SOCIAL CLASS CONFLICT IN KEVIN KWAN’S
CRAZY RICH ASIAN FILM
THESIS
Submitted to the Board of Examiners
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for Literature Degree at English Literature Department
by
NUR HASYAMI BERUTU
NIM: 403170896
ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
ADAB AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF
SULTHAN THAHA SAIFUDDIN JAMBI
2021
ii
NOTA DINAS
Jambi, 05 Juli 2021
Pembimbing I : H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd
Pembimbing II : Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA
Alamat : Fakultas Adab dan Humaniora
UIN Sulhan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi
Kepada Yth,
Dekan Fakultas Adab dan Humaniora
UIN Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi
Di-
Tempat
Assalamualaikum Wr. Wb.
Setelah membaca dan mengadakan perbaikan seperlunya maka kami
berpendapat bahwa skripsi saudari: Nur Hasyami Berutu, NIM. 403170896, yang
berjudul “Social Class Conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film”, telah
dapat diajukan untuk dimunaqasyahkan guna melengkapi tugas-tugas dan
memenuhi syarat untuk memperoleh gelar sarjana strata satu (S1) pada fakultas
Adab dan Humaniora, UIN STS Jambi. Maka, dengan itu kami ajukan skripsi
tersebut agar diterima dengan baik.
Demikianlah kami ucapkan terimakasih, semoga bermanfaat bagi
kepentingan kampus dan para peneliti.
Wassalamualaikum Wr. Wb.
Pembimbing I Pembimbing II
H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA
NIP. 196903161995031001
iii
APPROVAL
Jambi, July 5th 2021
Supervisor I : H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd
Supervisor II : Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA
Address : Faculty of Adab and Humanities
State Islamic University
Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi
To
The Dean of Adab and Humanities Faculty,
State Islamic University Sulthan Thaha
Saifuddin Jambi
Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.
After reading and revising everything extended necessary, so we agree this
thesis entitled “Social Class Conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film”
could be submitted to Munaqasyah (thesis examination) in partial fulfilment to the
requirement for the Degree of Humaniora Scholar. So we submit it in order to be
received well, thus, we hope it can be usefull for all.
Wassalamualaikum Wr. Wb.
Supervisor I Supervisor II
H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA
NIP. 196903161995031001
iv
LETTER OF RATIFICATION
This thesis has been examined by the board examiner of Adab and Humanity
Faculty of The State Islamic University Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi on 2021 and
accepted as a part of the requirement which has to be fulfilled for obtaining
Undergraduate Degree (S1) in English Literature Department.
Jambi, September, 3 2021
Dean of Adab and Humanities Faculty
Dr. Halimah Dja’far, M. Fil.I
NIP. 196012111988032001
Secretary, Chairperson,
Rahmat Fajar, MA Dr. Diana Rozelin, SS., M.Hum
NIP. 198612272020121005 NIP. 197604282005012004
Examiner I, Supervisor I,
Ulfatmi Azlan, SS., MA H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd
NIP. 198411272011012012 NIP. 196903161995031001
Examiner II, Supervisor II,
Firdiansyah, MA Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA
NIDN. 2004118102
v
ORIGINAL THESIS STATEMENT
I who signed this letter:
Name : Nur Hasyami Berutu
NIM : 403170896
Supervisor I : H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd
Supervisor II : Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA
Department : English Literature
Faculty : Adab and Humanities
By signing this letter, I state that the thesis entitles “Social Class Conflict
in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film” is my original work. It does not
plagiarize any material from other studies except for the quotations and
bibliographies. If this thesis is found to be not original or plagiarized from other
researcher, I am ready to be held responsible and suffer the consequences based on
the rule of Adab and Humanities Faculty of the State Islamic University Sulthan
Thaha Saifuddin Jambi. Therefore, I make this statement in good health and mind.
Jambi, September, 3 2021
The Researcher,
Nur Hasyami Berutu
NIM: 403170896
vi
MOTTO
إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنوُنَ إخِْوَةٌ فَأصَْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَ أخََوَيْكُمْ
وَٱتَّقوُا۟ ٱللَّهَ لعَلََّكُمْ ترُْحَمُونَ
“Believers people are actually brothers/sisters. That's why make peace
(improve the relationship) between your two brothers/sisters and be afraid of
Allah, that you may receive mercy.”
Artinya: “Orang-orang beriman itu sesungguhnya bersaudara. Sebab itu
damaikanlah (perbaikilah hubungan) antara kedua saudaramu itu dan takutlah
terhadap Allah, supaya kamu mendapat rahmat.” (Qs. Al-Hujarat : 10 Madaniyah).
vii
DEDICATION
I dedicated this thesis to:
My beloved Father, Amri Berutu S.Pd
My beloved Mother, Rosinta Manik
Thank you for always give me support and endless love, pray for my success and
always do the best for me. Because your upbringing made me able to be like this. I
proudly want to say that both of you are my parents.
To my dearest Sisters and Brothers:
Fatimah Napratilova Berutu, A.Md
Lestari Syawalina Berutu, S.Pd.I
Ahmad M. P. Berutu, S.Sos
Irfansyah Berutu
Netti Rohmoida Berutu, soon to be S.Tr.Gz
Kasavana Berutu
Not a day goes by that I don't say thanks to Allah SWT. for giving me sisters and
brothers like you. I've never properly thanked you guys, so here I want to say
thank you very much for being a source of strength for me. Thank you for sticking
through all the difficult things together until we got to this point. Thank you
because we never fight no matter how difficult the circumstances. Thank you for
taking good care of each other. But above all, thank you for being my sisters and
brothers.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH GUYS!!!
Amy
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Bismillahirahmanirahim…
All praises to Allah SWT, God the almighty, the owner of the universe who
wills over everything, who has given the researcher power and resilience for
completing this thesis with the title, “Social Class Conflict in Kevin Kwan’s
Crazy Rich Asian Film” to fulfill the requirements for getting the degree of Sarjana
(S1) of English Literature, Adab and Humanity Faculty, in State Islamic University
Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi. May blessings and salutations be delivered to the
last and final messenger of Allah, Muhammad (peace be upon him) who had
delivered us from the age of darkness to the age of light and knowledge.
In accomplishing this thesis, the researcher had been given one great to
many people. So, the researcher’s sincere gatitude goes to:
1. Prof. Dr. H. Su’aidi, MA., Ph.D as a Rector of State Islamic University
Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi, and the Vices of Rector; Dr. Rofiqoh
Ferawati, SE., M.El; Dr. As’ad Isma, M.Pd; Dr. Bahrul Ulum, S.Ag., MA.
2. Dr. Halimah Dja’far, M.Fill.I as the dean of Adab and Humanities Faculty.
3. Dr. Ali Muzakir, M.Ag. as the first Vise Dean of Acadmic, Dr. Alfian,
S.Pd., M.Ed as the second Vise Dean of Finances, and Dr. Roudhoh, S.Ag.,
M.Pd.I as the third vise Dean of University Student of Adab and Humanities
Faculty.
4. Dian Mukhlisa, S.Pd., MA and Chandri Febri Santi, M.Pd. as the
chairperson and secretary of English Literature Department.
5. H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd and Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA as the
researcher's supervisors, mentors, and life coaches. Their wise counsel led
the researcher through the technical and non-technical aspects of writing this
study. Suggestions and constructive criticism from them greatly aided in the
improvement of this thesis, making it much more interesting and engaging
than the researcher had expected.
6. All the Lecturers and staffs of Adab and Humanities Faculty, State Islamic
University, Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi.
ix
7. The last but not least, the researcher would like to thanks; Muslimah Nur
Agustin, Puja Nabila Arifah, Ledy Vusvita Sari, Mudwiyah, Rahmania
Zakri, Dini Aprilia Rozana, and Muhammad Faydullah who gave fully
support and love to the researcher. They will always be the best friends in
researcher’s heart.
This study is a long way from being perfect. The researcher needs some
feedback and suggestions in order to improve in the future. Finally, the researcher
hopes that this thesis will benefit readers, especially students in English Literature
Department faculty of Adab and Humanities.
Jambi, August 10th 2021
The researcher,
Nur Hasyami Berutu
NIM. 403170896
x
ABSTRAK
Nur Hasyami Berutu, 2021 : Social Class Conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich
Asian Film
Supervisor I : H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd
Supervisor II : Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA
Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti menganalisis film yang ber-genre romantis-
komedi yang mengangkat konflik tentang perbedaan kelas sosial yang terjadi antara
Rachel yang merupakan dari kelas menengah dan menjalin hubungan dengan Nick
yang merupakan dari kelas atas, dimana hubungan mereka ditentang keras oleh ibu
Nick yang bernama Eleanor. Dari konflik yang tersebut, penelitian ini bertujuan
untuk mendiskusikan mengenai; 1) konflik kelas sosial yang terjadi di dalam film,
2) dampak dari konflik kelas sosial tersebut, serta 3) akhir atau penyelesain dari
konflik yang terjadi. Peneliti menggukan kualitatif deskriptif sebagai desain dari
penelitian ini, dimana data-data untuk penelitian ini diambil dari dialog dan adegan
di dalam film. Peneliti mengaplikasiakan teori sosial konflik tentang konflik kelas
sosial dari Karl Marx namun peneliti juga menggunakan teori lain sebagai pedoman
untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan dalam rumusan masalah. Dalam penelitian
ini juga digunakan pendekatan sosiologi. Peneliti juga menggunakan teknik
deskriptif dalam menganalisis data pada penelitian ini. Hasil dari penelitian ini
menemukan, (1) konflik kelas sosial terjadi karena: kelas atas menginginkan level
kelas yang sama, kelas menengah menurut latar belakang keluarga dan keegoisan,
(2) dampak konflik kelas sosial, menghindari orang yang memusuhinya, cara
berfikir zero-sum, dan evil enemy, (3) solusi untuk konflik kelas sosial adalah,
menghindari, konfrontasi tanpa kekerasan, dan penerimaan.
