In the film "Better Luck Tomorrow," a perfectionist Asian-American male high school student relieves his stress by flirting with the darker side of life.
By exploring the character's path into darkness, the film's producers and actors are also flirting with the stereotype of Asian-American male students — the brilliant perfectionist that is often portrayed in movies and pop culture.
While strides have been made to incorporate minority roles into more movies, the diversity of roles available for many actors of color have been limited.
Asian Americans have often been limited to the martial artist. And while Bruce Lee remains an icon of martial arts movies, Hollywood has made it out to be one of few roles Asians play in movies such as "Romeo Must Die" and "Cradle 2 the Grave."
"That (martial arts) stereotype goes all the way back to the 1940s and 1950s, and it's still narrowly defining the image of Asian-American men," said Jeff Murakami, director of Asian Pacific American Student Services. "We are still trying to find an Asian-American male in the romantic lead."
While Hollywood lacks prominent Asian-American men to take the romantic lead in big budget movies, Asian-American women have also boxed into certain rigid roles.
Lucy Liu has come under scrutiny for her television and movie roles. Other Asian Americans have felt that she is taking nontraditional roles because some characters she plays would have originally been written for white Americans or her personality is the reason for the roles she chooses.
"There's a lot of controversy around Lucy Liu," Murakami said. "Her portrayal in 'Ally McBeal' and 'Charlie's Angels' typecasts her as an action figure or a person with a lot of attitude."
But Asian Americans are not the only ones who have had problems with a certain images on the movie screen.
Denzel Washington and Halle Berry, who won the 2002 Academy Awards for best actor and best actress, are paving the way to more nontraditional roles. Yet, when Berry won for "Monster's Ball," there was a controversy about how her character was another stereotypical black female who was uneducated and dependent on a white man.
Some comedies perpetuate another stereotype of the urban, slang-talking blacks in recent movies such as "Bringing Down the House" and "Head of State."
A similar problem occurs among Hispanics where some images have not reflected the complexity and variety of their culture. Critics say stars such as Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez are too sexualized.
"Jennifer Lopez is a Puerto Rican who's from the Bronx and is assimilated with everyone around her. Are Latinas just blending into mainstream culture?" said Mayra Fernandez, a senior majoring in political science. "This created a confusion in me because I didn't fit into that mold."
For Fernandez, the student organization Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan (MEChA) has been crucial in forming her identity as a Chicana, instead of the portrayal of Hispanic characters she sees in movies and television.
"I know people who felt cheated that they weren't taught their culture because they were preoccupied with the idea that you have to fit in to be successful," she said.
Actress Salma Hayek, who is of Lebanese and Mexican descent, played many sensual women in the past, but transcended those roles to produce and star in "Frida" — a biographical film about the life of Mexican-American artist Frida Kahlo.
The other problem with Hollywood trying to incorporate more Hispanic roles into mainstream movies and prime-time television is not being able to incorporate the entire Hispanic community.
"The Latino community is actually very fragmented, but Hollywood doesn't know how to handle that diversity," said Christopher Smith, a visiting professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, whose research involves the relationship between entertainment and social identity. "'The George Lopez Show' is really a show about a Mexican man, married to a Cuban woman living in a Mexican neighborhood in Los Angeles. Would a Puerto Rican in New York affiliate themselves with that show?"
Many students choose not to look to images in the media but rather rely on their family and their peers to create a sense of culture.
Yet the images of Hollywood still have an unconscious impact for Generation Y. There is a growing need for representation of American minorities, not only for the portrayal of ethnic cultural identity but also to build awareness of that ethnic community for those unfamiliar with it.
"The solution will be among the young people, here at USC, and how they choose to broaden their knowledge because they're going to be the decision makers and power brokers," Smith said. "If they can be honest about the complexity of their experiences in their own lives, then it'll put them in a good position to get their experiences heard and seen."