‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Receives Backlash By Asians For Lack Of Representation
The trailer for the upcoming movie Crazy Rich Asians has finally dropped yesterday.
While the rest of the world applauded for its all-Asian cast, the trailer did not sit well with some Asians as the movie is not as diverse as they hoped to be.
While the movie is filmed in Singapore, most Singaporeans have pointed out that the movie does not channel Singaporean's multicultural diversity and only casted a portion of the city’s population: the Chinese community.
The lack of other ethnicities led netizens suggesting that the film should be titled ‘Crazy Rich East Asians’ or ‘Crazy Rich East Light-Skinned Asians.’
Some eagle-eyed viewers also noticed that the few dark-skinned people casted had roles as servants.
Singaporean poet Alfian Sa’at, shared a screenshot of the trailer, and pointed out the two men with dark-skin, whom he referred to as “brown backdrop people,” were seen opening the car doors.
He added, “Does a win for representation mean replacing white people with white people wannabes—the nouveau white?”
A Twitter user said, “As much as I'm excited for #CrazyRichAsians, I also wonder why isn't there any browns (esp. South Asians & Southeast Asians) in the movie? Are we not Asian? It’s more like #CrazyRichMongoloids”.
On the other side of the argument, another Twitter user shared a photo showing a paragraph of the book, stating that the movie was supposed to show the “lack of minority representation” due to the “closed minded attitude of some social circles in Singapore.”
One sentence in the book states, “One of the family members got disowned for marrying a Malay. ‘For 11 generations, the blood will never be pure.’” It emphasized the narrow mindset of the “supposed elite” and, as such, leaving out other minorities in the show may actually be fitting to the plot.
From the trailer of the movie 'Crazy Rich Asians': Crazy Rich EAST Asians and their brown backdrop people. Does a win...
Posted by Alfian Sa'at on Friday, April 20, 2018
As much as I'm excited for #CrazyRichAsians, I also wonder why isn't there any browns (esp. South Asians & Southeast Asians) in the movie? Are we not Asian? It's more like #CrazyRichMongoloids 😭
— Leeynesh Prakash (@leeynesh_argent) April 24, 2018
me lookin for brown asians in the crazy rich asians trailer pic.twitter.com/Y8ty4anb3k
— jar jireh binks 🍳 (@sulcusandjirehs) April 23, 2018
I'm rewatching the trailer to #CrazyRichAsians because folks are subtweeting that there are brown/ non eastern/ filipinos in CRA. So Im 47 secs into the trailer and the FIRST brown person I see is an extra opening the door to the estate... *continues watching*
— blasianFMA (@blasianFMA) April 23, 2018
anyway if you're looking for brown or non-eastern Asians in the story, sorry. from the casting calls and the book, they're showing up mostly as servants. if the movie subverts that, I'll be pleasantly surprised, but we'll see https://t.co/X5AfiaBMjy
— 👀 (@purplecataliens) April 23, 2018
Hi. The writer has said that his characters are based on caricatures of the rich in Singapore. So for his book, he takes the worst and the most exaggerated parts about Sg chinese social circles where Malays and Indians are irrelevant and do not feature much in their lives.
— Law (@Law83430149) April 24, 2018
The book is aware of its lack of minority representation and act actually alludes to the closed minded attitude of some social circles in Singapore. One of the family members got disowned for marrying a Malay. ‘For 11 generations, the blood will never be pure’ pic.twitter.com/mLtw66zMTi
— Law (@Law83430149) April 24, 2018
[via Mothership, opening image via Warner Bros. Pictures]
