On Aug. 15th, the bright lights of Hollywood was changed forever. The release of “Crazy Rich Asians” (CRA) grossed $117.3 million dollars domestically. The film’s initial success will inspire the industry to produce more Asian and Asian-American centered movies. As the first all Asian cast movie since 1995’s “Joy Luck Club,” (JLC), CRA has become the biggest romantic comedy box office hit since The Proposal’s release in 2009. 38% of the audience for CRA were Asian and 41% were Caucasian. This was probably due to fear of stereotypes. But this was not a problem many viewers noticed because all of the characters were just people. Beautiful people, who stood in front of beautiful landscapes, and told a universal story that spans culture or time. Both JLC and CRA are based off of real Chinese communities, although the stories could not be more different. JLC starts in Chinatown in San Francisco, and follows a young woman, June; Her mother recently passed away. June is given a letter from her late mother telling her to go, and the book ends with her in China meeting family she never knew existed.
“Not know your own mother?” June’s Aunt said. “How can you say? Your mother is in your bones!”
Kevin Kwan’s CRA, follows Rachel Chu, a young economics professor. She travels to Singapore with her boyfriend, and fellow professor, Nick Young. Together, they go to meet his family and to attend his best friend’s wedding. Rachel is thrown into a culture she knows nothing about, and she has to fight to keep her love and her dignity. Rachel’s friend, Peglin, who is one of Singapore’s elites said, “Rachel, I can tell you one thing—these people are richer than God.”
Although, both screenplays alter the original plot, they have one connection; actress Lisa Lu starred in JLC and at the age of 91, played Nick’s grandmother in CRA. Her role is extremely important to the plot of the film, as she is the matriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Singapore. This subtlety was a clever way to honour Lu’s success in Hollywood and pay homage to JLC. CRA original story was shortened quite a bit; which thankfully made the story more coherent and easy to follow. Throughout the novel, Nick’s family is portrayed as very secretive. In the movie, they are less focused on hiding their wealth. This makes more sense because the community of billionaires in Singapore seems so small and exclusive. Other than that, the movie captured the spirit of the story quite nicely. JLC was done rather differently from the original story. The director wanted to focus on more than one character, which did not allow the audience to understand and bond as well as in the novel. Author Amy Tan wrote both the novel and the Screenplay, so she knew what she was doing. The shortening of CRA made the story easier to follow, but for JLC it took out a piece of Tan’s character’s originality.
“Joy Luck Club” was supposed to change Hollywood, yet it took 25 years to produce another movie with an all Asian cast. So why did it take so long to produce another Asian movie that did not star Scarlett Johansson, Matt Damon, or Tom Cruise? Will CRA follow in JLC’s footsteps or will it defy the odds? The film’s impact has already made a change with the amount it has grossed and the signed for the sequel. Change is in full force! Get ready Hollywood! And say hello to “Rich China Girlfriend!”