The Complicated Discussion Surrounding Crazy Rich Asians

this video is brought to you by mubi a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe get a whole month free at mubi.com quality culture in 2018 you might have heard that crazy rich asians was the first major hollywood film in 25 years to feature an all-asian cast when i first saw the trailer i felt a surprising attachment to it like it was something that i needed to see that i've always needed to see after decades of being reduced to desexualized nerds over-sexualized docile love interest and any other litany of side characters or villains and historical dramas there was finally going to be a blockbuster movie that prominently featured people that looked like me so when the trailer for crazy rich asians popped up on theater and tv screens across the country i had the thought that so many others had uh it's about damn time but as time went on after its release and the initial excitement and acclaim cooled down more people seemed to have soured on it i think its status as a landmark and asian representation placed an undue burden on it crazy rich asians isn't trying to be a perfect depiction of the life of every asian person or a critique of our economic systems it's a modern reimagining of a tale as old as time the story of class divides through the lens of a seemingly star-crossed romance except in this case it's a hollywood movie that exclusively features people who've been historically overlooked and deemed unmarketable this is a throwback sort of idea of how to create the groundwork for the movie star to show that we could have been in any of these movies in the past we just weren't given the opportunity to and unlike the occasional highbrow film about an emotionally heavy or traumatic minority story crazy rich asians is a rom-com popcorn flick in the mold of when harry met sally jerry maguire or even crazy stupid love yes it does say something about the asian family experience but it's meant to be universally accessible a film that presents asians as people worthy of having more kinds of stories told about us it seems like a lot of people want to discuss what the film didn't do or what it should have done what it could have been versus what it was so in this video i want to explore the discussion surrounding crazy rich asians regarding asian representation what the film was going for and how it connected to asian americans as well as general audiences before we get into the themes of the movie it's important to discuss the context of its conception director john chu expressed concern about how to properly tell such an important story since directing the first asian-led film in 25 years inherently came with certain expectations and pressures but yes i was scared and it's the reason why i never made movies like this before i mean you don't want to face those things you literally say one thing wrong or you have one accent wrong and you get killed in an interview with actor john cho chu cho he revealed how cho indirectly inspired him to take on the task of making the film one of the first things that that made me want to make a movie like this was the starring john cho movement starring john cho was the social media movement in 2016 that envisioned him in a variety of high profile roles typically held by white actors cho was selected as the face of the campaign since he possessed many traits of classic leading men showcasing how easy it was to picture asians as leading actors in blockbuster movies when i saw your face in those it was such a weird sort of mirror that went into my head when i saw that being like oh we why aren't we doing this and who can do that the movement was a response to the sony leaked emails where director aaron sorkin addressed the lack of asian-led movies asserting there weren't any asian movie stars to take on those roles his explanation reflected the mentality many hollywood executives had regarding asian actors as they didn't believe them to be bankable stars it's the reason the 2008 film 21 was led by a white actor even though it was based on the real life story of the mit blackjack team mostly composed of asian americans asian characters regular and defensive have historically been whitewashed from mickey rooney's now infamous character and breakfast at tiffany's katherine hepburn as a chinese woman to john wayne as genghis khan and even modern day instances like scarlett johansson and ghost in the show that one movie with emma stone and tilda swinton and doctor strange regarding doctor strange writer c robert cargill revealed the reasoning behind casting tilda swinton as the ancient one was based on avoiding a hurtful asian stereotype oh it's another white guy goes to the orient adopts their ways and then comes back and is the great white hero story it's avatar all over again it's the last samurai all over again so you're gonna get dinged on that but in trying to right the wrong of a previous racist portrayal he sidestepped the opportunity to change the characterization of a stereotypical character and instead simply erased their asian-ness it was a disappointing decision that president of marvel studios kevin feige later admitted was a mistake saying we thought we were being so smart and so cutting edge we're not going to do the cliche of the wiz and old wise asian man but it was a wake-up call to say well wait a minute is there any other way to figure it out is there any other way to both not fall into the cliche and cast an asian actor and the answer to that of course is yes i don't think