RUSH HOUR!!

Areas of Discrimination in the Justice System
Analysis on Rush Hour..The movie...Starring Chris tucker and Jackie Chan
By: Elden Mabini
Sociological Concept: Discrimination and Stereotyping.

Rush Hour was a great movie that came out in 1998 that starred Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. Chris Tucker (Carter), was a police officer for the LAPD and Jackie Chan (Inspector Lee) was a well respected police officer in Hong Kong. In the beginning of the movie, Carter was portrayed as a trigger-happy, rebellious, and always getting into trouble. Inspector Lee on the other hand was known for his investigative work and dedication to the police force. In the beginning of the movie, the daughter of the Chinese Ambassador that resided in the U.S. was kidnapped by Chinese vigilante and then was up for ransom. The FBI got involved because the kidnapping happened to an official in U.S territory. Inspector Lee was a colleague to the ambassador and was also close with each other’s families. The ambassador asked Inspector Lee to help find his daughter and aid the FBI with the case. However, the FBI had different plans for Inspector Lee. Carter was assigned to babysit Inspector Lee but was told by LAPD that he was going to be working one and one with the FBI on a big case. Inspector Lee came to the U.S but was not shown any respect by the FBI. The FBI did not want anything to do with Inspector Lee and felt that they could handle things on their own. They just needed a babysitter, Carter, to watch him so that he wouldn’t get in the way of the case.
In the movie, it was real clear about who was high rank, low rank, and the amount of importance a case would be. The FBI agents were all Caucasian. Carter was a black person who worked for LAPD. Inspector Lee was a Chinese police officer. This showed the stereotypes of these races because the whites are usually on top, and the rest follow underneath. During the case, Carter and Inspector Lee was not allowed to be a part of the case because of the interference the FBI thought they would have. The movie also showed an underground gambling ring that was run by blacks. These people only knew about the kidnapping but had no part in the actual kidnapping. They were used to give information about the kidnappers. The main person who planned the kidnapping and the ransom was white, followed by his workers who were Asian. This shows the example of proletariat/bourgeoisie, and the stereotype of white males planning and in charge of a mass operation, but minorities do all the dirty work. The Asian vigilantes did all the killing, kidnapping, and the setting up of the bombs, while the main person simply operated from a distance. He did this so that he had a lesser chance of getting caught by the police. His workers would get caught or get killed first before him.
The FBI agents thought that Carter and Inspector Lee would not be able to provide any input or progress to the case. In the end, Carter and Inspector Lee found all the leads to the case, and actually solved the case. They even rescued the little girl.
Although this was a good action movie, it was also showed good examples of discrimination, stereotyping, and exploitation. Carter and Inspector was discriminated against because they were not allowed to help with the case. Also, the case did not seem of much importance to the FBI. Whites were stereotyped as people on top, in both the “good guys” and the “bad guys”. Carter was also exploited because he thought that he was going to be working on an important case with the FBI, but found out his job was to be a babysitter for Inspector Lee. It may be wrong to show these kinds of concepts, but these types of movie sells and becomes very popular in society. Society likes these types of action movies, especially when it’s of people with different ethnic backgrounds.