Rush Hour - Carter and Lee on the Radio

Discourse

Above is a scene from the first Rush Hour movie. From the following video, we can clearly point out two distinctive discourses, cultural and musical. For example, when Jackie Chan talks with Chris Tucker, he uses a bit of Chinglish. It’s obvious that they talk differently. While Chris Tucker speaks with Ebonics, Jackie Chan speaks with a deep Chinese accent. The scene shows their different taste in music. Both distinctive discourses tend to collide with each other. In the video, their conversation turns into an argument. Not only do Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker have different discourses, but their particular argument displays the racial stereotypes and cultural differences between Asian and Blacks, along with idea of America being the melting pot, where some people listens exclusively to a certain type of music. Consequently, this creates humor for people from both side of the culture. For example, when Jackie Chan changes the radio station to the Beach Boys, Chris Tucker abruptly snaps, and changes the radio station back, warning Mr. Chan to never touch a black man’s radio. Along with the warning, he expresses slang, jokes and attitude that are absolutely hilarious. As soon as Chris Tucker changes the music into rap, Jackie Chan’s expression changed into what seems like a major distaste. This also creates humor. Being that there are immense differences between Asian and Black culture, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker clashes with each other on the subject of race, communication, and lifestyle, such as the type of music they listen to, or the type of cloth they wear, and most importantly, how they express themselves as an individual. 

what were you taught NEVER to do as a writer?

As a writer, there were many things that were never taught to me. For example, I was told to never start a sentence with a conjunction, such as “and” or “but”. Sad to say, I don’t follow this rule. I believe they are necessary for certain usages. I don’t think it is a good rule at all. Let’s say I write a sentence, and I want to start a new sentence with a more fluent word, just to emphasize my additional sentence, “and” or “but” can easily catch the reader’s attention. It also serves a common transition into my next thought. I don’t see any sound reason to not use it.

There are many mandates that I don’t agree with. But most importantly, I was never taught how to truly express my thoughts in writing. In high school, they taught us some rules about maintaining a five-paragraph essay such as introduction, bodies and conclusion. To be honest, I don’t agree that writing should abide to these rules. Writing should never be controlled by a system just because it is eye-satisfaction to certain people. Of course, some writings should be in order, but who’s to say chaos can’t be part of a good writing. As I reflect on what my style of writing, at times I do see errors, improper usage of words, but that’s what I love about writing. It is the fact that we can see our thought process play out in front of our eyes. They might not be perfect, but they are genuine.