‘Crazy Rich Asians’ fails to resonate with Korean audiences
SEOUL: Despite its success at the US box office, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ has failed to draw moviegoers in several Asian countries, including Korea.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, the movie kicks off when Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an economics professor at New York University, agrees to accompany her boyfriend Nick Young ( Henry Golding) on a trip to his hometown, Singapore, to attend the wedding of his best friend.
Nick lives a frugal life in New York, borrowing Rachel’s Netflix ID and playing basketball at a run- down local gym, so Rachel is stunned to find out that he comes from one of the wealthiest and most prominent families in Singapore when she arrives.
Due to his esteemed family background and good looks, Nick is a big deal in Singapore, and is desired by many women in the country. Rachel finds herself not only unwelcomed by a group of jealous girls, but also by Nick’s family, including his mother ( Michelle Yeoh), who highly values family reputation and a woman’s responsibility to prioritize family over work.
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ includes many familiar romantic comedy cliches and tropes, including a Cinderalla-like protagonist, a handsome heartthrob, absurdly rich families and a hilarious best friend and sidekick.
But apparently, that was not enough for Korean movie- goers. Though some were attracted to a Hollywood film with an
The movie does not correspond to local sentiments. After all, the actors are mostly of Chinese descent, not Korean. Kim Heon-sik, film critic
all-Asian cast, the story itself simply did not resonate with local audiences.
“The movie does not correspond to local sentiments,” said film critic Kim Heon- sik. “After all, the actors are mostly of Chinese descent, not Korean.”
The film’s closest connection to Korea is Korean-American actor Ken Jeong, who plays the father of Rachel’s best friend Peik Lin, played by actor and rapper Awkwafina, who was born to a Korean immigrant mother and Chinese American father.
Despite the victory in the fight for Asian-American visibility in Hollywood, some in Korea say that the movie is embedded with prejudice against Asians.
“In the movie, Asian characters are depicted from the viewpoint of Westerners.” Kim added, “They are neither treated with respect nor recognised as who they are.”
Hwang Jin-mi, another movie critic, agreed.
“At the base of the story is that an Asian person who didn’t seem rich turns out to be extremely wealthy. That is a stereotype of Asians - what’s so surprising about them being rich?” said Hwang.
Korea’s robust movie and music industries also play a role in the lack of demand from local audiences to see Asians in Hollywood films.
“People of Asian descent living in the US or those who have experience living in the West may care about how Asian characters are depicted in Hollywood, but not people living in Korea. ( We have our) own thriving culture that is rapidly spreading around the world. Unlike the previous generations that grew up listening to music from America, teenagers these days listen to K-pop music from popular local groups like BTS and Exo,” said Hwang.
For this reason, Koreans care more about how Korean content is being accepted and consumed in the West rather than their visibility in media made from a Western perspective. The more effective way to raise the visibility of Asians in film, according to Hwang, is to strengthen the Korean film industry and make local movies that can be widely consumed around the world.
Apart from the movie’s failure to resonate with local audiences, the waning demand for romantic comedies is another reason behind the film’s weak performance.
Over the past few years, the genre has proven to be a very difficult to sell in theatres, partly because of the limited genres cinemas offer to audiences and the way films are distributed locally.
The first and the second weeks are the most crucial periods to determine a movie’s success. This has led distributors to opt for more commercially viable films instead of smaller movies that will only get a limited release.
Over the years, the lack of romantic comedy options has changed people’s tastes. This change in preference, according to Kim, has been boosted by the rise of free content online.
“Following the rise of YouTube, people have grown very used to consuming free content and are only watching content they like, (which is) picked by the recommendation algorithm.” Kim added, “In the era of a vast variety of content, people have grown too tired to actively search for anything more.”
According to Kim, this phenomenon explains the reason why most romance flicks that are lucky enough to make it to theatres these days are the re-releases that audiences are already familiar with, like ‘ Twilight’ ( 2008) and ‘ August Rush’ ( 2007), which are both scheduled for re-release here in December.
Backed by the film’s strong box office performance, the ‘ Crazy Rich Asians’ sequel ‘China Rich Girlfriend’, also based on Kwan’s novel, has been greenlit for production. It is set to be filmed in Shanghai.