I promise not to tell you any spoilers but here are some expectations you need to know even before watching the movie.
On Wednesday, me and the husband had the privilege to watch the preview of Crazy Rich Asians in the cinema even before the release date in the UK. I have been waiting for a long time for this movie to be released since I read the novel. I am also following the latest, mostly positive media responses towards this movie in the Singapore and US where it was released earlier.
As someone who consider myself an Asian, especially of an East Asian/Southeast descendant, I grew up looking up to non Asians characters and wishing to feel like people who look like me are good enough to be seen on the big screen. Before this movie, my expectation on Asians on the big screen will be either sidekicks, nerds, or be completely misrepresented by someone who is not an Asian descendant (which makes me cringe every single time). However, this movie changes the game and makes a mark in history as the first all Asian movie where for once it makes me feel like a part of the majority instead of feeling like a minority all the time. To conclude things, this movie has a huge impact for Asian like me, but what are the perks you can gain from this movie if you’re not one? Well there’s a lot of things you can learn from this movie as listed below
1. The beauty of Singapore
As y’all know this film is based in Singapore which is currently one of the strongest, most expensive city in the world. Of course you can expect watching how luxurious people live there but you’ll notice early on in the movie that there’s more to Singapore than just a posh city/country. As personal advice from someone who has been there, it is definitely worth it to visit Singapore for once, and try to enjoy it just like how the characters did in the movie.
2. The complexity of Asians
Before this movie, it seems like society can only judge Asians on a limited platform that they’re in and that’s what makes this move a groundbreaking move for Asians. Through this movie where all the cast are Asians, the audience has the perfect platform to understand how, like any race / ethnicity, Asians have complex personalities and lifestyles. After this movie, it will be hard to put Asians into boxes of personalities like those in Chinese restaurant business, those reckless spenders / foreign students, those excelling in STEM, or any other boxes of personalities. In fact, you’ll see Asians who are not excelling in STEM, who are actually living humbly, or the Asian whose personality maybe more similar to yourself / your culture than most Asians.
3. The underlying cultural hints
This is the part which I am utterly excited about. There are so many cultural hints that the audience can gather from this movie, especially for those people who do not know an Asian personally. Even the husband was quite surprised how culturally appropriate this movie is to the everyday life of an Asian. I don’t want to spoil any scenes in the movie, but if you just pay extra attention to how the characters interact with the family, you’ll pretty much understand the big chunk of the Asian culture.
There you go, I hope this helps prepare you for this amazing movie which is due to come out tomorrow on Friday the 14th. If you haven’t read the book, you should read that book as well since there’s so many side notes that Kevin Kwan mentioned there. Any other confusing reference in this movie? Ask an Asian next to you because most of the time we’re living in that culture already.
Kwee Kurniawan 