Movies in General

KIENCHIN said:

I had seen Crazy Rich Asian, big disappointment. The opening started well with Michelle Yeoh but ended up more like a African American comedy.

Click to expand...

Well it generate a lot of buzz in the media circle and gross $34 million sofar and box office no1
Rotten tomatoes audience score of 93%. It get rave review from major entertaining critic of NYT, Washington post , CBS etc. the Asian American community galvanize support for this film One Korean brother bought the whole movie to be distributed free to all asian who want to see this movie
It also change the perception of Asian American and validate self perception for Asian American kid

Well now that I read the story line it make it credible story basically love story between 2 different social milieu which is authentic and recurrent theme in Overseas Chinese play or drama. As well it depict the value difference between Chinese american and Asian Chinese Where Asian emphasize filial duty, sacrifice for the family and American concept of passion and freedom of choice

John Chu from Bay area and Kevin Kwan was offered 7 digit dollars for the right of the movies by Netflix but the reject it in order to show the it at big screen and raise the awareness of Asian talent and representation in the media Quite a sacrifice

As well it give the chance for first time an all Asia cast after 25 years
But it groundbreaking because it depict Asian as normal people instead of caricature or stereo type of Kungfu fighter, nerd , or Ninja killer.
Here is one of the best comment on youtube
the fact that it’s a story about the upper class actually makes it excellent representation in that it’s a subversion from the western media trope that asians are hardworking model minority middle-class citizens. even just depicting an asian family (who lives in asia!!!) as outlandishly rich and glamourous is something quite groundbreaking bc roles like that are almost exclusively written about and given to white people. also, the story is based on the author’s own personal experience of bringing his girlfriend to meet his crazy rich family so it’s not supposed to be completely relatable! it’s his lifestyle that he wanted to portray and showcase to his readers and now viewers a scope into his life in a fictional way. though it doesn’t represent asians as a whole, the film shows that there is a difference between mainland asians and asian americans and what expectations are put on mainland/immigrant children which i felt like can still resonate with an asian audience.

Listen to intelligent and excellent comment by Michelle Yeo at 12:0

Here is the story
The moment ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ said so much without saying anything at all
Trailer: 'Crazy Rich Asians'
0:54 / 2:31
“Crazy Rich Asians” follows Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) as she accompanies her longtime boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding), to his best friend's wedding. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

By
Writer/editor
August 20 at 1:00 PM
This post contains spoilers about “Crazy Rich Asians.”

There’s a lot to love about “Crazy Rich Asians.”

It’s a delightful, with the rare-for-Hollywood . The scenery and costumes . Awkwafina is a , the best friend of Rachel Chu (Constance Wu). The connection between the lead characters is palpable and believable. The between Rachel and boyfriend Nick Young’s (Henry Golding) mother, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), is so captivating and that it made me want to take up the game.

As I left the theater, the moment that stuck with me the most was how Nick’s proposal to Rachel resolved the film’s central tension without saying a word. Sure, a marriage proposal after a big fight is entirely predictable. It fits neatly in the rom-com formula, with Nick running through the airport to get there in time — as many a rom-com lead has done before him.

So what makes this proposal different? Well, the big conflict of the movie is Eleanor does not approve of Rachel, an economics professor and daughter of a single mother. Though Rachel and Nick are both of Chinese descent, they come from different worlds: Nick comes from extreme wealth, in a family where marriage is treated as a business merger. Rachel, on the other hand, is a poor American, guided more by passion and free will than filial responsibility.

Earlier in the film, Eleanor tells Rachel she will never be enough for Nick, explaining she too was an outsider in the Young family and has spent her entire life feeling as if she does not measure up. Eleanor was such an unsuitable choice for her husband, she tells Rachel, that he could not propose with a family ring. Instead, he had one made: a gorgeous emerald flanked by two diamonds. Not exactly a story of a couple toiling in economic hardship, but in this film every costume and every earns its weight.


From left, Michelle Yoeh as Eleanor, Henry Golding as Nick and Constance Wu as Rachel in “Crazy Rich Asian.” (Sanja Bucko/Warner Bros. Pictures)
After Eleanor tells that story, Nick and Rachel go their separate ways for Colin and Araminta’s bachelor and bachelorette parties, where Rachel again gets the message she is an outsider. Like his father, Nick does not plan to propose with a family ring: He has already had one made for Rachel, which he shows Colin during the guys’ escape from Colin’s crazy-lavish bachelor party. However, when Nick uses that ring, Rachel turns him down, saying she cannot take him away from his family. Rather than just slink back to America, Rachel asks Eleanor to join her for a mah-jongg game, during which she explains why she rejected Nick and that his future wife’s identity will still be the result of a choice by Rachel, who’s a “poor, raised-by-a-single-mother, low-class immigrant nobody.” The exchange is the last we see of Rachel and Eleanor on-screen together.

