spotlight
CRAZY RICH ASIANS NICO SANTOS
ROMANCE, MONEY, AND CULTURAL BREAKTHROUGHS by joel martens
We like revolutionary things. But they’re not always filled with “bombs bursting
in air…” or involve a “shot heard ‘round the world…” Sometimes they’re subtle shifts that occur when you read a book and it changes your perspective, or have a conversation that changes what you believe about things. Many times, it’s just a small moment, when you realize that what you thought was normal… isn’t. The LGBT community has experienced several in recent years: We’ve gone from
fringe players on television and in film, stagnating in tired tropes to fully-realized characters...who just happen to be gay. Films likeMoonlight, Call Me By Your Name, A Fantastic Woman andBattle of the Sexesrepresent that subtle shift, offering rich characters living as fully-actualized human beings who just happen to be LGBT. It’s all about representation and visibility in the larger world, as human beings who are intelligent, complex and well-rounded. In its own way,Crazy Rich Asians represents a small revolution as well. Hollywood’s
depiction of Asian characters and culture over the years has been abysmal. More often than not, it’s given us extremely one-dimensional characters, often played by
white actors that rely on tired stereotypes dreamed up by a power structure decidedly non-Asian in representation. Amazingly, it’s been 25
years since a film was offered featuring an all-Asian cast... Amy Tan’sThe Joy Luck Club directed by Wayne Wang was the last, offering a cast filled with people who really understood what it is to live their culture, and in turn to represent it in film. And now, finally, it’s done again beautifully withCrazy Rich Asians. The great difference?Crazy Rich
Asians is a romantic comedy filled with belly laughs
and great humor, spinning a lovely yarn in sort of aCinderella/Meet the Parentsvein. Based on the bestselling 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan, the film centers on an American-born Chinese econ professor named Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick Young, (Henry Golding), for his BFF’s
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RAGE monthly | AUGUST 2018
nico santos
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