all these industry execs were necessarily malicious in leaving out asian actors but it became an unfortunate tendency and somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy by neglecting to give asian actors a chance to star in major roles they continued to reinforce the notion that they weren't able to knowing all of this emphasizes why it was such a big deal for a major hollywood studio to produce a movie like crazy rich asians but even with an all asian cast there's still criticism from asian moviegoers regarding the casting specifically concerning henry golding a half white actor playing the chinese singaporean nick young some deemed the casting as another instance of whitewashing as though hollywood was unwilling to have a fully asian actor play nick but i think this criticism was at best a hurtful sentiment towards golding and at worst a notion that implied he wasn't asian enough essentially erasing his identity it reflects a different sort of prejudice or maybe simply a dividing line within the asian community which is the authenticity of asian identity it's a topic i touched on in a previous video but it's something many second generation people can relate to often we're so removed from our heritage that is difficult to feel connected to it yellow on the outside a white on the inside it's actually a recurring theme in crazy rich asians first shown when rachel meets nick's wealthy family she feels more and more alienated as the night goes on due to her more humble background but also because she struggles to relate to them on a cultural level even though on paper they share the same ethnicity and for those who are biracial it can be even more difficult to connect to one's heritage so for all the cause of whitewashing regarding henry golding i found it incredibly insensitive and dismissive of his experience as an asian man but this discussion around golding proved while such a difficult task to make a movie like this after all the time that passed since the last asian lead movie there were so many stories that hadn't been told yet that it seemed like many of us wanted maybe even needed our specific story to be perfectly captured people who come after me for doing this or that like i don't blame them either i understand that frustration i watch movies i have the same frustration one movie can only do so much and i'm not sure everyone fully understands it so but and that's sort of the problem is the more movies the more that each movie can do its own individual thing and it doesn't have to take on the whole freaking pie and that's where i think a lot of people overlook the significance of crazy rich asians while i agree the film wasn't able to take on the whole pie i don't think it was trying to and honestly it's unfair to put the burden of telling 25 years of untold stories on one movie so it's only right we try to understand the story crazy rich asians was trying to tell crazy rich asians primarily follows the story of rachel a chinese-american woman who goes to singapore with her boyfriend nick for a wedding and to meet his family rachel an economics professor at nyu raised by a hard-working immigrant single mother is somewhat of a poster child for the american dream but when she meets nick's family she's simply viewed as a greedy american looking to climb the socioeconomic ladder the film is based on a 2013 novel by kevin kwan and while many claim the book is better i'm gonna have to respectfully disagree for one the book often goes into excruciating detail about the outrageously expensive clothing and jewelry worn by each character which was charming at first but honestly got really tiresome halfway through rachel's character has very little agency and several of the plot points were needlessly convoluted by the end the whole thing just fizzled out and felt really anti-climactic i'll go into more of the necessary changes the movie made but i will say i enjoyed the book's footnotes and tidbits discussing singaporean history culture and food sidebar the movie soundtrack is littered with chinese renditions of vintage ragtime music adding to this idea of a reimagined old hollywood film [Applause] i personally love this touch as it gives the film a timeless quality the latter part of the soundtrack contrasts the classic sounds of a golden age of hollywood with more modern hip-hop influence songs representing the contrast between old money and new money as well as traditional versus modern culture [Music] anyway while the movie definitely displays plenty of extravagance and luxury beyond most people's wildest dreams i think screenwriters adele lim and peter chiorelli maximize crazy rich asians narrative potential as the books seem more focused on the crazy rich aspect of the story while the screenplay focused more directly on the cultural divide which made for a more compelling narrative in my opinion that would have been a wasted opportunity to show in depth with real emotions since their integrity what this culture is and that was such a great opportunity for instance one of the most important aspects of the film is the tension between rachel and nick's mom eleanor it's what fuels the conflict in the movie as the book describes eleanor's mindset about her son's relationship with the middle class american woman quote nikki was now ripe for the plucking and if he was actually bringing this girl home to attend his best friend's wedding things must be getting serious serious enough that he purposely hadn't mentioned her existence serious enough to derail eleanor's meticulously