Kata Kunci : Konflik Kelas Sosial, Film, Rachel.
xi
ABSTRACT
Nur Hasyami Berutu, 2021 : Social Class Conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich
Asian Film
Supervisor I : H. Mislan, S.Pd., M.Pd
Supervisor II : Muhammad Beni Saputra, MA
In this study, the researcher examined a romantic-comedy genre film that
raises the conflict about social class differences that occurred between Rachel who
is from the middle-class and has a relationship with Nick who is from the upper-
class, where their relationship was strongly opposed by Nick's mother named
Eleanor. From this conflict, this study aims to discuss; 1) the social class conflict
that occurs in the film, 2) the impact of the social class conflict, and 3) the resolution
of the conflict that occurs in the film. The researcher used descriptive qualitative as
the design of this research, where the data for this research was taken from
dialogues and scenes in the film. The researcher applied the theory of social class
conflict from Karl Marx but apart from that, the researcher also used other theories
as a guide to answer questions in the formulation of the problem. In this study also
used a sociological approach. Researchers also used descriptive techniques in
analyzing the data in this study. The results of this study found, (1) social class
conflict occured because, upper-class desires the same class level, middle-class;
based on family's background and egoistic issue, (2) the impacts of social class
conflict; avoiding people who are hostile to her, zero-sum way of thinking, and evil
enemy, and (3) the resolution were avoidance, nonviolent confrontation, and
acceptance.
Keywords : Social Class Conflict, Film, Rachel.
xii
TABLE OF CONTENT
APPROVAL ....................................................................................................... ii
NOTA DINAS ................................................................................................... iii
LETTER OF RATIFICATION........................................................................ iv
ORIGINAL THESIS STATEMENT ................................................................ v
MOTTO ............................................................................................................ vi
DEDICATION ................................................................................................. vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................. viii
ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... x
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... xi
TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem ...................................................................... 1
B. Formulation of the Problem ...................................................................... 4
C. Limitation of the Problem ......................................................................... 5
D. Purpose of the Research............................................................................ 5
E. Significance of the Research ..................................................................... 5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Sociological Approach ............................................................................. 6
B. Marxism ................................................................................................... 7
C. Marxist Theory of Social Class ................................................................. 8
D. The Impact of Social Class ....................................................................... 9
E. Social Class Conflict .............................................................................. 11
F. Reviewed of Related Literature .............................................................. 12
CHAPTER III: METHOD OF RESEARCH
A. Design of Research ................................................................................. 15
B. Source of Research ................................................................................. 16
C. Technique of Data Collection ................................................................. 17
xiii
D. Technique of Data Analysis .................................................................... 18
CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION
A. Social Class Issue in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film .................... 20
B. The Impacts of Social Class Issue in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian
Film........................................................................................................ 27
C. The Resolution of Social Class conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian
Film........................................................................................................ 33
CHAPTER V: CONCLUTION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclution .............................................................................................. 39
B. Suggestion .............................................................................................. 40
REFFERENCE ................................................................................................ 42
APPENDIX ...................................................................................................... 44
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem
There are many different levels of people in this world in terms of
wealth, status, and education. Many people desire a perfect existence and
live happily ever after. However, everyone has their own idea of what
happiness is. There are many who believe that having a lot of money will
make you happy, but there are also people who believe that we can be happy
even if we don't have a lot of money. There are also individuals who refuse
to let other people's lives to enter their life class. Because in social life there
will always be a social class to determine whether someone is in the same
class or not.
Each country usually has a variety of ethnicities as well as different
social classes. Each ethnic group has its own set of rules in its representative
community. Asian is one of the many ethnic groups that still adhere to the
social class system. Social class usually refers to hierarchical differences
between individuals or groups in social life. According to Giddens in his
book about Sociology tells that, “class is a group of people who stand in
common relationship to the means of production – the means by which they
gain a livelihood.”1 From this quote, it can be concluded that, in social life
there will be a group of people who formed a social class and within that
social class are people who have the same position.
There are so many definitions about social class that we can found
and all of the definitions are almost the same, but the researcher found that
Britannica said in its article that, a social class is a group of people within a
1 Anthony Giddens, Sociology, (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991), p.210
2
society who possess the same socioeconomic status.2 It means that in this
social life, there will be no conflict in society if someone is in the same level
as other people. Peter Saunders also said in his book about social class which
is:
Translated into the very different science of sociology, the concept
of stratification has been adapted to refer to the different ‘layers’ or
strata of social groups which are thought to be arranged, one on top
of the other, in various human societies.3
From the paragraph above we can conclude that in social life there
will be social class. We live in society and will find problems that exist in
that community group. Especially if we are in a different class from other
societies. And also we can see the description of the social class gap problem
in a literary work such as a film. This is because literary works such as films
are depictions of real life or are closely related to the real world as a result
of the author's imaginative thought process whose story material is also
inseparable from the author's life experience. One of the films with the
theme of social class disparities is Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film.
The issue of social class occurs in a film entitled Crazy Rich Asian.
This film is about Romantic-Comedy set in 2018, United States. As we
know, this film is based on the popular novel by Kevin Kwan, a writer from
Singapore. This book has led Kevin Kwan to become a world-class writer
with astonishing achievements. Kevin Kwan has made it into The
Hollywood Reporter's list of the most influential writers. Also Time
magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Crazy Rich Asian film tells the story of Chinese people living in
Singapore with a background as rich people, with abundant wealth makes
2 Duignan, B. (2021, January 10). Social Class: social differentiation. Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-class 3 Peter Saunders, Social Class and Stratification, (London and New York: Taylor and Francis e-
Library, 2001), p.1
3
them belong to the upper-class. But they also really like to interfere of other
people's bussines and find out about other people's lives. The Chinese who
were in the upper class never allowed people from different classes to enter
their family, especially if that person wasn't from the upper class like them.
Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film focuses on the romance
between the two main characters, Nick Young and Rachel Chu. Nick Young
is a Chinese who lives in Singapore and comes from a very rich and famous
family, and is also from the upper class. Meanwhile, Rachel Chu is only a
professor of economics at New York University with a background who
only has a mother without knowing who and where her father is. The
relationship between the two was strongly discussed by Nick's mother,
Eleanor Young, on the grounds that Rachel did not deserve Nick because
she came from an unclear background and Rachel was only a middle class
(Proletariat) woman, not comparable to Nick who came from the upper
class.
Being a middle-class woman did not make Rachel feel insecure at
first, but after meeting Nick's mother and also several other upper class
women, Rachel decicided to broke up with Nick because she thought they
were from different classes and would never be side by side together,
especially Nick's mother who doesn't like her. Karl Marx stated that such
class conflict leads to a radical change in the economic based of society from
a feudal system of power, based on inherited wealth and status to a capitalist
system, and based on the ownership of private property.4 From the statement
above, we know that in the face of society, the social classes already had a
form of readiness, one of them with the establishment power structure. We
also know that those who are part of the power structure are not ordinary
people.
4 Charles E. Bressler, Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, (Prentice Hall,
1998), p.210
4
The researcher chose Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film because
of two reasons, the first because the researcher found that the existence of
differences in social class can hinder a goal, and the second reason is it
describes how social class is very influential in social life. Kevin Kwan as
the screenwriter in the Crazy Rich Asian film said, "Everything is inspired
by things I have seen, or experiences I've been part of in a roundabout way".
In this film we can also see how different backgrounds can causes social
conflict in community.
Therefore, the researcher is very interested in analyzing what causes
social class conflict, its impact, and solutions to the conflicts that occurs in
Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film and the end of social conflicts among
the characters in the film. The researcher believes that social class lessons
in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film are very important to learn because
it does not only happen in the world of film or in the world of acting, but
social class conflicts also occur in real life in society. So, the researcher
entitles this skripsi with “Social Class Issues in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich
Asian Film”.
B. Formulation of the Problem
Based on background above, this research aims to find the answer of
the following questions :
1) How are social class in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film?
2) What are the impacts of social class conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy
Rich Asian Film?
3) How is the Resolution of social class conflict among the characters in
Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film?
5
C. Limitation of the Problem
There are many aspects that can be analyzed in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy
Rich Asian film, which was released in 2018. But to make this research
focus, in this case, the researcher limits the analysis only on social class that
are reflected in the film, what are the impacts and how are the resolution of
the social class conflict among the characters in the film.
D. Purpose of the Research
Based on the formulation of the the problem above, the purposes of
the research are :
1) To know social class in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film.
2) To know the impacts of social class conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy
Rich Asian film.
3) To know the resolution of social class conflict among the characters
in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film.
E. Significance of the Research
This research is significant in terms of making a contribution to the
literature. There are two advantages to carrying out the research. This
research is being carried out for both theoretical and practical purposes.
Theoretically, the researcher hopes that it is related to one of the elements
of fiction, namely conflict, and that it will also be able to explain how the
theory was applied in literary work.
Then, practically, this research can help readers understand the
content of Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asian film. The findings of this study
can be used to assist people who are experiencing social class conflict. In
addition, the author hopes that this research will be a useful reference for
other researchers who are interested in conducting additional research.
