Is Bollywood scene in Eternals movie racist? Happy Deepavali!

What is racist?

That may be obvious to many but not to all.

How else do you explain the viral 14-second video posted by a gym of two middle-aged Chinese women doing a seated row with elastic bands while shaking their heads like broken bobblehead dolls and repeating “happy Deepavali” to laughter from an unseen audience?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wake Up, Singapore 🇸🇬 (@wakeupsingapore)

Never mind the Eternals movie. The video should’ve been rated M18 for immature content.

But someone must have thought it was okay and not racist at all because it was posted on Instagram by F45 Serangoon Garden South to mark the Hindu festival last week.

After receiving “feedback that this video is racially insensitive”, the gym apologised: “We are very sorry for the mistakes and hope to seek your forgiveness.”

With the Internet being the Internet, at least one of the women has been supposedly identified and the company she works for has also been targeted by those demanding that the woman be sacked.

It’s like Amy Cheong all over again. Remember her?

The company responded that it was aware of the video, adding: “We are treating this matter very seriously and we are currently in the process of investigating the incident.”

But the video was not the only racially-charged Deepavali-related incident that went viral last week.

So did this tweet by a Twitter user named sham: “my siblings my niece and i were just playing with sparklers for Deepavali and someone from on top threw an egg at us.”

my siblings my niece and i were just playing with sparklers for Deepavali and someone from on top threw an egg at us????? wtf is this pic.twitter.com/GzQRF3hkGZ

— sham (@sham_ugh) November 4, 2021

He also tweeted pictures of a family including a young girl playing with sparklers outdoors and pictures of a smashed egg at what looked like the foot of a Housing Board block.

The Twitter user did not outright call it a racist incident, but some took it as such.

As one person commented: “I’m sorry that some racist person had to show his/her downright ugliness when y’all were enjoying the sparklers.”



But I would like to report a possibly racist Deepavali-related incident that not enough people are talking about.

It’s in the Eternals movie, which opened in Singapore on Deepavali.



I know the movie received the M18 rating and is banned in a several Middle Eastern countries because of a scene with two gay men kissing. But what raises my hackles is a different scene.

Come on, Marvel, you have the first South Asian superhero Kingo played by Pakistani-American actor Kumail Nanjiani and what do you do?

You put him in a Bollywood dance number.



Stereotype much?

I guess I should be grateful that you didn’t make Gilgamesh played by Korean-American actor Don Lee sing K-pop and play Squid Game.

Or make Ajak played by Mexican-American actress Selma Hayek eat tacos and clean houses.

Or make Sersi played by Chinese-British actress Gemma Chan know gongfu and ride a giant flying Chinese dragon in the end – no, wait, that is another movie.

It is particularly jarring considering the movie is a woke wet dream with a hyper-diverse cast that also includes a deaf actress, two British guys who played brothers in Game Of Thrones and Angelina Jolie.

Plus the movie is directed by what Americans like to call a “woman of colour”, Oscar winner Chloe Zhao.



As Eternals has become the worst reviewed Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ever, some fans are calling its critics racist and misogynist.

So it almost does not matter that Kingo was originally Japanese in the comics. No one is accusing Marvel of brown-washing for making the character a South Asian just to have a Bollywood sequence.

All is forgiven, Tilda Swinton?



Yay, representation.

The movie may not be as outright racist as the F45 video, but both trade on the same old racial stereotypes.

Shaking my head.

But not like that.

- Publihsed in The New Paper, 8 November 2021

Disney+ or Netflix? If I could pick only one...

Remember the circuit breaker last year? Seems like a lifetime ago now.

Not being essential, I was mostly stuck at home.

We could not eat out. All the cinemas were closed.

Like many, I turned to Netflix for entertainment.

I binged all the well-known shows such as The Crown and Stranger Things. I tried but could not sit through Tiger King.

Soon, I was running out of shows to watch.

Out of desperation and curiosity, I clicked on a banner link of this Spanish series I had never heard of, starring people I had never heard of.

The show was called Money Heist and was about a gang of misfits taking hostages in the Royal Mint of Spain.



I was hooked, which I did not expect.

But if it were not for the pandemic, I would have probably never watched a show like that.

The circuit breaker is now over but not the pandemic. And Netflix is no longer the only streaming giant in town.



At long last, after more than 15 months since its official launch in the US, Canada and the Netherlands, Disney+ is finally available in Singapore.

A bit late, considering the second season of The Baby Yoda Show (also known as The Mandalorian) ended in December.



But just in time for The Series Finale episode Of WandaVision, released last Friday.

As per almost all Marvel Studios productions, stay for the mid and post-credits scene. Spoiler alert: Dr Strange does not materialise.



But apart from the Star Wars and Marvel stuff, Disney+ also offers content from Pixar, National Geographic, Star and, well, Disney.

All this for just $11.98 a month or $119.98 a year.

That is unless you want to watch the new Disney animated extravaganza, Raya And The Last Dragon.



