Example Of Better Luck Tomorrow- Analysis And Reflection Essay

Better Luck Tomorrow, is a 2002 film that explores the lives of four Asian-American youth who decided to venture into the excesses of life and ended up getting involved in mischief, petty crime and eventually murder. It was an MTV success that sparked outrage and mixed emotions from the movie goers.
The plot begins with a flash-forward of events in the future when the character Ben Manibag (played by Pary Shen) and Virgil Hu (Jason Tobin), his socially unschooled best friend, are involved in a dialogue when they hear a phone ringing. Their curiosity leads them to dig up the dirt only to be rewarded with a human hand. The plot then shifts to events-past, revealing the characters of Ben, Virgil, Han Seoul-Oh (Virgils Cousin), and Daric Loo. Ben is portrayed to be leading a double life: a perfectionist trying to blend into the social norm in school and the mischievous youth involved in petty crime with Virgil. Daric Loo is the president of nearly every student club and joins up initially with Ben to make money by stealing exams; a successful operation that is soon joined by Virgil and his cousin Han. The four eventually venture into theft of school property and drug abuse.
The film does not feature any parents for the four characters which I believe explains the lack of self-respect and respect for property. The youth culture portrayed shows how most youth are so focused on money that the end justifies the means. In this particular scenario, Ben and his friends want to be successful so badly that they are ready to do anything including theft and dealing in drugs to get there.
The director also explores common myths of urban culture and in this case, the marginalized ethnic groups: specifically Asian-American who in this case are portrayed to be leading double lives in order to conform to social norms. They are great A material students by day and undisciplined and rebellious youth by night. Add this to the general norm that Asians are generally hard working folks, it portrays a divide between common belief and reality.
The film, therefore, depicts an emerging culture of absent parenting as is portrayed by a lack of authority figure in the movie; undisciplined youth who venture into activities without giving a thought to the consequences despite the fact that, as shown in the film, the characters are educated and are in the higher echelons of social classes; and a failure of an ethnic rich society to realize the challenges experienced by marginalized ethnicities.
On a much more general note, the director, Justin Lin, also reveals through his characters, the complexity of responsibility faced by the youth, who are still discovering what they want to do in life despite the significant lack of authority figure; be it that they be marginalized or the majority.
The film successfully utilized action and drama to bring the audience to a level of awareness on faults in the American multicultural system, ethnic marginalization, social confines that end up creating double-standard individuals and the concept of responsibility that is continually becoming extinct due to lack thereof an authority figure. On an emotional level, the film triggers mixed feeling as I ponder over events and activities that most youth dwell on yet the society today chooses to turn a blind eye to it.