WP 2 — Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Crazy Rich Asians is a romantic comedy film that follows the love story between an American-born Chinese girl named Rachel and her boyfriend Nick, who just so happens to be crazy rich. At first, Rachel is seen as unfit to become Nick’s bride, but in the end, their love and relationship triumph over all hurdles.
Pictured: primary cast of Crazy Rich Asians
This film claims to be the “first major Hollywood studio movie that features an all-Asian cast” since The Joy Luck Club (1993), thus a significant showing for Asian-Americans in both Hollywood and society (Zhao). However, the film has also garnered a lot of controversial attention, with claims that this representation may not be the most ideal or beneficial for Asian Americans, primarily through a socioeconomic lens.
This film strays away from the typical film stereotypes of Asian Americans as side characters, nerdy friends, and martial artists. However it does not necessarily do a service for Asian Americans. Crazy Rich Asians establishes a dichotomy between the lifestyles of the “West” and the “East” through the two main characters, Rachel who comes from a modest background with Western values, and Nick who has a disgustingly rich family that upholds Eastern values. Crazy Rich Asians hyper-focuses on the obscenely rich lifestyle of a tiny percentage of Singaporeons through Nick’s family, painting them out to be culturally exotic (Zhao). In reality, the film hides the true economic disparities, inequalities, and backgrounds that many Asians face, especially in Asian countries.
Nick’s family is presented as unwelcoming and unaccepting to people from different backgrounds and social classes. Namely, Nick’s mother Eleanor, is extremely disapproving of Rachel as Nick’s wife. This film further exaggerates the line drawn between the East and the West, effectively creating an “Us” and a “Them” (Zhao). Throughout the entire film, the movie captures Rachel’s feelings of uneasiness surrounded by Nick’s family and lavish home, feeling uninvited and different, further emphasizing the chasm.
Films like Crazy Rich Asians can prove to be positive steps for Asian Americans. Representation is an important step, but having good representation is equally important to redefine the image of Asian Americans.
Works Cited
Chu, Jon, director. Crazy Rich Asians, 2018.
Zhao, Yikun. “Crazy Rich Asians: When Representation Becomes Controversial.” Markets, Globalization & Development Review, vol. 4, no. 3, 2019, https://doi.org/10.23860/mgdr-2019-04-03-03.