Hi. It's Divya G. What does the G stand for? The G stands for gonna run out of
words soon with this introduction that may work in the short run but it is
wholly unsustainable in the long run but my myopic self just didn't see that...
~[Angelic voice which Simon Cowell rates] Economics yeeaaahh~
Woo!
Divya? A film critic? Best believe it, son. As a sane not that rich South Asian I
wanted to talk about crazy rich Asians today and how Henry Golding's abs are
really shifting the paradigm of Hollywood. Subscribe- [boop] branded as the
rebirth of the rom-com and based off the book which I didn't read by Kevin Kwan,
crazy rich Asians, we follow a chinese-american economics professor
named Rachel Chu played by Scarlett Johansson (lol) as she meets the family of her
boyfriend, Nick Young, who is, unbeknownst to her, a crazy rich Asian!!!! He is one of
the wealthiest families in Singapore. The fact that an economics professor living
in the 21st century wouldn't just you know search up his Instagram... why she
wouldn't do that? When I first saw this poster I full ass thought that Ryan Higa has
gone and done landed himself a role in like a major
film and I was like... wow are they really just casting any Asian for any role.
But tell me that this doesn't look like Ryan Higa. Just like a little bit so
this is actually the first film where we see an all-asian cast in a sort of
Hollywood studio production since 1993 all right I think it was called The Joy
Luck Club but Wow it is 2018 borderline 2019 and it has
taken us like 30 ....
30
yeah nearly like 30 like years
MATH!!!
from Quantico to like
To All The Boys I've Loved Before to now Crazy Rich Asians we're starting to see a
little bit of the Asian....
persuasion
I'm actually reviewing something that I like
for once WoW!
[YOI] Amazing!
just I've just come a long way in my character development
So it's a
rom-com right so obviously we're gonna have these exaggerated extravagant scenes
with you know, witty one liners and it's a little slightly bit soppy and they do tout on
this cliche of sort of you know the wealthy rich East Asian family but it is
refreshing okay
it's like me refreshing the page when I'm tryna get to get concert tickets but
they're all sold out.... true story i'm still triggered by Hayley
Kiyoko.. ticket master [first world problems]
I wanted to talk to you about why I connected with this
movie okay there's a lot that I actually liked for once WOW. A little bit of a backstory...
if you have watched my previous videos you may or may not have deduced by now
with all my chappal (slipper) references, I'm a South Asian that looks East Asian who
also lived in East Asia but has a slightly American accent and grew up in Britain
So basically, I'm a cultural MESS. So Rachel in this movie so she's sort of like she's
Asian right but she's chinese-american and she grew up in America and there's
this one scene without spoiling, where she talks to her mother and her mother
says something like on the outside you look Asian but inside you're still
inherently you're different right there's even a scene where she's called
a banana cause she's yellow on the outside but white on the inside....
ha..ha...ha ME.
Except like the
banana's a little bit more brown, a little bit mouldy
a little bit gone off
and a little bit spotty
Oh god.
now we see this touching moment on screen where Rachel is really alienated
and ostracized and she's kind of othered and it's because she's from a completely
different cultural background because she's only had her mom growing up her
entire life versus there's like a scene where you see it really come into full
effect where she describes how you know growing up she's only had her mom her
entire life you know it's quite like a small family versus this very Asian
family setting where family is you know the most important thing and yet it's
you see you all like the grandparents the grandchildren you know
aunts uncles this... you know my 60th cousin you know the cousins dog the
cousins dogs dog like the cousins cous- you get my point
I think from growing up
in England and losing parts of my culture like I try and fit in with
people from- you know my background really hard but I'm also not fully
integrated into sort of either society you know you know I can't speak my language
I can't communicate with you know my relatives or my grandparents
my last three brain cells when I'm trying to translate an English sentence
into Nepali it will translate into Spanish. Whilst my relatives are all going you know
"namaste namaste" my brains going "Hola!" you know my blood... my roots the the
placenta you know it's all it's all from my country and my friend Mina had an
Instagram caption I'll try to find it but I was just like yikes
this is real
this is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now gonna let
and the caption was a tourist in my own City and a foreigner in my own town and
I was like wow
that's deep fam.
