Crazy Rich Asians: Part 3 - Genre Conventions and Story Theme

We're on week three of our analysis of the film Crazy Rich Asians, which debuted in 2018 based on a 2013 novel of the same name. This was a highly successful film, sold as a romantic comedy, but as you heard in earlier episodes, there's a lot more going on in this movie than you first might expect. This week, we're diving into the story's theme and the genre conventions and obligatory moments. This is the StoryGrid podcast. I'm your host, Tim Grall, a writer and CEO of StoryGrid. Joining me shortly is Rachel Arsenal, a Story Grid certified editor. We're spending four weeks looking closely at Crazy Rich Asians and how this masterwork story was constructed. We're going to use the StoryGrid methodology created and developed by our founder, Sean Coyne. If you would like to get a sneak peek into everything we're going to cover, you can go right now to storygrid.com crazy to download a PDF of our completed analysis of Crazy Rich Asians. Okay, let's jump in and get started. Okay, so now that we've gotten on the same page with genre and I've gone back, Rachel sent me back and said, why don't you try again?

It's time to delve into some specific things when we look at genre, and those things are the conventions in the obligatory moments. And when we're talking about conventions and obligatory moments, what are we referring to?

Yeah, so conventions are. And obligatory moments are what the audience expects to see based on genre. And I think that generally. So Kim Kessler described it really well, like, ages ago. I think it was at Story Grid live back in 2019, which feels like 100 years ago. It's almost like conventions are sort of the nouns of things that belong in the story, and obligatory moments are like the verbs that belong in the story. And again, it just. When an audience shows up to a certain type of story and generally. Right. Like a reader or a viewer won't tell you this. Like, well, I'm sitting down to what I think is a status story, and I expect to see X, Y, and Z. Unless the audience member is a Story Grid certified editor, maybe, or a super Story Grid nerd. That's not necessarily what, like, an audience probably wouldn't tell you that, but it's sort of this. Because we've consumed a lot of stories, like people have consumed a lot of stories. There's this sort of baked in expectation that you can't always quite put your finger on. But then if it's missing, you feel it. And you're like, oh, why? Why did this not work for me? Or why did this feel off? And so that's why we have the conventions and obligatory moments to help clarify what should be in a given type of story.

Okay, so when we're looking at conventions for a status story and we're looking at it through crazy rich Asians, let's just start with the first one. So the first one we have is a strong mentor figure. So who did you have as a strong mentor figure for? For Rachel, the protagonist.

I had Rachel's mom as the mentor figure. What about you, Tim?

Yeah, I struggled with this one.

Because I didn't. I was struggling to find somebody. But as soon as you said that, I had almost forgotten about her mom in the story. But now that you say that, the way she shows up at the beginning and tries to warn her about what she's getting into.

And then. And then later when she comes back and is the one to convince Rachel to go see Nick. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, I agree with that.

All right, so we have. Next we have. The big social problem is subtext. So I had the clash of two cultures. So between American individualism and kind of the Asian family community orientation, of which one is held higher. Right? So in kind of the American culture, the individual is held above all else, and it's showing the Asian culture as family and community above all else. Uh, so that's what I saw as the problem, the big social problem that we were looking at in this.

Yeah, it's really interesting because that's definitely at work here. And then we also have a couple of other social problems that get introduced. So racism is a problem that is introduced at the beginning, Right. Where the young family is faced with these, like, hotel managers and receptionists, Right. Who won't let them into the hotel despite the fact that they have a reservation.

And.

And they're treated really poorly. And this is what introduces us to the young family and how powerful they are and how old money they are as well, which will come up later. And then also, class divide is a huge, huge element at work in the story. Right? Because Rachel comes from, I don't know, maybe middle class. Ish. And then like super, super upper crust again, old money upper crust. And this chasm between the two is. Is featuring really heavily as well. And then you weave into that, like you said, these sort of opposing dynamics of American individualism and value for family, family values, integration into the family, that kind of thing, family identity. Then what you get is a really complicated environment to Set to set the story in.

Yeah, Yeah. I like the idea of looking at the class, too, of just, you know, I think it's. My wife always talks about how, like, you can't ever understand anything outside of your context. Right. So. And this is what's always interesting when, like, you grow up in a certain context, and if you. Especially if you grow in a context where you don't really break out of, maybe you don't travel much, you don't interact with people, and then when you first, like, go off to college and you just meet so many different people from so many different places, it's like, it blows your mind. And I think of this, too, where, you know, Rachel has never. Because there's rich people and then there's people that are rich on the level of the people in this story. Right. And so she's never interacted with that. And then, you know, I thought it was interesting how there wasn't a lot of, like, direct looking down on her because she was poor.

Really, until the very, very end at that all is lost moment. But everybody was kind of like, oh, it's fine, it's fine. But there is still this feeling of, like, they. They have no concept of what it's like. Like, I thought about when Nick said he would walk away from his money and all of that. I'm like, yeah, well, wait till you fly coach a few times and then see if you're ready to walk away. Uh, so.

Yeah. Yeah, I really like that.

Yeah. And I think, too, like, I just want to add in that.

