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Asian ERA |OT| We don't AGE
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Speaking with a British accent is the sign you're from a high class family. I thought everybody knew that. kappa.
A girl who I am more than twice the age of tried to pick me up today as I was running. Even if she thought I was a big stupid mark, that felt nice.
Due to the Asian don't raisin principle,
1) she probably thought you were roughly her age, or
2) she actually is much older than you think and roughly your age.
Unless she's white, in which case she was probably a child.
haha I had NO idea Reeves was in the movie and I went NUTS when I saw it. I bet Ali Wong was like, HOLY SHIT Y'ALL I'M MAKING OUT WITH KEANU REEVESSSS I'VE MADE IT.
I honestly really enjoyed it. I can't say it was REALLY good... some of the dialogue and acting was still a little off to me, but I liked it overall and I like cheesy rom coms anyway.
Also Jenny was.... well, quite a character. I like that she wasn't a villain or "secretly super evil" (I hate that trope of the "other" girl being an idiot or evil) and was actually a good person that did good things, while being still flawed in her own ways. That was actually my surprise "this is something new and different" moment in the film. I like what she represents, it's refreshing and new.
Always be my maybe was blah until
I liked it until the end then, even past that particular scene.
Edit: I also liked the farmer's market scene cause I go to that one all the time.
Keanu showed up
I liked it until the end then, even past that particular scene.
Edit: I also liked the farmer's market scene cause I go to that one all the time.
Bwahhaha you'd be considered a chad if this was Reddit or something. (Real talk tho whats the secret ㅋㅋ)
Nothing much. I kind of run the same circuit 4 - 5 days a week. I've seen her out here before as well. Today I ran in black ranger panties and a blue shirt. Nothing unusual.
90's Bay Area nostalgia and Keanu aside... wasn't really feeling it. Had some pacing issues at the end ..
maybe because I'm still haunted by my upbringing but when the Sasha's mom said "just kiss!"...just felt unplausible for Asian parents to say that...but that's probably my own biases rather than the movie's
Wife and I just finished always be my maybe. It wasn't too bad. Way too conventional and typical Rom com, like crazy Rich asian. I think they're both equally ok.
Good to see more asian led films in the states though.
Wife is a big fan of Ali Wong so it's cool to see Wong in a lead instead of a supporting role. We actually saw her last Saturday in Denver. Her opener Sheng Wang was hilarious. She was great too
Good to see more asian led films in the states though.
Wife is a big fan of Ali Wong so it's cool to see Wong in a lead instead of a supporting role. We actually saw her last Saturday in Denver. Her opener Sheng Wang was hilarious. She was great too
In terms of your spoiler, I think it fits in the movie perfectly. Most of the characters are traditionally Asian and not stereotypes; they're actually layered. The reason why I like this movie so much more than CRA and why I think it's a superior movie in terms of representation is because of it's subversion.
Not directed at you, but the fact that this thread got locked was real shitty: https://www.resetera.com/threads/always-be-my-maybe-crazy-rich-asians.120407/
The "there can be more than one Asian cast movie" argument is dumb as shit and an argument that doesn't exist.
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While I agree they're avoiding stereotypes as much as possible...I disagree w/ the characters being layered or complex. I'll be honest... to me it feels a lot like how FOTP is at times....it's an American style rom com but w/ an Asian American cast.
Well Marcus is a Korean character so that's understandable.
I have to agree. Despite their similar upbringing (they're childhood friends), it's weird that the main characters don't speak anything but English. Even Randall's character's father speaks English. I guess Americans really do hate subtitles.
It's not weird at all... Growing up in that area, I had plenty of friends/ family friends who were Asian with immigrant parents that didn't speak the language. Some parents were more concerned with making their child fit in and or it was just more convenient to communicate in English.
My dad speaks like 4 languages. My mom 2. Me, I got English, really bad Korean, and rapidly declining French.
Some Asian-Americans, especially those who immigrated here pre-1990, lived under the rapid assimilation model, so they didn't grow up in ethnic enclaves or had much interaction with the community. So a significant number don't have mastery of their "native" language.
Some Asian-Americans, especially those who immigrated here pre-1990, lived under the rapid assimilation model, so they didn't grow up in ethnic enclaves or had much interaction with the community. So a significant number don't have mastery of their "native" language.
This... my hometown became a real ethnic enclave during my HS years. Prior to that it was very white. My parents were stubborn enough to forbid English in the house but I definitely had a hard time fitting in up until the end of junior high.
I knew 5 languages as a kid.
English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Village dialect that most people don't know, and Spanish.
Its just kinda happens when your parents don't speak a lick English and had a grade school education.
You speak to your parents in Village dialect, cause that's the only language they're comfortable speaking.
You watch shows in Mandarin and Cantonese because that's the only mass media your parents can understand, also you speak Cantonese with some of your relatives who immigrated to Hong Kong before US and grew up in Chinatown.
English since that's what you learn in America
Spanish because I took Spanish in school but mainly because I worked in a Chinese Restaurant in a hispanic neighborhood as a kid.
English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Village dialect that most people don't know, and Spanish.
Its just kinda happens when your parents don't speak a lick English and had a grade school education.
You speak to your parents in Village dialect, cause that's the only language they're comfortable speaking.
You watch shows in Mandarin and Cantonese because that's the only mass media your parents can understand, also you speak Cantonese with some of your relatives who immigrated to Hong Kong before US and grew up in Chinatown.
