(Post image above from Crazy Rich Asians Official Facebook Page)
By now, most of us have heard of the movie ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. At its heart, a modern day love story based on the popular book with the same title, by Singaporean-American author Kevin Kwan, and directed by Asian American filmmaker Jon M. Chu. What’s unconventional about this Hollywood studio backed American film is that it features an all-Asian cast.
World Wide Casting Call
We recall first reading about Chu’s casting call to Asian talents on www.thehive.asia in Jan 2017 for this film. “Whether you’re from Thailand, Singapore, Philippine, here in the States, U.K., Australia, Hong Kong, wherever, we are looking for you,” he offered, “it’s a huge step in representation (for Asians) and a great opportunity to showcase talented Asian actors out there.”
Formidable Asian Community
This movie truly marks a momentous milestone for diversity and inclusive representation in Hollywood and in Western media. Crazy Rich Asians is the first American film in a long time that stars a majority Asian cast. And boy did the Asian American community come together to celebrate this film, no, this social milestone! Theatres were bought out for special screening from L.A. to Washington, contributing to the movie’s overwhelming opening. Crazy Rich Asians brought in more than 34 million on its opening weekend, delivering above and beyond all expectations.
Asian Community Online
While the Crazy Rich Asians cast and narrative was in no mean representative of the diverse Asian community at large, the film was poised to spark a movement from the start. Makers of the film reported turned down a large payout from Netflix for a worldwide box office release. They had wanted its debut to be loud and thunderous, and the social media did not disappoint! According to Twitter, there were more than 780,000 tweets by the film’s first weekend release, making it the most tweeted about movie in August 2018.
Asian Identity Online
Here at .Asia we are dedicated to representing not only Asia, but also this dynamic Asian Community online. If you are looking for an online name to represent Asia and the Asian spirit, why not consider choosing a .Asia domain such as ‘www.Tribe.asia’. We hope you’ll find your next Asian community on a .Asia domain.
#CrazyRichAsians #CRA #GoldOpen #RepresentationMatters
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/movies/crazy-rich-asians-gold-open.html
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/crazy-rich-asians-and-the-end-point-of-representation
http://www.fortune.com/2018/08/20/crazy-rich-asians-social-media/
https://www.facebook.com/CrazyRichAsiansMovie/
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