Culture
SKATCH | The Asian Representation Movie-ment and Its One Pitfall
|
The two movies pictured above have set off a wave of Asian and Asian-American embracement both cinematically and across the internet that has given hope to millions of Asians, myself included, who finally get to see people who look like them in roles other than the stereotypical Harvard (blegh) nerd with humorously strict parents. The media’s Asian representation movement is powerful and wonderful. Sitting in the theater for Crazy Rich Asians and hearing the song my Mom swears she played while I was still in the womb (“Tian Mi Mi” by Teresa Teng) provoked an emotional experience I hadn’t felt since my sister forced me to watch Joy Luck Club some seven-odd years ago. Just as back then, I recognized a storyline whose parallels intimately related to my own life (not in the “I’m a Singaporean billionaire kind of way,” but in the “Wow Asian families love hard, fight hard,” kind of way). As my eyes welled with tears, the moment was made more beautiful when I looked to my friends and saw their tears streaming as well.