6
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Sociological Approach
According to Laurenson and Swingewood in their book The Sociology of
Literature: “Sociology is essentially the scientific, objective study of man in
society, the study of social institutions and of social processes; it seeks to answer
the question of how society is possible, how it works, why it persists”.5 According
to the quotation above, if a person wants to analyze a literary work using
sociology of literature theory, they must relate the situation in the work with the
social condition at the time the film was produced.
A sociological approach is a broad understanding of why and how a
problem arises, how people are affected by it, and what is involved in dealing with
it. In other words, a sociological approach is a method of discovering the meaning
of the imaginary in literary works by learning about society, social classes, love
affairs, religion, nature, and so on. The sociological approach can be used to
develop what the researcher sees within society and deliver it in resarcher’s own
style.
There are three perspectives that proposed by Laurenson and
Swingewood in their book The Sociology of Literature, but the researcher
will just take one of their perspectives that is, The most popular perspective
adopts the documentary aspect of literature, arguing that it provides a
mirror to the age.6 According to this viewpoint, literature is a direct
reflection of various aspects of social structure, family relationships, class
conflict, and population composition. This perspective seems to be possible to
be applied in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film. Furthermore, Crazy Rich
Asian film is an appropriate object for analysis using sociological approach as a
theoretical framework.
5 Diana T. Laurenson and Alan Swingewood, The Sociology of Literature, (USA: Schocken
Books, 1772), p.11 6 Ibid, p.13
7
B. Marxism
Marxism is a thought coined by a prominent philosopher and theorist
in the 19th century named Karl Marx. The thought of Marx was undoubtedly
a stimulus for the development of sociology, economics, philosophy, politics
and culture. The presence of Marx's theories was never felt as an intellectual
thought, but as an attempt by Marx to improve the conditions of life and its
environment in order to escape from arbitrary oppression. Karl Marx stated
in his book entitled The Communist Manifesto that:
… the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class
struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf,
guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed,
stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an
uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time
ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in
the common ruin of the contending classes.7
The quote above provides a broad definition of how social class really is in
social life. The essence is, there is always such a thing as a struggle between
two groups or classes which is referred to as evidence of the struggle for
equality in social life. According to Marx, this condition is an antagonistic
relation between human in differentiate class, a struggle between one classes
owned the means of upper-class and, while the other class owned nothing but
their labor power which they were obligate to sell in order to survive.
But not only discussing about class struggle, Marx also developed a
Marxist theory with several conceptions, namely the conceptions of social
class, social change, power and the state where these conceptions are
mutually sustainable. With the emergence of the Marxist social class theory,
sociologists began to issue their views on social class and most of them had
similar views. When sociologists talk of social class, they refer to a group of
7 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto. 1848. Trans. Samuel Moore.
(London: Penguin, 1967)
8
individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of
production. Within that system occupation is very important because it
provides financial rewards, stability and benefits like healthcare.8 It means
that a person's social class is determined directly based on socioeconomic
variables such as income, wealth, education, and occupation. It also said that,
position in social class is closely related to how people places themselves in
social life.
C. Marxist Theory of Social Class
Marxist social class analysis examines class structures, and changes
in those structures are critical to comprehending capitalism and other social
systems or modes of production. According to Marx, classes are defined by
the relationships between work and labor, as well as ownership or
possession of property and the means of production. The Marxist of social
class is a theory that focuses on conflicts that occur in the social
environment. Marxist theory explains human life in the world and Marxist
theory also considers how literature views conflicts that occur in society.
Class theory is the core of Marx's social class theory, because usually
a social class can be formed by a certain way of production that further
shapes the identity of a particular country, creates conflict in society, and
brings about major changes in social life. In social life, there are class
positions which will later cause conflict because of these class differences.
The class social in Marx's view has been devided into some classes based
on their society. In ancient Rome, the social status is devided into slaves and
plebeians as the lower-class whereas patricians and knights are the upper-
class. However, in the middle-class devided into serfs, vassals, apprentice.9
8 What is social class?, Retrived August 11th 2021, from
https://udel.edu/~cmarks/What%20is%20social%20class.htm 9 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, (London: Pluto Press, 2007), p.7
9
1) Upper class (rich) is frequently distinguished by the possession of
largely inherited wealth. The upper-class benefits greatly from the
ownership of large amounts of property and the income generated by it.
2) Middle-class can be said to include middle and upper level
administrative workers, those involved in technical and professional
work, supervisors and managers, and self-employed workers such as
small-scale shop owners, entrepreneurs, and farmers.
3) Lower-class (poor) is a group of people who are below the middle class
and have the lowest social rank or standing as a result of low income
and a lack of skills or education. Lower-class people are members of
the social class with the lowest social status and the least money.
D. The Impact of Social Class
Dean stated that attitude and perception have a consistent valence,
which means that if a person has negative or positive feelings for others, he
is also dominated by negative and positive perceptions of that person. They
are, however, not entirely consistent. Someone may not like another person
and may have negative thoughts about that person in general, but he believes
because he always has positive experiences when he relies on that person.
However, social conflicts will always bring up other issues that may
or may not be related to an individual or society. The impact of social
conflict cannot be separated from negative attitudes and perceptions, which
eventually lead to another act. Dean stated that negative attitudes and
perceptions encourage conflict escalation and that efforts are made to
resolve conflicts in at least seven ways.10
1. The first way is by encouraging the tendency to blame the object's
attitude towards the unpleasant experience that a person experienced.
People who get an aversive experience will usually look for someone to
blame.
10 Dean. G. Pruitt, Social Conflict, Some Basic Principles, (J. Disp. Resol, 2007)
10
2. The second way, which is related to the mechanism that leads to
escalation, is that parties who are not trusted tend to be perceived as a
threat if their actions are ambiguous. They only get little benefit from
these doubts or just a little confidence in their good intentions. This leads
to an escalation of defense and prevention measures and often results in
new conflicts.
3. The third way, how negative attitudes and perceptions can drive
escalation, is by removing obstacles to aggression among people who
have been provoked. People are reluctant to commit aggression against
those they like and respect even though they can clearly be blamed for
things that are not pleasant, but they will be happy to commit aggression
against parties that they do not like or respect.
4. The fourth way, how negative attitudes and perceptions can encourage
escalation, is to interfere with communication. People tend to avoid
people who are hostile to them. This is well explained by Coleman,
“When controversy develops, the relationship with people from the
opposite party will fade”.
5. The fifth way is how negative attitudes and perceptions tend to cause
difficulty to empathize with opponents. Opponents are considered so
different from us that it is difficult to put ourselves in their place.
6. The sixth way is that negative attitudes and perceptions can cause a
"zero-sum" way of thinking, namely the belief that what is good for you
is bad for me, and vice versa. This is partly due to mistrust. The zero-
sum way of thinking also rises from the negative feelings of others.
7. The seventh way is that negative attitudes and perceptions develop so
badly that the opponent is then considered an "evil enemy". Conflict is
considered a war between the light (our side) and dark (their side). In
this situation the opposite party is to be blamed for everything that goes
wrong, communication is often insufficient, empathy is very weak and
problem-solving is very difficult to achieve.
E. Social Class Conflict Resolution
11
According to Kenny, Social conflict is a conflict between the
characters against another character.11 The meaning of this quote is that
the character has a conflict in social life with another character. Conflict
usually occurs when an actor has a problem with another actor that causes
such contractions fight. According to Jones (in Nurgiyantoro, 2012) The
social conflict is defined as "a conflict that arises as a result of the interaction
or contact between the story's characters. It's known as a character conflict
with a social relationship, and the issue is extremely intricate, requiring a
solution from one of the characters or the other.” It means that if the
characters in the film are unable to find a satisfactory solution to the problem
fast, it may become serious and complex. People deal with conflict in a
variety of ways, therefore you need different conflict resolution strategies.
When we identify a structural basis for social conflict, we can take a
variety of approaches to it. Distinguished scholars, as well as ordinary
mortals, have taken widely differing positions on how to resolve such
conflict. Scellenberg in his book developed five conflict resolution
strategies that people use to handle conflict, including:
1) Avoidance; Someone who employs a "avoiding" strategy tries to ignore
or sidestep the conflict in the hope that it will resolve or dissipate on its
own.
2) Acceptance; this approach recognizes that conflict may be based on
social structural foundations, but it sees the conflict as so basic a part of
life that we can do little about it except study it.
3) Gradual Reform; the structure of society is too well established to try
to do much about it, but it can be changed little by little by continuing
to deal with the sources of social tension. Thus through an evolutionary
kind of change, policies of social reform can achieve a restructuring of
society.
11 W. Kenny, How to Analyze Fiction, (New York: Harper Colling Publisher Inc, 1996), p.32
12
4) Nonviolent Confrontation; One may enlist directly in movements for
fundamental social change, and seek to accomplish that change in the
near future, but without violence.
5) Violent Confrontation; Keeping always present the possibility of
violent tactics is seen by some as the most effective way to seek basic
social change.12
F. Reviewed of Related Literature
In this part, there are several journals, research, or articles that are
relevant to the issue, the first research is by Muhammad Akbar Fiyadi. This
research entitled Social Conflict in the Novel The Great Gatsby By F. Scott
Fitzgerald (2021). The purpose of this study is to look into the social
conflicts in the novel The Great Gastby. This study was carried out to assist
readers in identifying and comprehending the novel's social conflicts. This
research also uses Marxist theory to analyze the problems. After analyzing
the findings, it was determined that due to the personalities of each character
in the novel, it was not possible to find other solutions to end the novel
peacefully.
