Thank You, Constance Wu

Feelings, thoughts, and important takeaways about Asian-/American representation

• *This post is about the critically-acclaimed film, “Cr*zy Rich Asians,” with some spoilers, intersectional rants, and a strong emphasis on racial oppression, critical race theory, and representation in Hollwood and POC communities. A hoe finally saw the film after reading the original novel, so please read below for an important message about the movie. This post may also be emotionally-charged, so don’t come for me unless I send for you. If you have a problem with this, then let’s talk about it. But please read. Very important stuff!!!**

So, first thing’s first: I started crying just a few minutes into the movie. I started crying because it was such an odd feeling to see people of color (especially Asian/-American actors) on a mainstream silver screen. I started crying because while I didn’t exactly see myself on screen, I saw members of the Asian community, a racial community I identify with, on a screen that everyone gazed at in a local AMC theatre. I started crying because I was watching a mainstream, Asian-casted movie by myself and not with a hundred-something Filipinos in one small movie theatre in Cerritos, watching a Pinoy blockbuster that trekked from the Philippines because the movie wouldn’t show anywhere else in Southern California.

I wasn’t too fond of the “Cr*zy Rich Asians” trailer when it first came out — I honestly overlooked it because I was caught up in articles upon articles about the lack of representation in the movie on behalf of brown-skin folks. In my head, I didn’t want to watch a movie that was both lauded as a step in Asian representation, but criticized for its discriminatory potentialities.

But, like all forms of art (movies are no exception), my friends and peers gave both positive, negative, and skeptical reviews that made me want to read the book before I watched the movie so I could enter the discussion. So, like any other person out in the world who still buys a paperback from Barnes & Noble, I bought the book and after reading 527 pages of Kwan’s extravagant characters, I watched the movie by myself.

It was the moment that Eleanor Young bought a hotel for her family that I started to cry, especially when white people unfairly disbarred her from checking into a hotel that she obviously reserved. It was the moment that I saw Rachel Chu lecture about game theory at NYU that I started to cry. It was the moment that I started to process the movie in my head when Rachel and Nick first arrived in Singapore that, “damn, Hollywood actually wrote Asian characters/protagonists for Asian actors and wrote them as actual human beings with human feelings instead of being a part of a monolith.”

To all the social justice elites, individuals confused about the film, social justice elite heffers, anyone who’s on the fence about the film, or anyone who did or did not watch it: we live in a wild world built on supremacy and dominance. With technologies, like race and gender, supremacists have managed to use identities to delineate power and create structures of racism, sexism, heterosexism, etc., bleeding these negative sentiments into our communities and circles. I don’t know much about Singapore. I know that “Cr*zy Rich Asians” doesn’t depict Singapore accurately and only confirms Thanapal’s “Chinese supremacy,” but I bet the same rhetoric Chinese supremacy uses are similar to the white supremacy rhetoric used here in the West. America claims to be a bordering nation for those who seek freedom, liberty, and happiness, but on certain conditions that follow a white supremacist, capitalist agenda. White people “built” America on the backs of POC (taking land away from First Nation tribes, using African/-American/Afro-Americans/Black folks as a way to emphasize their power as well as establish a long and powerful institution of racial oppression through slavery then Reconstruction then Jim Crow Laws then a historical continuance of police brutality, and exploiting Asians and Latinx folks for their bodies in exchange for meager pay and lack of safety, amongst other POC communities out there). I haven’t read much on Chinese supremacy, but the same may go for them in Singapore — the discrimination, exploitation, and racist attitudes towards individuals with less than or are darker than the norm/elite is not new globally and is historically transnational.

While the film may potentially perpetuate the larger systems and messages you seek to deconstruct and battle on a magnified level, “Cr*zy Rich Asians” does a lot more that you may or may not be appreciating. For starters, writers actually wrote Asian characters with human qualities and struggles for Asian actors. Let me say that again: THIS IS AN ORIGINAL MOVIE THAT SPECIFICALLY WROTE ASIAN CHARACTERS FOR ASIAN/-AMERICANS. In the last 25 years of Hollywood film, it finally occurred to (white) producers that Asians are human beings, too.

Yes, it is a light-skinned cast. Yes, not all Asians look like the cast in the movie. And yes, there are problems of anti-blackness, colorism, and a few recycled stereotypes that have long been used by (white) writers in Hollywood history, but this was the first (mainstream) movie that I have seen where the female protagonist is both Asian and is not docile, submissive, or a concubine, but is AMBITIOUS, SMART, TALENTED, COURAGEOUS, AND BRAVE IN THE FACE OF ACTUAL HUMAN OBSTACLES. This is the first movie where I have seen Asian men (while potentially perpetuating a hegemonic, toxic masculine standard for physique) ARE NOT FEMINIZED OR ASEXUALIZED BECAUSE THEY ARE BOTH ASIAN AND ARE MALE. This is the first movie where Asians are seen as individuals who seek love, happiness, and are not at the foot of other people. While, there are Gurkhas and maids who are brown-skinned and serve light-skinned people, let’s remind ourselves that white Hollywood produced this film and that there are several other films where brown bodies are used and seen to serve the light (*cough* any movie starring a white protagonist on the backdrop of POC, The Help, 50 First Dates, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, any other movie on Netflix)

And this is exactly my point: people who produced this movie are going to want to produce what they want to see, to not contradict their own power and to make more money. But, in the context of Trump’s presidency, growing tension within and outside of identity politics, racial oppression (all in the West, I must emphasize), this is a big step for mainstream audience members to acknowledge the existence of Asian/-Americans as human beings who have feelings, emote, and can rise above all things and are not just rail road construction workers.

