Forget Mission Impossible, I'M Waiting For Crazy, Rich Asians!

Manch was thinking more along the lines of Jimmy O Yang as lead. He called it out when he went on the talk show circuit https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9oPzedd_4TQ.

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Jimmy Yang is too goofy looking. But by going to a Westerner for a “good looking Asian guy” role the movie sent a very bad message: no Asian men are good looking enough and sexy enough.

This guy is good looking. Why not choose him?

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Because the other guy is cheap.

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Sfdb, the reason is because the movie appeals most strongly to folks of Asian extraction that grew up in Western countries. If one is of Asian extraction but did not arrive in the US until it was time to start college, then this movie won’t resonante.

This movie resonantes with people who saw things like “long duk dong” or “everyone was kung fu fighting” or “cream of sum yung gai” as integral parts of an identity that others tried to apply onto them as kids.

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Umm, make that elementary school.

You don’t count. :slight_smile: You are young enough such that when you were growing up, (a) local Asian-American politicians were not unicorns and (b) you lived here in the Bay Area.

I get what you are saying, but again, it almost implies that Manch and Miss Millennial NEVER were discriminated against or were never ever made fun of because of their Asian background. Come on, what are the chances of that? If anything, your ancestors were definitely discriminated against and for you to poo poo it is disgraceful. Now I kinda know how Jewish people feel when idiots want to say the Holocaust never happened.

But why be so negative anyway and only focus on the fact that the leading man appears to be more caucasian than asian? Look at the body of work. This movie could very well spawn many film careers for Asians. That alone should be celebrated since we don’t have that many quite frankly. The FACT that so many people have been moved to tears over this movie should be enough evidence that it really resonates a great deal with them. I might expect non Asians to pan this movie (as far as I know, no one has) but not a fellow brother and sister who really should know better. Sorry, not acceptable…

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The film scored a middling 6.2 out of 10 on the Chinese film rating site Douban. Commentators likened Crazy Rich Asians to General Tso’s chicken, a dish that Americans associate with Chinese food but has little to do with China.

“It has a lot of elements of Chinese culture,” one commentator wrote on Douban on Sunday. “They’re just elements that Americans think of as Chinese culture. It’s not the everyday reality of Chinese people.

“It doesn’t show the complexity of Chinese culture and makes people think all Chinese are like that.”

“It’s a white story told with Asian faces,” another commentator wrote on Douban, a stark contrast to Asian-Americans who see the film as representing their story.

Or not so Asian faces.

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At its core, this movie is a story of Western-Born-Asians. The story isn’t about the Chinese, nor is the story as simple as an insulting “white story” narrative. This movie didn’t resonate in China because the Chinese don’t view Western-Born-Asians (the diaspora) as having legitimate culture in and of itself.

The Chinese view the diaspora as a tool to manipulate. Manipulate the emotional heartstrings with vague calls of “cultural unity” while milking them of talent, knowledge, money, etc. It has always been like this, for hundreds of years.

F**k China.

Presume you’re a naturalized American of Chinese ethnicity. Did you migrate from Taiwan or HK? AFAIK, only overseas Chinese from those two places hate China’s Chinese. In Singapore, we fear them because we don’t seem to be able to compete with them in every field, hence live in fear that they would take our jobs :cry:

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Perhaps the answer is C - none of the above :wink:

BTW regarding this quote - “It doesn’t show the complexity of Chinese culture and makes people think all Chinese are like that.”

Of course not. The story is not about the Chinese! The story is about an American with some Chinese heritage, and a Singaporean with some Chinese heritage.

Just a rom-com, watch, get entertained and forget. Talk so much for what.

I see the movie as a pop song that has a gotten the attention of a large audience. It carries different meanings for different people. In no way does it capture the complexities of an entire culture, nor does it attempt to do so. It was interesting, however, to readthat the director:

Jon Chu, is a native of the Bay Area born in Palo Alto and raised in Los Altos. Also, Director Chu is part of Rachel Chu’s family in the book, as a distant cousin, making life surrealistically linked to art.[13]

And the author, Kevin Kwan, was born in Singapore and moved to Texas with his parents at age 11, where he stayed through college. His*** great-grandfather, Oh Sian Guan, was a founding director of Singapore’s oldest bank, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation.[[7]]He is also related to Hong Kong-born American actress Nancy Kwan[10] , HK born Hollywood icon who starred in The World of Suzie Wong and
Flower Drum Song . The film was distinguished for being the “first big-budget American film” with an all–Asian cast.

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Oh, so now the Chinese think they are so above it all and so advanced culturally? Please. First of all, who tries all the time to copy the West? The Chinese. Who loves superficial luxury items more and shop like there is no tomorrow? The Chinese. Who is oftentimes very rude, pushy and loud in public? The Chinese.

Tell them to not buy our houses in the West or send their children to our schools then if they think their country is so great…

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Nothing in that article says the Chinese think they are above everybody else. In fact most mainland Chinese have some sort of inferiority complex towards the west.

This movie seems to be meaningful to the ABC’s and BBC’s of the world, but have zero appeal to the native Chinese. So you can enjoy the movie like it’s the best thing since sliced bread, and me and @harriet will continue to trash it.

But I will say this. At least the mainland Chinese watch the western movies. Have Americans, including the ABC’s, watched any modern Chinese movies lately? No, not the silly Jacky Chan or grandpa-era Bruce Lee kung-fu flicks. Something having to do with the modern era?

It always amazes me how little Americans know about China, and asymmetrically how much the Chinese know about America.

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Not anymore, and it’s crazy others haven’t gotten the picture. Hope the director knows better than to botch up the SH sequel after the D&G ad:

Perhaps, but just the comments from the reviews screams they think they are hot sheet, when we know otherwise. And besides, you didn’t even watch the film, correct? How are you able to comment on something that you didn’t even watch?

Please, if China or HK actually made a movie that was soooo good, we would catch wind of it so fast and it would get airplay here. I am still waiting…

Seems like you actually have the attitude you are better than the Chinese? Not the other way around.

Gee, what is that movie on row 3??? Winner!!! You and Miss Millennial better pray that CRA or any of its stars (Michelle Yeoh most likely) doesn’t get nominated or win the Oscar, cuz I will be rolling on the floor laughing…

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No, I am pretty objective, in all things. I know a good thing when I see it, even if it goes against my liking. I am not afraid to ever admit it…