And then there is Muhammad Tomy Mahfudz. This paper, Class
Struggle as Seen in the Upside Down Movie (2017), examines a social class
issue through the lens of different objects. It tells the story of film as a
literary text in audio-visual form. The film depicts two worlds with
significant differences: that is, the rich live in the Up Top World, while the
poor live in the Down Below World. Both worlds are only linked by a single
large corporation known as Transworld. The disparities between the two
worlds result in a social status or social class gap. The goals of this research
are to discover how the bourgeoisie and proletariat are depicted in film, as
well as how the class struggle was carried out. The main theory in this study
12 James A. Scellenberg, Conflict Resolution: Theory, Research, and Practice, (State University of
New York Press, 1996), p.99-100
13
was Marxist theory, with Film theory serving as a supporting theory. After
analyzing all of the data, the researcher concluded that because of the
restriction and differentiation between the two worlds, the proletariat parties
would engage in a class struggle for equality.
In a similar vein to Muhammad Tomy's article on the issue of social
class, Chaesary Rekinagara's study is titled Class Struggle and Conflict as
Seen Through Characters in Veronica Roth's Divergent (2015). It is a
dystopian novel that uses an ardent Marxist belief to depict the novel's
central conflict. This novel is about classes in dystopian Chicago, where
people are classified into different groups based on their personality traits.
This novel is worth studying because it elevates the struggle of ordinary
people to stand up to the superstructure as a result of capitalist society.
Reading this novel can make you feel the class struggle and conflict between
classes. Each character in this novel represents the social class in which they
reside. Class struggle and conflict are powerful to analyze because they
occur invariably in a capitalist society because the base and superstructure
have opposing interests.
The last article is by Hsin-Yun Ou, entitled The Chinese Stereotyical
Signification in “Ah Sin” (2013). This paper also discusses a similar issue
to the researcher's, which was social class in the Chinese class system. This
paper investigates a racial ideology exemplified in Ah Sin as it manifested
itself in a variety of settings, particularly the Gilded Age economy and the
conventions of yellowface performance. The play, by emphasizing the
ambivalence of the Chinese title character, takes a decisive step toward
disrupting what Homi Bhabha refers to as the "fixity" of racialized
stereotypes.
From several of the studies above, it can be seen that the relevance of
the studies above with this research is the similarity in studying the problems
of social class. However, most of the studies above discuss class struggle,
while this research focuses on the depiction of social class in Kevin Kwan’s
14
Crazy Rich Asian, and also the end of social conflict among among the
characters in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film.
15
CHAPTER III
METHOD OF RESEARCH
A. Design of Research
In writing this thesis, the researcher employs descriptive qualitative
research that is appropriate for the purpose of this study. Descriptive
qualitative research is possible. The information is gathered in the form of
words as a descriptive explanation rather than numbers. The research
findings include data quotations to illustrate and substantively support the
presentation. Descriptive research is research that aims to accurately
describe a phenomenon based on research characteristics, with data
analyzed through interpretation rather than statistical analysis. According to
Denzin and Lincoln define:
Qualitative research is multi method in focus, involving an
interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means
that qualitative researchers study thing in their natural settings,
attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the
meanings people bring to them. Qualitative research involves the
studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials-case
study, personal experience, introspective, life story, interview,
observational, historical, interactional, and visual textsthat describe
routine and problematic moments and meaning in individuals‟ lives.13
According to the quotation above, qualitative research is a method
that focuses on a naturalistic approach to the subject matter. It means that
qualitative researchers investigate phenomena in their natural contexts,
attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the
meanings that people assign to them. Descriptive Analysis is the
transformation of raw data into a form that will make them easy to
13 Denzin and Lincoln in John W. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry And Research Design, (United
States of America: California, 1997), p.15
16
understand and interpret; rearranging, ordering, and manipulating data to
generate descriptive information.14
It means that qualitative research is analyzing about descriptive data
such as writer or spoken, at the person who is observed in this research,
where qualitative research also analyzing about the data from outside which
the data still not right.15 The researcher finds it simple to analyze the film
using this qualitative research. Based on those statements, it is possible to
conclude that qualitative research examines descriptive data collected in the
form of a natural object's situation. Where descriptive data, such as written
or spoken data, is used, qualitative research is used, the researcher will have
answers about the question in analyzing the problem about social class in
Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film.
B. Source of Data
Siswantoro noticed that : “Primary data is the main data, that is the
data selected or obtained directly from the source without”.16
Data Source in this study is a famous Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich
Asian film. Crazy Rich Asian film consist of 2 hours and 1 minute, and also
was released on August 15, 2018 in United States. This film actually is about
Romantic-Comedy and as we know, this film is based on the popular novel
by Kevin Kwan, a writer from Singapore. The researcher will use the script
and the scenes from the film to identify the social class issue and its impact
toward the characters in the film. Therefore the forms of the data are
dialogues and picture from Crazy Rich Asian film.
14 William G Zikmund, Research Methods, 2003, p.2 15 Martinis Yamin,Metodologi Penelitian Pendidikan dan Sosial Kualitatif dan Kuantitatif,
(Jakarta: Gaung Persada Press, 2009), p.186 16 Siswantoro, Metode Penelitian Sastra Analisis Struktur Puisi. Cet-IV. (Yogyakarta : Pustaka
Pelajar, 2016), p.73
17
C. Technique of Data Collection
According to Creswell, “The data collection procedures in
qualitative research involve four basic types: observation, interview,
documentation and visual image”.17
The goal of data collection is to gather information about the topics.
There are numerous methods for gathering data, like Chaterine Marshall
And Gretchen B Rossman stated that: “the fundamental methods relied on
by qualitative researcher for gathering information, participation in the
setting, direct observation, in-depth interviewing, document review.”18 It
means that in qualitative research, there are some data collection methods,
such as participant observation, direct observation, interviews, and
document review. The researcher uses documentation to gather information
and analyze the research problem.
Sugiyono stated that, Dokumen merupakan catatan peristiwa yang
sudah berlalu. Dokumen bisa berbentuk tulisan,gambar, atau karya-karya
monumetal dari seseorang.19 Furthermore Atkinson and Coffey stated that:
Documents contain text (words) and images that have been recorded
without a researcher’s intervention. For the purposes of this
discussion, other mute or trace evidence, such as cultural artifacts, is
not included. Documents as ‘social facts’, which are produced,
shared, and used in socially organized ways.20
Based on the quotations above, documentation refers to how events
are recorded in the form of a document, a note, or a saved file. It is about
events or things that happened in the past. There are some types of
documentation, such as photographs and literary works created by someone.
Therefore, documentation is one of the usable methods to literature
17 John W Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches,
(United Stated of America, 1994), p.148 18 Sugiyono, Metode Penelitian Pendidikan, (Bandung: Alfabeta, 2012), p.309 19 Sugiyono, Op. Cit., p.240 20 Glem A Bowen, Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method, (California: Western
Carolina University, 2009), p.1
18
research. The researcher will perform some data collection steps in this
study as seen below.:
1) Downloading the film
The researcher downloaded Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film
from Netflix and took the script from www.scriptslug.com.
2) Watching the film repeatedly
The researcher watches the film repeatedly and takes the scenes and
dialogues that related to formulation of problem in this research
3) Reading the script and making notations on the sentences
The researcher reads the the script and highlights the words or
sentences that are related to formulation of problem in this research.
D. Technique of Data Analysis
After the researcher done to collecting all data that relevant to the
research, the next step is the writer tried to analyze all the data to find the
result for this research. Bogdan noticed that :
Data analysis is the process of systematically searching and compiling
data obtained from interviews, field notes and other materials, so that
they can be easily understood, and their findings can be shared with
others.21
Based on statement above data analysis is the process of searching
for and organizing data obtained from interviews, field notes, and other
materials in a systematic manner so that it can be easily understood and
findings can be communicated to others. It means that analyzing data entails
searching for information related to the formulation of a problem through
interviews, field notes, and other materials and then organizing it in a
21 Andi Prastowo, Metode Penelitian Kualitatif Dalam Perspektif Rancangan Penelitian,
(Yogyakarta: Ar-Ruzz Media, 2011), p.208
19
systematic manner so that it can be easily understood and communicated to
others. Nawawi noticed:
Descriptive method can be interpreted as a problem solving
procedure that is investigated by describing state of the subject or
object of research (novels, dramas, short stories, poems) at the
present time based on the facts that appear or as they are .22
Based on statement above, descriptive method is the way to find out
the answer of problems. Descprtive method can be used to data in the form
descriptive also, so this method can help writer to find out the answer. In
order to make this research more specific, the researcher must go through
some steps in data analysis.
The first step is identifying. The researcher will identify the data and
make assumptions or finds the social class issue in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy
Rich Asian film. Second, classifying the data. The researcher will classify
the data in forms of action, conversation and expression in the film witch
are related to Social class issue. Third step is analysing, describing and
explaining. The researcher will analyze, describe and explain the data about
kinds of social class issue as seen in the film, how is the end of social
conflict in the film. The last step is making the conclution. The researcher
will reach a conclusion after all of the data in the study has been analyzed,
described, and explained.
22 Siswantoro, Metode Penelitian Sastra Analisis Struktur Puisi 4th edition, (Yogyakarta : Pustaka
Pelajar, 2016), p.73
20
CHAPTER IV
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This chapter contains of finding and analysis of data which is taken from Kevin
Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian film.