Then it is an additional one-time charge of $38.98.

That is a lot, especially considering that despite the title, the movie has nothing to do with Hari Raya.

You might as well pay to watch it in the cinema, which is the point, I guess.

Or wait three months to stream it on Disney+ without extra charge.

But should you get Disney+ in the first place?

How else are you going to watch Marvel’s next big series, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, which starts streaming in less than two weeks?



You know the No.1 song around the world right now, Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo?



The theory is that it’s about a guy she co-starred with in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, but I won’t say who.

How can you watch High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, you may ask.

On Disney+, of course.



If only we had Disney+ last year during the circuit breaker, I would not have had to depend so much on Netflix to keep myself entertained and sane.

But if I can have only one, which would I pick?

Gun to my head... Netflix.

Because despite Disney+’s massive library that includes the five biggest box-office hits ever, it feels rather hermetic and homogeneous due to the overarching American-ness of it all.

Even Raya And The Last Dragon is an action-packed mocktail of non-specific South-east Asian exotica watered down for Western palates.

Disney+ lacks the diversity and internationality of Netflix, where you can find Bridgerton, Japanese anime, K-dramas and, yes, a series about a money heist at a Spanish mint.

Sorry, Baby Yoda.

I am unlikely to experience the unique joy of discovering and falling in love with a new show I had never heard of on Disney+.

PlusI don't think anyone will evr say: “Disney+ and chill.”

Oh yah, Netflix also has Phua Chu Kang.

- Published in The New Paper, 8 March 2021

Star Wars exhibition, I find your lack of Baby Yoda disturbing: This is not the way

Dear Star Wars,

Trust once lost is difficult to regain.

You have let your fans down once again.

And I’m speaking as someone who watched all the movies, joined two Star Wars Runs and invested in a 1:6 scale Greedo figurine because Han shot him first.

How have you let us down? Let’s see...

The 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, kissing siblings, the bullying of the actors who played Jar Jar Binks and child Darth Vader because the characters were so reviled by many – plus the entire sequel trilogy.



I actually didn’t mind the Solo movie that much.

And now we have Star Wars Identities: The Exhibition coming to Singapore.

To quote the Facebook page: “Happening for the first time in South-east Asia, the interactive exhibition will showcase original props, models, costumes, and artwork from Star Wars films.”

Reportedly, these include the original trilogy, the prequels, The Force Awakens and the animated series, The Clone Wars.

Get ready Star Wars fans, tickets go on sale from Jan 15.

Posted by CNA on Wednesday, January 6, 2021

If you think Boba is bubble tea, then this exhibition in the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands from Jan 30 to June 13 is probably not for you.

Hey, I thought, this is a chance for a fan like me to use my SingapoRediscovers Vouchers and flee the pandemic to a galaxy far, far away where the Empire can't access my TraceTogether data.

Until I read something that made me realise this is not the Star Wars exhibition I’m looking for.

Baby Yoda will not be in the exhibition.

I mean, no Din Djarin, no Cara Dune, no Moff Gideon or no Darksaber, never mind.

But no Grogu? Also known as The Child in the Disney+ TV series The Mandalorian, which just ended its second season last month?



What’s the point of even having a Star Wars exhibition then?

Don’t you know that Baby Yoda has single-handedly (I think we can call them hands) saved your 40 plus-year-old franchise from the sandcrawler wreck that was the sequel trilogy?



Yes, I’m aware the exhibition has the original Yoda puppet, but nowadays, the old Jedi Master looks kind of creepy next to the cosmic cuteness that is Grogu.

現在開催中の “スター・ウォーズ アイデンティティーズ” では、Lucasfilm...

Posted by STAR WARS Identities - The Exhibition on Sunday, September 22, 2019

The problem could be that the travelling exhibition started in 2012, years before The Mandalorian, although it reportedly now also includes stuff from the 2015 sequel, The Force Awakens.

I suspect that while Baby Yoda may not be part of the exhibition, there will probably be plenty of Baby Yoda merch in the gift shop.

Singapore is supposedly the last stop of the travelling exhibition after Canada, Europe and Japan. So I guess it's not worth updating the displays at this late stage.



But if you come up with a new exhibition, I suggest you call it Star Wars: Baby Yoda, Nothing But Baby Yoda.

I guarantee the queues will be longer than a Tatooine sand worm.

I will definitely use my SingapoRediscovers Vouchers for that (if they’re still valid by then).

This is the way.

Trust me.

- Published in The New Paper, 11 January 2021

I blame 2020 for Robinsons and Sean Connery

A 74-year-old Robinsons sales associate at the Raffles City outlet said: “I’m very sad… When I see the empty counters...

Posted by TODAY on Friday, October 30, 2020

Dear 2020,

You nasty.

And there are still two more months to go.

If only we can cancel you like the Raffles Hall Association cancelled the authors of the PAP Vs PAP book.

We should’ve agreed to a safe word before the year started, like “circuit breaker” or “wap”.

