Sociologist zeroes in on how the new film "Crazy Rich Asians” speaks to 2nd-generation Asian Americans.

Biography :
Christina Chin is anticipating the Aug. 15 opening of the romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians” and the insights the film offers into the Asian American second-generation experience. The film, based on the book of the same name by Kevin Kwan, is the first from a major Hollywood studio to feature an entirely Asian cast in a present-day story since the release 25 years ago of “The Joy Luck Club.” Chin, who has previewed the film, notes that the story it tells goes beyond money and wealth to highlight universal themes about love, friendship and negotiating family dynamics “that transcend ethnic and racial boundaries.” The assistant professor of sociology is co-author of the 2017 study “Tokens on the Small Screen” about how Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders remain underrepresented on television. She and scholars from five other universities collaborated on the study, a 10-year follow-up to and expansion of an earlier study of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on prime-time series television. Chin’s teaching and scholarly research interests include immigration, racial and ethnic identity, youth and popular culture. She is co-editor of "Asian American Sporting Cultures" (NYU Press/2016). Chin earned her doctorate at UCLA. Prior to joining the Cal State Fullerton faculty, she was a postdoctoral fellow for the Asian American Studies Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.