Better Luck Tomorrow Aimed Beyond ‘Positive’ Asian-American Portrayals
Paramount By Lyvie Scott/May 17, 2022 11:10 am EST
In 2002, “Fast & Furious” filmmaker Justin Lin made his Sundance debut with the bombastic “Better Luck Tomorrow.” The film takes loose inspiration from the Southern California-set “Honor Roll Murder” of the early ’90s, following the exploits of an Asian-American gang who juggle their life of crime with debate team practice and SAT prep.
“Better Luck Tomorrow” was a rare beast by early 2000s standards. Its blunt depiction of urban gangsta mentality created a watershed moment for Asian-American representation in film, but it also made cast and crew an easy target for less-enlightened critics. One Sundance screening famously ended with a white audience member condemning the film for its “empty and amoral” portrayal of Asian-Americans. Roger Ebert himself, also present at the screening, had to step in and defend Justin Lin’s creative commitment. Even after the showdown at Sundance, “Better Luck Tomorrow” still had its share of backlash. Many critics maintained that, because the characters were represented in ways they weren’t used to seeing, then the representation was inherently negative. But if you ask Lin himself, quite the opposite is true.
Better Luck Tomorrow Aimed Beyond ‘Positive’ Asian-American Portrayals
Paramount
By Lyvie Scott/May 17, 2022 11:10 am EST
In 2002, “Fast & Furious” filmmaker Justin Lin made his Sundance debut with the bombastic “Better Luck Tomorrow.” The film takes loose inspiration from the Southern California-set “Honor Roll Murder” of the early ’90s, following the exploits of an Asian-American gang who juggle their life of crime with debate team practice and SAT prep.
“Better Luck Tomorrow” was a rare beast by early 2000s standards. Its blunt depiction of urban gangsta mentality created a watershed moment for Asian-American representation in film, but it also made cast and crew an easy target for less-enlightened critics. One Sundance screening famously ended with a white audience member condemning the film for its “empty and amoral” portrayal of Asian-Americans. Roger Ebert himself, also present at the screening, had to step in and defend Justin Lin’s creative commitment. Even after the showdown at Sundance, “Better Luck Tomorrow” still had its share of backlash. Many critics maintained that, because the characters were represented in ways they weren’t used to seeing, then the representation was inherently negative. But if you ask Lin himself, quite the opposite is true.
“Better Luck Tomorrow” was a rare beast by early 2000s standards. Its blunt depiction of urban gangsta mentality created a watershed moment for Asian-American representation in film, but it also made cast and crew an easy target for less-enlightened critics. One Sundance screening famously ended with a white audience member condemning the film for its “empty and amoral” portrayal of Asian-Americans. Roger Ebert himself, also present at the screening, had to step in and defend Justin Lin’s creative commitment.
Even after the showdown at Sundance, “Better Luck Tomorrow” still had its share of backlash. Many critics maintained that, because the characters were represented in ways they weren’t used to seeing, then the representation was inherently negative. But if you ask Lin himself, quite the opposite is true.
From a certain point of view
“Better Luck Tomorrow” was a decisive pivot from that reductive pattern. “I’m not trying to represent all Asian Americans,” Lin told IndieWire in 2003. “I really just wanted to stay true to the characters. Ethnic stereotypes exist for a reason: they’re a shortcut, a label.” And for Lin, those shortcuts were to blame for negative representation in film, not amoral characters. Lin went on:
“There’s been a lot of talk about ‘positive’ or ’negative’ portrayal. We mistake positive for noble and flawless. To me positive means being truthful, exploring three-dimensional characters, the grey areas of life. My film would be negative only if I didn’t do my job and these characters turned out to be one-dimensional or caricatures.”
