On November 27th, the International Student Union (ISU) organized a special showing of “Crazy Rich Asians” for Peking University students. The movie has become an international sensation and is sure to get even bigger as its audience in mainland China grows. The organizers did well to cater to students’ busy schedules: “The event provided students with the perfect excuse to take a break and relax in the lead up to mid-semester exams,” said co-organiser Jackson Collantes, a PHBS Master of Finance student from Ecuador. It was a great combination of a highly anticipated movie and the perfect timing. Both international and domestic students took advantage of the opportunity to take a short break from their studies.
There was not a spare seat in the theatre as students were treated to popcorn, mooncakes, and relaxing bosa nova music whilst they waited eagerly for the start of the movie.
The film follows the complicated love story of a Chinese-American, Rachel Chu (played by Constance Wu) and Singaporean conglomerate heir Nick Young (played by Henry Golding) as they try to persevere in the face of social class and cultural differences, and expectations imposed on them by family and friends. Director Jon Chu’s movie explores relationship structures in Singaporean culture and the larger concept of identity and belonging. “Crazy Rich Asians” was a box office hit, becoming the highest-grossing romantic comedy in over a decade.
“Crazy Rich Asians is a light-hearted romantic comedy and definitely worth watching,” said Liyang, a domestic student from the School of Computer Science.
“Jackson and I were very happy with the event,” said co-organiser Ann Tseng, PHBS Master of Finance student from America.“It was great to see so many students in the theatre! Thank you, everyone, for coming, I hope you all enjoyed the evening as much as we did!” she said at the closing of the event. The hard work had obviously paid off.
The ISU has recently been hosting a variety of cultural events to try and promote cross-cultural relationships. The movie was shown in English with Chinese subtitles to accommodate both an international and domestic audience.
Written by Lewis D-G
The Nanyan Observer 