The. One of the things that, like. So there's sort of, like you said, Rachel doesn't have a concept for, like, the level of wealth that Nick's family comes from. The same way that Nick's family sort of can't quite fathom, like, her family being what it is and. And her lack of connections. Right. Like, the lack of substantive family identity. Right. When I'm thinking about the first time she goes to Nick's house at the big party, and she's sort of being interviewed by the different aunties, and they're like, oh, your mom must not entertain much since she's a single mom. And then they're like, what about your dad? And she's like, oh, he died before I was born. Also, he was a factory worker. Right. And he's no, like, no name, no nothing. And so as you sort of get like, classified in terms of wealth, but also in terms of, like, reputation. And I think that's really indicative of kind of the status Elements that are in play for the story as well.

Yeah. And I think about that sometimes, too, in American culture where, like, even old money is new money, you know, like, compared. Right. I remember when I went to Ireland and I just. There was this one moment where we were driving somewhere, and there was this, like, stone wall next to the road. And I'm looking at that wall, and I'm like, that is older than everything in America. That wall right there. This, like, random wall in the middle of nowhere in Ireland. And how, like, living, you know, growing up in a country where the oldest things are a few hundred years old, and you can, you know, you can go to houses throughout Europe that are, you know, a thousand years old. And so even that sense of, like, placement in a culture of just, like, I think we have a really hard time, at least I know I do in America, of, like, sensing my place in a culture that's ancient, you know, everything feels so new. And I think stepping into a culture where everything is considered over a vaster time than what I consider. Right.

Yeah. That's interesting. All right, so the third one is shape shifters as hypocrites. So secondary characters say one thing and do another. So who. Who do you have here for that?

Well, the blaring example that leapt to my mind would definitely be Amanda, right?

Yeah. Did you have anybody else?

I didn't. So I knew that, like, Amanda. I was like, oh, she is definitely the one. I can't think of. I feel like there should be other characters that fit in that description, but none of them are coming immediately to mind. Did you have others?

So I had one other. I had Amma. I had the grandmother, because when she first meets Rachel, she's so kind. She tells her how pretty she is. She. She accepts her at the table making dumplings, and, like, you're really like, oh, like this. This. She's in now, you know, the grandmother. And then at the end when she, like, tells. Basically tells Nick he's disgracing himself in the family by being with her, it's like, you're just. I was totally taken aback because I thought she was just kind of, like, along for the ride, so.

So, yeah, I put her in there as well.

That's great. That's a great one.

All right, so next is the Herald or Threshold Guardian is a fellow striver who sold out. So I had Eleanor for this. And this is one of the spots where I thought it was really interesting the way they twisted some of the archetypes, because usually you wouldn't have the Antagonist as also the Threshold Guardian. I'm sure there's examples.

But I thought that was really interesting how they set her up as the Threshold Guardian.

And basically never lets her in.

Yeah, right. Yeah. And I think I'm really excited to talk about that. So when we did John Wick, I was kind of dreading the heroic journey archetypes, because I was like, this was super hard. But for this one, I'm really excited for when we talk about the heroic figure archetypes, because.

The Eleanor as a Threshold Guardian, there's so much gatekeeping at work, and that's a major feature of this context. And so I think that's one of the big reasons that we have the main antagonist being a Threshold Guardian. So I'm not gonna spoil it for the following episode, but I'm super excited to talk about that because I think that that's really getting at the way that this context works specifically.

Great. All right, well, we'll get into that more then. And. And when we get there. So the next one is a clear point of no return or truth will out moment when the protagonist knows they can never go back to the way things used to be. So what did you have for that?

I have that as being overlapped with our all is lost moment when Eleanor. Right. Hires the private investigator and exposes the truth about Rachel's mother that even Rachel didn't know. Right. And so it's sort of like that's where there's no. There's no going back. Like, she. She will never be the same after this because she has officially, like, she even has information that she never had before about her mom, about what her mom did, even though she still doesn't have all the details. Right. It's this moment where she'll. She'll never be the same after that. So that's where I had that flagged.

Yeah, I had the same thing. And actually, when I was thinking about this and even what you just said, it brought in my mind, like, so there's been this. And I've heard about it because my wife's a therapist. There's become this, like, epidemic of people doing the 23andMe thing and finding out who they thought was their parent is not actually their parent. Oh, right. And how devastating that moment is because.

You know, it just completely wreck. You know, they. They. They think they're going to do this kind of fun thing to see where they're from and whatever, and then it comes back and, like, some. Somebody else is listed as their parent, and it, like, has Just blows up their life. And I guess this is becoming like a regular thing. And so like they. Anyway, we could go down that. But I think this is that moment for Rachel where like she had one view of her mother and her life and in this super vulnerable space that she's in, all of that is ripped away. And I think, I mean, I think it's in there and they do everything, but it kind of gets glossed over because then her mom explains it and everybody's good, but it's like.

You know, that changes the way you see yourself when, when you have something like that exposed and to have done it not in somewhere safe, but in a, you know, super vulnerable position so far from her mother, you know, and everything like that. So. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So the last convention for the status genre we have as the paradoxical win but lose loot or lose but win bittersweet ending. So I struggled with this one because I'm like, well, Rachel kind of got everything at the end, right? So she got the respect of her of, of her potential or future mother in law. She kind of got the respect of everybody and she got Nick in the end. So they get to stay together. And so I was like, well, maybe it's like. And this is where I start to struggle because when I want an answer, I'll start like cramming, you know, a square peg in a round hole just to make it fit. So I struggled with this when the only thing I could think of was is it that she's still doesn't have a good relationship with Eleanor at the end. Like she doesn't get that close relationship she easily gets with other people. It's still just. It's always going to be tense even though she got respect. But I. That felt like a cop out kind of stretch answer. So what, what did you have for that convention?