laid plans yet in the book rachel and eleanor hardly interact at all they don't have any one-on-one confrontations aside from the occasional passive-aggressive remark and in the end after the reveal of rachel's scandalous family history and her brief breakup with nick eleanor's disapproval of their relationship is no longer addressed presumably until the sequel i think the film does a much better job of fleshing out the tension between eleanor and rachel and i think these added scenes were necessary to adequately convey the rigid divides between these two ways of life not just wealthy versus commoner but american versus chinese singaporean well she knows that i'm passionate about what i do and she's always wanted that for me pursuing one's passion how american when rachel and eleanor first meet and rachel proudly speaks about her career as an economics professor and her mother's immigrant story all eleanor hears are details about someone with personal ambition who wants to move up in the world and in her mind it'll come at the expense of her son your mother is very open-minded not like here where parents are obsessed with shaping the life of the children in a later scene eleanor explains she withdrew from law school when she married her husband so they could start a family i chose to help my husband run a business and to raise a family for me it was a privilege but for you you may think it's old-fashioned with rachel's american upbringing she doesn't believe rachel would make the same sacrifice for nick but all this doesn't just happen it's because we know to put family first instead of chasing one's passion to get a better understanding of eleanor's point of view i think it's necessary to bring up the first scene in the movie which is also in the book in it we see a young eleanor arrive at a hotel with her family only to be dismissed by a racist manager i'm sure you and your lovely family can find other accommodation may i suggest you explore chinatown she promptly handles the situation by simply buying the hotel some people get caught up with the implication of the scene and wonder why there isn't a more prominent theme of racism throughout the story but i don't think that's entirely what it's going for as this ringer article put it crazy rich asians tries to quote offer a speculative thought experiment about a world not dominated by white america from the jump it firmly places us somewhere white people aren't the center of the world while also letting us know just how rich these crazy rich asians are knowing all of this it's easier to understand the scene in a different light showing how fiercely protective eleanor is of her family and part of the reason she's so hostile towards rachel later in the film when i approach it's like i have to know the character where is she really coming from she was dutiful she was loyal she was fiercely devoted to her family but most of all that was love that was real love the general mother's role to nurture to protect and i approach it like that knowing these are the feelings that a mother would have this antagonistic perception of rachel extends to almost all of nick's family as they judge her every word and move she's clearly a fish out of water fumbling her way through these little family gatherings making awkward conversation and continually embarrassing herself there's a few fingers and at the bachelorette party some of the other women play a freaky godfather s prank with a gutted fish and all of this just made me wonder how could nick possibly think not preparing rachel for all of this was a good idea i fell in love and i want to marry her it can't just be one thing or the other no no no no it's it's not that simple you know that like i know you're a handsome dude but get a clue my guy but she finds a friend in nick's cousin astrid who's one of the few down-to-earth wealthy characters in the story narratively astrid's subplot represents what could go wrong with rachel and nick's relationship regarding their wealth disparity even though he's well off in his own right her husband's ashamed of his meager six-figure earnings compared to her super rich family and constantly feels judged by them plagued by feelings of resentment he ends up having an affair you're always the prettiest richest most perfect girl in the room well i'm just this lucky boss that will never measure up it's kind of a weird subplot that doesn't really go anywhere or have much to say especially considering the book's much more convoluted storyline where he only pretends to have an affair either way while astrid in the book begs to get back together despite the heartache her husband caused her movie astrid leaves him it's not my job to make you feel like a man i can't make you something you're not however much rachel is looked down upon by singapore's elite it's clear the film isn't really a criticism of wealth or capitalism or whatever especially since the book in the movie to some extent seemed to present their opulence with reverence it looked like the great gatsby was with asian faces and the way they dressed the way they acted there was a sophistication to it that was rarely sort of reflected in our stories here but what money represents in crazy rich asians is the cultural dividing line between nick's traditional chinese singaporean family and rachel's upbringing as a modern american chinese woman nick genuinely cares for rachel and their relationship is evidently filled with mutual love but astrid's relationship shows just how these familial strains could end up