Celebrating the East: The Contestation of Whiteness and Colored in John M. Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians

https://doi.org/10.22146/rubikon.v9i2.74297

Rif'ah Inayati(1*), Ida Rochani Adi(2), Muh. Arif Rokhman(3)

(1) Universitas Trunojoyo Madura
(2) Universitas Gadjah Mada
(3) Universitas Gadjah Mada
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


Crazy Rich Asians is regarded as one of the movies that successfully represented Asians, regardless of all the controversy. One of the topics clearly presented in the movie is the contestation between the west and east. The dichotomy is resulted from the social construction of the western culture to maintain its superiority over the east culture. Since the movie seems to celebrate the east by portraying the Asian-Asians differently from the old stereotypes or old images of the eastern culture, but at the same time, this research finds that this movie overtly portrays the west as loveable or likable culture. The movie depicts the contrast between east and west through the story. This article is intended to analyze the contestation between east and west which is depicted in the movie. The movie is examined in how it depicts America as the west and Asia as part of the east. Therefore, deconstruction is used as the reading method to see what is behind it, the things that are not seen, related to how the Asians are portrayed in the movie. The finding of this research shows that there are double roles in the movie. The power of whiteness in the American movie industry somehow still brings impacts toward the contestation of whiteness and color.


Keywords


America; Asia; Contestation; East and West; Deconstruction; Whiteness

Full Text:

PDF


References

Adhitya, G. N. (2015). The revelation of authorial ideology through the class structure and class conflict represented in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians. [Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta].

__________. & Kurnia, N. I. (2017). Beragam gambaran mengenai etnis Cina pada karya terjemahan Kevin Kwan’s Kekasih Kaya Raya. Lakon, 6(1), 13-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.20473/lakon.v6i1.6790.

__________. & Wulandari, N. (2021). Representasi Indonesia dalam novel trilogi terjemahan Kaya Tujuh Turunan Karya Kevin Kwan. Adabiyyāt: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra, 5(1), 26-48. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajbs.2021.05102

Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2002). The empire writes back: Theory and practice in post-colonial literatures (second). Routledge.

Benshoff, H. M., & Griffin, S. (2009). America on Film: Representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies (second). Blackwell Publishing.

Bogdan, R. C., & Biklen, S. K. (1992). Qualitative research for education. Allyn and Bacon.

Brown, M. K. (2003). Whitewashing race: The myth of a colorblind society. University of California Press.

Browne, N. (1989). Orientalism as an ideological form: American film theory in the silent period. Wide Angel, 11(4), 23–31.

Chu, J. M. (2018). Crazy Rich Asians. Warner Bross.

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (second). Sage Publication.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2005). The sage handbook of qualitative research (third edit). Sage Publications, Inc.

Derrida, J. (1981). Positions. The University of Chicago.

Dirks, D., & Mueller, J. C. (2007a). Racism and popular culture. In H. Vera & J. R. Feagin (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of racial and ethnic relations (pp. 115–129). Springer.

Dirks, D., & Mueller, J. C. (2007b). Racism and popular culture. In H. Vera & J. R. Feagin (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of racial and ethnic relation (pp. 115–129). Springer.

Dyer, R. (1997). White. Routledge.

Foster, G. A. (2003). Performing whiteness: Postmodern re/constructions in cinema. State University of New York Press.

Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality: An introduction (Vol. 1). Random House Inc,.

Ho, K. K. (2018). Crazy Rich Asians is going to change Hollywood. It’s about time. https://time.com/longform/crazy-rich-asians/

Indriani, N. (2015). Representation of values through popular literature : a case study on transracial adoption in American movies. Rubikon, 2(1), 54–65.

Jadallah, D., & El-Khoury, L. (2016). State power and the constitution of the individual : Racial profiling of Arab Americans author(s): Dina Jadallah and Laura el-Khoury Source : Arab Studies Quarterly, Pluto Journals Stable UR. Pluto Journals, 32(4), 218–237.

Lopez, A. M. (1991). Are all Latins from Manhattan? Hollywood, ethnography, and cultural colonialism. In L. D. Friedman (Ed.), Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity and the American Cinema (pp. 404–424). University of Illinois Press.

Marchetti, G. (1991). Ethnicity, the cinema, and cultural studies. In L. D. Friedman (Ed.), Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity and the American Cinema (pp. 277–309). University of Illinois Press.

Marchetti, G. (1993). Romance and the ‘Yellow Peril’: Race, sex, and discursive strategies in Hollywood fiction. University of California Press.

Nagaraj, S., & Wen, C. P. (2020). Asian stereotypes : Asian representation in Hollywood films. Inti Journal, 2020(September).

Said, E. W. (1977). Orientalism (First). Penguin.

Schueller, M. J. (2004). Postcolonial American studies. American Literary History, 16(1), 162–175. https://doi.org/10.1093/alh/ajh011.

Tocquville, A. De. (2010). Democracy in America: Volume 2 (Translated). Liberty Fund, Inc.

Wolf, N. (2002). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. HarperCollin.

Wong, E. F. (1998). On visual media racism: Asians in the motion pictures. Arno Press.



DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/rubikon.v9i2.74297

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 1107 | views : 864

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Rubikon : Journal of Transnational American Studies

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Indexed by:

   Crossref Google Scholar JournalStories Main logo  OAI logo  

View My Stats

ISSN & E-ISSN