Yeah, I think, I feel contrary saying this, but I think that it's not present and I, I think that the reason, so ordinarily in a status story, what you will see this is why it's a convention is a win but lose lose but when ending, right. So that means that, you know, if we're thinking about like a big performance, maybe they let go of this huge opportunity to be some super successful something external, but they gain self respect in the meantime or you know, something like that. But I think the reason that, that we don't have this sort of exchange where it feels a little bit like a lose and a win, I think it comes back to the fact that we are In a romantic comedy. And one of the key features of the successful romantic comedy is a happy ending. And so I think that it is a part of. Because we wrapped this story in a romantic comedy. In a romantic story. And. And my romance editor and writer friends will all tell you it's not romance if it's not happily ever after. Like, it doesn't count. You know, this is, this is a staple of romance. And so I think the fact that we are in a rom com space, I think that would have felt wrong to the, to the readers or viewers. And again, I don't know exactly how the book goes. I haven't read the book. I've only seen the movie. But in the case of the movie, at any rate.

Because it was wrapped up in a rom com, I don't think that viewers would have been satisfied with a win but lose ending. But rather like the better way to take it was that she gets everything in the end. And I think that that's a feature of being in a rom com rather than just a. Rather than this just being like a domestic status kind of story.

Yeah. Do you remember the movie up in the Air with George Clooney? Do you remember that movie? Did you ever see that?

No, I haven't even heard of it. Where did I miss this one? When did this come out?

It came out in 2009. So, you know, I don't know, you were probably what, 10 years old and whoa.

Not quite that young.

Well, like, you know, my wife and I are getting into this space where when we walk into a, like a restaurant and it shows the year that you had to be born in order to drink alcohol. And it's now like in the aughts and we're just like, oh my God, we're so fucking old.

Anyway, so, yeah, it came out in 2009 in the. So the, the setup is like, George Clooney is this like lonely guy that travels around and basically fires people for a living. So companies bring him to fight to do layoffs. And so he's like always on planes or whatever and he meets this woman and they start having this love affair and then they break up. And.

And then, then he like realizes like, oh no, like, I want to be with this woman. So he does the whole like, find her, fly to where she is, like, shows up at her house and she's married with a family and she's basically like, yeah, don't this up for me. You were just like a fun fling. And so then he's forced to just basic. I Think it. I mean, it's. I saw it not long after it came out, so it's been a minute.

But it basically ends with him going up an escalator at an airport to just go back to his life of, like, solitude. And I remember watching an interview with the director. And.

First of all, he told this great story of, like, he wrote, I think, or maybe it was the screenwriter, but created the movie with George Clooney in mind. So, like, I think it was in Italy, he, like, went to George Clooney's house, like, got, like, the agents, like, worked it out, and he went to go see him, and they basically, like, got drunk on expensive bottles of wine and he convinced George Clooney to be in the movie. And. But he talked about how, like, he knew if he had made it a happy ending, the movie would have been way more successful than if he had made it what became a cautionary tale. And so.

Yeah, so I thought. Yeah, I thought that was interesting. Of, like, well, but if it ended where she didn't get Nick in the end, that'd be, you know, hell of a bummer for a movie that's supposed to. That's billed as a rom com. So you see it as a. Basically, like.

It'S a way to keep the movie up at the end, to not have that win but lose. Lose but win ending.

Yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, that's something that you leverage carefully, conscientiously. You know, it's not. But, you know, for crazy rich Asians, I think it works. And I think because of the way, like, the tone also that was set for the movie was sort of triumphant and funny. And so thinking about it also as a comedy, right, like, if it had been, we were on this final ride, and this happens too, in movies, and it's always a little bit jarring, but you're on this fun ride. You're having a great time. I'm thinking of, like, Wes Anderson movies where you're like, this is fun and wacky and crazy, and then all of a sudden it is unbelievably, like, heartfelt or sad or something that is like a downer at the end and you're left feeling kind of weird. And so I think that this is. This is what that goes back to. But I think that, again, you just. You sort of leverage it carefully. And I think one of the reasons it works, too, is that they did find an innovative way to sort of create that win win. And I think that's a great way if you're going to try to break that kind of rule like that. That. That would be. The advice is find an innovative way to do it that also works inside the story and make sure that you're maintaining your tone. Would you like to call Wes Anderson?

Oh, I hate Wes Anderson movies. I don't. Like, every single time, I'm like, all right, I'll give this one a try. Everybody freaks out about this guy. And I'm watching the movie, and I'm like, I hate this movie. Like, it just. I hate them so much. I mean, I hate them especially because everybody likes them. And I do not understand why, you know, because sometimes, like, you can watch, like, it's like, my. What my kids think is funny. Like, they'll show me something, and, like, I'll get the joke, and I just won't think it's funny. And I'm like, that's okay. My parents think Will Ferrell's ridiculous. I think he's hilarious. I can get on board with that. And then sometimes they'll show me something that they think is hilarious, and I'm like, it gets done. They, like, in the video. And I'm like, wait, where's the funny part? Like, where. I don't. They're like, you don't think that's funny? I'm like, I don't know. I don't even know when it was supposed to be funny. Like, that's how I feel about Wes Anderson movies, is like, sometimes there's movies that I'm like, I see why people love them. It's just not for me. And then with his movies, I'm like, I do not understand why anybody thinks these are good at all. It's been so long since I've seen one. But I, like, watched all of them many years ago, and, like, just kept thinking, eventually it'll make sense. And it never did make sense to me.

