‘Crazy Rich Asians’ the poster child of diversity? It’s only skin-deep

Audrey Jiajia Li says for all its charm, the movie reinforces the stereotypes that Asians are materialistic and Asian Americans are a ‘model minority’. Meanwhile, Singapore comes across as mono-cultural, rather than the multicultural country it is

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Chinese jazz singer Jasmine Chen, who performed in the film, poses at the premiere of the film Crazy Rich Asians at Capitol Theatre in Singapore on August 21. Will the film’s portrayal of Asia’s ultra rich leave the audience with the wrong impression that all Asians are rich and live fanciful lives? Photo: AFP

Audrey Jiajia Li

Audrey Jiajia Li is a veteran Chinese journalist currently based in Singapore.

Published: 2:00am, 28 Aug 2018Updated: 12:38pm, 13 Sep 2018

I have spent the past three years travelling between China, Singapore and the United States. So, when the American blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians premiered, I rushed to the cinema in its opening week.

The movie is based on the novel of the same title by Singaporean-American writer Kevin Kwan, with its picturesque settings shot in Singapore. What’s more, the film has an all-Asian cast. It has been a long wait – a quarter of a century since The Joy Luck Club in 1993 – for a Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast to hit cinemas worldwide. After all, Hollywood is often criticised for its lack of diversity and its history of “whitewashing”.

Crazy Rich Asians has been hailed for promoting racial diversity in Hollywood, and indeed the film’s outstanding performance in the US box office is evidence that, for Hollywood, diversity is not just the right thing to do, but can also be commercially profitable. The picture-perfect Chinese immigrant story also helps to boost confidence and even awaken Asian pride in some diaspora communities.

Many Asians, both in Asia and the West, also see the movie as countering stereotypical depictions of Asians. On this front, as far as I can tell, the report card is mixed.