Crazy Rich Asians

[Ruth Hickman]

I think that the film “Crazy Rich Asians” was so amazing that I was moved to tears and felt so emotional throughout this beautifully shot film! To me the film was just as important for Asian Americans as my favorite Asian movie “The Joy Luck Club”. Just as my black community supported the film “Black Panther” by renting out entire theaters to broaden the film's reach, prominent Asians did the same. The Korean-American singer Eric Nam and his brothers helped the film based on the famous novel of the same title written by Kevin Kwan achieve a “gold open” with a grand initiative! He rented out the entire theater in Atlanta, Georgia specifically the one he and his brothers go to during weekends  for a screening of the film “Crazy Rich Asians”. Eric dropped the news and he invited his fans via Instagram on a post for a free screening of “Crazy Rich Asians” on August 16 at 6 PM. 

The film “Crazy Rich Asians” stars Constance Wu as Rachel Chu, an Asian-American professor at New York University who visits Singapore to meet her boyfriend's relatives, only to realize they make up one of the wealthiest families in Asia. The movie follows her struggles to win the approval of the family's matriarch and fit in with the crazy rich Asians. My favorite part of the film is when Rachel Chu is visited by her mother and we learn her mothers truth of what really happened with her father and how she was conceived.

Many people are comparing both films “Black Panther” and “Crazy Rich Asians” because both films show that diversity pays off and that people of color want to see more of themselves in Hollywood. The comic book epic, which starred a predominantly black cast and featured a black director, sparked a wave of black pride. For months after the film premiered, fans performed the WaKanda Forever poses all over social media. Crazy Rich Asians is also based on a book, a best-selling novel published in 2013 by Kevin Kwan. 

As a black woman that worked in Hollywood for over several years, I always noticed the lack of diversity on a production crew and knew the need to have people of color at the table. I never understood how so many European writers, directors, producers could write, direct, produce for shows that had people of color, how could they speak with a voice of color and really be authentic. Overall, I hope that “Crazy Rich Asians” success sparks a new level of acceptance for Asians in Hollywood. Watching beautiful Asians, Blacks and people of color in a movie should always be the norm because America has always been a country of people of color and diverse. 

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