So it took me many, like, many years and many tries, because I, like, that's how I also felt the first time I watched a Wes Anderson movie. I was like, what? What just happened? What did I just watch for? I have the benefit. My husband's really into movies. He studied film in school. And so, like, he can give me, like, the Phil Buffs eye on the Wes Anderson movie and so help me sort of, like, integrate some appreciation for the experience. But it was for me as well, very much of the choir taste.

Yeah. I mean, maybe I should try again, because this was before my story grid days. Maybe I'll appreciate it in some kind of new way. But it's Kind of like when.

When people tell me to hang in with something because it's a slow burn, I'm like, so what you're saying is it's boring until the end. That's what you're telling me Because. So I'm. One of my proudest moments in the TV watching context is I stopped watching Lost the first season, right? And I'm watching this and I'm like, okay, here's how it works. Something exciting happens at the beginning. Then 45 minutes of boredom and commercials, right? This was pre DVDs and streaming, so commercials. And then something would happen exciting at the end to create a cliffhanger for the next episode. And about halfway through the first season, I'm like, this is bullshit. And I stopped. And for years, everybody's like, you don't watch loss. You don't watch loss. And then when it ended and everybody was angry, I'm like, you should listen to me. Because that was a fucking nightmare of a show. And when the polar bears showed up on the island and they kept saying, no, they're going to explain it. And then they explained nothing. It's because they didn't know what they were doing anyway. But then the opposite, you know, I did the same thing on Breaking Bad, though. I got like three seasons in and I'm like, this is fucking boring. And then, like, it's a. It supposedly is amazing show. And, you know, I probably missed the boat on that one. But it was the same thing where about halfway through every episode I'd, like, fall asleep. So anyway, yeah.

So maybe our next audience.

You just alienated Wes Anderson fans. I don't know. Is anyone still a Lost fan after the whole debacle happened? I don't know. But also Breaking Bad, you know, it's just. We're going to have four listeners left, and it's going to be you, me, and Leslie and Danielle.

Yeah, yeah. No, Breaking Bad. I understand. That's the one. I understand. I understand why people like it. It just was too slow for me.

And where Wes Anderson stuff, I'm like, I don't even have a category for why people think this is good and interesting. And then I start thinking, I'm like, is he just. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Let's talk about crazy rich Asians.

The season finale is going to be a Wes Anderson movie.

The hell it is. Like.

That. That'll be the one I'm out of town for. And you just do by yourself.

All right, all right. So that's the conventions of the status genre. So let's go ahead and move into the obligatory moments. So when we're looking at the obligatory moments where, again, we're looking at through this lens of the status genre, but it always starts with an inciting incident or inciting opportunity or challenge. So what did you have for the inciting opportunity or challenge in Crazy Rich Asians?

Yeah, I have the invitation to the wedding. So Nick tells Rachel he wants to take her to Singapore to meet his family and go to Colin's wedding.

And what was the challenge or opportunity in that? Right. So I guess it's like every story has an inciting incident. So what twist did this inciting incident have that kind of kicked it over into the status genre?

Ooh, this is a good story.

Well, because, like, for an action story, it's like a threat of life or death. Right. And you can't have a status inciting incident to show up in an action story if that's the one you're telling. So what made this a status specific inciting incident?

Ooh, put me on the spot. Are you asking because you have an answer for this?

Well, I just see it as the challenge of fitting into Nick's family. I don't think it was. I wasn't thinking too deeply on it, but I was thinking if it's an inciting opportunity or challenge, the challenge here is she's got to fit into a culture that she. She doesn't currently fit into.

Yeah. And I think, you know, the sort of the misunderstanding that she has as well. Right. What she's seeing it as is an opportunity is cool. We'll go to Singapore. I meet your family. Haven't met him yet. It'll be fun. Wedding, great. All check, check, check. Right. Everything good. And not realizing that it is going to be a major challenge. And that's like you talked about earlier about her mom sort of acting and also this heraldic role of being like, you don't know what you're in for. Like, you should bring a lucky dress. You're going to need it. And she's like, nah, it'll be fine. And then it turns out, right, that it's this huge challenge. And it's a challenge to, like, this pursuit of fitting into his family because we are in status is going to be a direct challenge to her internal sense of value. Right. Like, that's the thing that's going to be getting tested as we go through the story. So I think that's where we see that. That status element sort of coming in, even though it isn't obvious to her or necessarily. I mean, maybe to the audience if they've seen the trailer. Right. But it's not obvious to her right away.

Right, Right. Well, because at that point, she doesn't even know Nick is this super rich guy from this crazy family. So.

Yeah, which we'll get into that a little bit because I have some opinions on Nick.

Can't wait.

Yeah. He belongs in a Wes Anderson movie.

All right.

It's the highest insult Tim can say, you belong in a Wes Anderson movie. So if Tim ever tells. Says that to you, dear listener, know that he is not. He's. You're not having a good first impression. You guys are not having a good meeting.

All right, so the next one is the protagonist leaves home. Real or metaphorical?

What did. Sorry, I kind of lost my mind there for a second. All right, let me try that again. Let me leave some space here.

My chair keeps squeaking. And so I was thinking about my chair squeaking and I forgot what I was like saying. I'm like, I gotta sit still and I need to remember to bring some WD40 for it. All right.

I also keep making side commentary and goofing off. And so it's just like redirecting all of your thoughts towards something else.

