Crazy Rich Asians: Postfeminist Sensibility

Crazy Rich Asians: Postfeminist sensibility Heidi Andrea

Crazy Rich Asians is a turning point for

purchasing the hotel, this is viewed as a

Asian representation and empowerment in

symbolic defeat of white supremacy. The

film, but critics and scholars alike have also

Asian characters are then also seen as

pointed out potential cracks in the film’s

deserving of their immense wealth.

celebration of Asian culture. In particular,

As Yuan Ding reveals in her analysis of the

the film’s under-explored postfeminist

Crazy Rich Asians franchise, this gives the

theme can uphold patriarchal consumer

false notion of equality under global

culture by concealing it with an elaborate

capitalism and ignores the economic

display of Asian wealth.

disparities between the Global North and Global South.

In a neoliberal and consumerist society where an individual is primarily defined as a

This is best demonstrated through the

consumer, moral support for material wealth

character Astrid Leong, who embodies ‘the

and consumption is needed for this culture

neoliberal aesthetic that projects beauty

to continue.¹

onto wealth’ and can be perceived as the film’s postfeminist heroine.³ Astrid’s story

Consumerism is a central ideology and

has been taken to one that empowers Asian

mode of governance in Singaporean

women. After initially ‘struggling to openly

culture,² and the support that is required to

practice her lavish lifestyle’ and hiding her

sustain it is present in Crazy Rich Asians,

riches from her less wealthy husband to

where Asian wealth is celebrated and used

protect his ego, she is able to set herself

by the characters to achieve racial equity.

free and embrace her wealth when she discovers his extramarital affair.⁴

By presenting stories of racist white characters, like the hotel concierge in the beginning of the film, against the Young family where the latter group ‘wins' by

Films imbued with the postfeminist

female Asian elites and female Asian

sensibility place incredible emphasis on

garment workers, as well as the exploitation

female choice, framing it as inherently

inflicted upon the latter group of women, are

empowering. Postfeminism, however,

concealed and reinforced by postfeminist

commodifies feminism by portraying women

culture.

as empowered consumers.⁵ Ultimately, it promotes neoliberalism and consumerism while insisting it is championing women’s liberation.

Crazy Rich Asians can be seen as a postfeminist media text, glorifying Astrid’s wealth and consumption as a way to uplift her as an Asian woman. At the same time, it neglects the ironic fact that the luxury goods she purchases are mainly produced in the Global South, where an overwhelming majority of garment workers are Asian women who are often undercompensated for their labour. This postfeminist focus on individual female empowerment takes attention away from patriarchal and consumer culture.

By depicting Astrid’s story as one that represents feminist success over male domination, economic inequalities between

references

¹ Pettinger L (2016) ‘Consumption’, Work, Consumption and Capitalism, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 43-73.

² Hong GK (2018) ‘Speculative Surplus: Asian American Racialization and the Neoliberal Shift’, Social Text, 36(2):107-122.

³ Ding Y (2020) ‘“Asian Pride Porn”: Neoliberal Multiculturalism and the Narrative of Asian Racial Uplift in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy’, MELUS, 45(3):65-82.

⁴ Omran Y (2019) ‘How Crazy Rich Asians Celebrates Powerful Women’, Verve: She Said, accessed 28 September 2022.

⁵ Tasker Y and Negra D (2007) ‘Introduction: FEMINIST POLITICS AND POSTFEMINIST CULTURE’, Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture, Duke University Press, 1-26.