Crazy Rich Asians: Intercultural Messages

Introduction

The current world is a pool different and diverse cultural background. As expected, these cultures have varying ways of expressing their cultural beliefs and views (Holliday, Kullman and Hyde, 2016). Besides the normal verbal expression like telling stories about a particular cultural way of life, different people affiliated to their respective culture currently portray their cultural outlook through most forms of art. Notably, not only through music but also movies, in this paper, we undertake an evaluation of the Asian culture about the film, Crazy Rich Asians.

For instance, the movie is a romantic comedy piece based on the book; Crazy Rich Asians. In summary, the movie involves a couple; Rachael Chu a Ney York University lecturer and Nick Young who come from different backgrounds but love each other. On arrival at Collin’s wedding, Nicks Friend, who is marrying Aramita Rachael, checks her college friend out. Surprisingly her friend Peik Lin reveals the exceptionally high financial might of Young’s Family. Consequently, several outcomes emerge from this revelation. Firstly, the antagonistic relationship that would arise between Nicks’ other admirers and his lover Rachael, Secondly, the unwillingness of Nick’s mother, Eleanor to accept Rachael as his son’s love due to her lower financial background and new family events involving her father. Nick and Collin also share about Eleanor’s unwillingness during his bachelor party. Besides, Astrid, Nicks’ cousin accuses his boyfriend Michael of a relationship with Rachael.

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Furthermore, after Rachael being persuaded to leave Nick by Eleanor, she accepts to leaver, but Michael convinces her by saying he would like his family behind to marry her. Meanwhile, Astrid and Michael decide to end their relationship due to Michael’s insecurity, ego and reluctance to stand for his marriage. On the flight to New York with her mother Kerry, Nick shows up with his mother’s ring and proses to her. They finally wed. The Chinese cultural expression in the movie, values and beliefs, and an intercultural theory case example from the movie are illustrated in this paper as below.

The Cultural Message, Belief and Values Illustrated In the Movie

Some of the underlying cultural messages entailed in the film are portrayed in various scenes of the movie. For instance, regarding nicks’ entire love relationship with Rachael, Ah Ma Nicks’ grandmother notes that Rachael’s nose, according to the Chinese beliefs and culture is affiliated with good luck. Furthermore, Eleanor’s reluctance to agree with her son’s love also epitomizes the Chinese culture of people of their family association as long as they are from different clans. Rachael is, therefore, seemingly not one of theirs, according to Eleanor.

Furthermore, the Chinese culture is also represented not only by the use of mandarin language in the film but also entailed in the choice art used in the artistic display in some scenes. The Chinese characters embedded in the ceramic vase in Nick and Ranches hotel room is a commonly used expression for Double happiness used in most Chinese Weddings. Also, another Chinese cultural expression is indicated on the gates on Tyersall Park, which is the young’s family residence.

The Chinese symbolic meaning of the red color is also indicated in the movie. More so, according to the Chinese believes, red symbolizes not only good luck and prosperity but also fertility, according to Kerry. Besides Peik Lin turning down Rachael idea to wear the dress while going to Young’s family, Peik Lin’s Dad acknowledges the symbolic meaning of red according to their culture.

Besides, the cultural roots of the Chinese people also indicate the tendency of young forks to refer to the older adults as auntie or uncle is also displayed in the movie. For instance, Peik Lin’s mother tells Rachael to refer to her as auntie. This addressing manner is believed by the Chinese people to enhance support and closeness even with non-family members. Lastly, making dumplings as a family in the ancient Chinese generation was mostly done during the celebration of Chinese New Year. Nick’s grandmother undertakes the supervision of the preparation process to ensure the correct recipe and dumplings. Nick initiates Rachael into the preparation process, which is preparing the dumplings alongside Eleanor (Sio, 2019).

Intercultural Communication Theories in the Movie

The cross-cultural approaches address the dynamics behind the diverse communication of nature of various cultural backgrounds. It is also imperative to mention that these theories are varied and discuss the topic from different perspectives. The theories are also categorically based on four aspects. That is powerful effects or outcomes, adaptation, individuality negotiation and management, communication works, acculturation and modification.

The four aspects entail various theories that altogether align to explain respective communication mechanics used by people affiliated with a specific culture. Among the approaches, we identify methods that can describe multiple intercultural communication scenarios in the movie Crazy Rich Asians. Besides the film, it is also evident that context and power can be used by people in communication to influence outcomes based on their interest. For instance, Eleanor uses the family financial background and serene mansion environment to disqualify the relationship between Rachael and Nick.

The Co-cultural theory developed by Mark Orbe is indicated in the film. The theory explains communication and interaction between two different groups, notably, the dominant and underrepresented group (Orbe, 2017). There are various incidences of eco-cultural communication in the movie, mostly involving Young’s family wealthy family members and other comparably low-class associate and friends, for instance, Rachael and Michael. The dominant group, in most cases, according to the theory, modifies the communication system to portray and authenticate their perspectives. The alienation which can be defined as the discomfort of being associated with a specific dominant or host group is also notable in the film, especially with Rachael and Young’s family members.

Conclusion

Communication mechanisms between members of the respective cultures are diverse, as noted in the paper. However, these theories are all aligned on then explanations in the intercultural communication theories. Therefore, understanding these theories provides a formidable spectrum of what various cultural communication aspects entail. The understanding also helps evaluate the elements in multiple forms of artistic expressions like movies, among others.

References

• Holliday, A., Kullman, J., & Hyde, M. (2016). Intercultural communication: An advanced resource book for students. Rutledge.
• Orbe, M. P. (2017). Co‐Cultural Theory. The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication, 1-14.
• Sio, J. U. S. (2019). Crazy Rich Asians (2018). Asian Ethnicity, 20(3), 393-395.