However, when Nick proposes for the second time, on a crowded airplane with passengers all around them, he does so not with the ring he had made for Rachel but with Eleanor’s emerald ring. In a movie with lots of jaw-droppingly beautiful jewels, it was in this moment I actually gasped. Through this one gesture, and the meaning the audience and the characters already knew this ring held, Nick was telling Rachel: I accept you. My family accepts you. You are enough. You are more than enough.

Of course, saying something like those words would have been excessively cheesy, even for a rom-com. Which is why I so appreciated they let the ring say it all on its own. The ring had a way of honoring Rachel’s outsider status and a welcoming of it all in one. The reveal reminded me of those rare and special times between loved ones when words are unnecessary, when an understanding look or a tender handhold — or, in this case, a piece of jewelry — says everything without saying anything at all. The past between you provides the meaning, and the gesture speaks louder than words ever could.

Here is John Chu comment why he decline Netflix offer of 7 digit dollar and David Chen who bought the theater showing

Listen to this interview where Constance Wu actually cry when the reporter asked her how she fell when a young Asian see this movies and identify with the character moving

I rather be watching "Crazy Rich Asians" than the self defeated crappy movie "The Joy Luck Club".

Equation said:

I rather be watching "Crazy Rich Asians" than the self defeated crappy movie "The Joy Luck Club".

Click to expand...

Exactly I go to see movie to be entertained and not depress I haven't seen Joy Luck But my understanding it tell immigrant story and how they suffer during tumultuous history of China. But that is sofar remove from my own experience.
This story is loose translation of How the author"Kevin Kwan"remembered his childhood This article by Wapo capture the essence of the story by Micheal Gersom Wapo columnist . It resonate well with AA because they can identify with the character and how they see themselves or perceive by the outside . It is coming age kind of thing
Of course being a Holywood movie it has to come with slap stick humor. It come with the territory
But it is phenomenal they support they get from the AA community buying bulk theater ticket and give it away to the stranger
Ans see the roster of contributor who is who in AA community Harvard alumni association etc

The future won’t be begged for, borrowed, or stolen; it will be BOUGHT. It's been inspiring seeing so many executives and organizations rally buy-outs for . But WHERE ARE THE CELEBRITY AND INFLUENCER BUY-OUTS for ?







Critics’ qualm with ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ isn’t a flaw. It’s a feature.
The breakthrough Hollywood film about the Asian experience, told from an Asian perspective, featuring an , could have been about the cruel exploitation of Chinese workers in the . It could have been about the , which barred Chinese laborers from the United States for a decade and denied citizenship to Chinese already here. It could have been about the forced removal of more than to internment camps during World War II.

It says something that “” — called a “” and the — is a romantic comedy, concerned more with class than race. Its plot is closer to “The Philadelphia Story” than to the immigrant struggles of “.” This has been a source of criticism in some quarters. But it is not a flaw but a feature.

The story of “” is propelled by the interaction of three ethnically Chinese groups. There are the overseas Chinese, who left China (often because of conflict and famine) in the 19th and 20th centuries and came to dominate the economies of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and — the main setting for the movie — Singapore. By one estimate, they compose about 6 percent of the combined populations of those countries and hold of their . Like in Renaissance Italy or 19th-century New York City, a few fabulously wealthy families constitute dynasties, setting the terms of social welcome or exclusion. The male lead, played by , is a scion of one of those families.

Then there is the nouveau riche, whose growth in wealth has far outstripped their growth in taste. This group provides the protagonist’s best friend, played by , who dominates every scene she enters with a manic glee.

Finally, there are the Asian Americans, who are viewed with suspicion by the Chinese dynastic families, particularly for their tendency to prefer choice and self-expression to filial responsibilities. The American interloper, played charmingly by Constance Wu, was raised by a single mother, became an economics professor at NYU and innocently enters the buzzsaw of Singaporean high society.

Without providing any spoilers, I’ll say the product of the American immigrant experience proves every bit as tough and resourceful as the matriarch of the grand Chinese family, and love prevails across the division of class (unlike in “,” in which class ties win out).

No film can really encompass the Asian experience, in part because the term “Asian” is absurdly broad. Part of the context for “

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” is the cultural self-confidence of the overseas Chinese, captured at one point in the movie when a father urges a child to clear his plate with the admonition: “Think of all the starving children in America.” This is an ethnic group that fully expects to own the future.

