The film Crazy Rich Asians was released a few months ago,
and it was quite successful,
and performed really well at the box office.
In this video
I'm going to tell you how Crazy Rich Asians
is not really about Asians,
but just about Crazy Rich people.
The film has what you can say, a mediocre plot.
A rich man loves a poor woman.
They are both Asians, living in America.
The man takes the woman to his hometown, Singapore,
to introduce her to his crazy rich family.
The family obviously disapproves of the woman, because
she is a poor Asian American
who has no understanding of how the rich live.
But the woman is a fighter,
and because of her sheer authenticity
she wins everybody's heart, and gets married to the guy
Conflict solved.
Oh, and this entire thing is
set in rich luxurious houses,
and all the people wear filthy expensive clothes,
and are drowning in dazzling jewelry, and drive
posh high-end cars,
and the women are gorgeous to look at,
and the men have hot bodies,
and there are innumerable parties,
and it seems like a lot of money is thrown around in these parties,
and it's all such a grand celebration of
the wealth and the excesses these crazy rich people possess.
So, how is this film about Asians?
You can replace the cast of the film
with people from any other nationality
and absolutely nothing's going to change about the film.
Crazy rich Americans.
Crazy rich Russians.
Crazy rich Indians.
Crazy rich Slovenians.
Crazy Rich Hungarians.
Sure the location would change,
and a few things here and there about the culture.
But other than that,
the core theme of the film will still be same –
a celebration of all the riches in the world,
so that the common person,
who is basically a regular everyday citizen
earning an average income,
which is almost everybody in the world,
would be enticed to spend their money on buying a ticket for the film.
It's a film, that uses the the evergreen formula of
most blockbusters:
sell the audience a dream,
that they can escape into.
A dream that is so so far off
from their everyday common lives.
If this was truly an Asian film,
then I would have liked to see something about the life
of the poor Asian American woman.
What sort of challenges she faces in a society
that is riddled with discrimination.
And how she goes about tackling those challenges.
Or perhaps I would have liked to learn
more about the crazy rich Asian guy.
What sort of challenges he faced
while growing up in a society that
worships material wealth.
Or maybe when when he moved to America,
what was his condition?
Did he face as much discrimination as the
poor Asian American woman,
or were the Americans nice to him because he was crazy rich.
I wanted to see a film about real humans
struggling and fighting and accepting real human challenges.
Not a film about Barbie-doll characters
living in a Barbie-doll fantasy world
with their plastic conflicts that feel so fake.
Sure, the film features an ensemble Asian cast,
and sure Asians are an underrepresented race in Hollywood.
So this film is doing something quote unquote good
by casting Asians in it.
But will films like these
encourage humans to treat other fellow humans
from different races with love and respect and dignity?
Will films like these instill men and women with a spirit
that endeavors for equality and
sees the same living organism in each and every person
regardless of their cast and creed and race and gender?
I am not very sure about it.
Let me give you an example.
If you are not an Asian, and you are listening to my voice,
do you find something different about my accent?
If you do, what does that make you feel?
Do you consider me to be a human that is equal to you.
Or do you find yourself getting too caught up
with my how my accent sounds
and how it's not as good and superior as yours?
Or maybe let me put this another way.
If I were to speak like this,
would you be more willing to listen to what I am saying?
Would you be more willing
to let go of your pre-conceived notions
and judgments you have about Asian people?
If I were to speak like this,
would you be more willing to listen to what I am saying?
Would you be more willing
to let go of your pre-conceived notions
and judgments you have about Asian people?
Don't give me an answer right now.
Just let that question rest inside of you.
What I'm trying to say is that
these are the subtle questions
that films need to address about racial discrimination and about
gender discrimination and about body discrimination
and about all other sorts of discrimination.
That, in my humble opinion,
is definitely a better way in moving towards
a human consciousness
that delights in the equality of one and all.
I'm sorry to say, but
I feel that films like Crazy Rich Asians
are just cashing in
on the anti-racism sentiments that exist in our society.
They do very little to educate us
of the discriminatory behavior that exists
in all of us.
When I am watching a film like this,
I'm not really learning anything about myself.
I am very sure that I have shown
discriminatory behavior towards people based on their race.
Yes, I have been a racist.
I have done it because of my ignorance
and my lack of awareness about this issue.
And I expect films to make me aware of my own ignorance
so that I can become more conscious of myself
and then use that awareness to deal respectfully with other people.
While watching Crazy Rich Asians, nothing like this happened.
It just felt like another trashy film,
but with Asian characters in it.
Old wine in a new bottle.
I haven't seen Black Panther yet,
but from the reviews I have read,
I feel it has a similar problem.
It just has Black people in it.
The same way
It just has Asian people in it.
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