Yeah, no, this is good. It's. Well, I'd like. You know, I think people enjoy that, so I'm. I think it's good. So. All right, so the second obligatory moment for the status genre is the protagonist leaves home, real or metaphorical. So this one was right there on the page. She leaves America and she goes to Singapore. So I'm assuming I at least got that one right.

Knocked it out of the park. Perfect. A plus, double check.

Great. All right, next one is forced to adapt to a new environment. The protagonist relies on old habits and suffers humiliation. What did you have for that?

Oh, my gosh, let me count the ways that this happens in crazy rich Asians. And it's great because once again, I. I feel like I am on about this. This rom com thing, but it's just going to keep coming up. So here we go. One of the things that's super great is that this is a great crossover between things that we see in a romantic comedy and our status genre obligatory moment, because poor, sweet Rachel makes a number of blunders when she meets Nick's family, right? So she. So first, right when she gets introduced to Paiklin's family and Paiklin's mom is like, oh, call me auntie. Right? So, so when she shows up to Nick's family. She calls. Is it Eleanor? I think it's Eleanor that she's, oh, sorry, Auntie. And Eleanor is like, whoa, whoa, you don't know me like that. Like, no, ma'. Am. And she spills the wine. Like, she shows up thinking that, like, she's again, going to be her charming self. And she's. She's got it all under control. And everywhere she turns, everything she does is, like, the wrong thing. And so then it gets leveraged to comedic effect. And that's sort of our rom com thing going on there where, you know, your protagonist, she's out of her element, she's in over her head, and she sort of makes all these comedic blunders in her pursuit of fitting into whatever environment that she's just gone into.

Yeah. And the whole. The protagonist relies on old habits. Again, I think Rachel's essential tactic, how she approaches problems, is I'm just going to show up and kind of be cute and be myself. You know, in realizing, like, that's. That's the opposite of what everybody does in these environments. And so we'll get into this when we talk about the double factor problem. But I think that, like, highlights this level of there's times to do that and then there's times to not do that. And she does not catch on that this is not the time to do that. And I think that it humiliates her in small ways at the party, like, very kind of recoverable ways where, you know, she, you know, misspeaks and, you know, says, you know, calls her auntie and that kind of thing. But then. And this is the progressive complications that are keep, you know, pushing our protagonist when she's at the bachelorette party. And again, she's just trying to be herself. Just trying to be herself. And she realizes, like, she's completely ostracized herself from everybody. And. And so that's the point where she's just humiliated and is basically her and Astrid sitting alone on the beach watching everybody else have fun. And so.

Yeah, yeah, I feel like that she kept kind of relying on that, like, I'm just going to show up and be myself, and everybody's always loved me. And it just does not work out for her in this. In this case.

No, it doesn't.

So the protagonist learns what the external antagonist, object of desire is and sets out to achieve it. And so this is where I feel like in that moment when she realized that Eleanor does not like her in the kitchen when she first meets her, it's like, okay, I'm Just going to fit into the culture. I'm going to do everything I can to do so that I can prove to Eleanor that I'm good enough for Nick. And so that it's in that moment where she discovers the object of desire of the antagonist, which is, I want a girl to be with Nick that's good enough for him. And then she's like, okay, I will be that girl.

Yeah. Though I kind of see it happening, like, even a little bit after that, where we get to.

The motivation for what Eleanor's doing. So I sort of flagged this as happening when Nick and Rachel are driving back from the dumpling event. So this is sort of similar to where you have it placed just a little bit after. And Nick explains. So this. So Eleanor has told her outright what she thinks of her. And then Nick explains the way that he was raised. Right. So he grew up at ama's house. And Nick explains to Rachel that the reason Eleanor did that is because she knew she wasn't Amma's favorite and she wanted to set him up to be her favorite, to be in a position to inherit, to be in a position to do what's best for the family. And so she, in her own way, is trying to protect Nick and her family. Now she's doing it a really questionable way, but that's ultimately what she's trying to do. And so this is the sort of key information I think that Rachel will use to. To deal with the problem in the end. Right. She knows that what Eleanor is after is the good of her family and the good of her son. And so that's what she sort of lays out before her at the mahjong game, is, I turned him down so he wouldn't be separated from you so that you can have the family system so that everything can work the way you want it to and that Nick won't be separated from you. And so that's kind of the information I think that she leverages there at the very end.

Yeah. And even that, you know, when you. I forgot that part about him growing up at his grandmother's house.

And.

And then. Then that, like, takes me to this point, because, you know, one of the things we talk about is, like.

If you're telling the story from the antagonist point of view, they're on their own heroic journey in their eyes. Right. Like, they're standing up for the right things. They're doing the right things. And what sets the antagonist apart from the protagonist is the.