The other context for the movie is a particular phenomenon — the extraordinary success of Chinese and other East Asian immigrants in America. The general outlook of this group is conditioned by the fact that the American Dream worked as promised for many of them. The median family income of Asians in America is significantly higher than that of whites. One of their main concerns is the accusation that Harvard stoops to that artificially lower its number of Asian students.

I’ve seen some of these trends at the micro level. My wife is Korean. She came to America through international adoption — an immigrant experience, not as a tolerated stranger but as a much-loved member of a family. Growing up in a fundamentalist community, in a nearly all-white suburb, she can recall only two instances of prejudice. Our marriage did not cause controversy.

Intermarriage is in the process of scrambling a lot of simple ethnic stories. According to a Pew Research Center study, 29 percent of Asian American newlyweds in 2015 married someone . My children — thanks to the low-cost proliferation of genetic testing — know their background is East Asian, West European, South European and European Jewish, with a hint of Irish, Scottish and Welsh.

People with this kind of background — and Asian Americans more generally — are likely to be proud of their heritage but not defined by its divisions and resentments. And they are seeing their story reflected not in a tragedy but in a brilliant comedy of class and manners.

Yeah I am in awe by the support given to this movie Social media is buzzing Here is one from Jen Zhang a VC from bay area He show the letter from Constance Wu She plucky little woman For a flat chested and short woman ,she is the last lady that Holywood would be thinking when they pick up a star. Yet she persist winning FOB role after waitress-ing for 10 years . It must be hard life No wonder she cried. I am rooting for her

Hendrik_2000 said:

Exactly I go to see movie to be entertained and not depress I haven't seen Joy Luck But my understanding it tell immigrant story and how they suffer during tumultuous history of China. But that is sofar remove from my own experience.
This story is loose translation of How the author"Kevin Kwan"remembered his childhood This article by Wapo capture the essence of the story by Micheal Gersom Wapo columnist . It resonate well with AA because they can identify with the character and how they see themselves or perceive by the outside . It is coming age kind of thing
Of course being a Holywood movie it has to come with slap stick humor. It come with the territory
But it is phenomenal they support they get from the AA community buying bulk theater ticket and give it away to the stranger

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Ans see the roster of contributor who is who in AA community Harvard alumni association etc

The future won’t be begged for, borrowed, or stolen; it will be BOUGHT. It's been inspiring seeing so many executives and organizations rally buy-outs for

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

. But WHERE ARE THE CELEBRITY AND INFLUENCER BUY-OUTS for

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

?

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

View attachment 48482

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Critics’ qualm with ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ isn’t a flaw. It’s a feature.
The breakthrough Hollywood film about the Asian experience, told from an Asian perspective, featuring an

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, could have been about the cruel exploitation of Chinese workers in the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

. It could have been about the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, which barred Chinese laborers from the United States for a decade and denied citizenship to Chinese already here. It could have been about the forced removal of more than

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

to internment camps during World War II.

It says something that “

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

” — called a “

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

” and the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

— is a romantic comedy, concerned more with class than race. Its plot is closer to “The Philadelphia Story” than to the immigrant struggles of “

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.” This has been a source of criticism in some quarters. But it is not a flaw but a feature.

The story of “

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

” is propelled by the interaction of three ethnically Chinese groups. There are the overseas Chinese, who left China (often because of conflict and famine) in the 19th and 20th centuries and came to dominate the economies of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and — the main setting for the movie — Singapore. By one estimate, they compose about 6 percent of the combined populations of those countries and hold

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

of their

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

. Like in Renaissance Italy or 19th-century New York City, a few fabulously wealthy families constitute dynasties, setting the terms of social welcome or exclusion. The male lead, played by

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, is a scion of one of those families.

Then there is the nouveau riche, whose growth in wealth has far outstripped their growth in taste. This group provides the protagonist’s best friend, played by

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, who dominates every scene she enters with a manic glee.

Finally, there are the Asian Americans, who are viewed with suspicion by the Chinese dynastic families, particularly for their tendency to prefer choice and self-expression to filial responsibilities. The American interloper, played charmingly by Constance Wu, was raised by a single mother, became an economics professor at NYU and innocently enters the buzzsaw of Singaporean high society.

Without providing any spoilers, I’ll say the product of the American immigrant experience proves every bit as tough and resourceful as the matriarch of the grand Chinese family, and love prevails across the division of class (unlike in “

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

,” in which class ties win out).

No film can really encompass the Asian experience, in part because the term “Asian” is absurdly broad. Part of the context for “

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

” is the cultural self-confidence of the overseas Chinese, captured at one point in the movie when a father urges a child to clear his plate with the admonition: “Think of all the starving children in America.” This is an ethnic group that fully expects to own the future.

