For my daughter and I, Crazy Rich Asians was more than just an Asian American film. It was a women’s film featuring mothers. Shortly before my daughter moved to Tokyo last fall, she stopped by our home in St. Paul and suggested that we see this film together at our neighborhood theater. After the film she said, “Nobody told me this was a mother-daughter film! I’m so glad I came to see this movie with you. I will never forget this!” When we were leaving the theater, a white woman in the lobby noticed that my daughter had tears in her eyes. She said rather sarcastically, “I’m sorry this movie made you feel sad.” My daughter told her: “I don’t think you understand how I feel….”
Her tears were complicated. Obviously, she had tears in her eyes not because she was sad but rather because she was happy, somewhat amazed and even relieved to see the big screen filled with Asian American actors. She is a bilingual and bicultural citizen living in two worlds, Japan and the U.S. She can always get her fix of Asian culture through Japanese TV, etc. But like me, she knows she can’t avoid meeting people who are very ignorant about Asia. She is frustrated about the lack of representation of Asian Americans in American media that has been contributing to more biases and prejudices against Asian Americans.
I remember that Constance Wu said in a TV interview, “We grow up without seeing us on TV. In this film, Asians are kissing. We never see such scenes on screens.” My daughter and I understand what Constance means. As Ken Jeong said to Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show, “This film was not just a movie, it was a movement!”
Yes, it is also an Asian American women’s movement on film. The women in Crazy Rich Asians are powerful. Nick’s mother Eleanor (Michel Yeoh) was strong. On a very stormy rainy night she and her children arrived at a fancy London hotel, but they were not allowed to stay because they were Asian. She called her husband and had him buy the hotel for them to stay. She showed that Crazy Rich Asian money could blow away racism. Eleanor was a traditionally strong mother out to protect her son, and she was a dedicated daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law, played by the 91-year-old veteran actress, Lisa Liu.
Rachel (Constance Wu) is not the Hollywood movie stereotype of the stereotypical Asian American woman, either. She is a professor of economics at NYU, specializing in Game Theory. Right after Eleanor’s episode at the hotel, the film cuts to Rachel in her classroom at NYU. She is defeating a student in a poker game and says, “The key is playing to win, instead of trying not to lose.”
Toward the end of the movie, her expertise at games resurfaced in the mahjong scene — the climactic scene between Rachel and Eleanor. Rachel asked Eleanor to come to the mahjong house to talk. Rachel knows that Eleanor despises her as an Asian American immigrant in New York, a low-class citizen with a single mother. Eleanor doesn’t want her to marry Nick. Aggressively playing a game that both learned from their mothers, they were engaged in an intensive conversation.
At the peak moment, Rachel was about to win with an “8-bamboo” tile, but she decided to give it to Eleanor to let her win. Rachel chose to lose instead of winning because she knew that’s the way to win as a poor immigrant from America. Instead of thinking about winning, Eleanor made the same mistake as the student back in the NYU classroom – she was trying not to lose (her son). In a sort of martial art spirit, where the victor simply guides the aggression of the opponent, Rachel won the conversation by allowing Eleanor to win the game. Rachel wanted to tell her that she could give up the 8-bamboo tile (meaning Nick) to lose on behalf of Eleanor’s happiness. Number 8 is a symbol of happiness and prosperity in Asia. By choosing to lose in the game, Rachel actually won Eleanor’s heart. As soon as Rachel turned over all over the tiles to show her hand, Eleanor was surprised to see that Rachel was poised to win – if she had used the 8 tile that she surrendered to Eleanor. Rachel is a professional with a great job in New York. Nick wants to move to New York with her.
Rachel’s mother Kerry was strong, too, running away from her abusive husband. Rachel was shocked that Kerry didn’t tell her about her past. She learned from Nick’s mother the truth about her father and mother. Rachel was upset at first, but she forgave her mother. Rachel’s mother came to Singapore to meet her to reunite a relationship between a mother and daughter.
Nick’s cousin Astrid (Gemma Chan) was such a cool figure, giving up her relationship with her fiancé who got into a love affair with somebody else and considering him as an inferior figure. In Crazy Rich Asians, women are resilient and free. They are optimistic and humorous, even when making dumplings together.
Awkwafina’s role as Peik Lin was amazingly unique and innovative. Rachel, having grown up in America, is disconnected with Chinese history. I liked the scene where Peik Lin grabbed a fashion bag from her closet, and used the bag’s illustrated global map to show Rachel how Chinese merchants came to Singapore to invest in real estate. Crazy Rich Asians depicted Peik Lin and Rachel as contemporary global women representing a powerful young generation who live in two worlds – Asia and America. It is great to see how two distinct people with Asian backgrounds can get together so well. Crazy Rich Asians presents an emerging global Asia in America through new types of Asian and Asian American women.
© 2019 The Jazz Solution. All rights are reserved.