out of doing their work for a night out. They pass the work on to our unsuspecting Harold, who reluctantly accepts the new task load because his job was threatened. This opening scene sets up Harold’s personal problems that at the end of the ovie, he over comes. This scene cuts between multiple shots of Harold’s bosses standing over Harold, and Harold looking up at them. They loom over Harold, looking down on him as a workhorse that they can pass their work loads to. Harold sits in his chair looking up at his two bosses, bewildered and somewhat frightened to stand up for himself. His two bosses are dressed in black suits which communicates to the audience that they are not only dominant but authoritative and for lack of a better term, evil. They are the first protagonists we see in the film. As they blast out of the office parking lot in their convertible, they justify their actions by saying that â€Å"those Asian guys love crunching numbers†. We quickly get the response to this with a cut of Harold standing in the office looking out the window the speeding convertible, angrily saying â€Å"Fuck†. From this we cut to a scene of Kumar being interviewed for acceptance into a medical school program at an undisclosed prestigious university. Kumar blatantly doesn’t care about the interview, or as we discover later, becoming a doctor like his father wants him to be. Kumar sits in the interview dressed in a disheveled suit and slouches in his chair. From these two scenes we are introduced into the typical roles that normally see in Hollywood movies. The quiet Asian being pushed around and the Indian guy trying to become a doctor. Each time though we see the problems that the characters have with both of these situations, this is the side that we don’t normally see in films. Harold hates his job because he feels like he isn’t respected, it is also learned later in the film that he basically fell into his job because that’s just how it went. Until the end of the film when Harold begins to take charge and stand up for himself, the audience has no problem believing that Harold just went with the motions and became an accountant. Kumar on the other hand is basically Harold’s polar opposite, yin and yang type situation, and resists falling into his â€Å"natural† role in society of becoming a doctor even though he is obviously very skilled in the field, by living off his fathers money (who is a doctor) and spending most of his days smoking pot. Throughout the movie there are scenes where a character is presented with a problem that in some way relates to a stereotype about their ethnicity. The movie deals with this in a joking manner, but the best part is that the character encounters it in a positive manner. Take for instance the character of Kumar, after visiting his father working in the hospital he steals an access card to steal medical marijuana, in the process of locating the marijuana, the duo find scrubs to disguise themselves in and in a mix up are confused as surgeons who are to operate on a gun shot victim. Kumar’s â€Å"natural† ability in health and medicine allows him to successfully operate on the victim and save his life. This ends up being the turning point in the film for Kumar where he decides to stop resisting his father and the typical role society expects of Indians, and become a doctor. For Harold, his turning point occurs at the end of the film when he stands up for himself at his destination, white castle. His two bosses show up at the White Castles from their night out with a pair of women, their attire has changed slightly, one has shed his black coat and the other is completely disheveled in his suit. Harold stands now, face to face with both of his bosses with a visibly angry face. He confronts his bosses and lets them know that he won’t take their bullying any longer. The two men look scared and are speechless since they were caught in a lie and that Harold has literally stood up to them, a contrast from the first scene of the film. About halfway through the film there is a scene where Neil Patrick Harris has stolen the car and leave Harold and Kumar stranded. The two are attempting to walk across the street at a completely vacant intersection. Kumar urges Harold to just walk across and disregard the street sign because there is no one around. As Harold takes his first step to cross, he is stopped by a police officer. The officer harasses the two of them and in a sign of blatant racism, he mocks Kumar and Harold’s ethnicities by asking if they have strange names. He asks Kumar if his name has â€Å"like five O’s or two U’s†. At this scene Kumar stands up for himself by belittling the officer and telling him he was loser in high school and is still one now. Although the officer has a much bulkier body type than Harold and Kumar, Kumar still stands face to face with the officer, representing his courage to go against someone he knows could take him to jail. I have seen â€Å"Harold and Kumar go to White Castle† MANY times before this paper and usually only watched it as it was presented, I laughed at the funny parts and would promptly move on to something else. Until this paper I had never thought to consider the representations the film portrayed of Harold and Kumar. I had never even noticed that the two leading roles were â€Å"minority† ethnicities. The way the film acknowledges the stereotypes that come bundled with the two characters and destroys them whilst making a completely mockery of them is quite fascinating. One of the more interesting facts is that the film was written by two Jewish men, and directed by a Caucasian man. They obviously didn’t want to make a comedy like any other with a white lead, they casted two very different men together and made an incredibly successful film. The film has spawned two sequels and each did very well in the box office. I would personally love to see a film cast more â€Å"minority† ethnicities in the lead roles, not just comedies but every film genre. I think that day is not too far ahead. Rangwala, Shama. Issue 5: Film Reviews.   Scope. Http://www. scope. nottingham. ac. uk/. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. lt;http://www. scope. nottingham. ac. uk/filmreview. php? issue=5gt;.

