I know, I’ve already written about this trilogy! I just came back from seeing the movie. Let me sum it up. One of my fave people came with me and said, “do you like how I wore this kimono like shirt for the movie?” (It was a lovely shirt!) And I quickly responded, “oh, I wore my FACE for the movie.” And then laughed like I made the best joke in the world. I mean, I am pretty damn witty, so, it was a great one. But then I started thinking about it. My dearest friend meant absolutely nothing by it, but here I am coming out of a movie where my faces, my family’s faces, my people’s faces were finally all staring right back at me, and I make that joke?
The movie was absolutely more than just representing. It build a narrative about Asians in human form that was REAL. For sure, that lifestyle isn’t actually reality (for most anyways, Asians have the largest disparity between the richest and poorest out of any race FYI). But the relationships, the family, the hidden purpose, the expectations, the guilt, the honor, the respect. And of course, the food! It was all there, like any other movie would have had it. But I’d never seen it on the screen this way before. I could see my aunties gossiping and making comments, my mother’s expectations for my brother and myself. It was all there, wrapped in a fun, beautiful movie with super hot Asian people! And damn, what a great soundtrack! They had Asian singers cover songs like Material Girl by Madonna and Yellow by Coldplay. And, there wasn’t a single white person in the movie the entire time.
Thanks for making this movie. Thanks for taking less money to make it on the big screen versus through Netflix so that the exposure, the importance, the message is reinforced all over the world. Representation matters. I get it now. I really get it now.
Also, read this. All I can say is ditto!
TheOrangeNook 