English since that's what you learn in America
Spanish because I took Spanish in school but mainly because I worked in a Chinese Restaurant in a hispanic neighborhood as a kid.
I'm not saying it's rare; I'm aware that for example a fair number of Korean children were adopted in the West during the last century. For them it's unlikely they'll pick up much if any cultural heritage since they were so young before being adopted. For children of first generation immigrants however, even if you're not fluent and communicate with your parents using their language, it's likely you picked up some words or phrases from them.
A basic example: In primary school, they don't teach you all the exotic fruits and vegetables. So when you ask your parents what it's called, it's possible they don't know the English name since they don't need to when they buy groceries. So they call it what they're familiar with and you pick that up. It's not until you're in adulthood and you buy groceries yourself that you get to actually know the English names. Things like pomelo, longan, lychee, hami melon, durian etc.
It's a shame that these movies play up the Asian stereotypes, both positive and negative, and yet for the most part forget our vast cultural roots.
I grew up in the Bay Area where this movie was set in the mid 80's to late 90's. The language issue is a very plausible and typical situation even amongst first gen families for kids growing up during that era.
My siblings and I are children of first generation immigrants, raised in the Midwest during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. We as well as many other Korean-Americans that we grew up with had very little Korean exposure (not for lack of trying with Korean schools and such). We all speak very poor Korean, but I have cousins raised in Texas or in Youngstown Ohio that understand almost no Korean. It just wasn't emphasized as assimilation was favored, and this was similar to my friends of Indian descent, Japanese, Chinese, etc. My sister in law was raised in SF and doesn't really speak Korean either.
I don't think don't think ABMM is necessarily faulty in that regard though yeah, they probably did it to streamline it. From what I can tell though, preservation of culture and language these days is given more emphasis which is good, and not just in enclaves of Asian-American populations (i.e. you all in California) but more widely as well. And to be fair, I think that ABMM's portrayal was left vague as to the parents' generational status, as opposed to something like Kim's Convenience where there are heavy accents, clearly meant to depict first generations and they speak fully in English.
I watched ABMM with my wife, and I liked it a lot more than CRA (but to be fair, I didn't really like CRA that much). Yes, it's still a generic Rom-com just starring Asian Americans. That's almost precisely WHY I enjoyed it more than CRA. It didn't try nor really need to lean into the Asian-y tropes of cultural/generational differences, acceptance, etc. It just let the comedic talent of the two leads (and the cameo) do most of the heavy lifting, and oh, they happen to be Asian-American.
I think the Bay Area is a little different from a lot of other Asian enclaves. I feel like a lot of the Asians here have assimilated more into American culture (probably due to people coming here earlier) and mostly don't speak with accents.
It always weirds me out a bit to meet people who are but can't speak but yeah, it does happen. I met somebody who was obviously Japanese last weekend and she didn't speak at all. But she grew up in the States so it could be very different. All my cousins went to Japanese school after they got out of regular school so it's just strange for me to meet people who haven't been raised in that manner.
That's cool.
My point is it's up to the writers. They can basically write anything they want to. Like IAMtheFMan pointed out, the main characters' last names were left ambiguous, which is perfectly fine if all you want is more Asian representation in media. I think we should strive to do better. I'm not going to hold it against this movie though since it's a romcom. It's part of a greater issue; it's emblematic of American-made movies. It starts from the script and if the dialogue is in English, the casting director is going to focus on that. Historical films as an example involving, say, two Russians. They would most likely talk to each other in English with a Russian accent. So any white actor/actress who can convincingly pull off a Russian accent would be fit for the role. It's similar to Asian roles in Western media, where a lot are typecast as the token Asian without a specific background. And it gets normalized.
I think it's more progressive if Asian characters in media have more contextual backgrounds if possible. It promotes diversification and fascination for other cultures. My cousin for example has a Chinese background but got interested in Korean media. She studied the Korean language, went to Korea a few times and now works for Samsung. Partly thanks to her initial interest in Korean culture. Some people just need that little push at a young age.
The main characters' names in the movie were Sasha Tran and Marcus Kim. I don't think they left anything ambiguous at all. In fact the very first scene had them cooking Kimchi Jjigae and the mom talking about using scissors to cook which is typically a Korean thing.
I think when you do something like that, you have to be careful to integrate it into the world and the overall narrative. The reason why CRA brings a ton of cultural background into the movie because it's a fish out of water story where that matters (perpetual foreigner and all that). In this case, the conflict doesn't arise from being of different descents. They're Asian American. They grew up in the same community w/ each other sharing the same experiences. Being Asian American is an identity in and of itself worth exploring.
I believe the AA's working in it right now are trying to figure out their own voice/story to tell. I don't want them writing a South Korean style rom com or doing an HK style kung fu film. There are interesting perspectives ripe for interesting stories as AA. And it's not an overnight thing. Gotta keep putting players on base before the grand slam.
But didn't you absolutely refuse to see Crazy Rich Asians?
Well, if I'm going to shit on it, I should at least see it for myself and make sure my critiques are accurate, right? Lolz
I ended up catching it on a flight when my wife insisted that I watch it. She was going to watch it anyways, we didn't directly pay for it, and I didn't put it on my screen for another view...cause I'm petty like that...heh
Part of me was really hoping to be wrong, but most of my criticism still holds up for better or worse.
Always comes back to the bombs, doesn't it. Just skimming over all those war crimes
Nowadays an Asian chad would be specifically Korean since it seems almost everyone wants a Korean boyfriend.