Racial Attitudes in Harold and Kumar

The Harold and Kumar movies are concerned with race. Making a stoner movie with Asian protagonists is the first hint...and is confirmed in the way race is handled in the movies, as forethought as a opposed to an afterthought.

There's a weird attitude towards white people in the movie - most are portrayed as totally stupid, bumbling racists. They are also portrayed as powerful - ridiculously powerful. In this way, Harold and Kumar are influenced by blaxploitation movies whose antagonists are typically the all powerful "whitey." Of course, the difference between blaxploitation and Harold and Kumar is the black characters were living as a underclass, or at best, a working class, and still underprivileged group. Harold and Kumar are privileged and upper middle class.

There are also multiple racial dynamics going on. They treat black characters as scary...yet ultimately benevolent...suggesting anti-black sentiments cut across all racial (non-black) lines and are essentially unfounded, stupid stereotypes.

White racists on the other hand are continually confusing Indian for Arab, Indian/Chinese for Mexican, English speakers for non-English speakers, and so forth.

Other, non-black/white racial groups, such as Jews, Middle Easterners, etc are treated with general neutrality and as victims of negative racial stereotypes.

The most interesting choice in the movie is the portrayal of George Bush...a surprisingly funny, sympathetic, and unexpected twist towards the end of the movie.