Is it too late to cry Uncle Roger?

Never mind SafeEntry. We need a SafeExit and quick.



It’s not enough that more than a million have died from the pandemic this year and Manchester United introduced its ugliest kit ever, you just killed off two beloved decades-old institutions within days of each other – Robinsons and Sean Connery.

The former announced on Friday that it was closing shop after 162 years in Singapore.

Already queueing for the TraceTogether tokens, Singaporeans are now also lining up to get into Robinsons before the doors are shut for good.





Where do I get my extra firm bamboo charcoal memory foam pillow after that?

I mean, besides Tangs, Metro, OG, Isetan, Takashimaya, BHG, Courts, Harvey Norman and the Internet.

I almost feel guilty for partially causing the closure of Robinsons by cancelling my OCBC-Robinsons Group credit card in March.

I already have too many cards in the wallet in my back pocket, which ruins the smooth curve of my perfectly shaped buttock.

And I realised that lately, I used the Robinsons card only to get a member’s rebate when paying for my all-butter Viennese milk chocolate-dipped finger biscuits at Marks & Spencer.



But no, it’s not really my fault that Robinsons is joining John Little and Oriental Emporium in the great megamall in the sky.

I blame you, 2020.

Don’t you see a pattern here?

Eddie Van Halen, Helen Reddy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Chadwick Boseman, Olivia de Havilland, Regis Philbin, Charlie Daniels, Carl Reiner, Ian Holm, Vera Lynn, Little Richard, Irrfan Khan, Bill Withers, Kenny Rogers, Max Von Sydow, Kirk Douglas, Kobe Bryant and Toots of Toots and the Maytals – you took Toots!



Do you have a bucket list of famous names you want to end before you end?

And as if knocking off two iconic Bond girls – Diana Rigg and Pussy Galore, I mean Honor Blackman – isn’t sufficient villainy, you did what Dr No, Goldfinger and Blofeld couldn’t. You got to the man himself.

Connery was 90 years old.



I remember back in the mid-70s, my father once told me he was taking me to see James Bond. I thought we were going to see Roger Moore as he was the only Bond I knew then.

But the movie my father took me to see was this bizarre post-apocalyptic psychedelic fantasy with near-naked women and a giant flying angry stone head.



Traumatisingly unsuitable for children, the movie had an existential ending that haunted me for many nights to come.



Needless to say, it was nothing like James Bond at all with no Roger Moore in sight.

Why did my father lie to me?

It was only decades later, after he died, that I found out that the movie of my childhood nightmares was called Zardoz.



And the reason my father said he was taking me to see James Bond was that the movie starred Sean Connery.

At the time, I didn't know who Connery was, much less knew he was the original Bond. Eight-year-olds are dumb. I also didn’t know how to pronounce “Sean”.

My plan was to share this poignant anecdote with the Oscar-winning Scottish star if I should ever meet him – and also rag him about the red diapers he wore in Zardoz.

But that possibility is no more, thanks to you. Even 007 was no match for 2020.

Contrary to the title of the much delayed new Daniel Craig-starring Bond sequel, this year has been the time to die for too many.



My only quantum of solace is that I still have my all-butter Viennese milk chocolate-dipped finger biscuits. They’re for my mouth only.

Oh, and stay away from Sheena Easton.

- Published in The New Paper, 2 November 2020

I went to see Tenet in a Shaw cinema and survived – but my mind is blown

Dear Tenet director Christopher Nolan,

Have you seen Mulan?

If you had directed it, it would probably be called Nalum and it would have been an improvement.

#BoycottMulan for not including the song I’ll Make A Man Out Of You and a sassy cartoon dragon that sounds like Eddie Murphy.



Because of the pandemic, cinemas in Singapore were closed for nearly four months and reopened in July with safe distancing restrictions.



Only up to 50 people are allowed per cinema hall and you must wear a mask at all times except – and this is a giant loophole – when consuming food and drink.

And this is how they get you to fork over your money for their overpriced popcorn and sugar water.

As if that isn’t frightening enough, last week, people were hurt while watching Tenet in a Shaw cinema at Nex mall after a ventilation duct fell from the ceiling.



Wasn’t there a fire during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises at Causeway Point in 2012 as well?

More tragically, 12 people were killed in a mass shooting during a Dark Knight Rises screening in the US.

Watching a Christopher Nolan movie in the theatre has become a rather dangerous proposition.

Besides wearing a mask, you need a helmet, fire extinguisher and bulletproof body armour.

But I went to see Tenet last Thursday anyway because I loved Inception, appreciated Interstellar and Dunkirk, was shocked by The Prestige and am still trying to figure out Memento.

Tenet was the first movie I have seen in a cinema in eight months. I even watched it in Imax because you are such a champion of the format.



But you know where’s the only place in Singapore you can watch your movie in Imax?

Shaw Theatres.

That’s right, the cinema chain where a ventilation duct fell on people.