The protagonist breaks frame, and the end antagonist refuses to keeps Doubling down. And. And so, like, when. When the grandmother blames it on Eleanor that Nick is not being who he's supposed to be. I'm like, you raised him. Like, this is your fault. Like, how dare you? Like, that just popped in my head when you said that of, like. And again, how even in that moment, Eleanor is trying to get amaze respect. Still trying to get her respect after, you know, 30 years, however long it's been, and it's still not good enough. And she's still getting blamed for everything that went wrong when Amazon one that raised him right. And man, like, that, that just makes me even more hate the grandmother. She's such this, like, sweet looking woman like you just like. And she's so, like, to me, she's the most conniving one in the whole movie because it's like, she's nice. At least Eleanor, like, up front is like, I don't like you. You know, like, it's like we. We are super clear on how Eleanor feels about Rachel, where Amma comes out, like, being super kind and sweet and then just like, stabs everybody in the back at the end and. Yeah, man. Yeah. So again, just these, these little moments where, like, I'm just trying to think. This is what I think is so interesting about stuff. Like this is that entire storyline of Nick growing up at his grandmother's house probably takes up less than a minute of the entire movie, right? Like, these little tiny moments that tell this whole backstory. And Sean talks about this all the time of, like, you need. Like, you need to drop in these little things that are very you. It doesn't take much because readers have read and consumed so many stories, they can fill in everything themselves. And I was just listening to. I love Tarantino, Quentin Tarantino, and I like his movies, but I love him as a creator just because I love. I love a creator that has a really, really strong opinion, right? Because his thing is movies. Movies are created on film, you know, not cgi, right? And I love CGI movies, but I love that there's somebody that's like so steadfastly against it. Anyway, he was talking about this with, like, he's done in several of his movies, but probably the most well known part is like, what's in that case in Pulp Fiction where they open it and it glows gold, right? And he's like, by me not telling the person watching the movie, they're creating the movie in their head. So the final version of the movie is a collaboration between me and the person watching it, which means they're going to have an ownership in that. And so I think about. I mean, I'm taking this one little moment and exploding it. But it's been on my mind because I'm working through this with my own book of, like, there's times where I'll, like, over explain stuff and then just pull it all out and leave like three words. Right. And just trust the reader to fill it in. And even if they fill in something different than what I meant, it's like they're still co creating the story with me. And so, like, I'm imagining this whole relationship that Eleanor and Alma have. And again, it's like, it's when she tells her on the stairs that she's not good enough, she explains what's going on. And then you see her in her, you know, see, I'm like, you know, blast her at the end. And then you get that little piece from Nick again. Maybe a minute of the entire movie is taken up and you get this whole story about what the last 30 years of Eleanor's life has been like. It's really amazing.

Yeah. And it really. I think it really powerfully points to this idea. So we talked about in the conventions, right. The Threshold Guardian is a fellow striver who sold out. It really shows us the extent to which Eleanor has sold out in pursuit of protecting her family, but also, like protecting her family, but really pursuing Amma's approval and what it has done to her over 30 years. And so what it also tells us and what it shows Rachel is that that's her future if she marries Nick. Right. Like, that's what she is looking at her 30 years down the road. And that's a huge. That's a really important element to have in a story where the protagonist has opportunities to see where different paths will take them. And this will get back to the double factor problem. But this is one of those really clear moments where she can see this is what's on the table for me if I choose this path. And that's why she chooses one of the reasons she chooses against it.

Yeah. I mean, this comes back to like, you know, like you said before of how this is a status story because she's not. She's not looking at her future with Nick, she's looking at her future with Nick if before marrying him, she doesn't get Eleanor's respect. Right. If. Because, you know, again, I'm reading into this, but Eleanor's plan was, okay, we'll get married and then eventually I'll get this woman's respect. And then it never happens. And so, you know, Rachel draws this line in the sand of like, I'm not marrying Nick until I have your respect. And if I can't get your respect, I'm not marrying Nick. And.

Because, yeah, I think she sees that what that future looks like and she's like, yeah, I'm not doing that. You know?

Yeah. And you know, as a viewer, I'm like, yep, can't blame you. That sounds silly. That kind of sucks.

Yeah.

The next one is the protagonist initial strategy to outmaneuver the antagonist fails. So what did you have here?

This, actually, I have this going back to your, your point of the way that Rachel is like, if she's her like nice, sweet, cute self, that eventually everyone will like her because. And in her defense, what's not to like? She's adorable, she's sweet, she's smart. But the. Right. So first it's like the bachelorette party is a disaster. And it's like, all right, well that didn't work out, but it's just his friends, no big deal. Right. And then Eleanor is like, you will never be enough. And it's after these events that Paik Lynn tells her that she's going to need to show her her kick ass game theory side. And that's what empowers Rachel to show up to the wedding in this. Right. That's, that's where she changes her tactic for the way that she shows up.

Yeah. And I think it's interesting of like this is what we talk about in that, that's transition from the third to fourth quadrant is when everything the protagonist has tried fails and then they realize like they have a skill set that they've just never thought to use in this way. Right. So the, the most kind of green example would be that old. I think they've rebooted it. But the old MacGyver show where it's like, you know, he's in a pickle and then he's like, oh, with this paper clip and you know, this bottle, I can create a bomb and get us out of here. You know, and you take these things that you normally wouldn't use that way and you can put them together in this new way. And when you said that, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's what she did is she took this game theory thing that not only does she know well, but she teaches it. Right. Like this is what she does. And she applied it in this way that she's, you know, she never had to. It's Almost like she internalized it. Right. Because I've worked with authors who were.

University professors. There was this one in particular, actually, where he wrote this book on marketing, and it actually became really successful. You know, all of this stuff about marketing. And then when we. When we were talking about marketing the book, I was like, well, I don't know. You wrote this book, like, what do you think we should. I'd like to hear from you before I start throwing out my ideas. And he's like, well, I don't know how to do that. And I'm like, yeah, but you wrote this book on marketing. He goes, yeah, but I've never actually marketed anything. I just, like, took these studies and I found stories and I put them together and wrote this book. And I'm like, okay. And I almost feel like that with Rachel's, like, she has all this game theory knowledge in her head, but she's never had to apply it in real life until this moment.

That's great. Yeah, that's a really good point.