The other context for the movie is a particular phenomenon — the extraordinary success of Chinese and other East Asian immigrants in America. The general outlook of this group is conditioned by the fact that the American Dream worked as promised for many of them. The median family income of Asians in America is significantly higher than that of whites. One of their main concerns is the accusation that Harvard stoops to

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

that artificially lower its number of Asian students.

I’ve seen some of these trends at the micro level. My wife is Korean. She came to America through international adoption — an immigrant experience, not as a tolerated stranger but as a much-loved member of a family. Growing up in a fundamentalist community, in a nearly all-white suburb, she can recall only two instances of prejudice. Our marriage did not cause controversy.

Intermarriage is in the process of scrambling a lot of simple ethnic stories. According to a Pew Research Center study, 29 percent of Asian American newlyweds in 2015 married someone

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

. My children — thanks to the low-cost proliferation of genetic testing — know their background is East Asian, West European, South European and European Jewish, with a hint of Irish, Scottish and Welsh.

People with this kind of background — and Asian Americans more generally — are likely to be proud of their heritage but not defined by its divisions and resentments. And they are seeing their story reflected not in a tragedy but in a brilliant comedy of class and manners.

Click to expand...

Both the contrast between The Joy Luck Club vs Crazy Rich Asians and inter-racial marriage rate gender differences among Asian-Americans are symptoms of at least two particular aspects of Asian-Americans as a minority in the US:

1) Asian-Americans are a very small percentage of the total population, significantly smaller percentage than other races (roughly 5% Asian, 13% Black, 18% Hispanic, 62% White), and even more so when broken down by specific heritage.

2) Asian-Americans' heritage cultures are significantly more different to mainstream US/Western/White culture than even those of other minorities ranging from food and language to religion and historical interaction with Western cultures.

These factors create particularly severe gaps in understanding and acceptance, including self-understanding and self-acceptance, that are exacerbated by both the natural and artificial pressures of assimilation.

PanAsian said:

Both the contrast between The Joy Luck Club vs Crazy Rich Asians and inter-racial marriage rate gender differences among Asian-Americans are symptoms of at least two particular aspects of Asian-Americans as a minority in the US:

1) Asian-Americans are a very small percentage of the total population, significantly smaller percentage than other races (roughly 5% Asian, 13% Black, 18% Hispanic, 62% White), and even more so when broken down by specific heritage.

2) Asian-Americans' heritage cultures are significantly more different to mainstream US/Western/White culture than even those of other minorities ranging from food and language to religion and historical interaction with Western cultures.

These factors create particularly severe gaps in understanding and acceptance, including self-understanding and self-acceptance, that are exacerbated by both the natural and artificial pressures of assimilation.

Click to expand...

You hit it in the nail there Yes there is big difference between AA and Chinese in South East Asia Here is an interesting twitter post by someone who actually claimed to be the rich Asian depicted in the movie . She said it is close to real life that she experience as a child. She also touch about how they see themselves in 50's and 60's which dovetail what I have been saying They see themselves as citizen of their homeland more like their villages, province But not China(Zhongguo) as a country It is very peculiar sense of belonging. and colonial power encourage that Maybe divide and rule tactic
Marriage is more like alliance of family rather than love So those like that Eleoner(Michelle Yeo) said that Rachel(Constance WU) that "you are not our kind" is plausible

For those who hate reading the truncated Twitter format:

Asian-Americans and Asians based in Asia are going to see #crazyrichasians differently. Some AA are happy to see representation in Hollywood; others, more versed in social justice see colonialism of East Asians in East Asia. Asians in SEAsia think: I don't recognize myself.

As someone who straddles all of these words (being Asian when sometimes in America, interested in social justice, but also fundamentally Asian based in Asia, in country where my ethnic group is dominant). Who grew up among real #CrazyRichAsians in Singapore, my take:

The world that #CrazyRichAsians portrays is real in Singapore. @kevinkwanbooks & myself probably ran in similar circles. My friends at school ate $30 lunches daily at nice restaurants, age 13; vacationed in private islands with royalty, age 15. I was an outsider in this world. Elite Asians in the former British colonies, like Singapore, have been Anglophiles for centuries. It's not a new thing, not a mimicry of power. Elite Asians were those allowed to go to the right schools and enter the right circles. In Singapore, like in other colonies, divide and rule extended also to various ethnic groups. These precede current understanding of ethno/national borders. It came down to what type of Chinese, Indian, you were. e.g. Straits Chinese (also known as Peranakan) found favour with the British. They straddled both worlds: emphasizing Chinese custom, speaking a creole of Malay & Chinese dialects at home. They tended to speak English better than new immigrants from China, etc. Working class Chinese from southern China tended to follow set paths for them. They came to 'Nanyang' (south of the ocean, the new world), took on roles set out for them by their compatriots before.