So I basically risked my life to see your bloody movie.

Was it worth it?

Well, it was nice to see RPatz not sucking anyone’s blood while Denzel Washington’s son establishes his blockbuster cred so that he can potentially take over the late Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther.



Speaking of Marvel movies, since Tenet is essentially about going backwards in time to save the world, it’s a bit like Avengers: Endgame but with less talking raccoon and more Michael Caine.

Coincidentally, Keanu Reeves’ new movie Bill & Ted Face The Music is also about time-travelling to save the world.



It’s stupid and dumb, but what a relief to be able to understand what’s going on in a movie after seeing yours. Hooray for stupid and dumb.

And it’s not just that the timey-wimey stuff in Tenet is incomprehensible.

The dialogue is sometimes so inaudible in the sound mix that the audience can’t hear what the characters are saying to help us comprehend the timey-wimey stuff.

It’s like suddenly everyone in the movie is speaking like Bane from The Dark Knight Rises.



I get that you like to challenge the audience, but I beg of you, the next time you direct a movie, please make English subtitles mandatory.

Don’t make me start the hashtag #BoycottChristopherNolan.

- Published in The New Paper, 7 September 2020

Warning from the future: It's not too late to prevent the robot apocalypse

Dear Singaporeans of 2020,

I’m sending you this urgent message from the future to warn you.

Listen to me if you want to live.

In my timeline, robots have taken over. They are sovereign. A robot is not a person. It’s “I, robot”, not “we, the people”.



That’s why robots don’t need to wear a mask when they go to the market.

Being machines, they are not afraid of any virus. They have Norton Antivirus pre-installed whether you want it or not.

It’s the robot apocalypse now for us.

I guess I should be grateful they haven’t turned us into batteries. Yet.



By the way, here in the future, cinemas have reopened and we have seen The Matrix 4. It’s still not as good as the original movie. Keanu Reeves hasn’t aged a day though.

But even John Wick couldn’t save us from the robot apocalypse.

We didn’t see it coming. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were expecting a zombie apocalypse.



So we worried about the wrong apocalypse.

We should have paid less attention to The Walking Dead and more to The Terminator sequels, even the lousy ones after Judgment Day.



We became over-reliant on robots because of the coronavirus.

And I’m not just talking about the Black Mirror robot dog unleashed in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park to “assist safe distancing efforts”.

A less canine-like robot was earlier deployed in Bedok Reservoir to tell humans not to loiter in the park.



A hound of the Boston Dynamics-villes was also used at the Changi Exhibition Centre community isolation facility to deliver essential items such as medicine to patients.



As the pandemic dragged on, more robots appeared.

Before we knew it, the machines were taking over the world.



But that’s just in my timeline.

The good news is that it’s still not too late for you to change your timeline and stop the robot apocalypse from happening.

Here is what you must do.

Stay home. Go out only when necessary.

If you do go out, wear a mask and practise safe distancing without requiring a robot dog to remind you.

Don’t verbally abuse National Environmental Agency enforcement officers.

And if you go to court for verbally abusing them, don’t wear your mask over your eyes because you are not VR Man.

Just because you can’t see us doesn’t mean we can’t see you.

Is it any wonder the robots won?

You’re in the endgame now.

Basically, to prevent the robot apocalypse, just don’t do anything that could get you featured on the SG Covidiots Facebook page and possibly remanded at the Institute of Mental Health.

If everyone follows these instructions, the sooner you can say “Hasta la vista, baby” to the coronavirus and the sooner the robots can go back to vacuuming our floors.



Otherwise, you will end up in the same apocalyptic future I’m living in now, where I have to vacuum my own damn floor.

The horror! The horror!

- Published in The New Paper, 11 May 2020

Waiting game: Buying Avengers Endgame tickets made me question the meaning of life

There comes a time for everyone when you question the point of it all.

Why are you doing this? Is this what life is about?

For me, that happened last Wednesday morning as I stared at the queue number on my computer screen, waiting to buy tickets for Avengers: Endgame on the Shaw Theatres website.



The screen said: “Your estimated wait time is: more than one hour.”

Nothing to be done.

I wanted Imax 3D tickets, which you can get only at Shaw, but like the Avengers in Infinity War, it looked like I was going to fail.

Deciding that it’s better to have non-Imax 3D tickets than no tickets at all, I tried the other cinema chains.

But I couldn’t get into the Cathay Cineplexes website because Thanos had apparently snapped its servers to oblivion too.

After a few attempts, I was relieved to be able to get good seats on the Golden Village website – until I tried to pay. My credit card payment couldn’t be processed.

GV raised my hopes only to turn them to dust like the Mad Titan. At least on the Cathay website, the death was instant. This was crueler.

It’s too much for one man.

On the other hand, what’s the good of losing heart now, that’s what I say.

As a last resort, I tried the website of We Cinemas, (a misnomer since it has just one cinema in Clementi albeit with multiple halls) and managed to book two opening-day tickets.

