The facade is Asian but the heart of this movie is American.
One of the movie’s highlights includes a mahjong scene. Its significance is perhaps not lost among Asians.
Rachel Chu purposely gives up her concealed “chow” (set of three tiles with consecutive numbers) and Nick Young’s mother wins the game.
In a matriarchal Asian family, the queen of the household is often given deference. So, this scene tries to convey Rachel’s consideration for Nick’s family. In Asia, marrying a man usually means getting along with his whole family as well.
There has been a lot of buzz about the movie’s box office success and what it means to Asian-Americans. It is touted as a movie that generally represents Asians in Hollywood since the cast looks mostly Asian.
While the case for Asian representation may be a step forward from a business perspective, it is also important to understand the movie’s overall message and what values it wishes to convey or teach.
The lead characters Nick and Rachel espouse the liberal American lifestyle that includes sleeping together and kissing in public. In many parts of Asia, this kind of behavior is not acceptable. In certain Asian cultures, there is also a ritual for courtship and marriage. The way that Americans define love may not necessarily apply to Asian sensibilities.
The film depicts a typical onscreen American love story or what others would call a Cinderella story. Clearly, the movie has some loose threads that need to be tied up.
For example, it is not apparent how a tourist like Rachel suddenly decides to meet Nick’s mother in the mahjong place with two deaf women beside them, discussing about the most private things. If you were talking to your future mother-in-law about intimate details, I don’t think you would want anyone in the room, no matter how deaf or mute they are.
It is also surprising that Rachel Chu seems unaffected by the immense wealth of her boyfriend.
Nick also seemed too ready to give up everything for Rachel, including his fortune. Plus, he wears his heart on his sleeve. In reality, many Asian men don’t reveal their emotions openly (definitely not while boarding a plane) and they will not just give up their inherited wealth, unless perhaps the relationship has already been tested with fire for many years.
So in this regard, the movie seems to have applied the American formula for a love story using Asia society as a backdrop. Plus, the lead characters are genuinely Americanized Asians.
The movie skimmed through a few food and wealth scenes but did not elaborate on culture and arts. Apart from a feature on dumplings and hawker food stalls, the famous chilli crab or one of Singapore’s festivals could have been included. I don’t recall seeing those at length.
The story is not realistic and had a lot of unanswered questions. Rating it from a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest), I would give the movie a 3 (average).
MTRCB rating: PG-13
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Other stories:
Crazy Rich Asians rated PG-13 for obscene wealth...
https://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2018/08/crazy-rich-asians-rated-pg-13-for.html
Insanely Rich Pinoys...
https://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2018/08/crazy-rich-asians-rated-pg-13-for.html
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The movie was highly reminiscent of our recent visit to Singapore. Sharing some stories here.
The memorable chilli crab...
https://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2018/05/singapores-chili-crab-origin-traced.html
Chicken rice hawker stalls...
https://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2018/03/singapores-chicken-rice-tian-tian-vs-ah.html
And not to forget, Chinatown...
https://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2018/07/chinatown-singapore-is-worth-visit.html
