Today’s entertainment review is going to be on the movie “Crazy Rich Asians”!

Short:

Asians. Thank you

Not-as-short:

I am so happy right now! The soundtrack! The costuming! The mahjong scene! Literally everything about Astrid! The second proposal! The wedding scene! The entire cast being Asian!

Not to be That Person, but this is our Black Panther – highlighting differences between the experiences of Africans/Asians versus African-Americans/Asian-Americans! Beautiful traditional African/Asian aesthetics! The portrayal of Africans and Asians on screen for young children to be proud of to be who they are! Showcasing the rich and vibrant parts of Africa and Asia that the American media forgets about! I know people are all “stop promoting Black Panther when talking about Crazy Rich Asians” but I don’t care. I think they’re comparable and Black Panther’s successful enough not to need promoting so I don’t see the issue.

On the whole “incomplete representation” issue, I am Chinese so I can’t say much about that; honestly, I think the fact that we have an Asian movie at all is a huge step, especially as it took place in an Asian country that wasn’t China, Japan, or Korea. But again, this is from the perspective of a Chinese-American. I understand how the film seems to reinforce the already prevalent Asian sentiment against dark skin, and I think being upset about the East Asians Only issue is perfectly valid (and I agree that it’s a problem). I don’t know much about Singapore, though I am aware of the racism issue and that the movie doesn’t exactly treat the issue well. Perhaps we could have gotten a better movie to “break” Asian culture into American theaters that wasn’t about the upper class specifically that’s comprised almost entirely of East Asians, but as a standalone movie I think it was pretty great! I just hope that future films will start introducing more and better Southeast Asian and other Asian representation, and hopefully Crazy Rich Asian viewers and Asians themselves don’t forget about the rampant racism in Asia.

(On a side note, I do realize that the original book has the n-word in it, but I haven’t read the book so I don’t have much to say about this except that the movie elected to exclude this and besides they don’t have to go hand-in-hand, especially when the movie doesn’t even follow the book that closely.)

I think the main thing that made viewers more wary of representation in Crazy Rich Asians than in Black Panther (besides the fact that – you know – Marvel) is that Wakanda is a fictional country. (Again, though – I am not black, so I can’t say much, but this is from what I’ve observed.) The creators could take liberty with each fictional tribe to reference as many different real-life tribes as possible while also including an important contrast between African and African-American experiences. Crazy Rich Asians, however, is pretty limited, especially when the Chinese are the ones in power in Singapore. Black Panther was made for black people in general, but Crazy Rich Asians is a specific kind of Asian attempting to represent, well, all Asians and Asian-Americans. The fact that the Asian-American experience was even a component of a movie about Asians from Asia is already fantastic to me, especially since Hollywood had wanted to whitewash Rachel’s character.

I also thought, as a female, that the female portrayals of Rachel and Astrid were wonderful! Of course the other female characters were your typical K-drama villainous exes that try to ruin the lives of less-rich girls dating hot rich males, but the male characters who weren’t the main character or the groom were also depicted in an equally negative light so I can let that go. And also – Rachel and Astrid are yes. It might not seem big in the movie but some aspects just really jumped out at me with the characterization of two fantastic, strong, Asian females.

Astrid, I think, is pretty straightforward. Her leaving Michael with their apartments to go live in one of her fourteen apartment buildings because it’s not her job to make him feel like a man? I felt that power through my bones.

The reason I like Rachel’s characterization is because when Rachel started standing up to herself, it was in a way that was consistent and unique to her character. Specifically, I am referring to two specific parts. One: the wedding scene, where she shows up dressed in confidence and uses her cleverness and intellect to talk her way to the front row. Two: the brilliant mahjong scene where she uses her economics and game theory expertise to purposely let Eleanor win before revealing that she had control over the game the whole time, that Eleanor only got Nick back because Rachel allowed it, permanently marking the Young family with her existence with her message, all without being spiteful or malicious and yet making it glaringly clear that she was the bigger woman in the situation. I also really appreciate the fact that Rachel rejected Nick in the first place. Again, Rachel is deciding everything at this point, and she’s the one who decided they wouldn’t go down that uproot-my-whole-life-for-heterosexual-romance route. She chose herself over love; she refuses to be one of those “me-or-them” girls, knowing how important Nick’s family is to him; she doesn’t just take the chance to marry Nick just as a victory to shove in Eleanor’s face. She’s respecting herself by not allowing herself to be treated this way by Nick’s family; she’s respecting Nick by choosing not to drive him away from his family; and she’s respecting Eleanor, refusing to back down before the latter’s disrespect. She accepts the second proposal because this is her earning Eleanor’s approval and respect for both herself and for Nick.

I also really like Eleanor’s character. She’s that typical traditional Asian parent we all know, but it’s not as shallow as the Asian drama cliche of “you can’t marry my son because you’re poor!” It’s beyond that. She sees her son falling into the same situation she and her husband was, and she tries to prevent him from that. But then she learns how strong Rachel is when she makes Eleanor realize that Rachel isn’t the one preventing Nick from having both Rachel and his family, it’s her. She’s the one preventing her son’s happiness. Man, this movie was great!

My general view of this movie is that this is a well-made, unapologetically Asian movie. Definitely not perfect, especially in viewers’ expectations for it to represent all Asians when the basic premise is about mostly-snobbish, filthy-rich Chinese folk in Singapore, but again, as a standalone rom-com with Asian context, I thought it was pretty nice!

Really do hope older Asians stop being racist though. Even living in the U.S. I know this is a problem. Even my parents are low-key racist. But Asian racism is a topic for another time, for now I’m just happy that the cinematic world knows Asian people don’t just exist as side characters. And besides, romantic comedies kind of owe Asians for the genre’s revival, sorry. Also, not gonna lie, I don’t really like romance, but apparently Silk is going to be a thing and I’ll have you know, I am beyond excited to have a female, Asian superhero movie! But I am definitely content with a Crazy Rich Asians.