The seats are terrible though – three rows from the front and to the side. My neck is going to hurt after the three-hour movie.

At least whatever happens, I will be watching Avengers: Endgame on opening day, just maybe not in Imax 3D.

People ask, why must you watch the movie on the first day?

Some fans say it’s to avoid spoilers because if you see the movie before other people do, other people can’t spoil it for you and as we all know, hell is other people.

But honestly, it’s because I just can’t wait.

Like the hardy souls in the queue for A&W at Jewel Changi Airport, I would rather wait in line for hours than wait for the hype to inevitably fade when there will be no more queues.



Remember the long lines for Wendy’s in 2009 when it too returned to Singapore after a long absence like A&W?

Well, the queues for Wendy’s are gone – and so is Wendy’s. And it wasn’t even Thanos’ fault.



And even though I already got my We Cinemas tickets, ultimately, the endgame was still Imax 3D.

I could just sell my extra tickets on Carousell and maybe even make a profit.



Like the Avengers, I wasn’t giving up – yet.

But as I sat there counting down the minutes in the online queue for the Shaw website, I felt like I was watching my life tick away as well.

I wondered if it was really worth it.

Why was I doing this? Was this what life is about?

In an instant, all will vanish and we'll be alone once more in the midst of nothingness.

After three hours, the screen said: “Your estimated wait time is: less than one minute.”

Hallelujah!

More than one minute later, it said the same thing.

Fake news!

In the time it took for me to get the tickets, I could’ve watched the whole goddamned movie.

Minutes later, I was re-directed to the Avengers: Endgame ticketing page.

My patience had been rewarded! I rejoiced.

Then…

Nothing happens.

I couldn’t click on anything.

At least the Cathay website didn’t string you along for “more than an hour” before hanging. It disappointed you right away.

Shaw made sure you suffered first.

Astronomers were taking pictures of me because I was in a black hole where time had no meaning.



Like the search party for the runaway bull in Lim Chu Kang, I finally gave up.

And thus ended one of the most existentially stressful mornings of my life and I’ve flown on Scoot before.

I later bought 3D tickets from GV and this time, the payment went through. No Imax but close enough.

Anybody want two tickets to watch Avengers: Endgame at 11.05am on April 24 in Clementi?

Is $500 too much to ask?

Great seats.

- Published in The New Paper, 15 April 2019

Readers write in to defend Crazy Rich Asians: 'Cut it some slack'

So I received two e-mails regarding my last column about Crazy Rich Asians:

SM

I take it that you have written the article tongue-in-cheek and I should better take it with a pinch of salt.

Crazy Rich Asians, the movie and novel, is not a documentary, but based on the author's observations of the super rich Chinese in East Asia. So let it be. Minority inclusion in this instance and context is not necessary. Personally, I would also hate to see it turn out like a Mediacorp drama with minority races artificially inserted. But it is understandable for Mediacorp as they represent the government.

However, Crazy Rich Asians the movie has no such national obligations and objectives. Neither should it set out to sterilise and pontificate to the audience. It is fiction. It is satire.

Cut it some slack. It is not worth a battle fighting. Otherwise there will be a tonne of other Hollywood movies that too are not representative of the real world. Audience don't want to watch real life. They want drama. I am saying this as a screenwriter, director and actor. You could do to accept them as art with the creative licence to entertain.

Michael Chua
Screenwriter-Director-Actor

This next one may have taken part of my column too seriously:

Dear Mr Ong,

Crazy Rich Asians is a movie, based on fiction. Must we take everything so personally?

Isn’t it a story of one girl meeting rich boyfriend’s rich family? Like Cinderella. It’s not autobiographical even if its based on the writer’s experience.

It is not a story of Singapore and it’s multi racial people. The movie is set in Singapore based on a particular family who happens to be a Chinese family.

This story of being looked down upon by a rich family can happen to a Rich Malay in Brunei, Rich Indonesian, Rich American (Paris Hilton), Rich English (Royal Family), etc.

Movies are to escape into. Some can be a political or social statement but generally its entertainment isn’t it? I had fun. I laughed. I cried. I'm easy to pleased.

I know its just a fluff article but it is not often that Asians are represented for the world to see, especially for Singapore Asian, this round the Chinese, next time maybe the Malays or Peranakan. Can’t we support the Singaporean actors who got this opportunity for work and exposure. They don’t get it from Mediacorp, who should engage, encourage and support local talents. To suggest Scarlett Johansson is to ignore the story of this Chinese settings and to fall back on Hollywood’s usual casting of big names for ticket sales. I’m glad it is not the usual Mark Lee’s bunch from Mediacorp by the way, where talents from tv swop with radio and channel 5 with channel 8.It was fun identifying the local actors used and encouraging. I liked that the cast was international asians too.

Writing to you coz I’ve nothing better to do. :)
F Kee

I know I won't be changing anyone's mind, but I just want to make a few points.

