Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Crazy Rich Asians has survived impossible representation standards

In traditional American media, Asian characters are frequently stereotyped as meek, corner-dwelling folks with little to say. They’re rarely more than a shorthand: bully victims, the romantically inept, people who are good at uncool stuff like math or piano. (Occasionally, they know kung-fu or they dispense ancient wisdom.) Nuanced Asian representation is hard to come by in Hollywood. That’s why so many people seem to be hoping that the strong critical and box office success of the widely released romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, which features an entirely Asian cast playing a variety of character types, will help change the media landscape. The “quiet Asians” stereotype already looks out of step next to the film’s bombastic arrival,...

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