Early social networks were granular. Not just Hokkiens did X, Cantonese did Y. Your identity was Hokkien generally, but more tied to the small village and to an extent its neighboring area, for example. Some early Chinese found opportunities in rubber, trade, etc & became merchants. Their impact is felt globally today. Unlike in many other places, wealth among southern Chinese has networked effects. Descendent of rich merchant family from Java last century may well occupy same social class as a Singapore citizen today. Ditto for HK, Philippines, Thailand. Until the 1950s/1960s, most immigrants to Nanyang had no citizenship in SE Asian countries, and saw themselves as citizens of their ancestral homes, even if they'd never been. Colonial powers encouraged this. You were Chinese, but not to the idea of today's PRC. There are loads of academic papers about how 'Chinese wealth' in SE Asia is held together by intermarriage.

When I dated hyper rich Indonesian boy as a teenager, his family wanted my family tree. We could not date coz, obviously I was not an heiress. Chinese identity in the Nanyang is complex, unique, very distinct from Asian-American identity.

There is both privilege, concentrated in hands of the few who wield extreme power; and oppression, in that anti-Chinese programs have occurred as recently as 1998 (Indonesia). It bears remembering that 'Jews of the East' has been used to clobber Chinese communities and foster anti-Chinese sentiments; first by European colonial powers, which carries on today sometimes encouraged by existing powers. Even in Singapore, where Chinese form majority and hold outsized power in government, economy, and social spheres (and Chinese privilege exists), regular Chinese folks (non-rich, even Singaporeans) could never enter that world. That's birthright, or marriage. The well-educated middle class or professional class, largely Chinese, has the trappings of folks from #crazyrichasians class, but they are not a part of that world, even if they imagine.

Obviously, the real world of #crazyrichasians is overwhelmingly Chinese. That's accurate. This world sometimes intersects with the world of Singaporean / Malaysian Indian merchant families, which is usually Sindhi. Not enough Asian-American criticism of #CrazyRichAsians is aware of the realities in this part of the world. Sure, Henry Golding is half white; but even that doesn't mean white privilege in the same sense you'd say that in the US. His other half is Iban, a tribe from Borneo.

There are all kinds of oppression towards Ibans, other tribals & Borneo generally. Half British, half Iban / Kadazan / other tribal group / even half Borneo Chinese is probably its own ethnic identity at this point. Traditional white privilege concepts are transferable to an extent, but not really. People talking like they're from the US or UK, i.e. not like Singaporeans? Real life #crazyrichasians talk like that! It's authentic.

They have very little to do with the lived experiences of most Singaporeans you and I know, but that's why they're the top 0.05%. This is not the world of the Chinese Singaporean friend you think is rich, who drives a car and has a condo and goes to Iceland on vacation. This is 'live in the Waldorf-Astoria for 1 year while attending an exchange program from other ivy league college' rich (true story I know). This is not your Asian-American 'be a doctor / lawyer!' world, this is a world where if you brought home a lawyer or doctor your family would probably think you were marrying down. I have little interest in real #CrazyRichAsians. I will not be watching it, because I could just open the Facebook pages of 20 friends from this world.

As an outsider, I think they all worry about the same things: love, family, and yes, even money. It's a different level of money worry, of course. It's not 'i have no more money for lunch' worry, not even 'not enough money for a Birkin' (they have 50, already). It's about debts or complex financial instruments their parents might have put them in; It's about the fear of 'coming down in the world', like we saw during the late 90s financial crisis (and my classmates grumbled about having to downgrade to a bungalow in the bad side of Bukit Timah - lol). I used to be envious of the kind of wealth I saw. Growing up in public housing, it was unfathomable. Not about material things. It was about $4000 school trips (poetry classes in the UK)

My parents: write at home. In your underwear. More inspiring. Even then I got the sense that the things they had which were intangible, unique, were not items, but access. Today, I see many of those folks in marriages they hate running businesses they hate. I don't envy their lack of 'choice'. Not being from that world, not really, I don't have to give up my dreams to run my family business; marry someone I dislike; or for women, give up my passion to run my FIL'S family office's philanthropy arm. When you have everything, something's gotta give.

Mental health, happiness, personal ambition. Then you get the worst of the Asian expectation: do only what your family wants, what will people think?