Yes, Crazy Rich Asians is a movie, but it has also been marketed as a milestone for diversity and representation, setting a standard for itself that it fails to meet.



The movie is not called Crazy Rich Asians Of Chinese Descent but Crazy Rich Asians, and "Asians" means more than just East Asians. If the movie were set not in Singapore but in Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing or Shanghai, no one would question the characters being all Chinese. But being multi-racial is a defining trait of Singapore and leaving the other races out of the movie is a failure in representation.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sylvia Toh Paik Choo (@paikchoo) on Aug 21, 2018 at 9:44pm PDT

Others have written more about this. Here are a few links:

The New York Times: For Some Viewers, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Is Not Asian Enough

The Atlantic: One Way That Crazy Rich Asians Is a Step Backward

The Guardian: Where are the brown people? Crazy Rich Asians draws tepid response in Singapore

Medium: Why You Shouldn’t Watch the Crazy Rich Asians Movie

I also note that the two readers who wrote in to defend the lack of non-Chinese in the movie happen to be Chinese. Should we check our majority privilege?

But all this doesn't mean you can't enjoy the movie, so there's no need to be defensive about it.

You can love Crazy Rich Asians and still acknowledge that the movie could've done a better job at representation that its marketing is crowing about.

I mean, I kinda enjoyed Ghost In The Shell even with Scarlett Johansson.


EARLIER: Crazy Rich Asians should have been called High SES Chinese & starred Scarlett Johansson

Crazy Rich Asians should have been called High SES Chinese & starred Scarlett Johansson

Dear Kevin Kwan,

Congratulations on topping the US box office for the third straight crazy rich week with the movie adaptation of your novel, Crazy Rich Asians.

Or as our Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong might call them, potential ministers.

But along with success come haters.

Not everyone in Singapore is Chinese as depicted in the movie, they complain.

But that’s not your fault.

Coming from old money yourself, you emigrated from Singapore at age 11 and evaded national service so you probably didn’t get to interact much with other races here.

“As a child, you’re cloistered in this world,” you said in an interview. “You don’t know how other people live until you leave that world and realise not everyone has an airplane in their garage.”



So you followed the old adage and just wrote what you knew.

And if the movie is anything to go by, the only non-Chinese in Singapore you knew were scary Sikh security guards.

A more accurate title for the movie would be Ridiculously High SES Asians Of Chinese Descent, but that’s probably not as catchy.

And as far as most Americans (which is what you are now) are concerned, all Asians are the same anyway.

In a few countries, even “Asians” is erased.



In Italy, the movie is called Crazy & Rich. In Germany and Japan, just Crazy Rich.

The Mexican title is Locamente Millonarios, which Google translates to Crazily Millionaires.



In Hong Kong, it’s neither crazy nor rich. The title is My Super Grand Boyfriend.

Which brings us to another criticism about the movie.

A New Paper reader wrote:

The emphasis on wealth not only creates a sense of entitlement, it reinforces the divide that exists in our community.

This divide, which appears to be growing wider, is something that needs to be dealt with and eradicated over time. Instead, a movie such as Crazy Rich Asians perpetuates the theme of being extremely wealthy and encourages it with all its flash.

Is the desire of always wanting more what we should allow to fester within each individual?

In the real world, not all can be so rich, and there are many who barely get by.

So how does this film help the cause? It only stimulates envy and bad behaviour.

In other words, what about the crazy poor Asians?

And that happens to be the title of one of the videos about Singapore posted by this Nas Daily guy from Israel last week, almost like a rebuttal to your movie.



But even then he was frustrated by claims that he was paid to make “positive videos” about Singapore.

He wrote on Facebook: “It is disheartening to see people discredit my work because of unfounded allegations. I know most of my videos are positive. But what can I do? You guys actually have some stuff figured out that many countries don’t have figured out!”

Yet we can’t seem to figure out how to prevent random wild boar attacks.

You should have had that in your movie along with the pack of local actors. It’s great to have Singaporeans besides Ng Chin Han in a truly successful Hollywood movie for once and not another misbegotten Anna And The King, soon to be remade as Anna And The Crazy Rich Royal Asian.



Although it’s a bit jarring to see Tan Kheng Hua, 55, play the mother of Constance Wu, 36, while Pierre Png, 44, who used to play Tan’s husband in Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, now plays the husband of Gemma Chan, 35.



If only Tan and Png had a scene together in Crazy Rich Asians, she might have let out an inadvertent “Chooobs!”

Newcomer Henry Golding plays the male lead, which was protested by some because he is half Caucasian. The greater outrage is that he is half Malaysian and not even half Singaporean.

You once joked in an interview: “Personally, I’d like Emma Stone to play every single role in the movie. We’ll just CGI her.”

That was probably a reference to Stone controversially playing a one-quarter Chinese character named Allison Ng in the 2015 movie Aloha. It was a joke, right?



You’ve said in other interviews that you rejected a producer who proposed that the female lead of Crazy Rich Asians be changed to a “white girl”.

