Morals and the Model Minority Myth
Typically, when you think of the word “myth” your mind is drawn to thoughts of natural phenomena, supernatural events, or intense and fantastical folklore; your mind wouldn’t go to a place of racial injustice, stereotypes, insecurity, or struggle. However, this second interpretation is, unfortunately, the case when analyzing the meaning of the “model minority myth”. This myth, of the “model minority”, is not easily explained in one specific sentence or definition. It is a conglomerate of incorrect, hurtful, and demeaning stereotypes that Americans have created surrounding Asian American citizens. According to the model minority myth, Asian American children are expected to be “whiz kids or musical geniuses”. It perpetuates a standard that Asian Americans are a “polite, law-abiding group who have achieved a higher level of success than the general population through some combination of innate talent and pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps immigrant striving” (Blackburn). One piece of media that works to highlight the fallacies of this myth is the 2002 film, Better Luck Tomorrow. Directed by Taiwanese-American Justin Lin, Better Luck Tomorrow not only showcases how Asian American children are subjected to the model minority myth but, more importantly, calls attention to how they completely reject it.
Better Luck Tomorrow is a discomforting and cleverly delivered parable about growing up in America today. By focusing on an ethnic group often praised for their diligence and intelligence, as perpetuated by the model minority myth, Lin deepens the irony and reveals a certain anger at the way that white Americans patronize and incorrectly taxonomize Asian Americans. To further understand the irony underlying the entirety of Better Luck Tomorrow, we must first cover the intricacies of the model minority myth in greater depth.
As previously explained, the model minority myth in its simplest terms describes Asian Americans as the “model minority”. While most people can agree that negative stereotypes are harmful, some question the damage of the model minority myth, asking, “what could be so bad about being part of a group that’s seen as being successful?” (Blackburn). The harm, however, lies not only within the ideas of the myth, but in the erasure of the individuality and identity of an entire ethnic group. Ignoring the diversity of Asian American cultures, the model minority myth stems from lumping together a diverse group of Asian Americans as one singular group. As a whole, studies by researchers Amy Hsin and Yu Xie have found that while Asian Americans exhibit greater educational advantage, this does not stem from any sort of superiority in cognitive abilities or socio-demographics. Instead, they found that the gap is explained best by “(i) cultural differences in beliefs regarding the connection between effort and achievement and (ii) immigration status” (Hsin and Xie). While as a whole, Asian Americans are statistically proven to have higher grades, better standardized test scores, and a greater likelihood of graduating high school and attending college as compared to their white counterparts, these statistics, more than anything, contribute to the model minority myth.
From these statistics, the stereotype emerges that Asians as a whole are simply living the American Dream and prospering on all fronts. What it doesn’t reveal is that for every dollar a white man makes in the United States, an Asian Indian woman makes $1.21 and a Taiwanese woman makes $1.16, while a Samoan woman makes $0.62 and a Burmese woman makes $0.50 (Blackburn). The experiences of different Asian American groups are exactly what you would expect, different. The model minority myth erases these differences, and also erases the racism and hate that Asian American groups have gone through and continue to endure. It neglects to cover the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese internment in the 1940s, mass lynchings of Asian Americans in the 19th century, and the 339% increase in Anti-Asian American hate crimes nationwide in the year 2021 (Yam). It neglects to explain that although students from certain Asian ethnic groups (most notably those from parts of East and South Asia) consistently perform better than white students, Asian students from other areas (Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands specifically) often underperform in comparison to other ethnic groups. To focus solely on a collective identity and the most visible Asian American groups is completely negligent to the struggles of other groups that fall under the Asian American category. These are the exact points that Lin strives to make in Better Luck Tomorrow.
Better Luck Tomorrow begins in a backward sort of fashion, with two of our four main protagonists, Ben and Virgil, sunbathing in the backyard. Their peace is abruptly interrupted by the ringing cell phone of a body they have buried in the flower garden of their friend’s backyard. As a viewer, you are immediately privy to the fact that the movie you are watching isn’t just about some goal-oriented high schoolers on the path to success — it’s about much more than that. At the beginning of the movie, it is made painfully aware that Ben, Virgil, Daric, and Han (the third and fourth protagonists) are on the fast track to collegiate and career success. They all are at the top of their class, intend on attending Ivy league schools, and have extracurricular lists a mile long. What isn’t brought up right away is the secret cheat sheet/homework selling ring, the drug deals and drug abuse, or the violent crime perpetrated by our otherwise seemingly straight-and-narrow protagonists. The main characters of the movie suffer a quick and brutal decline in morality. From cheating on homework all the way to murder, we are able to see just how quickly things can spiral out of control when you enter into a life of crime.
