Crazy Rich Asians follows Rachel Chu, an American-born Chinese economics professor, who accompanies her boyfriend Nick on a trip for his best friend’s wedding in his hometown Singapore. She soon discovers that Nick comes from one of Asia’s most wealthy families and that he is one of the most sought-after bachelors, making her the target for the jealous socialites that yearn for Nick’s attention. Seen as a commoner and living with her single mother in New York, she also becomes a target for Nick’s disapproving mother Eleanor, who wants nothing more than to maintain their family reputation as well as keep both the money and social status condensed. The contemporary romantic comedy film, Crazy Rich Asians uses lighting, different camera shots, and music to reflect on family within the different gender roles of Asian women and the social class differences in Asia and America.
In the film, lighting plays a very important role because it adds to the effect of how we view the characters and the setting. For instance, the beginning of the film takes places in London 1995 where we see Eleanor and her family enter a fancy hotel called the Calthorpe. The hotel manager had more shadows on his face and we could see all the creases in his forehead, whereas Eleanor was seen with much softer lighting. The hotel manager was also very rude to Eleanor and expressed racism towards her and her family, and the creases in his face add to his facial features and helped demonstrate the fact that he is a worker because of the stress and hard work he has to go through. Eleanor’s soft lighting made her seem more elegant, and if it weren’t for the fact that her and her family had just come from the rain, they would look like an upper class family because of the smoothness the light shows on their skin, correlating to less stress and a more comfortable lifestyle. Showing men with more facial creases creates a more masculine look and showing women with brighter lighting and softer skin creates a more feminine and beautiful look. According to Patrick Keating, “Men are most likely to have strongly marked characters, since their mode of life tends to develop the mental processes and to encourage decision, whereas our present unfortunate ideals of feminine beauty incline toward mere regularity of outline and delicacy of complexion. One finds, nevertheless, a good many women whose features express mental activity and firmness of will, the higher beauties of the mind rather than the mental indolence which is imperative in the cultivation of what is popularly termed beauty” demonstrating that the lighting used in film helps to emphasize the idea of masculinity and femininity (Keating). This quote demonstrates the sexism in our culture and in media, as it perceives men as the thinkers and decision makes and women as delicate and beautiful only.
Lighting also helped to distinguish the setting within the social classes, as the richer areas were much brighter and had more white light, and more common areas were a bit darker and had more shadows. For instance, when Rachel was looking with her mom for a dress to wear to meet Nick’s family, they were at a small shop packed with clothes that weren’t very flashy and had dim lighting. However, in the bachelorette party scene where they were at an outdoor boutique with much more expensive clothes, there was less clothes, but the setting was much brighter, and everything looked more appealing. The golds were shining, the colors were standing out, and the scene really portrayed the glamourous lifestyle the rich people had. Also, when Nick and Rachel first arrived in Singapore, they went to a night market where they tried various foods from street vendors, and the lighting was much more natural because it’s what you see in everyday life with led lights and flashing signs on the vendors carts. This scene didn’t make anyone look glamourous or glowing, and it added to the comfort and fun that they were having while there. Lastly, the homes of both Peik Lin and Eleanor had really bright light coming from the outdoors through the huge windows of their home. Their homes also featured a lot of white which the light could reflect off of, making their homes seem heavenly and beautiful. Peik Lin’s home also had gold accents everywhere, which made everything appear more upper class. Through the use of lighting, the filmmakers were able to show the artificial perfection in higher class families with more use of brighter lights and extravagant colors like gold.