Looking back, perhaps that wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

If the movie had starred, say, Scarlett Johansson, it wouldn’t have been saddled with the burden of representation as the “ground-breaking” first contemporary Hollywood movie with an all-Asian cast since Joy Luck Club.



Then it could have sidestepped the whole “Where are the dark-skinned Asians?” mess. People would be too busy condemning the movie for whitewashing.

Sure, Crazy Rich Asians is making a lot of money now, but Johansson was in Avengers: Infinity War and that made a hell lot more money, like in one weekend more than double what your little movie made in three weeks in the US alone.

You could have been crazy richer.

Next time you’re back in Singapore, we can go get some wanton mee ... no, wait...

- Published in The New Paper, 3 September 2018


EARLIER: Crazy Rich Asians trailer reminds me of Masters Of The Sea

UPDATE: Readers write in to defend Crazy Rich Asians: 'Cut it some slack'

Remembering Errol Pang: The man who brought Miss Universe here also produced 'Singapore's first full-length English film'

Former Miss Singapore Universe organiser Errol Pang died Monday morning at age 76. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in April.

He was one of the first people I interviewed as a journalist in Singapore after returning from America in 1993.

I was working on my first major magazine feature on the state of the republic's (non-existent) movie industry back then and Pang had produced what was touted as “Singapore’s first full-length English film”, Medium Rare, in 1991.



Local actress Margaret Chan (yet to star in Channel 5’s Masters Of The Sea) was in it. Curiously, she also got a co-writing credit.



The movie was poorly received, but Pang was surprisingly open and good-natured about it. He seemed like someone who was always happy to talk to the press for some publicity.

Since then, I’ve bumped into him once or twice over the decades, although I doubt he remembered me.

But I will always be grateful for his generosity with his time and humour with a youngish magazine writer 25 years ago.

Below are clips of the article from Man Life & Style magazine:





While Medium Rare is mostly forgotten now, its place in Singapore's cinematic history is undeniable, alongside Mee Pok Man and Money No Enough.

And Pang was its progenitor.

Crushed like a cockroach: Crazy Rich Asians trailer reminds me of Masters Of The Sea

A crazy rich family in Singapore. A domineering matriarch.

Inconsistent accents. A show starring an Asian-American.

And Tan Kheng Hua.

What is this?

The trailer for the film adaption of Singaporean Kevin Kwan’s bestselling novel, Crazy Rich Asians, starring Constance Wu from US sitcom Fresh Off The Boat?

Or Masters Of The Sea?

No wonder Singaporeans hate the Crazy Rich Asians trailer.

Singaporeans hated Masters Of The Sea too.



For those of you who weren’t born when Masters Of The Sea premiered on Channel 5 to much derision in 1994 or too young to remember Singapore’s first locally-produced English-language TV drama series, lucky you.

It was so long ago Mediacorp wasn’t even called Television Corporation of Singapore yet. It was still Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).

I should know. I was working at SBC at the time as a research writer on a variety show called Live On 5 hosted by a nobody named Gurmit Singh.



You know Wong Lilin?

The ex-wife of Allan Wu was in the news last week when The Straits Times reported that she will be stepping down from her role as executive director of the Public Hygiene Council after less than a year in the job.

ST helpfully added that the former actress had no academic or work experience in the area of public hygiene before getting the job.

Wong was described as being best known for starring in the old Channel 5 cop show Triple Nine, but her first big role was in Masters Of The Sea.



That goes for Ng Chin Han as well. Who knew then the actor would later be in such Hollywood blockbusters as The Dark Knight and Captain America: Winter Soldier? He is one Singaporean who should be in Crazy Rich Asian but isn’t.

Neither Wong nor Chin Han was the star of Masters Of The Sea, though.

Because Masters Of The Sea was Singapore’s first English-language TV drama series, of course SBC hired an Asian-American named Donald Li to play the male lead since, you know, no English-speaking Singaporean actor was good enough at the time.

That is, until the second season (yes, there was a second season) when Li left the show and local actor Lim Kay Tong took over as the lead before redeeming himself later in the less hated Growing Up.

The executive producer of Masters Of The Sea was also American, a 60something woman named Joanne Brough, whose credits included 80s soaps Knots Landing, Falcon Crest and Dallas, which Masters Of The Sea was modelled after.



So it was a miracle that Masters Of The Sea’s domineering matriarch wasn’t played by Barbara Bel Geddes but an actual Singaporean, Margaret Chan.



While many remember Chan for the line “I’ll crush you like a cockroach”, what I recall she actually said was “Crush him under your foot like you would a cockroach” because in those pre-Phua Chu Kang days, SBC was fastidious in ensuring that the English spoken in all local productions was even better than the Queen’s.

No Singlish allowed.

And that is the big reason Singaporeans hated Masters Of Sea then and why we hate the Crazy Rich Asians trailer now.