being too much to bear nick's family deems rachel as someone who doesn't deserve him someone who doesn't deserve access to all the wealth status and privilege that comes with being a member of his family and ultimately someone who isn't asian enough to maintain their traditions and values i know this film is a romantic comedy but i think the major driving force in the story isn't romance but women specifically the ways in which they help keep other women down and pass along generational trauma it's made clear this elite circle doesn't value women's ambition or dedication and in fact actively discourages it there's dialogue in the book where some aunties scoff at the audacity of college-educated western women in a passage where asteroid chronicles the rigid expectations outlined for women noting that it's expected for them to give up their careers to raise their children just like eleanor did so rachel's ambition and accomplishments aren't the positive traits she thought they would be but a threat to their social order in an added scene at the wedding rachel befriends a normally icy princess and seems to find common ground through a less superficial subject than the extravagance surrounding them i think your critics miss the point because your microloans help women and women lift up economies it's one of the only times the story directly addresses women helping women but it does so in other subtle ways too sure there are rude and jealous women but rachel finds emotional support from her mother peklin aramenta and astrid who at the end of her arc is no longer compelled to make herself feel smaller for the sake of her husband's ego but most significantly the film addresses this theme via eleanor and rachel's interactions eleanor may be conniving and intimidating but the truth is she's pretty powerless in her family situation when rachel asked her about her wedding ring we learned of eleanor's own struggle with being accepted nick's father had it made when he wanted to propose to me because our mom wouldn't give him the family ring eleanor's animosity towards rachel stems from her own relationship with nick's armor social media even through all her sacrifice and dedication eleanor was never able to win her approval i didn't come from the right family have the right connections i was on her first choice honestly i wasn't her second and because of this she doesn't believe rachel with her even less desirable background and upbringing could possibly earn her own blessing there were many days when i wondered if i would ever measure up i know this much you will never be enough still rachel continued trying to hold her own in the young's world but even though she seemingly made a good impression with ama she was ultimately humiliated when eleanor revealed the truth about her family which rachel herself wasn't even aware of during her marriage she cheated on him and became pregnant with another man's child and before he found out she ran away to america it's all in here obviously because he's the perfect guy nick flies out rachel's mom to singapore so they could talk things out and eventually proposes despite everything marry me and we'll start a new life together in new york just you and me i'll leave all of this behind but before we find out rachel's answer she invites eleanor for a final conversation over a game of mahjong and what's arguably the best scene in the movie while it doesn't exist in the book i personally love this scene especially since it doesn't stop to explain the rules of mahjong and simply allows us to piece together the beats of the game through context clues my mother taught me too during the game eleanor reiterates that rachel doesn't belong in their family because i'm not rich you're foreign american and all americans think about is their own happiness eventually rachel tells eleanor about nick's proposal and that he was willing to leave his family to be with her don't worry i turned him down rachel finds the tile that she needs to win the game but realizes it's also the tile eleanor needs in this moment rachel explains there was no winning in this scenario as marrying nick would mean he'd have to give up his family and if he chose his family he might spend the rest of his life resenting you in an analogy of letting go of nick she surrenders the winning title to eleanor sacrificing her own happiness for the betterment of nick's well-being an act eleanor assumed she wasn't capable of we understand how to build things that last something you know nothing about i'm not leaving because i'm scared or because i think i'm not enough i just love nick so much i don't want him to lose his mom again it's a powerful moment that makes eleanor reconsider her assumptions about rachel she notices rachel's mother nearby and the simple look they give each other expresses so much from their differences in upbringing class and also their respective traumas in each of their lives but i think it also acknowledges their mutual respect for the sacrifices they've made to protect their families the book notes rachel and her mom had a relationship that differed even from rachel's asian american friends and their parents one where they engaged in judge free conversation hugged each other and said i love you and that was her own way of undoing the generational trauma she experienced with her own parents in china the point is rachel's characterization showed there's a way to do both to try to do what's best for the people you love and pursue what you want in life the same way your own mother did and once