This week we go over Flower Drum Song, the 1958 minor hit by Rodgers and Hammerstein, based on a novel by C. Y. Lee, which features an almost entirely Asian cast and takes place in (then) modern day San Francisco. A lot is being written about the 1961 movie version of Flower Drum Song at the time this podcast is being released, as it is one of the only three movies Hollywood has ever made taking place with an all-Asian cast in the modern day, the other two being 1993's Joy Luck Club and 2018's Crazy Rich Asians. Without going into any spoilers about Crazy Rich Asians, Jeremy talks about how Flower Drum Song tried to accomplish what Crazy Rich Asians successfully accomplished over 50 years later, by highlighting the tensions between Chinese Americans and people actually born in China/Singapore.
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