Even though both are supposedly set in Singapore, there’s very little we can relate to as Singaporean.

Too foreign. Not representative enough of the real Singapore.



And judging by some of the local shows on Channel 5 in the 24 years since Masters Of The Sea, it appears that Mediacorp didn’t quite learn its lesson.

At least Crazy Rich Asians has the excuse of being made primarily for the US market.

Masters Of The Sea didn’t.

Though apparently, it was shown on Indonesian TV dubbed in Bahasa Indonesia.

You’re welcome, Indonesia.

Oh yah, did I mention Tan Kheng Hua was in Masters Of The Sea too?

- Published in The New Paper, 30 April 2018




UPDATE: Crazy Rich Asians should have been called High SES Chinese & starred Scarlett Johansson

Rampage in Imax 3D: Dumb giant ape movie made more enjoyable by audio glitch

Dear Shaw Theatres,

Last Thursday morning, I went to see the giant ape movie Rampage starring Dwayne Johnson at Lido.

Of course, I watched it in Imax 3D because, ahem, high socio-economic status (SES).

Other people of high SES drive BMWs and let the petrol station attendant pay for their petrol.



I like to watch the latest blockbusters wearing cumbersome 3D glasses.

Even if it’s a dumb giant ape movie like Rampage starring Dwayne Johnson.

I leave the regular 2D movies for the lower SES and maybe later when the movies start streaming on Netflix.

In the Lido Imax theatre, there were perhaps only about a dozen people with me and my daughter for the 11.40am screening.

We high-SES types are an exclusive bunch.

The movie opened with the Warner Bros logo, which was normal.

What wasn’t normal was a disembodied male voice describing the logo.

The voice then described how the WB logo transformed to the logo of New Line Cinema.



That was weird.

Initially, I thought maybe the voice-over was part of the movie as some sort of meta, fourth wall-breaking gag. You know, like in Deadpool.

But the first scene of the movie was an intense action-filled sequence that wasn’t jokey at all.

And the disembodied voice continued to describe what was happening on the Imax screen.

Now I knew something was definitely wrong.

Somehow, the movie was being shown with the audio description for the visually-impaired turned on.

I've come across this option before with movies on Blu-ray. But in the cinema?!

And me without my remote control to turn it off.

That’ll teach me to watch the first screening of a movie on opening day.

And I foolishly paid extra for the Imax 3D too (because, ahem, high SES).

Imax is supposed to be an immersive experience, but the intrusive voice-over just took you out of it.

I understand why you would have the audio description for the visually-impaired, but for a 3D movie?

I mean, regardless of SES, why would a visually-impaired person pay extra to see a movie in 3D?

The cumbersome 3D glasses wouldn’t be of any help.



What would you do in a situation like this?

I know what I did. Nothing.

Hopefully, one of your staff members was already aware of the problem and correcting it.

Or an audience member (other than me) would go and alert someone.

There were long stretches when there was no voice-over because the actors in the movie were talking.

I thought the problem was fixed.

Then the actors stopped talking and the voice-over returned.

Aiyah!

A post shared by SM Ong (@sm_ong) on Apr 15, 2018 at 9:51pm PDT

Then I thought maybe I could live with the audio description and tried to ignore the distraction.

The trouble was that the voice-over sometimes described what happened before it happened, spoiling the surprise.

Like “An albino ape emerges from the foliage” before the albino ape actually emerged from the foliage.

After a few minutes of this, my daughter volunteered to go out to alert someone of the problem.

First, she told the usher outside the door. He came in and listened, but then said he couldn't do anything. He told my daughter to go to the ticket counter and ask for the manager, which she did. The manager came in and stood at the back for a while before leaving.

I thought the audio description would be turned off eventually, but it never was.

Another woman in the audience also went out presumably to complain.

She came back, sat for a few minutes until she couldn't take it anymore and left for good with her male companion.



Then a strange thing happened.

I started enjoying the voice-over as the movie rampaged towards its literal blockbusting conclusion

Because the movie was so dumb, the inopportune audio description actually made it more interesting.

So the glitch turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I now feel sorry for anyone watching Rampage starring Dwayne Johnson without it.

The last words of the voice-over were “Credits roll”.

As I got up to leave, I wondered whether I should even bother asking for a refund.

I needn’t have worried as once we stepped out of the theatre, the usher instructed us to go the ticket counter and ask for the manager to get our refund.

Except it wasn’t a refund exactly but two complimentary Imax 3D passes.



The manager apologised for the audio glitch and explained that the voice-over couldn’t be turned off without stopping the movie halfway, which he didn’t want to do.

Hey, I’m just happy I can watch Avengers: Infinity War in Imax 3D next week for free.

Thank you, Shaw Theatres!

As the BMW driver demonstrated, we high-SES types love free stuff.

Now I just wonder if the woman who left early got her free tickets too.

- Published in The New Paper, 16 April 2018



EARLIER: Hellboy: Why I'm never going to the cinema again