So even though everything about the movie circles back around to being about an Asian person, or done by an Asian person, or some other connection to a person from Asia, it's still not Asian enough because you don't like the depiction of the male lead? And you're acting like I'm unfounded by saying that you're discounting the movie because it appeals to women and not you? Or that, now that I'm re-reading your post, Asian women get proper representation but Asian men don't? I, uh... what?
And at the same time you're complaining that it's advertising the Asian-ness of itself in its trailer, when it's literally just describing the setup of the movie. Nobody's asking you to support the movie if you don't like it. But to use this arbitrary nonsense of "it's only Asian if a. it appeals to me, and b. it has lots of three dimensional Asian men" is gonna get you some side-eye.
Also, since you're so obsessed with how Asian men are depicted in the movie, here are some of the male characters that were in the trailer that seem to be lining up to their book counterparts:
- Nick Young, who you call "Superman", is supposed to be a hunk who's tired of all the glitz and glamour of the rich Singaporean lifestyle and as a result falls for a woman completely removed from that culture and in his own way is completely naive to how his parents and family would react, and how jarring that world will be to the love of his life.
- Colin Khoo, Nick's best friend and the man getting married, suffers from chronic depression despite the facade he's forced to put on to the world and to his family. While he hasn't rejected the lifestyle that Nick left behind, he finds it extremely stressful and leans on Nick as a crutch and a confidant.
- Bernard Tai, a spoiled piece of shit trust fund baby who likes to watch dog fights and burn his daddy's money on hookers, drugs and gambling. He's set up as sort of the type of person Nick and Colin would be if they weren't inherently "good", i.e. if they had embraced the rich person's lifestyle or had been spoiled more as kids.
- Alistar Cheng, a heart-throb who spends his time as a movie star in the Hong Kong film industry. He's a good person but naive, and gets taken for a ride by a Chinese soap opera actress who just wants his money.
- Oliver T'sien, seen in the trailer wearing a fly purple suit. He's sort of Rachel's guide to Nick's family, letting her know who's out to get her and how to deal with some of the more nasty relatives. It's later revealed (in the third book) that his family is actually several million in the red and unlike the rest of the socialites, has to rely on his job's income to survive and keep his parents afloat.
Other male characters not in the trailer but probably in the movie are Philip Young, Nick's dad who basically threw his hands up and left that life behind to live in Australia by himself, content; and Eddie Cheng, a try-hard cousin of Nick's who's always trying to move up in the world and is obsessed with being the star of the show, to the point where he's pretty much a joke (there are other characters that would need to be in the movie if they want to set up the other books to use as sequels, but I can't say for sure if they'll be in the movie).
Again, you seem to be conflating "doesn't appeal to me/appeals to women" with "isn't a good movie for Asians", to the point where you're now claiming Asian women get good enough representation,
but what about the men? :( which reflects back poorly on you. Because it reads as "this movie doesn't deserve props because it helps female Asian representation, it only deserves props if it helps
male Asian representation."
See the problem there?
I think that's a fair argument in that some of the characters in the book (and almost certainly the movie), emulate Westerners in how they raise their children and how they want to flaunt their social status. But if the movie is a proper adaption, it will also contain a fair share of characters who reject Western style to a certain degree; Nick's grandmother, seen in a promo shot WB released, is one of these characters. So it becomes the question of is it fair that the people that do get represented are some of the ones who want to be the most Westernized? The book sidesteps this by, as I said, having a fair amount of characters who act as sort of counterpoints to that. I'd be curious to see how the movie is able to address that concern, if at all.