I'm sure the movie is fun. But for me, too close to home. /End

Hendrik_2000 said:

You hit it in the nail there Yes there is big difference between AA and Chinese in South East Asia Here is an interesting twitter post by someone who actually claimed to be the rich Asian depicted in the movie . She said it is close to real life that she experience as a child. She also touch about how they see themselves in 50's and 60's which dovetail what I have been saying They see themselves as citizen of their homeland more like their villages, province But not China(Zhongguo) as a country It is very peculiar sense of belonging. and colonial power encourage that Maybe divide and rule tactic
Marriage is more like alliance of family rather than love So those like that Eleoner(Michelle Yeo) said that Rachel(Constance WU) that "you are not our kind" is plausible

For those who hate reading the truncated Twitter format:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Asian-Americans and Asians based in Asia are going to see #crazyrichasians differently. Some AA are happy to see representation in Hollywood; others, more versed in social justice see colonialism of East Asians in East Asia. Asians in SEAsia think: I don't recognize myself.

As someone who straddles all of these words (being Asian when sometimes in America, interested in social justice, but also fundamentally Asian based in Asia, in country where my ethnic group is dominant). Who grew up among real #CrazyRichAsians in Singapore, my take:

The world that #CrazyRichAsians portrays is real in Singapore. @kevinkwanbooks & myself probably ran in similar circles. My friends at school ate $30 lunches daily at nice restaurants, age 13; vacationed in private islands with royalty, age 15. I was an outsider in this world. Elite Asians in the former British colonies, like Singapore, have been Anglophiles for centuries. It's not a new thing, not a mimicry of power. Elite Asians were those allowed to go to the right schools and enter the right circles. In Singapore, like in other colonies, divide and rule extended also to various ethnic groups. These precede current understanding of ethno/national borders. It came down to what type of Chinese, Indian, you were. e.g. Straits Chinese (also known as Peranakan) found favour with the British. They straddled both worlds: emphasizing Chinese custom, speaking a creole of Malay & Chinese dialects at home. They tended to speak English better than new immigrants from China, etc. Working class Chinese from southern China tended to follow set paths for them. They came to 'Nanyang' (south of the ocean, the new world), took on roles set out for them by their compatriots before.

Early social networks were granular. Not just Hokkiens did X, Cantonese did Y. Your identity was Hokkien generally, but more tied to the small village and to an extent its neighboring area, for example. Some early Chinese found opportunities in rubber, trade, etc & became merchants. Their impact is felt globally today. Unlike in many other places, wealth among southern Chinese has networked effects. Descendent of rich merchant family from Java last century may well occupy same social class as a Singapore citizen today. Ditto for HK, Philippines, Thailand. Until the 1950s/1960s, most immigrants to Nanyang had no citizenship in SE Asian countries, and saw themselves as citizens of their ancestral homes, even if they'd never been. Colonial powers encouraged this. You were Chinese, but not to the idea of today's PRC. There are loads of academic papers about how 'Chinese wealth' in SE Asia is held together by intermarriage.

When I dated hyper rich Indonesian boy as a teenager, his family wanted my family tree. We could not date coz, obviously I was not an heiress. Chinese identity in the Nanyang is complex, unique, very distinct from Asian-American identity.

There is both privilege, concentrated in hands of the few who wield extreme power; and oppression, in that anti-Chinese programs have occurred as recently as 1998 (Indonesia). It bears remembering that 'Jews of the East' has been used to clobber Chinese communities and foster anti-Chinese sentiments; first by European colonial powers, which carries on today sometimes encouraged by existing powers. Even in Singapore, where Chinese form majority and hold outsized power in government, economy, and social spheres (and Chinese privilege exists), regular Chinese folks (non-rich, even Singaporeans) could never enter that world. That's birthright, or marriage. The well-educated middle class or professional class, largely Chinese, has the trappings of folks from #crazyrichasians class, but they are not a part of that world, even if they imagine.

Obviously, the real world of #crazyrichasians is overwhelmingly Chinese. That's accurate. This world sometimes intersects with the world of Singaporean / Malaysian Indian merchant families, which is usually Sindhi. Not enough Asian-American criticism of #CrazyRichAsians is aware of the realities in this part of the world. Sure, Henry Golding is half white; but even that doesn't mean white privilege in the same sense you'd say that in the US. His other half is Iban, a tribe from Borneo.

There are all kinds of oppression towards Ibans, other tribals & Borneo generally. Half British, half Iban / Kadazan / other tribal group / even half Borneo Chinese is probably its own ethnic identity at this point. Traditional white privilege concepts are transferable to an extent, but not really. People talking like they're from the US or UK, i.e. not like Singaporeans? Real life #crazyrichasians talk like that! It's authentic.