For those who are unfamiliar with Better Luck Tomorrow, the movie can be broken down easily into three “chapters” based upon three Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) vocabulary words that play on the screen during Ben’s intense study sessions. The first, “quixotic” — meaning one who is exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic, and foolish (often in relationships) — comprises Ben’s attempts to woo female protagonist, Stephanie, and the lessons Ben learns from crime-boss Daric who lures Ben into his cheat sheet ring. The second, “temerity” — meaning excessive boldness and audacity — successfully transitions the film into its second chapter, where Ben fully divulges himself into a life of crime. During this period, the main protagonists expand from cheating, fully embracing a gangster lifestyle of selling drugs, hiring prostitutes, buying guns, and continuing their shadiness inside school. However, as time goes on and Ben’s secret stash of cash grows, he becomes reluctant to continue this lifestyle, bringing us to our third word, “catharsis” — meaning a release of strong repressed emotions leading to feelings of relief. This third chapter, “catharsis”, is honestly the most intriguing as the end of the movie is not quite relieving at all. Despite Ben’s reluctance, he still finds himself involved in the brutal murder and cover-up of Stephanie’s boyfriend, Steve. Ben concludes the movie with the words, “I don’t know what my future holds… all I know is there’s no turning back” (BLT). Although it can be argued that Ben did have feelings of relief by murdering Steve, allowing him the freedom to pursue Stephanie and the ability to release tension in a violent rage, this is not a morally sound solution, and intentionally so.
Better Luck Tomorrow serves as more than just your typical “teen-angst” drama. Despite being distributed by MTV films and focusing on topics of rebellion and romance, the criminal narrative completely contradicts the narrative of Asian Americans fitting the model minority identity. Although the film’s plot-line is all too familiar, following the good-kids-gone-bad trope, casting the major characters with young, attractive Asian American characters allows Lin to create a film that not only achieved commercial success but also subverts the model minority myth by both adhering to and defying expectations.
While the crime that occurs is real in the movie, to say that typical Orange County suburban children can quickly go from national decathlon winners to murderers is a bit of an obvious exaggeration. This exaggeration of crime by Lin could be interpreted as a way of juxtaposing the equally unrealistic model minority myth. On the surface level, the main protagonists of the movie check nearly every box the model minority myth expects them to. As previously explained, the protagonists are model students and are seemingly all-around “good kids”. Lin strategically buys into the model minority myth, depicting the students early on in the film as white Americans typically portray Asian Americans: docile, industrious, and superior in intelligence. While the teens are all of these things, they also lack core moral values. The four young men — Ben, Virgil, Han, and Daric — subconsciously (and sometimes outwardly) recognize that their racial identification restricts them in ways that they shouldn’t be. As a result, they act as bad subjects, committing acts of rebellion against authoritative figures and rejecting the model minority role that Lin had originally set them up to fulfill in the early parts of the film.
A character I have briefly mentioned, the “antagonist” figure (not exactly a true antagonist, but more of an outsider character), Steve, more than anyone recognizes the fallacies of the model minority myth. While some characters, such as Daric, embrace the model minority idea, using it to his advantage and giving him a sense of superiority, Steve is on the clear opposite side of the spectrum. Seeing the myth for what it truly is, Steve recognizes a disconnect between economic success — the perceived ultimate goal of the Asian American model minority — and the American Dream as it relates to Asian American culture. Steve’s most notable contribution comes during a scene in which he questions Ben about his happiness. Upon being questioned, Ben simply replies, “I don’t know”, a noncommittal response that Steve envies. To the unknowing outsider, Steve has it all: parents who love him, a good education, assured admission to an Ivy League, a beautiful girlfriend, and immense wealth. Despite this, Steve is still not happy, a common feeling that many American children, regardless of race, struggle with today. He lacks the sense of fulfillment within himself, as he already possesses everything he could ever need and therefore feels no more sense of drive. In an attempt to break this cycle of economic and academic success relating to happiness, Steve asks the boys to break into his own home and rob his parents as a twisted way of rebellion. Unfortunately, his plan backfires, with the boys instead beating Steve up, eventually killing him and robbing him of a measly $300 which they then use to pay a side character, Jesus, to bury Steve’s body in his backyard. There are no winners in this scene, and the movie leaves not only the murder but also the futures of our main protagonists unsolved and up for interpretation.
Lin’s ambiguous ending of Better Luck Tomorrow represents his attempt of not answering sociological and cultural issues, but simply bringing awareness to them. The characters of the movie first serve as model minorities, fulfilling their stereotypes and acting just as modern America would expect them to. As the movie progresses, all major characters in the film rebel and reject the myth in some shape or way, yet in the end, nothing is really resolved, and the protagonists still struggle to break free of the wrongful stereotypes that they are subjected to. For Lin, maybe there is no clear answer as to how the model minority myth can be broken, but he certainly creates a narrative that troubles the white-Asian dynamic and provides insight into the truly exciting and individual Asian American.
Works Cited
Asato, Julie, Ernesto M. Foronda, Justin Lin, Fabian Marquez, Parry Shen, Jason J. Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, John Cho, Karin A. Cheung, Jerry Mathers, Patrice L. Cochet, Michael Gonzales, Sandi Lieu, and Yu-jong Han. Better Luck Tomorrow. Hollywood, Calif: Paramount, 2003.
“Better Luck Tomorrow: How the Model Minority Myth Turns Straight A Students Into Criminals.” The Artifice, the-artifice.com/better-luck-tomorrow-minority-myth-criminals/.
Hsin, Amy, and Yu Xie. “Explaining Asian Americans’ Academic Advantage over Whites.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 23, 2014, pp. 8416–8421., doi:10.1073/pnas.1406402111.
LadyB. “What Is the Model Minority Myth?” Learning for Justice, www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/what-is-the-model-minority-myth.
“Pass or Fail in Cambodia Town.” Learning for Justice, www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/lessons/pass-or-fail-in-cambodia-town.