and I feel like Rachel embodied this even if
it was just for a little bit because growing up I've kind of unconsciously
almost rejected my own culture and felt embarrassed or ashamed and I feel like
it's partly to do with the media growing up and just knowing that I was kind of
sort of like different to other people um I mean there were points in my life where
I used to fully just want to be white
*uncomfortable laugh* Therapy Session With Divya ok
Although you know these are East Asians you know they're not representing me they're not
representing anyone and I can't really relate to the lifestyle I still felt a
sort of sense of collective like ownership I just think it's like the
little sort of like cultural quirks in the movie so there's a representation of
family gossip. Text messages spreading like 100 miles per hour like throughout
the culture and like if that ain't my parents chatting to literally every aunt
uncle and like 60th cousin about my problems and there's also this like
exploration of marriage as a means of protecting your sort of like socio-economic status and
class and there's this one joke where she goes you know I
thought red was a lucky color and then the reply like
yeah...
if you're an envelope and it was witty but I feel like it also really
highlights this sort of racial and ethnic disconnect. I mean I like Rachel
you know she was brave she was smart she was doing bits. She was an economics
professor but I mean she was independent but like you could tell she wasn't
enough for this family without spoiling too much she makes a decision towards
the end which I thought was so commendable because even though she's
facing like the main barrier to her and Nick's relationship is this mother right
who's sort of like the micromanager and she said that Americans are opportunistic in
the sense that they put their own passions and their own feelings ahead of
family importance versus like their culture and Rachel kind of went against
the stereotype and she does the opposite and she did something incredibly
selfless and
your weak bitch literally cried in a rom com
yes that's me I just
think it's really nice to see Asians on screen because growing up I've always
wanted to act but I mean people I know have told me you know what? look in the
mirror because you might act like you're from you know a certain area from you know
these ends!!! and you might have like a certain passport but inside?...........
You'll always be.........
yellow
you know maybe
that's why it matches my aesthetic
it's been
criticized because people say it's not like wholly representative of all of
Asia or like Singapore in terms of there being more than just sort of like the
Chinese Singaporean but it is also a fictitious exaggerated rom-com like
why are we holding crazy rich asians to these impossible standards of
representing all of Asia you wouldn't say that like mr. bean is the ultimate
representation of Europe...
I mean I feel like maybe one day we'll
have sort of like different stories to be told and I'm excited for those days but
for now I feel like it's just nice to see you like that we're slowly seeing
more familiar faces and you know maybe we'll we'll shy away from the stereotype
of you know IT tech support um there's this one quote said by Constance where
she said it's why I advocate so much for young asian-american girls so they might
not spend their life feeling small or being commanded to feel grateful to even
be at the table and it's like Yes You're So Right like why should I have to applaud
you just for like putting a minority character in a film? So that was the
deep therapy session other notes that I want to mention
Awkwafina?
Legend.
Highkey we all want to talk about Henry Golding's abs okay hiGH key
Nick Young is the Asian Noah Centineo and um yeah now that I've put that image in
your head it will never get out of your head ha ha you're welcome .
Henry Golding's abs
how are his abs shifting the paradigm of Hollywood you may ask
well I'll tell you how okay so people not finding Asians hot is an actual
thing Pierre and Henry's abs you know whilst they are they're very commendable in
in their own majestic sculpted right they're also showing like Asian bodies
to a sort of Western audience and in tons of like the Western Hollywood
context that you know they can be desirable also in a sort of scope where
a lot of Asians typically in a role will be like minorities in terms of here the
bellboy the shopkeeper or like
the nerd
or the IT tech support.
Astrid and her story arc was something that I really like because she she you
know BrOuGhT hOmE tHE bAcON essentially in her relationship and she has a sort of
realization moment where she's like she shouldn't be made to feel ashamed
because of where she's from and I think it was important in
showcasing this sort of power in a different right and I love it when she
realized you know what? Boo, just cause your masculinity is fragile
doesn't mean I have to put up with your BS and I was like yes
so yeah those are
my last three brain cells' thoughts on crazy rich Asians and if
you're wondering Divya what is this room what is this background I live in a
house now it's not my house obviously renting but I'm in uni which means bad
upload schedule one day I'll do a room tour but next time there will be something there
I want to do something creative but let me just show you my typical art hoe room
just a little sneak peek for all the loyal fans who watch until the end of
the video Wow okay so obviously I have my typical
kanken and I literally go to Poundland and stick leaves on the wall just watch
when I peel it off and the paint comes off and I'll have to pay but it's worth
it for the aesthetic.
Yeah and that's that's me and and also and also.
you don't have
to be Asian to watch this or crazy or rich. I don't know, let me know what you
feel about this movie did you think it was overhyped? Once again it is late in
the night and I'm out here creating art it's something only geniuses and creatives
do. You know? We strike with inspiration in the night some of our best work
anyway okay good night BYE! it is actually so cold I forgot blanket
right I don't have a blanket this is all I have and I'm sleeping in okay no one cares