Day 3: Racial Harmony

Growing up in Alabama is weird. There's a lot of racism, and there's also a lot of black people. I was fortunate enough to be raised in an adamantly non-racist household, and so legitimate racism, once I encountered it, was as alien an idea as thinking that the act of eating will kill you.

At the same time, growing up in the South makes you very aware of racial issues, just because of all the history of prejudice in the region and because everybody outside the South thinks all the white folks down here are racist.

Watching THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT through those eyes, then, is quite intriguing. Here we have a summer movie about a white redneck, a black dude, a girl from Australia, a Korean-American and a bunch of Japanese people.

Compare that to Inception, the current summer "it" movie. That movie has a bunch of white people and Dileep Rao, the American son of Indian immigrants. Yes, that's just one example, but it's also the norm.

The fact that the cast of TOKYO DRIFT is ethnically diverse is not why I find it enthralling -- the driving sequences are the best of the series -- but it's just a nice thing to note. This is what colorblind casting looks like, and it's a very pleasant sight.

OK, so I didn't have any jokes to make tonight, and I'm sooooooooooo soooooooooo sorry. My bad. I'll correct that tomorrow, I promise.