On top of all of this, look AT FUCKING ASTRID. In Kwan’s original novel, she promises to wait for Michael to come back to her. But in this version, Astrid respects her own worth and takes her child, Cassian, with her in the face of humiliation because of her pending divorce and her husband having an affair. Astrid moves out of Michael’s flat instead of being the one to stay in it, like in most archetypal broken marriages, and emphasizes that SHE, A WOMAN, CANNOT MAKE SOMEONE A MAN –ESPECIALLY WHEN HE ISN’T ONE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

And in relation to the topic of SELF-RESPECT AND WOMEN, RACHEL FUCKING CHU went off on Eleanor Young in that game of mahjong, making a point to Young about how despite her unorthodox upbringing, she made a name for herself that she is proud of and she respects. She also initially leaves her assigned male counterpart instead of choosing to stay with him because she knows it will hurt his relationship with his family. This is a smart, talented, beautiful, intelligent Asian woman who fucking did that.

Seeing how far Latinx folks have come, seeing how far Black folks have come, especially Black women and Black trans people, it is so refreshing to see that Asians are now joining hands with other POC. It is so nice to be able to see Asians cross the fence and, yes, only put a toe in the direction that other POC are going in. A movie can only do so much and there will always be contention because people feel like it’s not doing enough.

But what this movie has done is give those who feel like they aren’t being represented enough the hope that they can be a part of this business, that they can transform this traditionally white industry into one that acknowledges POC as human beings and are capable of being more than a monolith, and that we can do more. Yes, this movie isn’t the radical win for Asian representation, but in the context of how far other POC communities have gone, the racial climate, and how Asians are reproduced with stigmas and stereotypes, “Cr*zy Rich Asians” does a lot more than you know if you take the time to appreciate what it’s done as opposed to solely focusing on the potential ramifications it poses.

I am studying Drama at the University of California, Irvine, and I am utterly terrified of this business, this career, and the craft of acting because of my race, ethnicity, skin, and just who I am. Every time I walk around other (white, white-passing) actors, I know they look at my skin and associate me with the lack of Asian roles out there in the world. There are no classical and powerful shows (e.g. “Hamlet,” “The Importance of Being Earnest,” “Hamilton”) where there is a character written specifically for an Asian, unless you count railroad workers and slipshod caricatures brought in from “the Orient.” I have anxiety and apprehension about where my future will take me because I am afraid of being signified by how other people define me through the framework of my race and ethnicity.

(Important note: I will never be able to imagine or feel the intensity of what it must be like for Black folks, especially intelligent and beautiful Black women and Black trans individuals, to hustle for their worth and make a career out of acting. Amongst those who are oppressed, Black transwomen are among those who suffer the most alarming rate of discrimination, violence, and murder. The taste of the fear of putting yourself out there because of the color of your skin is horrible, and in my case, that taste comes from being an Asian-American. But for Black folks, Black women, and Black trans folks — their resilience, magic, and power are the reasons I am an ally to them and I don’t take my privileges lightly, especially when it comes to this.)

While, yes, I don’t see myself on the mainstream silver screen, represented by this light-skinned Asian cast, what I do see are two things: 1. actual human beings who are suffering and are seeking happiness and love, even in a romantic comedy. If you didn’t read my first post, (white) Hollywood producers are finally acknowledging that Asian/-Americans are human beings, too, with real problems, emotions, and lives, and are not monolithic in nature. Seeing Rachel Chu and Astrid Leong stand up for themselves in the face of such adversity while displaying strengths of brilliance, intelligence, bravery, prowess, and existing as female — that is the most powerful thing writers have done with this movie.

And 2. I didn’t see myself through these characters, but I did see myself through the actor (especially Constance Wu) and their struggles of finding roles as Asian(s)/-Americans throughout their careers. For POC, its difficult finding a role and feeling comfortable in one that suits you and what you believe in. It’s difficult to find one that doesn’t relegate you or dilute you into a stereotype. Despite my fears of being signified by my race and ethnicity, this film reminded me, an aspiring actor, that I am proud to be Asian-American, a Filipino, and that I will be successful because of my identity, not despite of it — just like the actors in this film.

For those who continue to use elitist judgments about the film or critique it for its inability to do enough, please remember a movie can only do so much. Different forms of activism can do so much. Just because it doesn’t fit into your idea of what activism should be doesn’t mean it isn’t doing anything or that it isn’t impacting individuals who can also become activists. I can assuredly say, though, that this movie may have inspired Asian/-American actors to go after their dreams, especially as an actor or director or writer. We live in a time where POC are still seeking to be recognized as viable human beings that are worthy of being produced into movies with strong, vulnerable, and relatable narratives. Again, this movie isn’t the exact form of representation we hoped for, but it is a stepping stone to mobilize forward while holding hands with our other POC peers.