The trailer’s been out for a few weeks but I figured that perhaps a few Mutineer’s haven’t had a chance to check it out quite yet. So, true to my culture beat of late, I now present the trailer for Harold & Kumar part deux –
My take?
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p> Well, anyone who’s read any of my soapboxing of late should be pretty clear about how I feel about desi’s in mass media / slapstick comic roles: Bring ’em on. I’ll take the Michael Jordan / Eddie Murphy / Chris Rock path towards social acceptance by the majority over the Al Sharpton / Black Panthers one anytime.
While we await the early 2008 release of the flick, recent mutineers (or those with entirely too much time on thier hands) might enjoy gearing up for it by reading the flood of posts & comments generated by the original back in 2004. Back when the mutiny (and, well, blogging itself) was young, the H&K brouhaha was one of our coming of age moments. And thus, the archives provide an interesting window into a bygone era. A few highlights include –
- Me pimping the original flick together with Hollywood Masala & Kal Penn’s original “go see a different kind of desi!” post
- The South Asian Sister’s scathing review of Harold & Kumar ; a few of ’em wrote in with pretty detailed comments (for ex. here and here). (it’s worth noting that despite the difference of opinion w/ the Sister’s on H&K, we’re generally their fans on other stuff)
- Kal Penn’s response on Sepia Mutiny to the Sister’s
- SuperJagjit’s MUST SEE response to the Sister’s where he tried to craft a more “inclusive” movie (we miss you SuperJagjit!)
- Would you believe that this series of posts eventually became a part of someone’s PhD thesis? I know I saw the reference somewhere a year or 2 ago but digging through my email archives + googling around didn’t turn it up. Anyone know what I’m talking about?
I politely stand politely corrected. How very politic of you.
See you in the streets. We can get beers at the comedy club after.
Blacks aren’t the only American minority population to have had both nonviolent and violent protest and liberation movements. Native Americans, too (as noted by an earlier poster), as well as Mexican and Puerto Rican American communities.
Great book. I found it much better atcontextualizing (world)history/ current events,explaining the development / political ideology that Huey Newton espoused. Also clarified the BBP “opposing view” ,difference from the Pan Africanism , “mainstream Civil RightMovement” and Nation of Islam, than the David Hillard book. #9– I too wonder how long dude will be “Forever 21“
i think in the namesake, he played gogal in high school. thats like 16.
And don’t forget, the gay rights movement started with a street battle in the West Village.
I hope NPH comes back for H&K 2 (can’t watch the clip at work, so I’m not sure if he’s in it?). Knowing now that he’s gay, his ‘babe hound’ performance is even funnier.
Yayyyy! Can’t wait to watch this one!
according to imdb, hes in it.
Doogie Howser is gay?
I am just hoping and praying that freakshow and his hot wife are in too……
that scene was disturbing…
Oh man. I can’t watch Law & Order: SVU now without thinking of Freakshow every time I see Chris Meloni!
Methinks your snark cup overfloweth.
Gandhi was quite rude–If i remember correctly, he did tell the British Empire to stick it’s shepherd’s pie where the English Sun refuses to shine.
Militant attitudes are nothing to celebrate–look where it got SL Tams
@ Vikram: “In Harold & Kumar, NPH appears as himself, not as a fictional character. So one would expect he would stay true to himself.”
Actually, even in the first H&K, NPH plays a fictional version of himself. He’s interviewed on the DVD saying something like what drew him to the movie was getting to play a character named Neil Patrick Harris who was entirely unlike himself and so mess with the audience’s expectations (atrocious grammar of that sentence aside, you get my point). Did you really leave the first H&K thinking NPH was a sex-crazed cokehead who just happened to get caught on film?
And I am STOKED for this movie – the trailer makes me deliriously happy.
Wrong. I was being sincere. And acquiescence in the face of oppression is deplorable–don’t forget that people were being lynched as recently as…1998. (That’s if you don’t count the death penalty, in which case Texas is set to lynch another man tonight.) Dig this celebration. I don’t think a few jokes on stage or the silver screen are/were ever going to stop that. Neither were sit-ins, alone. “Please stop killing us or we’re not going to ride your buses.” Give me a break!
I don’t know much about the SL Tams or their struggle. History has shown us that violent revolutions–whether they come from the left OR the right, just replace the oppressors at the top of the hierarchy. I’m no fan of FARC or Hamas or Castro, either. That’s why I love confrontational groups which are organized non-hierarchically, like ActUP and the EZLN. They have stood up for justice without themselves becoming oppressive and without being coopted (so far).
You could be on to something there but the airport interrogation scene looks like it’s definitely funnier than Ben Stiller’s rant in Meet the Parents.
I’m not sure what Vinod was trying to say in his post, but I don’t think that Al Sharpton or the BPP sought “social acceptance by the majority.” I’m not sure what that means, but it reminded me of something the comedian Hari Kondabolu once said. I’m paraphrasing here, but he remarked how it seemed that his comedy had often been described as “militant” because it made white people uncomfortable. I think a lot of Kal Penn’s stuff constitutes brown minstrelism and makes it okay for “the majority” to laugh at stereotypes. I think this same phenomenon had a lot to do with Chappelle ending his show because of its unintended effects. And for the record, I’m perfectly fine with making white people uncomfortable.
Just to note, by defintion you cannot call the death penalty as ‘lynching’.
Rah, Yeah, Chappelle has said that his epiphany came when he looked up mid-show and caught a white crewperson laughing AT him – he said it was the first time he had ever felt laughed at, rather than with. He also said he had issues with them wanting him to wear a dress in one skit, because ‘every black male comedian has had to wear a dress at some point’. I only watched clips of the show, though I’ve watched a lot of his standup on the Net – and the difference is, so to speak, white and black. His whole function as a searingly astute social observer disappeared in the show, as far as I can tell. Mind you, I only saw these really buffoonish clips.
I strongly object to describing Kal Penn’s work as “minstrel”. The role was a complete subversion of stereotypes, summed up in the “Thank you, come again” line as he was stealing the Extreme crew’s car. It’s a good contrast with the Simpsons, which didn’t show contrasting desi archetypes, just one accented brown guy who works at the kwiki-mart.
Cosby is subversive
Define a mob. Define legal sanction. I’m FROM Texas, holmes.
Black Panthers started out with good intentions. Can you blame them for organizing after the crimes of the Jim Crow era and before? Whites get organized into militias for lesser slights.
Sharpton is a demagogue but so are many politicians. Sharpton’s blunder wsa the Tawana Brawley case and he never recovered in the mainstream with that controversy. But post Tawana, while he is no saint, I cannot say he is the worst of our politicians.