A. Social Class Conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film
As discussed in chapter 2, to analyze the formulation of the first problem
that discusses the social class issue, the researcher uses the Marxist theory by
Karl Marx. Marxist is a socioeconomic analysis method that employs a
materialist interpretation of historical development to comprehend class
relations and social conflict, as well as a dialectical viewpoint to comprehend
social transformation. It means that a person's social class is determined directly
based on socioeconomic variables such as income, wealth, education, and
occupation. It also said that, position (upper-class, middle-class, lower-class) in
social class is closely related to how people places themselves in social life. The
position of a person in this social class is what makes the researcher interested
in examining the Crazy Rich Asian film which also discusses social class.
Because it turns out that a person's position in social class greatly affects how a
person will be treated in social life.
Crazy Rich Asian is a film written by Singaporean-American novelist
Kevin Kwan. Crazy Rich Asian film tells about the life of the rich Chinese in
Singapore, who have abundant wealth so they belong to the upper class. But they
also like to interfere other people's business and find out about other people's
lives. Abundant Chinese wealth can’t just accept other people who want to enter
into his family. Especially if other people not from the rich group like them. This
film tells the story of Nick Young and Rachel Chu's relationship which is
opposed due to different backgrounds. The researcher found several scenes that
show the depiction of social class issue in this film, as shown below.
21
1) Upper-Class Desires the Same Class Level
When Rachel arrived in Singapore, Rachel took the time to visit her best
friend from college in America named Peik Lin. The Peik Lin family is
one of the richest people in Singapore. At first, Rachel and Peik Lin's
family only engaged in casual conversation, such as the Peik Lin family
thanking Rachel for wanting to be friends with Peik Lin when they were
still studying in America while eating lunch at the dinner table. Until Peik
Lin said that Rachel came to Singapore with her boyfriend and Neenah
(Peik Lin's mother) asked Rachel's boyfriend's name because they might
know him from the small country of Singapore. And Rachel's answer when
she mentioned her boyfriend's name really made Peik Lin's family shocked
and couldn't believe it. Like the snippets of pictures and short
conversations below:
(Picture 1)23
Peik Lin : The Nick you’re dating is Nick Young?! (Shocked)
Rachel : Yeah. You guys know them or something?
Wye Mun : Hell yeah. The Young… I mean, who doesn’t know who
they are? They’re just the biggest developers in all of
Singapore. And Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, New Mexico.
Peik Lin : Did you not know?
Rachel : I don’t really know what they are, I mean, I haven’t met
them yet …24
23 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 00:30:37 – 00:31:44 24 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 00:30:37 – 00:31:44
22
Seeing from the picture and conversation above, Peik Lin and even her
family were very surprised that what Rachel meant as her boyfriend was
Nick who came from the Young family. Where no one does not know that
the Young family is the most influential person in Singapore and several
other countries as said by Wye Mun (Peik Lin's father). Peik Lin was even
more shocked because Rachel did not know the background of her
boyfriend, which made Rachel speechless when Peik Lin's family
explained and told how the very famous Nick Young family was rich in
Singapore. Rachel said she only knew that Nick was just an ordinary man
who made the Peik Lin family laugh at her.
After hearing all the information about Nick's family, Rachel said that
Nick invited her to a party at Nick's grandmother's house tonight, but again
Peik Lin was surprised by Rachel as seen in the conversation below:
Peik Lin : You’re going to Nick’s grandma’s house wearing
this? Wearing that? No way. No way.
Rachel : Yeah, I thought red was a lucky color, right?
Peik Lin : Rachel, these people aren’t just rich, okay. They’re
crazy rich.
Rachel : Yeah, but Nick is not like that.
Peik Lin : Even if he isn’t, I guarantee you the family is.
Which is why tonight, you need to not look like
Sebastian of The Little Mermaid. You know, little
crab guy.25
From the conversation above, it can be seen that Peik Lin did not expect
that Rachel said she was going to a party at Nick's grandmother's house
with the red dress she was wearing, where the dress Rachel was wearing
was very old-fashioned, unbranded and looked very cheap which of course
25 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 00:31:50 – 00:32:54
23
would not be suitable to wear to rich people's party and it will certainly be
luxurious. Peik Lin strongly opposed Rachel's plan to only wear her red
dress to the party, so Peik Lin took Rachel to her walk-in closet to choose
clothes that would suit Rachel to the party. Because Peik Lin does not want
Rachel to be humiliated by Nick's family in the middle of the party because
of her tacky dress. As Peik Lin said, maybe Nick did accept Rachel as she
was, but not necessarily with the man's family.
2) Middle-Class
a. Family’s Background Issue
Some people from the upper classes have behavior that seems
antagonistic, for example, do not hesitate to ask other people
something related to work. The question is said regardless of whether
it offends the other person or not. Upper class people always want to
know a person's family background whether that person is from the
same social class or not, because most of them want to have a good
relationship only with people from the same class because it is
considered profitable. As an example of what Eleanor is doing to
Rachel, which can be seen in the scene and conversation below:
(Picture 2)26
Eleanor : Nick tells me you’re a professor, what do you
teach?
Rachel : Um, I teach Economics.
26 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 00:39:33 – 00:39:49
24
Eleanor : So, Economics. Sounds challenging.
(Subtly fishing) … are your parents academics, as
well?
Rachel : No.27
The scene above takes place at Nick's Grandmother’s party which held
at his grandmother's house. Nick also invites Rachel to come to the
party so that Nick can introduce Rachel to his family, especially Nick's
mother. So Nick takes Rachel to see his mother first. From the picture
and dialogue above, we can see clearly that Eleanor try to investigate
Rachel’s background even in their first meet. In Eleanor and Rachel's
first meeting, Nick's mother had even made a bad impression by
asking about Rachel’s profession and about her father and mother.
Rachel : Well, my dad actually died before I was born and, um,
my mom didn’t even go to college. She actually hardly
spoke any English when she immigrated to the United
States.
Eleanor : … well, your mother is very open-minded, not like
here, where parents are obsessed with shaping the life
of their children.
(It sounds like a compliment, but Rachel isn’t entirely sure. Eleanor
turns away again to talk to a passing COOK before returning to
Rachel. Eleanor shoots Nick a look. He shifts, uncomfortable, and
is relieved to hear a MUSICAL GONG from upstairs.)28
Based on the dialogue excerpt data above, it is very clear that Eleanor
does not like Rachel, especially when Eleanor heard herself that
Rachel was not from the same class as Nick and Rachel's background
wasn't even clear at all. While they were talking, Eleanor gave Rachel
a cold attitude for her distaste for her son's choice and Nick even
Rachel realized it. Actually, it was not only Eleanor who asked about
27 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 00:39:33 – 00:39:49 28 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 00:39:51 – 00:40:35
25
Rachel's background, but all of Nick's family who attended the party
asked the same thing that made Rachel uncomfortable.
(Picture 3)29
All the Young family attended this event including Astrid (Nick's
cousin) and her husband Michael. Astrid is described as a glamorous,
alluring, and considerate woman who lives a glamorous lifestyle. She
is from an upper-class family and is a successful businesswoman. She
is a woman of enormous wealth. She is not only wealthy, but she is
also charitable in her charitable giving. Michael is Astrid's husband.
Unlike Astrid, Michael comes from a middle-class background. In
comparison to Astrid, he leads a normal existence. The couple started
out their marriage pleasantly, everything went smoothly, and they
even had a baby boy. Until finally Astrid accidentally saw an
incoming message on Michael's cellphone, when the man left for a
while. The person who sent the message is a woman, in the text it
reads "The bed feels empty without you" Astrid could not believe what
she was seeing. Her husband is cheating on her and she does not know
what to do. After that Astrid, who was always confident in herself,
became insecure again, she always thought about what made Michael
29 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 00:44:36
26
cheat on her, and thought what she lacked to make her husband cheat
on her and that made her even more insecure.
b. Egoistic Issue
Rachel visits Ah Ma's house (Nick's grandmother) for the second time
because Ah Ma invites Rachel to come to her house so that Ah Ma can
teach Rachel how to make dumplings. At that time some of the
Young's family were also gathering to make dumplings together. The
activities that the Young family usually do are just to take a break from
their work and get together and share stories. Everything seemed
normal, they chatted casually, even Rachel also said that she had never
felt how a big family gathered and chatted casually like them. Until a
few moments later, Rachel wanted to go to the toilet, so when Rachel
left the dining room to go to the toilet, and when she wanted to go
back to the dining room she went the wrong way because the house
was too big until finally on the stairs Rachel accidentally met Eleanor.
Eleanor comes to Rachel and they walk and talk through the halls of
Tyersall. Since they were alone, so Eleanor took the opportunity to
have a one-on-one conversation with Rachel. Eleanor tells how she
also was not approved by Nick's grandmother to be his son's wife. It
took many years for Eleanor for the Young family to accept her
because Eleanor was also not from the same class as the Young
family, As explained by the following dialogue:
27
(Picture 4)30
Eleanor : I didn’t come from the right family, have the right
connections. And Ah Ma thought I would not
make an adequate wife to her son.
Rachel : But, she came around, obviously.
Eleanor : … Because I had no idea the work and the
sacrifice it would take. There were many days
when I wondered if I would ever measure up—
But having been through it all, I know this much...
You will never be enough.31
As explained in the dialogue above that Eleanor was originally also
the same as Rachel, she was not from the upper class and Ah Ma also
did not approve of Eleanor with her son because she thought Eleanor
would not be able to meet her son. That is, what Ah Ma did to Eleanor
made Eleanor behave the same way with Rachel. If in their first
meeting Eleanor didn't show too much dislike for Rachel because
Nick was with them, it was different with their second meeting where
they were currently alone, Eleanor clearly said that Rachel would
never be able to stand by Nick even though Eleanor had been through
what Rachel is currently experiencing.
