Crazy Rich Asians is a romantic comedy film produced by Hollywood based on Kevin Kwan’s best selling book of the same title.  This is the first film in 25 years that all cast members are Asian-Americans.  The director of the film is Jon Chu. The film centers on a love story between Rachel and Nick, two American college professors who travel to Singapore to attend Nick’s friend’s wedding. The drama starts with Rachel meeting Nick’s Young family in Singapore for the first time.

        As the story unfolds, we see the themes of love, friendship, family, individual freedom, class and money and a series of clashes of cultures and values, such as tradition vs individual freedom, incredibly wealthy class vs prudent working class, native vs foreign.  As Rachel and Nick pursue their freedom of love, they face disapproval of Nick’s mother, Eleanor and rejection from Nick’s family.  Nick’s controlling mother wants Nick to take over the family empire and put the family first as a duty of a son of an Asian family. She thinks Nick should sacrifice his love for the family as she sacrificed her own desires for the family.  Nick was torn between the two women but finally chooses  love - Rachel. Eleanor disproves the marriage also because she thinks Rachel is not a match for Nick because she cannot be a dutiful wife and she does not belong to the aristocratic Young family for her “lower” social status.  She has hires a personal investigator and finds that Rachel’s single mother was an immigrant to America and is a “nobody” possessing nothing in her opinion.  The contrasting scenes of the dazzlingly extravagant welcome home party in Singapore and the apartment of Ms. Chu, Rache’s mother illustrate the conflicts between the wealthy and working class families.  Eleanor says to Rachel openly, “You will never be good enough.”  Not only Rachel is rejected by Nick’s mother and family, but she is also discriminated for her foreigner background because she grows up in America even thought she is of Asian race.  Peik Lin, her college friend in New York, describes her as white inside and yellow outside.  She is an “Asian” but does not fit in to the native Asian family in Singapore. Singaporeans view her as a foreigner.  She is ridiculed by Nick’s family friends. One of the girls leaves a gutted dead fish on her bed at a party and says, “Catch this, you goldigging b*tch.” Nevertheless, love triumphs in the end.  You have to fight for your freedom and true love.

        This film is a good cultural study material for language and social studies.  I would use this film to teach languages around the themes of love, friendship, family, individual freedom, class and money.  Students can do comparison between cultures and values in Asia and America and write about their views on the issues revealed in the film.  Students may also conduct research on the family traditions in Asian countries and write an essay on selected topics.  Additionally, they can give a group presentation on their research and result.  Some of the topics for discussions may be:

• What are the similarities and differences between the characters? (choose two)
• American culture is seen as prioritizing ambition, happiness, and the pursue of  love while the Asian culture is shown as family first and a son is expected to sacrifice himself for the family.  What are your view of each philosophy? Do you agree or not and why?
• What do the contrasting scenes of luxury Young family party and Rachel’s working class family reveal about the class system in the Asian society? What can you do to bridge the gap of inequality in your community?
• What’s your feedback on Peik Lin’s remark to Rachel: “You are white inside and yellow outside.” and Rachel’s response, “I am so Chinese; I grew up to be an economics professor with a lactose intolerance.”  What racial or cultural conflicts do this conversation reveal?
• Crazy Rich Asians is the first Hollywood film that has all Asian-American cast in the past 25 years.  Why does it matter?  Why does the representation matter in Hollywood?