All right, so the next obligatory moment is during an all is lost moment, the protagonist realizes they must change their definition of success or risk betraying their values. And so basically, I have it where she had to change the definition of success from getting Eleanor's approval so that she could be with Nick, to being true to herself above all else.

Yep, exactly. And I would like to point out, because I was listening to his talk, and I was like, wow, this sounds an awful lot like the last episode where we went through the five Commandments. And I would just like to point out that there's a really good reason for that. So the five commandments being the major moments like that form the basis of our global arc, and then the five commandments also happening inside the act level, each of the four acts. And one of the best things that you can do is combine, right, the major obligatory moments, because these are key moments in the trajectory of the story. To have those happening at those key act level or global moments to increase the impact. It's one of the ways that you communicate the power of these individual moments. And so putting those at those key act level moments, or again, global moments, is going to really help create.

Pacing that is, that feels sensible to the. To the reader or to the viewer, as well as give them the impact that they deserve to have so that we have these clear, definitive mile markers leading us through the story. So I just wanted to point that out because I was like, wait a minute. This sounds all kind of familiar. And that's because it Is. And it should be. So I wanted to make sure I didn't miss that.

Yeah. You know, and actually, because, you know, we're. We record these four episodes in kind of two big chunks. So we've had a few days since our last recording where I had to, like, go back and change all my answers. And I had this. This moment, you know, like, when I'm like, replaying our conversation where I'm like, when you asked me, when I said something about how I decided on the genre, and you go, what is your process? And I. I forgot what I said. But whatever I said, the truth is I don't have a process. And I was like, later. I was like, man, that's embarrassing. That, like, I don't have a process to do this. Because it's like one is, I've done this. You know, I've been in this story grid world for so long. And even. Even I was just kind of going by the seat of my pants and I went back. I'm like, okay, well, the next time. I really want to get it right the next time. So what am I going to do? And it comes back to what you just said, which is like, well, look at the five commandments. What are the five biggest moments in the movie? And what does that point to? Right. This is what. When Danielle and I were going through Hills Like White Elephants, and we were kind of talking through the fact that I got the wrong genre. And we were. And she's like, well, let's just go look at the five commandments. Let's look at the big moments in the story. And those will tell us, but because those will be the obligatory moments of that genre. And. And it was just like this. You know, it was a good kind of. You didn't obviously mean it this way, but I. It was kind of this slap on the hand of just like. You can't just go by the seat of your pants. Like, if you're going to analyze a story, you have to systematically go through it. Otherwise you're going to look at the COVID of the DVD case and think like, oh, this is a rom com. I got it. Love Story.

Yeah. All right. So second or the last. Or second to last obligatory moment is the big choice. So this is when the protagonist chooses to do what's necessary to attain status or reject the world they strive to join.

Yeah. So this is when Rachel rejects Nick's proposal, essentially. Right. To save him the pain of losing his family. So she decides, right, I'm not going after their approval. I'm not like she's. She's sparing herself and she's sparing Nick as well. And she's able to do that because she recognizes that internal sense of value that is going to be contended if she decides to marry Nick or continue to try to gain that approval. So she rejects his world and refuses to play this power game. And then. Fun. Just side note is that this gets layered in with the society genre core scene, which is the revolution. And that's where the. The power dynamic shifts. And this happens at the mahjong game where the power dynamic shifts in Rachel's favor. And it's also where she reveals what she did when she saw Nick. Right. That she rejected his proposal. And that's like. That's where all of that comes together. So you get both of those scenes layered on top of each other. So you get this really punchy climactic moment.

Yeah, I had the same thing. Yeah. All right, so let's end. This is the last obligatory moment. The protagonist is saved or lost based on their action in the big choice moment. So I have that. She ends up getting both the respect of Eleanor and to be with Nick as a result of that big choice of giving it up. Which I still say like this, you know, when we talk about, like, there's levels of Jean know all the different genres and all these stories. And that is a really great proof of love moment when she.

Doesn'T accept the proposal and turns it down on behalf of Nick and his entire family. But, yeah, so the protagonist has saved her loss based on their actions. So she basically saves her own respect while also getting the respect of Eleanor.

Great. All right, so let's move into the controlling idea. So we use the term controlling idea. This is often called the theme of the story. So tell us a little bit about why it's worth looking at the controlling idea of a story.

Yeah, I think the controlling idea of a story is helpful to, like, boil down the essential message of the story. And hopefully it is tied directly to the genres that you choose. And so it can also be really helpful. So, like, if it's one thing, if you're analyzing. Right. Just sort of get to understand what controlling ideas look like, what they look like for different genres. But then for your own work, I think it's helpful to. When you fill in the controlling idea. Right. And it's because it's tied into your genres, seeing if that matches up with what your story says. Right. So either it can be a guiding light for your story, or it can, if you're if you've already created it and then you're like, okay, so this is what the rough controlling idea would be based on my genres. And you can see if your story matches up with that, and you sort of can figure out which thing isn't working if they're not matching up. So I find that a really helpful way to sort of evaluate either what you're wanting to do or what you've already done.

