"21 & over"

“21 & over” tells a story about an Asian boy, Jeff, who struggles with himself about what kind of life he will step into for his future; whether he should follow his father’s idea, which is being a doctor, and having a boring life; or live a life like his friends, be whatever he wants to be and chase for his own dream. After a crazy “drink and drunk” night, Jeff stands up for himself. By showing Jeff’s father as a serious, harsh and bossy character; Jeff and his friends as casual, funny characters, this movie made a contrast between typical Asian people and typical American people. By creating this contrast, “21 & over” implants an image that the Asian people are boring and harsh, and the American people are fun and interesting. This contrast between Asian and American’s value makes the audience to think about what kind of life they want to live and what attitude they should take when making an important decision. The movie persuades the audience to live the American way because of the negative Asian characteristic the movie created. This Asian visual culture expresses in the movie “21 & over” is mostly the same in all the American movies, such as in “the hangover part 2”, Stu’s father in law is described as a harsh, mean Asian person. The iconic character in movie, like the Asian stereotype in “21 & over” is really having great impact on the audience. By create different icons in movie; moviemakers can express values, information and even culture to the audience. Western countries, like America is spreading western value and culture to the non-western countries.