Saw #CrazyRichAsians this week. Folks who know me know how underrated I think film/tv is in its impact in a culturally deterministic world. Representation matters in so many ways conscious and not. Please go see it next weekend!
I’m not crazy rich, nor a romantic comedy guy, but the main story arc is actually about that strange cultural limbo of being Asian-American: not living up to the standards of your ethnic heritage, nor being fully valued by the society you grow up in.
And how there is peace in realizing just how damn good you are.
The soundtrack is smart, reinforcing the themes of the film by fusing Eastern and Western styles. Made me nostalgic for a cultural home that only exists in my mind. The costumes are cray. The crazy rich people are, as they tend to be, cray.
It’s absurd that each of just a handful of Asian-American films in my lifetime is treated as a referendum on whether our stories are worth telling, but I’m not naive to how Hollywood works.
Thankfully, things are changing. With China as the world largest film market, at some point pure market demand will overwhelm the inefficiency in Hollywood’s tiny cabal of gatekeepers.
Also, as Star Wars continues to underperform in China, we keep approaching the logical next addition to the franchise: Asian martial arts Jedi. Let’s be honest, with the exception of Darth Maul, the Jedi/Sith to date have been amateurs with a light saber.
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