B. The Impacts of Social Class Conflict in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian
Film
However, social conflicts will always raise other issues which may refer to
an individual or society. The impact of the social class conflict itself is
certainly not separated from negative attitude and perception which finally
cause another act. This kind of thing is also illustrated in the Kevin Kwan’s
Crazy Rich Asian film, where the social class conflict occurred in the story
30 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:12:32 – 1:13:13 31 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:12:32 – 1:13:13
28
also raises other issues. Problems that occur due to social class conflict also
ultimately have an impact, especially to Rachel who is the main character
in the film.
As the main character in the film, Rachel is the one who has problems with
the class differences that she has with her lover, Nick. The problem begins
when Rachel is invited to meet Nick's family who are from the upper-class.
Then Nick's mother, Eleanor, who is openly against their relationship. In
addition to Rachel who comes from the middle-class, there is also Michael
who has a middle-class status. But the difference is, Michael is already
married to Astrid who is from the upper-class. However, the conflicts create
a lot of negative attitudes and perceptions that encourage the escalation of
the conflict.
1) Avoiding People Who Are Hostile to Her
The impact that Rachel experienced as a result of the social conflict that
occurred was emergence of other negative attitudes and perceptions that
can also lead to conflict escalation, namely the emergence of suspicion in
people who cannot more trusted and will tend to avoid it. Dean said in the
impact of social class conflict number two, which is related to the
mechanism that leads to escalation, is that parties who are not trusted tend
to be perceived as a threat if their actions are ambiguous. They only get
little benefit from these doubts or just a little confidence in their good
intentions. This leads to an escalation of defense and prevention measures
and often results in new conflicts. In addition, Dean also explains that
people tend to avoid people who are hostile to them. It can be seen in the
scene when Rachel attended bachelor party of Araminta and Collin.
During the party, not a few of those from the upper-class sneered at Rachel
because Rachel was not from the same circle as them. Their hatred
becomes even clearer when Rachel returns to the inn and encounters a
threat like the one shown below:
29
(Picture 5)32
(“CATCH THIS, YOU GOLD-DIGGING BITCH!”)
Astrid : I’ll call security— (Shocked)
Rachel : No.
I’m not gonna make a scene.
I’m not gonna give them the satisfaction.33
As can be seen from the picture above, they pose threats to rachel like, on
the bed is a LARGE, GUTTED FISH. Its blood and guts all over the white
sheets. On one of the windows are words scrawled in red “CATCH THIS,
YOU GOLD-DIGGING BITCH!”. It's obvious that they don't like Rachel
and Nick's relationship, Rachel is considered a woman who wants to take
advantage of Nick's wealth to elevate her. So they made threats to Rachel
hoping that Rachel would freak out and leave Nick. But as Rachel told
Astrid as in the dialogue above, Rachel chose to ignore them even though
Rachel was aware of how much they disliked Rachel. Rachel didn't want
to create a new conflict with people from the upper-class.
2) “Zero-Sum” Way of Thinking
According to Dean about impact of social class conflict in number sixth,
is that negative attitudes and perceptions can cause a "zero-sum" way of
thinking, namely the belief that what is good for you is bad for me, and
32 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:02:25 – 1:02:48 33 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:02:25 – 1:02:48
30
vice versa. This is partly due to mistrust. The zero-sum way of thinking
also rises from the negative feelings of others. As depicted in the film
Crazy Rich Asian, how Eleanor who really dislikes Rachel tries to find a
gap to separate Rachel and Nick by investigating Rachel's family
background because Eleanor beliefs that Rachel is not good for Nick as
seen below:
(Picture 6)34
Eleanor : I’m sorry to tell you, but Rachel has been lying to
us about her family and her mother...
Rachel : What, uh... What are you talking about?
Eleanor : I hired a private investigator to look into her past –
Nick : Mum, you didn’t –
Eleanor : She said her father passed away in China, but
that’s not true. Your mother’s husband is very
much alive. During her marriage she cheated on
him and became pregnant with another man’s
child, and before he found out she ran away to
America.35
From the conversation above, it can be seen from how Eleanor hired a
detective to find out about Rachel's background. This is what Eleanor does
to open Nick's eyes that Rachel has been lying to him about Rachel's father
34 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:32:32 – 1:32:57 35 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:32:32 – 1:32:57
31
all this time. Eleanor wanted to point out that Rachel was not good enough
for Nick with such a background, as well as the lies Rachel was trying to
hide from Nick. But actually Rachel didn't know about it either because
her mother only said that Rachel's father had died. So when Rachel hears
that her father is still alive and her parents' past shocks Rachel because she
doesn't know anything about it.
(Picture 7)36
Eleanor : We cannot be linked to this sort of family.
Rachel : I don’t want any part of your family.37
Rachel must have felt insulted by what Eleanor had done to get her and
Nick to separate. Moreover, from Eleanor who hired a detective to find out
about her parents' background, Eleanor also said that the Young family
couldn't be related to Rachel's family which made Rachel angry and
emphasized the word that she also didn't want to be in the Young family,
after that Rachel left that place.
3) “Evil Enemy”
In the Dean’s theory about impact of social class conflict in number seven,
is that negative attitudes and perceptions develop so badly that the
36 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:33:09 − 1:33:18 37 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:33:09 − 1:33:18
32
opponent is then considered an "evil enemy". Conflict is considered a war
between the light (our side) and dark (their side). In this situation the
opposite party is to be blamed for everything that goes wrong,
communication is often insufficient, empathy is very weak and problem-
solving is very difficult to achieve. This is can be seen in Michael and
Astrid conflict. Even though he is married and has children, it does not
make Michael acceptable in Astrid's family. Astrid's family who always
despise and don't respect Michael makes Michael think of Astrid's family
as "evil enemies". Michael loses empathy for Astrid's family and decides
to have an affair until the divorce occurs.
(Picture 8) 38
Michael : Hey! Look, you know, it's not just my fault that
things didn't work out.
Astrid : You’re right. I shouldn’t have kept things from
you. Hidden my shoes, turned down jobs, charity
work, worrying that it might make you feel lesser
than. But let’s be clear -- the problem with our
marriage isn’t my family’s money. It’s that you’re
a coward. You gave up on us.39
38 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:47:31 − 1:48:00 39 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:47:31 − 1:48:00
33
As seen in the conversation above, Michael is still trying to say that it's not
just his fault. Because basically Michael really loves Astrid but the attitude
of Astrid's family makes Michael unable to stand it. But as Astrid said,
“the problem with our marriage isn’t my family’s money. It’s that you’re
a coward. You gave up on us.” Michael forgot that he should have put in
more effort and could show that Michael was capable of being side by side
with Astrid. However, Michael, who already considers Astrid's family as
his enemy, prefers to sacrifice their marriage.
C. The Resolution of Social Class Conflict Among Characters in Kevin
Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film
After discussing the social class issue and its impacts that occurred in the
Crazy Rich Asian film which was previously discussed in the formulation of
the first problem, in the formulation of the second problem, the researcher will
discuss the end of the social class conflict that occurs in the film which of
course also discusses the solution to the problem.
As noted from the second chapter, a social conflict occurs when the
characters in a story interact or come into contact with one another. It is referred
to as a conflict of the character that has a relationship with society, and the
conflict is very complex and requires a solution from one of the characters or
the other. It means that if the characters in the film are unable to quickly find
the best solution to the conflict, it may become serious and complex.
Every problem always has a solution. There are many ways that we can
use to solve a problem, but it depends on what kind of problem we are facing.
Like in the Crazy Rich Asian film, the problem in it is about social class conflict
and as explained in previous chapter that there are 5 steps to solves the conflict.
1) Avoidance
Ever since Rachel left Nick at the party in a state of extreme anger, Rachel
never wanted to meet or even talk to Nick. Rachel locked herself in the
room she occupied at her best friend Peik Lin's house. Until his mother
(Kerry) came from New York to Singapore at Nick's request. It turns out
34
that Nick called Kerry and told him everything that had happened and
asked Rachel's mother to come. When Rachel was with her mother, Rachel
immediately asked about her father, who Rachel did not know anything
like the picture and dialogue below:
(Picture 9 )40
Rachel : Why didn’t you tell me about my father?
Kerry : My husband wasn’t a good man. He hurt me. But
an old schoolmate of mine helped me through
things and we fell in love and I got pregnant with
his baby, that’s you. I was so afraid my husband
would find out and kill us both, so I just took you
and I ran to America.41
From the picture and dialogue above show the conversation scene between
Rachel and her mother, Kerry in Peik Lin’s house. Kerry understood that
sooner or later Rachel would ask that question. After all, it was time for
Rachel to find out what had happened to her parents in the past. After
knowing what happened in the past, did not make Rachel hate Kerry,
Rachel chose to ignore it. Eleanor was deliberately trying to find out about
Rachel's family background to separate Nick from Rachel. Rachel would
40 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:37:22 − 1:38:07 41 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:37:22 − 1:38:07
35
rather ignore the problem than have a problem with her mother. If Rachel
had a match with Nick, they would get back together.
2) Nonviolent Confrontation
Before Rachel returns to New York, Rachel decides to invite Eleanor to
play Mahjong. Mahjong is a game for four people from China. This is a
game that demands skill, strategy, intelligence, calculation and luck.
Rachel invites Eleanor to play Mahjong because Rachel is very good at
this game. But that doesn't mean Rachel wants to beat Eleanor, she just
wants to talk to the mother of the man she loves before completely
disappearing from the Young family's life.
