Besides the issue of group mentality in the genre of a coming of age film, Better Luck Tomorrow takes the opportunity to add a love interest for the reluctant hero. This love interest creates the rising tension between the protagonist Ben towards the young man Steve Cho, who in essence, is a representation of the mainstream depiction of the typical male antagonist, complete with money, motorcycle, and charisma.
As the young woman plays her role as the middle of a teen love triangle, she creates the space for male competition, and the representation of masculinity between the two young men, playing on the typical trope of who will get the girl by the end of the film. One scene that plays a large role in this standard display of masculinity is when Ben attempts to impress Stephanie with his best trait, his intellect, by completing the science homework for both of them. As Steve pulls up in his motorcycle, he and Ben stare each other down,
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In regards to viewing such a transformation, Eve Oishi, states in her article “ Visual Perversions: Race, Sex, and Cinematic Pleasure,” that “In all cases, the pleasure and danger inherent in the experience of viewing reflect the paradoxical process through which concepts of self and other are formed through the visual …”(644). As in the case of Better Luck Tomorrow, the depiction of Ben, as the young Asian American who played around with power, drugs, and violence in order to ride away with the girl as the film closes. Does this sound like a film held up as an opposition to this victimization of the mainstream film industry, or simply another coming of age film concluding violence to be the way to get the