The following list is meant as satire on how the film Crazy Rich Asians depicts Singapore, and presents “information” only in order to support a racist, romantic comedy. The basic motive is to ridicule the fantastic ideas of wealth as held by Asians in the film. I want to sarcastically reveal how Western fantasies of the rich are translated to the Singapore culture, and in ways that are offensive to Asians and Westerners.
Under the guise of the modern romantic comedy, usually about a young woman’s desperate attempt to please her boyfriend’s or fiancé’s family, the movie is really only a collection of multiple, offensive strategies. These include gross exaggerations of the Singapore family’s wealth, to that family’s behaviour as stereotypically offensive, arrogant, and elitist. It is all very much Western caricature of how the Asian rich think and act.
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I plan to use parody and hyperbole to illustrate the absurd, unrealistic, sexist, and racist elements of the movie. I do know that Crazy Rich Asians is only an entertainment, and one marketed to appeal to audiences on superficial levels. However, the point of my sarcastic list is to emphasise how the most damaging effects of racism, sexism, and idiotic ideas of privilege and how it affects humanity, may have greater force offered as “light,” comedic fun. I feel that an equally humorous commentary may be effective in exposing the reality of the movie. It will underscore how such trivial productions, presented as relating universal values of humanity, instead only perpetuate dangerous and insulting ideas of race, gender, and class. Moreover, the list’s focus on what the movie teaches me about Singapore, its culture, and its people will exist as the foundation on which to reveal those offensive ideas. (Word count: 289).
In Singapore, protecting the family from the poor is everything, and particularly in terms of social and romantic relationships. This is because of the cultural reality that the very rich both rule Singapore society and are ethically obligated to consider anyone not wealthy as non-human. In Singapore, they know that the poor will try to infiltrate the lives of the wealthy, so the rich must always be on guard. For example, the poor will use pretenses of loving a rich person to violate the wealthy. All of this is clear as fact, in how Nick’s family treats Rachel. They do not want to make her miserable and abuse her, and destroy her relationship. It is more that they are guided by the virtue ethics of Asian culture. These demand that the poor, unworthy stranger be treated like the vile threat they are. Singapore, I have then learned, is a model society in which the people understand their moral obligations to degrade the non-wealthy.
In Singapore, women have much more power than men, and more entrusted to secure the proper order of things. This arises from the Asian woman’s, young or old, skill in perceiving danger. As they are wise Asians in addition to being women, they are more aware of threats men cannot see. This remarkable solidarity of insight and capability is made clear in how the women in Nick’s Singapore life respond to Rachel. They waste no time in creating strategies to eliminate her threatening and immoral presence. As a male, and his being Asian aside, Nick is foolish, so it is necessary that former girlfriends, and female relations and friends, save him from his folly. This offers the significant knowledge of how Singapore is a highly evolved culture, both recognizing and esteeming the greater skill of the female in maintaining the correct order.
Singapore mothers are goddesses of wisdom. They are occasionally cruel and unreasonable, but they have their reasons. The movie informs me, in fact, that Eleanor is the perfect example of the mother in the society. Her greatest virtue is that her love for family outweighs her consideration of money. The family’s wealth means nothing to this great woman, and this is evident in how her hatred for Rachel is based, not on the young woman’s being relatively poor, but being a poor American. Wisely, Eleanor perceives that Rachel is not a woman loved by her son. She is an outsider who is poor and has no place in the family. It must be reiterated that money is no factor here, because Eleanor would likely hate Rachel even if she were wealthier than the Young family.
In today’s Singapore, sexuality exists as a variation of 1950s Western mores. I did not know this, but it is the truth. I had foolishly assumed Asian culture would have different ideas of sexuality, but it was refreshing to learn that Singapore so admires Western culture, the men and women behave as models of the American Eisenhower era. They are sometimes naughty, but the men still choose the sexual activity and the women are more than happy to wear revealing lingerie to excite their men. Bad sex is rightly punished, and sex is excused or forgiven when people get drunk. Even more commendable is how Singapore, once more reflecting U.S. codes of decency, lets one gay man to exist as long as he makes fun of himself for being deviant.
Returning to gender roles, women in Singapore are excellent at dealing with interpersonal conflict. Women are stereotypically devious or spiteful in other cultures, but not in Singapore. They bravely confront issues with one another, rather than “play games.” This is seen in how the young Singapore women at the bachelorette party express themselves to Rachel. In another culture, they would likely relate their unhappiness with her through discussion. In this society, no such ambiguity or pretense exists. Instead of stupid, honest interaction, the women put a dead fish in Rachel’s bed. Then they write that she is a gold-digging bitch in blood. This is a skillful and civilized way of both suggesting dislike and advising Rachel to end her romance with Nick, and it makes a powerful statement as to the integrity and ingenuity of Singapore females.
A further significant fact lies in how Singapore Asians think of money. They do not think of money as a wonderful thing in itself; rather, they more understand that nothing is nearly as important as having a great deal of it. Singapore women go on “shopping orgies.” However, they do not want to buy things they do not need, but they accept that this is the best thing a human being may do. This realistic view of wealth is reflected in virtually all behaviour. It is sinful to not have expensive possessions to impress others, or not dress and look in ways as proof of vast wealth. It does take time for Nick, initially reluctant to expose his privilege, to finally understand that forgetting the beauty of being rich is wrong.
Lastly, I was happy to learn that love conquers all in Singapore. This power of love is never seen elsewhere, nor is it a Western norm applied to a foreign culture. For example, other romantic comedies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mamma Mia ignore how real love is stronger than cultural misunderstandings or class differences. Only Crazy Rich Asians has the courage to present a unique culture so perfect, a wealthy mother who hates anything out of her experience will eventually soften to the strange girl loved by her son. Similarly, the female outsider is enabled to see that the Asians devoted to money are simultaneously just “plain folks” at heart. It is my hope that British and American entertainment will begin to understand this Asian wisdom, and incorporate it in other multicultural romances. (Word count: 981).