(Picture 10)42
Rachel : I know Nick told you the truth about my mom. But
you didn’t like me the second I got here. Why?
Eleanor : There’s a Hokkien phrase. Ka gi lan. It means ‘our
own kind of people.’ And you’re not our own kind.
Rachel : ‘Cause I’m not rich? ‘Cause I didn’t go to a British
boarding school or I wasn't born into a wealthy
family?43
42 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:43:28 – 1:43:53 43 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:43:28 – 1:43:53
36
When Rachel asked why Eleanor didn't like her, actually the reason
Eleanor gave was a classic answer. "You're not our own kind", which
means Eleanor is saying that Rachel is not in the same class as her. A
mother usually wants the best for her child, and Eleanor is doing the same
thing. Eleanor thinks that Rachel can never be enough for Nick.
(Picture 11)44
Rachel : Well, he proposed to me yesterday. He said he’d
walk away from his family and from you, for
good. Don’t worry, I turned him down.
Eleanor : Only a fool folds a winning hand.
Rachel : There’s no winning. You made sure of that.
Because if Nick chose me, he would lose his
family. And if he chose his family, he might spend
the rest of his life resenting you.
Eleanor : So you chose for him.
Rachel : I’m not leaving ‘cause I’m scared or because I
think I’m not enough. Because... maybe for the
first time in my life, I know I am. I just love Nick
so much. I don't want him to lose his mom again.
So I just wanted you to know that one day, when
he marries another lucky girl, who is enough for
you, and you're playing with your grandkids while
the tan huas are blooming, and the birds are
chirping, that it was because of me... a poor, raised
by a single mother, low class, immigrant nobody.45
44 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:44:23 − 1:46:30 45 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:44:23 − 1:46:30
37
After Kerry said that it was Nick who asked her to come to Singapore, it
was only after that Rachel wanted to see Nick again. Right at their first
meeting after the incident at the wedding, Nick apologized for what his
mother, Eleanor, had done to Rachel. Nick also proposed to Rachel at that
moment and said he would leave his family for Rachel. Because in fact he
was also fed up with all the rules that his family gave him. Hearing that
Nick had proposed to Rachel made Eleanor panic, but when Rachel said
that she had rejected Nick's proposal made Eleanor a little calmer.
As the researcher quotes from Rachel's dialogue who says, “I’m not
leaving ‘cause I’m scared or because I think I’m not enough. Because...
maybe for the first time in my life, I know I am. I just love Nick so much. I
don't want him to lose his mom again.” That is, Rachel feels quite worthy
to accompany Nick regardless of their different classes, She loves Nick
very much but Rachel does not want to be a selfish woman who let Nick
lose his mother and family for life if she accepts Nick's proposal at that
time because Nick said he was very ready to left everything he had for
Rachel. The good point is Rachel never cried at the mistreatment of her
competitors and future mother-in-law, she faced it with strength and
maturity.
3) Acceptance
After the meeting between Eleanor and Rachel, the researcher assumed
that Eleanor had realized that she was being too harsh on Rachel. Eleanor
could see Rachel's maturity in dealing with him. Rachel even turned down
Nick's proposal because she didn't want Eleanor to lose her son. Eleanor
was wrong for trying to separate Nick and Rachel for very classic reasons.
Not wanting to regret in the future, Eleanor went straight to Nick. There
was no conversation between Nick and Eleanor, but what was clear after
the meeting between mother and daughter, Nick became aware that Rachel
would return to New York with Kerry and immediately met Rachel on the
plane that would take Rachel and Kerry back to New York.
38
(Picture 12)46
Nick : I know this is a far throw from a hidden paradise...
But wherever you are in the world, that’s where I
belong.
Rachel : But, I – (suddenly surprised because Nick opens
the box, revealing Eleanor’s emerald ring).
Nick : Rachel Chu. Will you marry me and make me the
happiest man in this world?
Rachel : Yes!!47
At first Rachel was surprised because suddenly Nick got into the plane she
was traveling on while calling her name. Nick was having a hard time
getting into the plane because Rachel took economy class which was
certainly crowded with passengers blocking Nick's way, but Nick still tried
to reach Rachel. When Nick arrived in front of Rachel, Nick immediately
prostrated himself while showing Eleanor's ring. Rachel was going to
reject Nick again, but when Rachel saw Eleanor's ring that Nick showed
her, Rachel couldn't refuse anymore. Because if Eleanor had given her the
ring, it meant that the mother of the man she loved had blessed them. Then
there is no longer any reason that Rachel has to reject Nick's proposal again
when the one who is the most vehemently opposed to their relationship has
given her blessing.
46 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:51:30 − 1:51:58 47 Crazy Rich Asian Film, Duration: 1:51:30 − 1:51:58
39
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
After analyzing the Crazy Rich Asian film with the topic entitled
"Social Class Issue in Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asian Film", the researcher
concludes that:
The depiction of social class issue is very clear in this film, where
the upper-class who really likes to make parties which are certainly very
luxurious and expensive are seen throughout this film. However, it can also
be seen how people from the upper-class groups are very concerned with
the background of someone who wants to enter their class, they don't even
hesitate to hire detectives to find out the background of someone they think
is not from their class.
In the first problem formulation that discusses the social class
conflict in the Crazy Rich Asian film, the researcher found that, there are
class positions in social life that can cause social conflict. In this case, the
upper-class refused to have a family relationship with the middle-class
because upper-class desired the same class level. The researcher also found
that there were two issues that caused social class conflict in this film where
the middle-class based on family’s background and the egoistic of Eleanor.
Because Rachel's family background makes her unacceptable in the upper
class and even despised, while the middle-class according to selfishness
happened because Eleanor who was formerly from the middle-class still did
not accept Rachel because she thought Rachel would never be worthy of
Nick.
Next the second formulation of problem, the researcher found three
impacts because of this conflict that (1) avoiding people who are hostile to
her; not only did Eleanor dislike Rachel because of her status, but women
who had other upper-class positions also openly showed their dislike of
Rachel because they thought Rachel was a woman who took advantage of
Nick's wealth, they even threatened Rachel very clearly but Rachel chosed
40
to ignore them, (2) zero-sum way of thinking; Eleanor hired detectives to
find out Rachel's family background because she thinks Rachel doesn't
deserve Nick, (3) evil enemy; And also with the differences in social class,
Michael and Astrid divorced because Michael gave up and did not fight for
their marriage, Astrid's family who always looked down on Michael made
Michael give up and regard them as enemies
The last problem formulation about the social class conflict
resolution in the film, the researcher found that there are three resolution to
the conflict, (a) Avoidance that Rachel got new facts about her father, who
had been known to have died, was still alive and another fact that Rachel's
biological father was not the man her mother married, but her mother's
affair. So, Rachel chose to ignore her relationship with Niick, which Eleanor
vehemently opposed, rather than blame her own mother. (b) Nonviolent
confrontation the researcher found that with Rachel's brave attitude, she
invited Eleanor to talk to resolve the problem between them and it paid off,
as seen from Eleanor who began to realize that Rachel was enough for Nick
and gave her ring to Nick which was a sign that Eleanor began to accept
Rachel. (c) Acceptance Nick proposes to Rachel and says he is willing to
leave his family and luxury life for Rachel, but Rachel refuses because she
doesn't want to destroy Nick's family. But in the second proposal Rachel
accepts Nick because Nick proposes to her with Eleanor's ring which proves
that Eleanor has accepted her.
B. Suggestion
There are several suggestions according to the conclusions presented
above, the researcher would like to make the following suggestions about
the topic and future researchers about the topic:
The first is for the researcher herself, Crazy Rich Asian film is quite
an interesting film that presents a very clear depiction of modern society
which is illustrated through the characters and their conflicts in the film. For
the audience, the story in this film can make the audience more curious
41
about the story, where the audience will not only get stories about family
conflicts and love problems, but will also learn about Chinese culture which
is seasoned with conflicts in the film. The conflict that occurs in the film is
also supported by the theory that the researcher uses for this research so that
those who read this research can be a reference for further research.
The theory used in this study will be of interest to future researchers.
This theory is a straightforward explanation of how people interact in
society. The researcher applies theory to the topics raised in order to assist
other researchers in studying and reading this final project. And the
researcher anticipates that this research will be a valuable resource for any
future researcher interested in the same topic, theory, or approach.
Finally, the researcher anticipates that this research will contribute
to and serve as a useful reference source for other students who wish to
apply the same theory. This research will also help to expand the research
collections at the English Literature Library at the State Islamic University
of Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi.
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Budiananta. Jakarta: Gramedia.
APPENDIX I: Biography of Kevin Kwan
Kevin Kwan was born in Singapore as the youngest of three boys, into an
established Chinese Singaporean family. His great-grandfather, Oh Sian
Guan, was a founding director of Singapore's oldest bank, the Oversea-
Chinese Banking Corporation. His paternal grandfather, Sir Arthur Kwan
Pah Chien M.D., was an ophthalmologist who became Singapore's first
Western-trained specialist and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his
philanthropic efforts. His maternal grandfather, the Rev. Paul Hang Sing
Hon, founded the Hinghwa Methodist Church. Kwan is also related to Hong
Kong-born American actress Nancy Kwan and former Singaporean finance
minister Richard Hu, who was a cousin of his father.
While in Singapore, Kwan studied at the Anglo-Chinese School and lived
with his paternal grandparents. Kwan's father and mother, an engineer and
pianist respectively, moved the family to the United States when Kwan was
11. The family moved to Clear Lake, Texas, and Kwan attended Clear Lake
High School, graduating when he was 16 years old.
