Crazy Rich Asians: Food & Games

Joel Kim
Joel Kim
Sep 7, 2018 · 4 min read

Last Friday, I saw the movie “Crazy Rich Asians”. If you haven’t heard, “Crazy Rich Asians” follows the journey of Rachel Chu, an economics professor at NYU, as she travels to Singapore to meet the family of her boyfriend, Nick Young. Turns out, Nick’s family is one of the wealthiest families in all of Asia, and Nick’s mother Eleanor does not approve of Rachel. Drama!

The movie is based on a novel by Kevin Kwan. I had not read the book, but with so much buzz surrounding the movie, I wanted to check it out. Overall, I enjoyed it! It was a fun, light, and sweet romantic comedy.

I want to share about two specific scenes. The first scene isn’t really all that important, but the second one is, so I’ll give a spoiler alert.

When Rachel and Nick first land in Singapore, they are greeted by Nick’s friends Colin and Araminta (Nick is the best man in Colin and Araminta’s wedding, which is why Rachel and Nick are in Singapore in the first place). The four go out to a night market for dinner, which gives the audience a visual feast of gastronomic delight, as we follow them from food stall to food stall. The friends gather together over their meal to share stories and laugh. It’s a scene that you’ve seen in countless other movies.

But there’s something deeply satisfying of seeing Asian food depicted so lovingly onscreen. I thought about how Asian kids in the US have been told that their food is weird, or smells funny, or gross, and how wonderful it feels to see that same food celebrated with such gusto. And the film didn’t go over the top for the sake of outlandishness. I didn’t see any fried scorpions or jellyfish at that meal. The food was authentic to the time and place.

Plus, it’s soothing to see food prepared onscreen. Makes me want to watch “Eat Drink Man Woman” again.

Now, for the second scene. Spoiler alert!

The second scene is the mahjong scene near the end between Eleanor and Rachel. Rachel has decided to walk away from Nick, giving Eleanor what she wants. As they play, the action in the game mirrors their conversation. In the end, Rachel has the chance to win, but gives up her winning tile. Eleanor picks it up, and wins the game. Rachel then displays her hand, showing that she could have won, and that the only reason Eleanor won was because of Rachel’s sacrifice, just as Eleanor achieved her goals for Nick only because Rachel gave him up. Rachel then walks away to her mother Kerry, who gives Eleanor the mother of all death glares.

What I loved about this scene is that there was no explanation about mahjong whatsoever. There was no comment from Eleanor or any other character. The game spoke for itself. This was a moment that was reserved only for those who understand mahjong. As one white critic put it, “So much American pop culture is targeted towards me, and it’s wonderful to see a scene like this that was not made for me, or even spoon fed to me.” Plus, there was enough information to gather that something significant was happening. I don’t know how to play mahjong, and I still got that. Kudos to Constance Wu and Michelle Yeoh for their excellent performances.

I am reminded of another movie gaming scene: the poker scene from the 2001 remake of “Ocean’s Eleven”. In that movie, con man Rusty Ryan (played by Brad Pitt) is teaching a bunch of young celebrities how to play poker. It’s clear that none of the celebrities know how to play (“you can’t have six cards in a five card game”). Then Topher Grace triumphantly busts out “All reds!” High fives all around, while Rusty stares in disbelief.

I compare these two scenes because in “Ocean’s Eleven”, the filmmakers assume that the audience understands what’s going on. They assume the audience knows that “all reds” is not a real poker hand. While there’s context cues from Brad Pitt’s expression, only those who know poker get the full impact of the scene.

The “Ocean’s Eleven” filmmakers wrote the poker scene with the understanding that enough of the audience is familiar with poker to get what’s happening. With “Crazy Rich Asians”, the filmmakers are using mahjong as a similar cinematic shorthand.

In these two scenes, “Crazy Rich Asians” elevates Singaporean food and mahjong, and by extension other aspects of other Asian cultures more broadly, as worthy of affection and honor, not requiring disclaimers, explainers, or apologies. It says that these stories are worth telling. And I can’t wait to see more.

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