They have very little to do with the lived experiences of most Singaporeans you and I know, but that's why they're the top 0.05%. This is not the world of the Chinese Singaporean friend you think is rich, who drives a car and has a condo and goes to Iceland on vacation. This is 'live in the Waldorf-Astoria for 1 year while attending an exchange program from other ivy league college' rich (true story I know). This is not your Asian-American 'be a doctor / lawyer!' world, this is a world where if you brought home a lawyer or doctor your family would probably think you were marrying down. I have little interest in real #CrazyRichAsians. I will not be watching it, because I could just open the Facebook pages of 20 friends from this world.

As an outsider, I think they all worry about the same things: love, family, and yes, even money. It's a different level of money worry, of course. It's not 'i have no more money for lunch' worry, not even 'not enough money for a Birkin' (they have 50, already). It's about debts or complex financial instruments their parents might have put them in; It's about the fear of 'coming down in the world', like we saw during the late 90s financial crisis (and my classmates grumbled about having to downgrade to a bungalow in the bad side of Bukit Timah - lol). I used to be envious of the kind of wealth I saw. Growing up in public housing, it was unfathomable. Not about material things. It was about $4000 school trips (poetry classes in the UK)

My parents: write at home. In your underwear. More inspiring. Even then I got the sense that the things they had which were intangible, unique, were not items, but access. Today, I see many of those folks in marriages they hate running businesses they hate. I don't envy their lack of 'choice'. Not being from that world, not really, I don't have to give up my dreams to run my family business; marry someone I dislike; or for women, give up my passion to run my FIL'S family office's philanthropy arm. When you have everything, something's gotta give.

Mental health, happiness, personal ambition. Then you get the worst of the Asian expectation: do only what your family wants, what will people think?

I'm sure the movie is fun. But for me, too close to home. /End

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Important to note that the downsides of being born into wealth mentioned here are applicable to families across a broad range of wealthy across borders and cultures.

Wow I didn't know the money behind Hollywood is actually Chinese money
The Chinese investor behind the production of the history-making Hollywood comedy Crazy Rich Asians will turn her attention to the lives of the country’s newly wealthy in a sequel to be set in Shanghai.


Liu Yang, head of the private equity fund China Cultural and Entertainment Fund (CCEF) which bought a stake last year in the movie’s producer SK Global, said she wanted the sequel to reflect what young Chinese care about – electronics, the internet, artificial intelligence and e-sports – to bring global audiences closer to the country’s newest and most dynamic generation.

“The sequel will truly come to China, and it has to reflect the new money. The first movie is about old money, the sequel is about new money,” Liu said in an interview. “The sequel has to link to the fresh power in China, the new consumption, the new ideas. We may even rename it ‘Shanghai Rich Girlfriends’.”

She has agreed with John Penotti, president of SK Global, that she would be heavily involved in the sequel’s production right from the conception of the screenplay. This is in contrast to a more passive role she took in the making of Crazy Rich Asians, as she said she “was not very interested” in Singapore, where the film was set.




With a budget of just US$30 million, Crazy Rich Asians – the first Hollywood film featuring an all-Asian cast in 25 years – has taken US$131 million in global box office sales since it was released in the US on August 15. It topped the US box office for three straight weekends following its release, according to Box Office Mojo, a portal tracking ticket sales.

Based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan, the film follows a young Chinese-American woman who travels to meet her boyfriend’s family and is surprised when she discovers they are among the richest in Singapore. The novel’s initial success spawned two sequels: China Rich Girlfriend in 2015 and Rich People Problems in 2017.



However Liu acknowledged that investing in China’s film market was extremely risky, as only the top 10 per cent of the over 470 movies produced in the country each year broke even and only the top 1 per cent actually made big money.

Liu previously lost money on her investment in the Chinese film The Founding of an Army, which was commissioned by the government to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army. It failed at the box office largely due to a clash of schedules with the military action blockbuster Wolf Warrior 2, which became the top-grossing film of all time in China.

After working for the state-owned investment firm Citic Group in Australia, Liu took the helm of Atlantis Investment Management in 2009. Its flagship Atlantis China Fund has recorded a 12.4 per cent annualised return rate since inception.




Liu later diversified into entertainment-focused private equity, founding CCEF with HK$1 billion (US$127.4 million) raised from her family and closest friends, and has invested in the film The Mermaid, China’s 2016 box office No 1, as well as its upcoming sequel.

SK Global was formed last March by a merger between Ivanhoe Pictures, which focuses on the Asian film market, and Hollywood studio Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.