eleanor realized she'd been perpetuating the cycle of judgment and ridicule all for the sake of saving face i think she made a decision to start undoing the patterns of discouraging women of the next generation i had young people come up to me and say i understand my mom better now or i understand my mother-in-law better now i can go back and have a conversation with my mom now and i think that was very important in the end nick made one last hail mary attempt to win rachel back in a film packed with stunning backdrops lavish parties and one of the most beautiful wedding scenes i've ever seen it feels right that instead of a picture-perfect proposal nick had to tell rachel as planned through a cramped airplane aisle full of sweaty passengers before rachel could think of a reason to say no he revealed the engagement ring it was eleanor's signifying her blessing for their marriage crazy rich asians is by no means a perfect movie the subplot with astrid is admittedly a bit of an afterthought and disconnected from everything else while pickling's weird pervy brother does not age well at all but still i think it ultimately achieved what it was going for and i would argue paved the way for more asian-centered stories like the farewell turning red shanxi and everything everywhere all at once you know in the last few years uh the success of some very important a like crazy rich asians that has propelled the asian amer asian american stories to be embraced and say you know it dispels the myths of like nobody wants to watch the asian family thing or you know the chinese romantic hero no and you can see it being reflected in more opportunities for asian americans to have work but most important to have their stories being told it's no wonder that after the success of crazy rich asians no less than half a dozen of the film's actors were able to lead their own movies having previously never done so after spending 20 years working behind the scenes due to a lack of acting opportunities kihoe kwan who you might recognize from classic 80s films was directly inspired to return to acting after watching crazy rich asians in theaters crazy rich asians came out and that movie just hit me on so many levels the entire cast made up of asian actors and i go wow i wish i was up there with them it shows the power of representation and what it can mean to see people like yourself on the big screen that's a big part of the reason john chu and kevin kwon declined signing the film to streaming services and specifically opted for a theatrical release i do think for this movie for this particular set of circumstances we knew the power of cinema we have not given up on the power of movies i know for a fact we would not be getting this fervor we would not be in the conversation as much as we are if we were on a streaming service for a long time as a moviegoer it felt like asians weren't part of the american cinematic experience we were cast off as side characters or foreigners and often left out of our own stories so even if you don't like crazy rich asians you can't deny it open the door for more opportunities for asian people in hollywood and that in itself is a valuable legacy our movie is one uh perspective of one story of a fairy tale in a way um and that we just have to have more and more to inform sure more and more so people see us in many different lights after a tumultuous path towards making a sequel a spin-off involving astrid is finally in production maybe it'll improve on the original or maybe it'll fall the way of many spin-offs that fail to live up to lofty expectations either way it'll be refreshing to see more talented asian people get the chances to tell stories and be appreciated in hollywood hey guys thanks for watching if you want to see more videos like this consider supporting the channel for two dollars on patreon also i've really been enjoying exploring more asian cinema and movies international films often get overlooked and mubi is the perfect place to find titles you may have never heard of otherwise mubi is a curated streaming service a place to watch beautiful interesting incredible cinema every day movie premieres a new film from iconic directors to emerging auteurs there's always something new to discover with mubi each and every film is hand selected it's like your own personal festival streaming anytime anywhere i recently watched let the bullets fly for the first time after hearing so many great things about legendary actor chao young fat and i was not disappointed let the bullets fly follows a group of bandits in china during the 1920s whose leader impersonates a governor hoping to embezzle a town out of all of its money of course some speed bumps get in the way of the mission but it's an incredibly fun and bloody movie filled with interesting characters and quippy dialogue that feels reminiscent of so many quentin tarantino movies if you want to explore more international films like this try movie free for 30 days at moobie.com qualityculture that's mubi.com qualityculture for a whole month of great cinema for free catch you guys next time peace

Channel: Quality Culture

Views: 622,500

Keywords: crazy rich asians, crazy rich asians video essay, crazy rich asians analysis, crazy rich asians breakdown, crazy rich asians sequel, crazy rich asians book, crazy rich asians review, crazy rich asians michelle yeoh, crazy rich asians henry golding, crazy rich asians constance wu, crazy rich asians criticism

Id: p4Z8TIXxZWA

Length: 25min 32sec (1532 seconds)

Published: Fri May 20 2022