I read Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan in 2017 and mentioned it in my 2017 Reading Challenge recap. When I heard there was a film adaptation coming out, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Now that the trailer has come out (just earlier this week), Kat‘s here to tell you what makes this film so groundbreaking.
This is a groundbreaking time for Asians and Asian-Americans in media and entertainment. In the past year, two Asian-led television sitcoms have graced the small screen, Fresh Off the Boat, which will, fingers crossed, be renewed for its fifth season, and Dr. Ken which was only recently cancelled by ABC after two seasons. BTS (방탄소년단) has captivated the international music scene, winning Top Social Artist at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards (breaking Justin Bieber’s six year streak) and performing live (in Korean) at the 2017 American Music Awards. And, most recently, Crazy Rich Asians has created a huge stir as the first English-language film with a primarily Asian cast in 25 years (the last one was the film adaption The Joy Luck Club released in 1993).
But the film Crazy Rich Asians hasn’t come without its own set of criticisms. After the VIP premiere last week to a theatre full of Asian entertainers, producers, and content creators, there’s been some controversy as to whether this film really changes the game in terms of representation of Asians in media.
But get this, it doesn’t matter. If you care about Asians in media and entertainment, you should see the movie anyway.
The large bulk of the criticism isn’t anything we haven’t heard before. “This film doesn’t represent me.” “It doesn’t represent who I am.” “It doesn’t represent the people of Singapore.” It’s the same criticism we heard when Fresh Off the Boat debuted on television.
Korean-American hip-hop personality Ben Baller put it this way, “The movie Crazy Rich Asians is about to set Asians back 40 legit years. I’ve traveled to literally every country in Asia except Burma and Laos and never encountered any Asian that corny. I hope people don’t watch that movie and assume that’s how all of us are.” Others have pointed out that though the film is set in Singapore, which has a high population of Filipinos, Filipinos are not represented in the film, not to mention the large demographic of Filipinos that are extremely poor.
But the fact is that this is a movie. Based off a fictional book.
The reason it’s important and groundbreaking isn’t because it’s set in Asia; it’s because it’s a story written by an Asian author, directed by an Asian director, starring Asian actors as actual Asian characters (note, not caricatures). And get this, the characters are actually meant to be Asian.
Kevin Kwan, author of the novel Crazy Rich Asians, has talked about why it took so long for the story to actually become a movie, especially considering that the first book was a national bestseller. He said it was because the first Hollywood producers wanted to make Rachel, the main character (played by Constance Wu in the movie), white. And he said no.
That’s groundbreaking in and of itself. It would’ve been so easy to take the money and change one of the characters around. But that’s not the story he was trying to tell. Rachel’s Asian-American heritage is vital to the story. As is a representation of Asians in Asia — not as Western people see them — who are wealthy, especially the old-money wealthy who want nothing to do with life in Western society. As is simply having two romantic leads who both happen to be Asian. This story, though over-the-top maybe, is as yet untold in Western entertainment. That makes it groundbreaking; it makes it a story worth telling.
Crazy Rich Asians may not represent you. It certainly doesn’t represent me. But that doesn’t make it less important. The more we push for representation of Asians in entertainment, the more stories we get to tell. It’s what any Asian or Asian-American actor, producer, director, or writer in the Western entertainment industry will tell you. It may not represent you now, but next time it could. But we don’t get a next time if we don’t show up to the table and demand representation. And we do that by filling the theatre when this movie shows up in theatres.
Who knows? You might even enjoy yourself.
PS: more guest posts from kat – asian representation, how to start your own bullet journal, dorm tour