In Defense of Harold and Kumar

Yes, I’m not ashamed to say it: I loved Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and I am really really excited for the release of the sequel, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantánamo Bay.

I’m not a stoner, and I don’t really find big boob jokes/pot jokes/fart jokes/beer jokes particularly funny. So why the heck did I like this film? Well, besides Neil Patrick Harris (fantastic) and White Castle (yum), I think the creators, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, are on to something here. The New York Times reviewed the new film recently, calling it a “stoner protest film”, due to the combination of drug humor and sharp political satire–what’s more, the review was actually quite positive.

For those of you who don’t know, Harold and Kumar’s first film involved two stoners determined to make it to White Castle in order to satisfy their munchies. The second film, however, as the name suggests, involves the ultimate stoner vacation (Amsterdam) gone horribly wrong. Harold, a Korean-American, and Kumar, an Indian-American are thrown off their flight after trying to light up in the bathroom. An overzealous Homeland Security officer draws the conclusion that North Korea and Al Quada have teamed up, and throws both of them in Guantánamo Bay. Hyjinks ensue, of course, but so does a very interesting treatment of race in the post-9/11 era.

Think back to all the classic boy-humor movies: where are the non-whites? They aren’t there, for the most part, and if they are, they are reduced to a comedic stereotype. Not only do Harold and Kumar buck conventional racial stereotypes (which are instead replaced by classic stoner stereotypes), but they are also not, as often happens with non-white leads, forced to actively address those stereotypes either. Take The Namesake for example, a recent film starring Kal Penn (the actor who plays Kumar), in which Penn’s character struggles between honoring his culture and fitting in with those around him. Neither Kumar nor Harold are struggling with much besides the desire for more pot.

The goal, the writers argue in the New York Times article, is to present two characters who are “beyond racism but live in a world that isn’t”. That the Harold and Kumar franchise is humor for the bong-loving set is exactly the point–the focus is shifted from the “moral outrage” that accompanies most treatments of race and onto the sheer stupidity of racism.

So even if you’ve long since moved on from frat humor, you may want to reconsider your stance on Harold and Kumar: there is more to their pot-fueled journey than you might think.