I have recently been pretty crazy about Crazy Rich Asians and really
inspired by the interviews and all. Here's one with our very own Datuk
Michelle Yeoh.
Yes, here I am. I have watched the movie and to be frank, I LOVED IT!! I know the story isn’t great but how many great stories are there? It’s the way of telling the story that matters. Crazy Rich Asians (CRA) is a huge step taken to actually show the world how does the Asian culture look like, the Chinese mindset of family, the South East Asian family setting. This is something to be appreciated not to be shunted aside because the story of a rich boy in love with a poor girl is lame.
The reason I am writing this is that when I saw the movie, I was really excited and proud that it’s a Hollywood film made out of an all Asian cast. It has been 25 years since the Joy Luck Club, which I actually never heard of until I started to gain interest and started following interviews of actors from the Asian descent working in showbiz, I will do more research on it later, I promise. I was very happy and excited that the story was not only about Asians but specifically the South East Asians.. Which is ME!! I’m not crazy rich, nor rich maybe a little crazy but people out there will be seeing the colours of MY life, people who have zero knowledge about how I grew up and what I was taught, this is something that I could show. You watched CRA? Well, that’s somewhat my life minus the “rich” part. We were taught that family is very important and whatever that comes along the way, the family will still be the first priority. I have friends and family around me thinking that this is just some lame rom-com that is not worth their time. You can’t imagine how angry I was when someone told me that they would rather spend their money on a movie that is more “worthy”. Like, how is this not worthy?? It’s an American Production with an all Asian cast AND!!!! There are TWO, not ONE but TWO Malaysians in the main casts. As an Asian, A Chinese Asian, A Malaysian Chinese.. How could you not support something like this?? Especially within this period that we are feeling exceptionally more patriotic and with the new Malaysian coming along. I would say, there are a lot who are still not open-minded enough to accept the term “NEW”.
I admit that the storyline is not great. We Asians are immune to this kind of love stories where a rich boy loves a poor girl, rich boy’s mother don’t like the poor girl, finds ways to kick the poor girl away and in the end, Love conquers all and everybody lived happily ever after. Right, that’s the story (Spoilers alerts, sorry too late) but anyway, I believe 90% of the people already knew how the ending would be, of course it’s gonna be a happy ending, it’a a rom-com. But have you noticed the details along the way?? More Spoilers!
When Nick brought Rachel back home, he decided to introduce her during his grandma’s Tan Hwa blooming party, all his relatives will be there. See that? We love celebrations and gatherings, a small event to get the family together is part of our culture, even something as small as a flower blooming (although it’s a rare occasion) is still the excuse to bring everybody together, to meet new people joining the family (Rachel).
When Nick met his mom and his grandma after spending a long time abroad, the words that greeted him was “you need a haircut”, “you look unkempt”, “you look so thin”, “you need to eat more”… Which are exactly what most of us get when our family sees us after a while. Of course, I always love to hear people telling me that I have lost weight even when I did not.
The Dumpling making session was also great, reminds me of the time my family will get together to make Tang Yuan as we chit chat and catch up along the process. The little “theories” that were made to make the steps easier to remember, like Nick’s tucking the baby into bed or Oli’s “injecting botox into the face” were the cute details of what kept them together.
Nick’s room being exactly the way it is before he left is a symbol of how family will always welcome you back home regardless how you have changed or where you have been. His bed was always freshly made and his clothes were ironed every 2 weeks. It’s like no matter where you go, no matter how you have settled, there’s still a place you can call home where you can go back to anytime.
Peik Lin’s family being very tight together. Her parents are delighted to meet her friend Rachel and how they compared Rachel’s achievements with their own daughter and their own daughter will never be good enough but they are still very proud of her. When Peik Lin was doing Rachel’s makeover for Colin’s wedding, her parents kept barging in to provide opinions and join the fun. It’s a really cute scene to watch. And, the part where they are trying to tell their son that Rachel makes a good wife candidate. I don’t know about you, but it feels so warm and fuzzy.
Then, there’s Astrid. How she was thought to maintain her image as a well-educated woman. She will not cause a scene even after finding out that her husband is cheating on her. She will still present herself elegantly without showing the slight signs of distress. Which is like how the Chinese will say “we shall never show the ugly side of family 家丑不可外扬”. And her grandma stood by her and went to the wedding together because her husband walked out of her. Despite being someone who doesn’t attend events, her grandma showed her love by standing by her side in public as her support and a cover for the scandal.
And of course, the mahjong game which has so much details within that few minutes, there’s an article about it so I won’t go through it in detailed. Click it to read. The part where Eleanor (side track, why does rich mother in laws always has to be called Eleanor??) does not approve Rachel as Nick’s future wife because of her background and Rachel trying to reason why she’s the perfect wife for Nick but she will not stand between his family. Typical but deep.
There are still so many things that I would want to write about but I might end up telling the whole story. But, my point is, you should be appreciating the movie not because it’s storyline or whether or not it has a bombastic plot but to see the subtle details that portray some part of your life, something that you could relate to is now on the big screens showing to the people all over the world. We Asians find it hard to understand how important this is because, we see it on our big screens every day. We could relate to those so why should we make a big fuss of CRA? Well, because it is reaching a wider vast of audience. It’s like how we watch American movies and see how their lives and culture are different from ours, this time it’s the other way round.
So, why are people still saying it’s a waste of time and money??
