DiIorio, PJ - Harold and Kumar

Don't let the nude girls, excessive pot smoking, and jokes of this movie fool you; this movie definitely has a political message. Sometimes it is not so obvious. However, other times it is all too obvious. For example, at one point, Kumar literally says, "We're not even Muslim. And even if we were that doesn't make us terrorists." If that is not a political message, I don't know what is. Throughout the entire movie, Homeland Security agent Fox is acting like an ignorant, stubborn idiot. His character in the movie symbolizes Homeland Security's ineffectiveness, and plays on the ignorance of Americans as a whole when it comes to foreign cultures and affairs. Several times throughout the movie, Fox displays some of the ridiculous stereotypes Americans believe about different cultures. First, when Fox is in the ghetto neighborhood surrounded by black men, he tries to persuade a black man to confess information by pouring out a can of grape drink which, of course, doesn't work. Second, he brings in a translator for Harold's Korean parents even though they speak perfect english. He also tries to get information from two Jews by spilling out change all over the table in front of them. Another political message of this movie is it's view on marijuana. The movie portrays the idea that almost everybody smokes weed, but nobody actually wants to admit it. One example of this is when Harold and Kumar are on the plane and Harold mentions that he has weed and the guard next to him perks up and says, "Really?" Then of course most obviously, the two friends discover that the president smokes weed as well. When asked why he doesn't just make it legal, Bush responds with, "I can't do that, my dad would kill me!" This statement has its own political message which suggests that W is really just controlled by his father. Then in another scene, Vanessa's fiancè says, "Just do what I do. Snort Zanex." With this line, the movie is commenting on the hypocrisy of our society. Because weed is illegal and has a negative social stigma, it is not socially acceptable. But because Zanex is not illegal and has no social stigma associated with it, it is socially acceptable.