Crazy Rich Asians in Vanity Fair!!! Have you seen this yet? Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Henry Golding, Chris Pang, and Sonoya Mizuno, all-Asian actors featured in a fashion editorial ahead of the release of the film next Wednesday, August 15 – again, not something you see every day and certainly not something you see in a September issue of a major English-language magazine.
As you can see, they’re all crazy beautiful. But I want, in this post, to focus on the men. Because the filmmakers and the cast, especially Constance Wu and Henry Golding, have been making this point: that Asians guys are hot too. And they’re making this point because, as we’ve heard, statistics show that Asian men are considered the “least desirable” in online dating communities. This is bullsh-t, of course, that Asian men are “less desirable”, but that doesn’t mean that assumption isn’t out there, which is why it has to be challenged. Crazy Rich Asians actively challenges that fallacy.
This is why I thanked Henry when I interviewed him on Saturday for being shirtless so much in the movie. NOBODY IS SORRY ABOUT THIS. And he’s not sorry either. He appreciated the question because, again, Asian men have been told, openly and subtly, that they’re not attractive. One of his goals in the movie, then, is to be like… ummmm… are you sure about that?
It’s a tricky position to be in because no one wants to walk around all like, look how hot I am. But the way Henry sees it, he and his male co-stars are there to rep more than just one person. They’re the embodiment of a truth that’s been denied – that Asian men can be sexy as f-ck. So while he does most of the shirtlessness, the others chip in too. Chris Pang, who plays Colin Khoo, also walks around with his shirt off and is sexy as f-ck. Same goes for Pierre Png who plays Astrid’s husband, Michael. MAJOR SHIRTLESSNESS on display here. And a shower scene. For more on Pierre being shirtless and super fine, check out his profile in Harper’s Bazaar Singapore. You might want to bookmark all these links for after you see the movie when you’ll need to indulge the horniness that takes over. Also, this:
Like I said, this movie is doing the most. Including the most porn: there’s style porn, there’s food porn, there’s location porn, and, well, there’s material for your pornographic thoughts.
