A Sorta Silver Lining: The good and the bad of How High

My original Blog posted thought of the movie How High in a binary way. I focused on all of the bad in the movie and missed out on the silver lining. Not to discredit the fact there is a lot of bad. I originally claimed movies like How High affected the perceived idea of college through stereotypes and holds back society from equality. Even with all of the political incorrectness and subconscious racial inequalities present in the movie How High, positives messages are also conveyed. I have done some research on the topic of racial differences in the classroom and I found two articles. These articles are what helped open my eyes to the positives in the movie.

 Originally I wrote on racial stereotypes inhibiting getting a full college experience related to my idea of what college should be. I tied this into How High by pointing out the stereotypes present in one scene from the movie. I expressed how future college students, current college students, and parents would perceive this and how it could negatively impart bias upon them for thinking how college should be. This is all true, but the articles I found when researching add to this claim.

The first article “University of Hartford Panel Reflects on Civil Rights Act” by Suzanne Carlson noticed that here the United States is 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and “subtle bias persists in the classroom”. Yes subtle bias DOES persist in classrooms from Kindergarten to beyond; although the panel also noticed young African American students as well as members of the public see these students’ futures as dead end streets leading to lives of crime (Carlson, 2014). How this pertains to How High is apart from all of the stereotyping and racism it portrays two African American students going from rags to riches ending up at America’s premier Ivy League university -the best of the best. This story of rags to riches may imprint the idea of upward mobility and personal success to a child who identifying with Jamal and Silas might otherwise not realize the actuality of this ever happening. It is the silver lining to an otherwise terrible movie (judging on political correctness).

Another silver lining can be found in How High coming from another article, “The Significance of Cross-Racial/Ethnic Friendships: Associations with Peer Victimization, Peer Support, Sociometric Status, and Classroom Diversity” by Yoshito Kawabata. Kawabata’s article focuses on a study himself and colleague worked on at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities that studied how racially diversified classrooms lead to less violence and stereotyping when taken from the perspective of less bullying and name calling from a childes level to an adults level in society. The way in which this applies to How High is the plot of Jamal and Silas making it into and attending a predominately European American college adds diversity to the classrooms. The movie also includes diversity in the college setting including several African American students and professors and an Asian American student. This is not a lot of diversity but it is better than nothing encouraging diversity (Kawabata).

However these articles bat both ways when applying them to How High and furthering the argument of its negative effects on the idea of college through stereotyping. Based off of what is said in the article “University of Hartford Panel Reflects on Civil Rights Act” the acts portrayed in the movie How High affiliated with illegal drug use condoned and imposed by the two African American students who are the lead characters gives the reverse effect on young African American children possibly conveying the idea of drug use being acceptable creating a way to identify. By this I mean it could send the message, “if they are doing it and they are in Harvard then it is okay for me to do it or I should be doing it”. This is a terrible influence to be subconsciously pushing on imposable minds (Carlson, 2014). Using the article “The Significance of Cross-Racial/Ethnic Friendships: Associations with Peer Victimization, Peer Support, Sociometric Status, and Classroom Diversity” to show the downfall in the movie is how How High spoils Kawabata’s idea; even though the movie portrays diversity it does not show any benefits but instead leads to Jamal and Silas pushing their habit of drug use on the other students of differing and similar ethnicities. Examples are even though the movie shows the diversity there is still stereotyping bullying, name calling, and heavy disapprovals of culture between the cross-racial/ethnic groups (Kawabata).

As mentioned earlier there is good in this movie. How High can be utilized for good in another manor when viewed from the point of view of satire. A point of view can be taken in which the viewer sees the film as a call to action in which the film recognizes and through satire points out ugly truths about colleges such as racial inequality in and out of the classroom, stereotyping, and drug use. In my opinion this movie is a cheap comedy which uses these situations to its advantage for laughs, but it is notable to say someone else may see it as satire. Regardless, not everyone will view it this way especially younger audience members (college students or potential college students) and the negativity in which was supposed to be satirical is now destructive as mentioned above.

The importance of recognizing all of this through analysis is understanding what the movie How High or any movie related to any topic means –what it is saying about the topic. In this scenario it is important to recognize and understand the negative effects How High has on the idea of college and a college education. The most important thing is action needs to be taken.  In all honesty I enjoyed the movie and got some laughs from it; however, this does not make the movie right especially if it is not taken in as satire, sadly it is acceptable in today’s time. For the students, future students, or parents this movie effects it is an injustice. Even with the silver linings present, the bad outweighs the good –end of story.∎

-Forrest Roberts

Works Cited:

Carlson, Suzanne. “University of Hartford Panel Reflects on Civil Rights Act.” Hartford Courant 22 September 2014. Web. 1 April 2015

Kawabata, Yoshito, and Nicki R. Crick. "The Significance of Cross-Racial/Ethnic Friendships: Associations with Peer Victimization, Peer Support, Sociometric Status, and Classroom Diversity. "Developmental Psychology 47.6 (2011):1763-1755. PsycARTICLES. Web. 1 April 2015.