He attended the University of Houston-Clear Lake, where he earned a BA
in Media Studies, after which he moved to Manhattan to attend Parsons
School of Design in order to pursue a BFA in Photography. In New York,
Kwan worked for Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, Martha Stewart
Living, and Tibor Kalman's design firm M&Co. In 2000, Kwan established
his own creative studio, clients of which included Ted.com, Museum of
Modern Art, and The New York Times.
Kwan became inspired to write Crazy Rich Asians in 2009 while caring for
his father, who was dying of cancer. Kwan and his father would reminisce
about their life in Singapore while driving to and from medical
appointments, and Kwan began writing stories to capture those
memories. Kwan stated one of his goals was to showcase the "educated
families with style and taste that have been quietly going about their lives
for generations" which went beyond the typical contemporary coverage of
Asia which focused on conspicuous consumption. Friends had been urging
him to commit his memories to paper as well. Moving to the United States
has westernized his view of Asia, and he likens himself to "an outsider
looking in" when describing his life in Singapore.48
48 Wikipedia, Kevin Kwan, Retrieved on June 14th 2021, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Kwan
APPENDIX II: Crazy Rich Asian Film Synopsis
This film has a storyline that focuses on the luxurious lifestyle and social
class differences. Having two main characters, Rachel Chu, starring Constance
Wu and Nick Young, played by Henry Golding, makes this film interesting.
Apart from these two characters, the storyline presented by the director of this
film is indeed very good. It started with Nick who wanted to invite his girlfriend
to come visit Nick's hometown in Singapore. Nick is of Chinese descent from
Singapore and has lived in America for a long time. While in America he fell in
love with a girl who is also of Chinese descent and has lived in America since
childhood. With the aim of being introduced to his family and at the same time
attending the wedding of Nick Young's best friend, Colin Khoo, Rachel finally
agreed to follow Nick's invitation to go to Singapore.
During the several years of dating Nick, Rachel thought that Nick was an
ordinary young man because his behavior often reflected that he was not from
an upper-class descent. Rachel who thinks that Nick comes from an ordinary
family in the end finds out that Nick comes from a rich family. Upon arrival in
Singapore, Rachel was greeted by Colin Khoo and Araminta Lee, who are Nick’s
best friends. The warm welcome they gave Rachel felt safe in Singapore.
Rachel’s visit to Peik Lin's house while in Singapore opened the story that
the Young family were not only wealthy people in general, but a very respected
family because they had contributed to the development of Singapore. Even
though Peik Lin's family came from the middle and upper social class, they did
not belong to the Young family. Peik Lin, who had known Rachel for a long time
since they studied together in America, finally helped Rachel in looking good.
She lent Rachel a dress and heels so she could come to Nick's grandmother's
house properly.
Problems begin to occur when the class difference between Rachel and
Nick becomes a complicated issue. The first meeting between Eleanor Young,
who plays as Nick's mother and Rachel Chu, gave a bad impression. The two
thoughts are completely opposite. Apart from the cultural differences between
America and Asia, Eleanor Young wants her son to marry a woman from the
same social class, so Rachel's presence in Nick Young's family becomes heavy
and difficult. The severity of the situation increases when people in Nick's
environment also often question things related to social class status such as work,
family wealth and all the attributes used by Rachel.
APPENDIX III: Scenes Related to the Formulation of the Problem in the
Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian Film
No. Pictures Dialogues Duration Descriptions
1
Peik Lin: The Nick you’re
dating is Nick Young?!
(Shocked)
Rachel: Yeah. You guys
know them or something?
Wye Mun: Hell yeah. The
Young… I mean, who
doesn’t know who they
are? They’re just the biggest developers in all of
Singapore. And Malaysia,
Thailand, Brunei, New
Mexico.
Peik Lin: Did you not
know?
Rachel: I don’t really
know what they are, I
mean, I haven’t met them
yet …
00:30:37
– 00:31:44
Upper-Class
issue due to depiction of
rich people
2 -
Peik Lin: You’re going to
Nick’s grandma’s house
wearing this? Wearing
that? No way. No way.
Rachel: Yeah, I thought
red was a lucky color,
right?
Peik Lin: Rachel, these
people aren’t just rich,
okay. They’re crazy rich.
Rachel: Yeah, but Nick is
not like that.
Peik Lin: Even if he isn’t,
I guarantee you the family is. Which is why tonight,
you need to not look like
Sebastian of The Little
Mermaid. You know, little
crab guy.
00:31:50
– 00:32:54
Upper-Class
issue due to
depiction of
rich people
3
Eleanor: Nick tells me
you’re a professor, what
do you teach?
Rachel: Um, I teach Economics.
Eleanor: So, Economics.
Sounds challenging.
00:39:33
– 00:39:49
Middle-Class
issue due to
family
background
(Subtly fishing) … are your parents academics, as
well?
Rachel: No.
4 –
Rachel: Well, my dad
actually died before I was
born and, um, my mom
didn’t even go to college.
She actually hardly spoke
any English when she immigrated to the United
States.
Eleanor: … well, your
mother is very open-
minded, not like here,
where parents are obsessed
with shaping the life of
their children.
00:39:51
– 00:40:35
Middle-Class
issue due to
family
background
5
–
00:44:36
Middle-Class
issue due to
family
background
6
Eleanor: I didn’t come
from the right family, have
the right connections. And
Ah Ma thought I would
not make an adequate wife
to her son.
Rachel: But, she came
around, obviously.
Eleanor: … Because I had
no idea the work and the
sacrifice it would take.
There were many days
when I wondered if I
would ever measure up—
But having been through it all, I know this much...
You will never be enough.
1:12:32
– 1:13:13
Middle-Class
issue due to
Egoistic
8
(“CATCH THIS, YOU
GOLD-DIGGING
BITCH!”)
Astrid: I’ll call security—
(Shocked)
Rachel: No.
I’m not gonna make a
scene.
1:02:25
– 1:02:48
The impact of
social class
issue is
threatening from upper-
class girls for
Rachel
I’m not gonna give them the satisfaction
9
Eleanor: I’m sorry to tell
you, but Rachel has been
lying to us about her
family and her mother...
Rachel: What, uh... What
are you talking about?
Eleanor: I hired a private
investigator to look into
her past –
Nick: Mum, you didn’t –
Eleanor: She said her
father passed away in
China, but that’s not true.
Your mother’s husband is
very much alive. During
her marriage she cheated
on him and became
pregnant with another
man’s child, and before he
found out she ran away to
America
1:32:32
– 1:32:57
The impact of
social class
issue is the
suspicion of
Eleanor to
Rachel
10
Eleanor: We cannot be
linked to this sort of
family.
Rachel: I don’t want any
part of your family!!
1:33:09
− 1:33:18
The impact of
social class
issue is the
suspicion of
Eleanor to
Rachel
11
Michael: Hey! Look, you
know, it's not just my fault
that things didn't work out.
Astrid: You’re right. I
shouldn’t have kept things
from you. Hidden my
shoes, turned down jobs,
charity work, worrying
that it might make you feel
lesser than. But let’s be
clear -- the problem with
our marriage isn’t my
family’s money. It’s that
you’re a coward. You gave up on us
1:47:31
− 1:48:00
The impact of
social class
issue is the
divorce
between Astrid
and Michael
13
Rachel: Why didn’t you tell me about my father?
Kerry: My husband
wasn’t a good man. He
hurt me. But an old
schoolmate of mine helped
me through things and we
fell in love and I got
pregnant with his baby,
that’s you. I was so afraid
my husband would find out and kill us both, so I
just took you and I ran to
America
1:37:22
− 1:38:07
The new fact as
the end of
social class
issue in the
film
14
Rachel: I know Nick told
you the truth about my
mom. But you didn’t like
me the second I got here.
Why?
Eleanor: There’s a Hokkien phrase. Ka gi lan.
It means ‘our own kind of
people.’ And you’re not
our own kind.
Rachel: ‘Cause I’m not
rich? ‘Cause I didn’t go to
a British boarding school
or I wasn't born into a
wealthy family?
1:43:28
– 1:43:53
The last
confrontation
as the end of
social class
issue in the
film
15 _
Rachel: Well, he
proposed to me yesterday.
He said he’d walk away
from his family and from
you, for good. Don’t
worry, I turned him down.
Eleanor: Only a fool
folds a winning hand.
Rachel: There’s no
winning. You made sure
of that. Because if Nick chose me, he would lose
his family. And if he
chose his family, he might
spend the rest of his life
resenting you.
Eleanor: So you chose
for him.
Rachel: I’m not leaving
‘cause I’m scared or
because I think I’m not
enough. Because... maybe for the first time in my
life, I know I am. I just
00:36:41
The last
confrontation as the end of
social class
issue in the
film
love Nick so much. I don't want him to lose his mom
again. So I just wanted
you to know that one day,
when he marries another
lucky girl, who is enough
for you, and you're
playing with your
grandkids while the tan
huas are blooming, and
the birds are chirping, that
it was because of me... a
poor, raised by a single mother, low class,
immigrant nobody
16
Nick: I know this is a far
throw from a hidden
paradise... But wherever
you are in the world, that’s
where I belong.
Rachel: But, I – (suddenly
surprised because Nick
opens the box, revealing
Eleanor’s emerald ring).
Nick: Rachel Chu. Will you marry me and make
me the
happiest man in this
world?
Rachel: Yes!!
1:51:30
− 1:51:58
Rachel finally
accept Nick’s
proposal by
seeing
Eleanor’s ring
in Nick’s hand