I am not sure what the critic said of CRA is valid It might be true to AA But Chinese in SEA still definitely practice Chinese tradition and value more so than Chinese in China . A lot SEA OC when they travel to china does not see much of Chinese culture except the vestiges of old building that is mostly empty building or temple that more of a show than house of worship


‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Has Soared, but It May Not Fly in China
Image
“Crazy Rich Asians” does not yet have a release date in China. Under China’s strict quota system, a limited number of foreign films are approved for import every year and some experts are skeptical about the movie’s chances there.CreditCreditSanja Bucko/Warner Bros. Entertainment, via Associated Press
By Amy Qin
Sept. 6, 2018
HONG KONG — “Crazy Rich Asians,” the first major Hollywood studio release in 25 years with an all-Asian cast, has been hailed as a breakthrough in the United States, one that has . It has been dominating in other markets with large ethnic Chinese populations as well, including Taiwan and , where the film is set.

With its cast of mostly ethnic Chinese characters, a soundtrack featuring a number of Chinese artists and story notes that emphasize Chinese culture, it would also seem assured of success in China, the world’s second largest film market, which is playing a growing role in Hollywood’s calculations. The movie even opens with a quote from Napoleon: “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.”

And yet the film has not resonated with the “sleeping giant” and may not even be released there. Reached for comment this week, John Penotti, one of the film’s producers, said the application for official release in China was “still ongoing.”

Under China’s strict quota system, a limited number of foreign films are approved for import every year and some experts are skeptical about the movie’s chances. The depictions of profligate spending and vast wealth inequality in “Crazy Rich Asians,” they say, might not sit well with Chinese officials amid the country’s growing push for positive “.”

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, a Chinese website (compared to an audience approval score of 86 percent on

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). One Douban reviewer compared the viewing experience to the pleasant surprise of “finding a decent dish in a popular American Chinatown restaurant.” Another panned it, calling the movie “crazy stereotypical.”

Dong Ming, a Shanghai film critic, said: “Maybe the content of the film wouldn’t get censored but it’s a question of whether the film would even be popular in China.”

“Chinese people really dislike this kind of westernized Chinese culture,” he added, comparing the movie to American Chinese food staples like General Tso’s chicken and fortune cookies. “The flavor is not authentic.”


The stark contrast speaks to the wide gap between the mainland Chinese experience and the Chinese diaspora experience — and in particular, the experience of ethnic Chinese communities who are minority populations in Western countries.

In America, many Asian-Americans have spoken out about the emotional impact of feeling represented onscreen in a major Hollywood film.


·

You’re 20 years old.
You’ve spent the past several years repatriating yourself. You get your family’s name inked into your skin. That character is there forever. You won’t let anyone make you feel the way you did all those years ago. You love being Chinese.


You’re 25 years old.
You see a movie with an all-asian cast at a screening and for some reason you’re crying and you can’t stop. You’ve never seen a cast like this in Hollywood. Everyone is beautiful.
You’re so happy you’re Chinese.



. “I want all of them to have an anthem that makes them feel as beautiful as your words and melody made me feel when I needed it most.”

to exert influence over China’s diaspora communities run the risk of falling flat or igniting a backlash that would only see them drifting further away.

“Crazy Rich Asians” showed “Chineseness at its most potent,” said Ying Zhu, a professor of cinema studies at City University of New York. By evoking a more nuanced vision of diaspora culture, she added, the film “galvanized the diaspora Chinese in a way that the mainland film industry — under the tight grip of the Communist Party — has not been able to deliver.”

The challenge of navigating complex racial sensitivities on both sides of the Pacific was again evident in 2016 with the release of “The Great Wall,” the high-profile, China-Hollywood coproduction. The decision to cast Matt Damon in the lead role was by Asian-American actors as “white savior complex ” and “whitewashing,” referring to the practice of casting white actors in roles originally conceived as Asian or nonwhite.

Filmmakers were caught off-guard by the criticism. In their mind, the film, if anything, was conceived as an effort to avoid another diversity problem: pandering.

Chinese audiences had become irritated with Hollywood studios for perfunctorily dropping Chinese actors and Chinese elements into movies in what appeared to be a blatant effort to pander to moviegoers. Making a movie with a mostly Chinese cast that was set in China was meant to solve that problem.

To many in China, where audiences are accustomed to seeing Chinese stars on screen, the concept of whitewashing was completely foreign. They may have shared a common goal — to see more meaningful movie roles for ethnically Asian actors — but their reasons for wanting it were totally different.

explaining the whitewashing controversy in the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper.

There is, however, at least one area of cultural exchange that seems to be resonating with both mainland Chinese and the diaspora population in North America. Chinese up-and-coming hip-hop artists and rappers are finding crossover success, with substantial and growing fan bases both in China and abroad.

The “Crazy Rich Asians” soundtrack features one of those artists, an up-and-coming female rapper named Vava.
"My New Swag" by Vava.CreditCreditVideo by 華納音樂 Warner Music Taiwan Official