Comparing John Milton's character Satan in Paradise Lost to Dante's Research Paper

Comparing John Milton's character Satan in Paradise Lost to Dante's Lucifer, and how their portrayal of these characters differe - Research Paper Example This paper is a comparison of two characters: John Milton’s Satan and Dante Alighieri’s Lucifer. The thesis statement that carries this paper toward a direction is that: Milton’s Satan is an embodiment of power, heroism and leadership; while, Dante’s Lucifer is powerless, dull and uninteresting. Paradise Lost is one of the greatest masterpieces of John Milton’s, which has been studied, criticized, and evaluated in every period of time since it was written. The character of Satan has been evaluated in different regards, mainly claimed as being the most convoluted and dynamic character in literature. In Milton’s text, Satan is shown as possessing a sense of havoc, chaos, and wreck. The reader is never clear whom Milton is justifying as being innocent: Satan, or Adam and Eve. Flannagan (26) writes in his book that many romantic critics believe that Milton is unknowingly in the devil’s party, as he portrays Satan as the most powerful chara cter throughout the story, seducing us into following his leadership when, for example, he is shown arguing with Areopagitica, or when he chooses to speak truth for a moment. The reader ends up sympathizing with the Satan in the minutest of feeling, in addition to the greatness of Shakespearean acting in his character. Ruth and Milton (15) write, â€Å"Milton’s appealing delineation of Satan’s character, some commentators say, forces the reader to sympathize and identify with the fallen archangel just as Milton himself does.† Satan is shown on a hot lake of molten lava in Hell, and weeping at a point later, which are the sites the reader empathizes with him at. The energy that comes out of his character while he is in the Hell, and while he plans the whole story against Adam and Eve, makes his character so magnificent that no other character in the story can beat. God, in comparison, has been portrayed as an uninteresting character in Paradise Lost- something th at the Satan convinces the reader to believe in Book 3, while behaving like a naive victim all the way. At least this is the perception the reader conceives when he reads the Satan’s fervent dialogues and their contagious rhetoric throughout the storyline. His speeches are as weird as the disguise he adopts to entice Eve to eat the Forbidden Tree; that is, the serpent that is clever, sharp, quick, smart, and vengeful. Carrying angelic features and possessing potent weapons, Satan is shown as an embodiment of authority, power, control, and leadership. He is the leader of the fallen angels, sharing with them the plan to leave the Hell for a quest based on vengeance. Critics and reviewers have agreed upon the heroic aspect of Satan in Paradise Lost; for example, Brackett (313) writes that Milton has shown Satan as such a â€Å"clearly and dramatically drawn figure that many post-romanticism readers viewed him as a heroic figure, a Byronic hero of sorts†¦as Satan proudly de clares his preference for the position of ruler of hell to servant in heaven.† Hence, the heroic and leadership incarnation of Satan’s character in Paradise Lost shows Milton’s idea of sin that has been discussed many a times by critiques later on. It is also important to discuss how Milton has expressed Satan’s persona of heroism and leadership in his work. Satan is proud of his army that he thinks is so powerful that repulse can never be known.

Mayan Family Structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mayan Family Structure - Essay Example The Mayan dialect comprises 69 languages within five sub-families of Ch'ol-Tzotzil, Huastecan, Yucatecan, Chujean-Kanjobal, and Quichean-Memean sects. At the height of their prosperity they lived in cities that actually used to be religious centers and open country-sides. Their administrative system was effective and resourceful although their social and religious practices were sometimes brutal. (Mayan Family) The Mayan community is spread far and wide in pockets of different countries like Mexico, Yucatan, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Chiapas, Gautemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. However, they are distinct from each other in their unique way they dress and communicate. The Mayan language is spoken as the first language in some communities whereas Spanish is the first language with others. The Mayan family structure today is just about like any other regular family structure in the world. They work, play, study, live together and plan their lives as a family unit and for their descendants. They live in their own countries and proudly hold on to their native tongue although a lot of them also speak Spanish, the language commonly spoke in majority of the people in the region. However, as a community, they are backward and still need help to improve their lot in education and business. They have a rich culture and tradition to speak of. They have wonderful history and heritage to share with people from all over the globe. They have rich natural sources and abilities to compare and compete with the best in the world, and brilliant ideas and hopes to join the rest of the human community in the race for better standards of living for themselves and others. (History of the Mayan Agency) Family Structure of the ancient times Specific information about the family structure as a unit is not forthcoming probably because the Mayan language family itself is divided into five sub-families. These sub-families are dispersed in different countries in South America, viz. Gautemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and South Mexico. The largest populations are found in Mexico in the states of Yucatan, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Chiapas. The culture and social life of the Mayan harks back to ancient times as far back as 1500 BC. It was a prosperous and militant civilization that observed religious rituals on barbaric lines and depended on thriving economy. There was a big gap in the way of living between the ruling class and the common man. The king, his family, courtiers, priests, palace guard and servants enjoyed a better standard of living in comparison to the society at large. The Mayans practiced caste system rigidly. There was no way anyone could move over from a lower caste to upper caste or from one caste to another. The caste system much like other social and economic practices was inherited and passed on to the next generation without question. Nonetheless, the higher castes enjoyed the privilege of moving down the ladder. No one stopped the royal class from mixing with their less privileged citizens if it suited their position or tastes. There is nothing to show that such alliances were consigned to the flames or death squad. Also besides sacrificial