Thoughts on Crazy Rich Asians

We saw Crazy Rich Asians Saturday and really enjoyed it.

This doesn't undo any criticism of the film. People have made good points, but part of that has involved noticing things that I didn't notice, largely due to different life experiences.

The thing that made more of an impression on me was the reason that I did not originally plan on seeing it, which is that I am not a huge fan of conspicuous consumption. I heard about the movie not long after I had seen the video of a woman in Singaport - Jamie Chua - and her closet and clothes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcikVAADwak

So I know there is crazy money there, but I find that kind of thing revolting, even though Chua herself seems fairly sweet. I ended up going to the movie primarily to support diversity in casting, because Crazy Rich Asians gives memorable parts to a lot of people who probably have a hard time getting considered for film roles here, and also because people said it was good.

And it was good. I liked it a lot, but because of the human parts. While it does show a lot of purchased fabulousness, the movie really doesn't love the money, though it does have a lot of fun with it.

I am going to go more into that tomorrow, while writing about another movie I saw, a documentary called Generation Wealth. Before the documentary, I saw a preview for another film The Hate U Give, which also played before Crazy Rich Asians.

The first time I saw the preview, all I could feel was the pain of the shooting. On the second time, I focused more on Starr talking about being a different person at home and at school - and hating it. That combined for me with this movie, where sometimes authenticity took a back seat to connections or family obligations or the weight of wealth.

There was also a subplot where one marriage was suffering from the strain of different resources and backgrounds.

Anyway, I am sure I could have many other thoughts on the movie, but the thing that came out the strongest was an absolute desire to only ever have to be me, honestly, and that no money or relationship could be worth losing that. It shouldn't be necessary for those things to conflict, but it can happen.

My deeper thoughts are balancing individuality and collectivism (more from a philosophical than an economic point of view), and my more immediate thoughts are about imbalances in fame (and money, in anyone can ever come up with some), but the screaming thought is honesty over all, and I need to be me.