Yeah. And I'll say this is a hard concept for me that I still think sometimes I'm wrapping my head around, because one of the things Danielle and Leslie say all the time is like, every word, every sentence of your story should go to the controlling idea. And, you know, this is hard sometimes because I'm like, what if I'm just describing a room? You know, like, is that really the control? Like, am I supposed to be fitting the controlling idea in there? And the thing that's helped me the most on this recently is really thinking about the single audience member who we call Sam, right. How every story is an author telling a story to a single audience member to help them with the problem. And we're going to talk about the double factor problem, but it's pretty tightly bound with the controlling idea. And so then when I start thinking through, like, okay, so if I'm telling a story to one person, a single person to help them with a problem, I will edit that story. So everything I'm saying is moving me towards what I think, what. What I want to teach them the answer to the problem. And once I started seeing it through that lens, I'm like, oh, this is why even the way I describe a room will reflect the controlling idea. Because I should only. I should only put things about the room that go towards the controlling idea. And what I'm trying to say and everything else is irrelevant to the story. And, you know, I feel like this is where I get into how. How much more helpful, you know, just the story grid methodology is than so much of the kind of colloquial writing advice, right? Because a lot of the advice even going into, like, describing the world, right, the room they're in or whatever, it's always like, well, you know, if it's not a major place in the story, you don't want to say too much, but, you know, you've got to say just enough. And. But it's this kind of vague, like, I'm still not sure, like, if I walk into, you know, a bar, like, there is a unlimited amount of things I could describe, like, literally Unlimited. I could, you know, you could write millions of words describing that place. So how do you choose? Right? And then it comes back to, well, what is going to get the controlling idea across? Like, pick those things. So just like having that in mind has made it starts making those decisions of what to put in the story and what to leave out a lot easier to make having that clear kind of litmus test.

Yeah. And it actually, it reminds me of the, I don't know if I would call it marketing advice, but it's, it's marketing adjacent advice that you've given before, which is where you talked about the first time you wrote. I think it was a newsletter. And you thought about. And you were kind of, you couldn't think about what to write. And you were, look, I'm telling your own story back to you right now. This is, I am, I am grateful, explaining the store as you remember it.

But basically it was like, you're creating a newsletter, but you also had worked with these really high impact authors who had tons of great advice who were super successful and you were trying to think, what in the world could I put in this newsletter that everyone, everybody would get something from? And then you, I don't remember what triggered this, this sort of realization, but basically you thought about one specific client that you had and then you sort of framed it as though you were giving her a piece of advice. And then you wrote the entire thing as though you were writing to her. And it gave you like enough focus to really zero in on a topic to write it well, to write it relevantly to that person. And then what you got was a ton of great feedback that other people were like, oh, this was a super great article. And even some of your like heavy hitting friends out there told you like, oh, this was a great article. Like, I think you did a really good job on this. And so that, that's like the same principle at work, except for fiction.

Yeah, you remembered that remarkably well.

Yeah, I was like, man, he's about to be like, whoa. That was totally wrong.

Yeah, I don't know where you heard that story.

No, I mean, the one thing I did too, and this actually got me even thinking more about this is like when I decided on. Because what it was is after I had a call with that client, right. And I really helped her and I'm like, this is who I'm trying to help is, you know, people like this woman. So I actually went to her website and printed out a picture of her and like, cut it out and like taped it to my monitor so that when I was writing my newsletter, I would write them for her. And. Yeah, and that's what we're getting at when we're talking about the Sam is we're trying to help them with a problem that, you know, can take 100,000 words to help them with when it's a particularly tough problem.

That's a great preview for talking about the double factor problem later.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. So controlling idea. What did you have for crazy rich Asians?

So I had. Rachel is empowered with authentic success, which gets that sort of that win win that she had on the values there when she rejects her pursuit of Eleanor's propo. Eleanor's proposal, Eleanor's approval, confessing her refusal of Nick's. Can I start this over?

Just leave. Leave some quiet. Just leave quiet for like three or four seconds and that'll trigger me to cut it out.

Okay.

Rachel is empowered with authentic success when she rejects her pursuit of Eleanor's approval, confronting her with her own refusal of Nick's proposal at the mahjong showdown and. And winning Eleanor's respect and getting engaged to Nick after all.

I think we had something similar. This one is, you know, it's a little harder to get word for word what somebody else would, but I had. Respect prevails when we stop trying to conform to an expectation we can never meet by standing proudly in who we are, despite the risk of losing the person most important to us. Did we say the same day?

Yes. And so it was like a different. So like you had a nice, like, sort of like generalized one. And then I just sort of like plugged in what actually happens in the story. But you've absolutely, perfectly generalized exactly what that specific instance of, like, I was looking at that specific instance and then you generalized it really nicely. I think that's a great controlling idea.

Well, I had a. So, Leslie, and I'm sure we'll put this out at some point, but when we were going through my story and going through the narrative path and we got to the controlling idea, she basically gave me like a mad Libs, like, you know, BTS ending value when result of ATS initial strategy, success of failure buy OTS climax despite crisis trade off. And so I'm literally just like filling in what we've already talked about and then it popped right out.

So, yeah, that formula is the freaking best. We use it also for the scene event synthesis, and it is 110% what I use for the controlling idea as well. So I can 10 out of 10 vouch for this formula.

Great. All right, so that's our controlling idea. And again, it's tied to the genre, right? It focuses on how we get respect. Thanks for listening to this episode of the StoryGrid podcast. As I mentioned at the beginning, if you would like to Download the complete StoryGrid analysis of Crazy Rich Asians, you can visit storygrid.com crazy Also, make sure you visit storygrid.com to check out all of our free resources and articles. If you would like to support the show, you can do that by telling another author about the show or by visiting us at Apple Podcasts and leaving a rating and review. Thanks, as always, for being a part of our StoryGrid community. We will see you next week.