The use of different camera techniques also helped to capture the social class differences in Crazy Rich Asians, and this could be seen in scenes such as the establishing shot and 360 degree pan of the living room in Eleanor’s home. These camera techniques allow for us to see the vast property that the Young’s resided on and the luxurious lifestyle they lived. Some additional camera shots that were incorporated into the film included mirror reflections, which helped to demonstrate the self-realization and misrecognition in different characters. There were three scenes in which the mirror reflection was used, once was with Nick’s sister Astrid, and twice with Rachel. According to Laura Mulvey, “Recognition is thus overlaid with misrecognition: the image recognized is conceived as the reflected body of the self, but its misrecognition as superior projects this body outside itself as an ideal ego, the alienated subject” (Mulvey). In the scene with Astrid, there is a reflection of her trying on 1.2 million dollar earrings. After purchasing them, she hid them on top of her vanity mirror at home because she felt the need to hide her luxurious items so that he wouldn’t feel less of himself since he didn’t come from a family like hers. However, after she finds out that he was cheating on her and is leaving the apartment, she comes upon the earrings again, representing the realization that she made regarding her money and her role as a woman in her family. She is portrayed as playing the role of her husband by trying to help him feel more like a man since he doesn’t make the money for their family as men are traditionally supposed to in Chinese culture. The mirror reflection technique is also used twice with Rachel, once when one of the rich socialites, Amanda, puts on a necklace for her, and once when her mom and her were shopping for a dress. The reflection in these scenes revealed the artificial kindness Amanda gave her due to her feelings of superiority over Rachel, versus the caring mother who wanted her daughter to dress according to Chinese traditions.
Within the contemporary romantic comedy, gender is a reflection of the generational and cultural divide between the younger and older generation of the traditions in China and that of Chinese people in America. For instance, Nick’s mom Eleanor stressed that the woman in the family is supposed to give up everything to accommodate to the man and provide for her children. The woman is supposed to do whatever it takes in the best interest of the family rather than “pursuing one’s passion.” Upon meeting Rachel, she was surprised at the idea of Rachel just following her dreams rather than doing what was more traditional and family-oriented. She took this as a chance to take a jab at Rachel, and stated “pursuing one’s passion, how American. Well, your mother’s very open minded, not like here where parents are obsessed with shaping the life of their children” demonstrating their generational and cultural differences while hinting at her disapproval. At the bachelor party, the sexualization of women is present, and some of the men were pressuring nick and the groom to have fun with the girls because it was seen as okay for men to be unfaithful to their significant others. According to Victoria Protsenko “a typical wenyi picture of the time told a forlorn love affair: the protagonists, restrained by social and familial norms, had to renounce their feelings for the sake of propriety” and wenyi is a Chinese equivalent of a melodrama, demonstrating that traditional Chinese culture prevents people from marrying who they have feelings for, but rather the people that their family wants them to marry (Protsenko). However, in the film, Nick wants to marry Rachel and he continues to date her even though his family doesn’t completely agree, showing his Chinese American culture. When Rachel first meets Eleanor, she hugs her, and Eleanor looks uncomfortable and surprised. This is because hugs are not part of Chinese culture when meeting the parents of your significant other. At one of the family gatherings, Nick’s cousin Edison speaks for his wife and speaks over her when she tried to introduce herself. This was really rude, but it was accepted because in Chinese culture the man has power over the woman and the woman is supposed to be submissive to the husband, just like Eleanor was talking about previously.
Within the film, music really adds to the effect of the narrative and stimulates a lot of different emotions. There are a few musical leitmotifs throughout the film, and one of the songs that stuck out to me was “Wo Yao Ni De Ai” and it was sung by two different artists to create two different moods. The first time it was more traditional, and it was when Nick and Rachel were eating from the street vendors at the night market, and the second time it was at the afterparty for the marriage of Nick’s best friend where it was much more upbeat and cheerful. The use of the song twice but with a slight variation changes the effect of the song and the emotion associated with the scene. While the first version of the song makes the viewer feel excited and adventurous in the experiencing of Singapore nightlife, the second edition makes them feel more happiness and love. These music choices are important to the film because both variations create really positive and happy emotions in slightly different ways that reflect on the happiness in family in all social classes, lower class being in the street vendor setting and higher class being in the ostentatious wedding party. At the family party and when the family was making dumplings together, there was classical and traditional music played. This added to the cultural aspect and feel of the scenes, and it went really well with the traditional Chinese customs being shown on screen. Lastly, the music during marriage was super emotional and touching as well as when Rachel’s mom comes to comfort her in Singapore after she is humiliated by Nick’s mother.
In conclusion, the lighting, different camera shots, and music helped Crazy Rich Asians capture the different gender roles and the social class differences in Asia and America, as well as the different emotions of each scene. The high success and popularity of the film has gauged the interest of Hollywood, and there are likely to be more Asian focused films and more lead roles for Asian actors in the near future.