The first all Asian Hollywood cast movie in 25 years topped the box office for three weekends in a row. No one quite predicted this degree of success because at surface level it seems to be just one more rom-com, meet-the-parents type film. To fully grasp the gravitation toward this box office biggie it’s necessary to understand pop culture’s norms when it comes to Asians in Hollywood.
Think of a favorite Asian character. Are they a skilled fighter or samurai master such as Mulan, Cottonmouth from Kill Bill, or Mister Miyagi in The Karate Kid? Or maybe they are as hyper-intelligent as Lane Kim from Gilmore Girls? For the majority of Hollywood history the roles for Asians were limited, undeveloped, and often far from reality.
Recent productions such as ABC’s series Fresh Off the Boat and Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before have cast roles that Asian Americans can actually relate to. Now, the first new age Asian film to hit the big theater, Crazy Rich Asians, is sweeping American viewers off their feet.
Many students at PV don’t know what it’s like to be a minority in America or what it means in regard to Hollywood. A Korean American Senior at PV, Jeanelle Cho expressed “I don’t even try to identify with it (Hollywood) because I don’t expect Asians to be in Hollywood productions. I definitely don’t think there are enough movies with strong Asian portrayals- there are some, and it is getting better but looking back at the movies or shows I have watched recently there are very few.” Jeanelle has seen Crazy Rich Asians and commends the breaking away from typical Asian stereotypes. “There were multiple characters, that were all Asians, that came from different backgrounds and social statuses.”
She also enjoyed the Asian family dynamics and traditions portrayed in the film and how the cultures interacted with one another. The movie follows New Yorker Rachel Chu as she travels to meet her boyfriend’s family in Singapore. Ensues a cultural clash between modern middle-class America and the old money and extravagance of the Young family.
One of the lead actresses, Gemma Chan said in an interview, “So often the universal experience is assumed to be white. (This film) shows it doesn’t have to be. You can identify whatever your background, ethnicity, race or class.” It goes without saying, the audiences drawn to the theaters are not only Asian Americans. Hollywood is entering a new age where a character’s race does not necessarily play a pivotal role; not all kung fu masters have to be Asian, and not all rom-coms must feature white couples. Stereotypes become obsolete as our world grows smaller and people realize similarities are absolutely more common than differences.
Filmmakers want to tell the human story. Asian Americans can identify with the characters from Crazy Rich Asians because they are real characters, not stereotypes adapted to a plot. After this unprecedented success of the first modern Asian classic, audiences can expect more hitting theaters soon.
