'Parasite' Won Four Oscars, Which Means The Academy Might Finally Be Deciding To Not Be Racist
Not only did "Parasite" win Best Picture, it won Best International Feature Film, Best Original Screenplay, and Bong also took home the award for Best Director.
The Academy Awards have a history of excluding people of color from their awards. There was a hashtag on Twitter, #OscarsSoWhite, that started in 2015 but really took off during the 2016 awards. And, for all intents and purposes, not much has changed.
Steve Martin and Chris Rock said in their opening monologue this year, "Think how much the Oscars have changed in the past 92 years. Yeah, they've changed a lot... Back in 1929, there were no black acting nominees. And now in 2020, we got one." What they are highlighting extends far beyond the scope of just black nominees. The Oscars have a hard time filling their nominee list with really any diversity.
Which is what makes Bong Joon-ho and his film "Parasite" such a victory for people of color and marginalized filmmakers all over the world.
"Parasite" is not only an engaging thriller, it's a film about the disparity in the worlds of the rich and the poor and a deep look at what it is like to live in a South Korean society dealing with this stark disparity, trying to survive at any cost. Something that, in the past, the Academy might turn a blind eye to because it's calling out the power structures of a society that upholds its own values: exclusion, segregation, and implicit racism.
With its Best Picture win, "Parasite" became the first International film to ever win in this category. Yes, the Oscars have been around for 92 years and have never awarded an International film this award — and that is telling to the culture of the Academy.
'Parasite' is the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture at the #Oscars. See the complete list of winners… https://t.co/U7BoQAe3zh— Rolling Stone (@Rolling Stone) 1581309184.0
Not only did "Parasite" win Best Picture, it won Best International Feature Film, Best Original Screenplay, and Bong also took home the award for Best Director.
#Oscars2020 Best Original Screenplay goes to Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won's Parasite! https://t.co/rwHDf1JFmR— Philstar.com (@Philstar.com) 1581299421.0
In his acceptance speech, Bong said, "The category has a new name, from 'Best Foreign Language' to 'Best International Feature Film.' I'm so happy to be its first recipient under the new name. I applaud and support the new direction that this change symbolizes."
And, really, the name does symbolize an important change for the Oscars. The old name acted as a token of separation between people based on language, naming everything outside of the English language with the moniker of "foreign language."
In that statement, a deep-seated racism is entrenched. One that separates people and places anyone foreign to the white, English-speaking Academy on the other side of the fence. With the name change comes, we can only hope, a culture change for the Academy.
"Parasite" director Bong Joon-ho on #Oscars win: "I'm ready to drink tonight." https://t.co/8kz7m5vtnF #Oscars https://t.co/JDtiXq2GrE— ABC News (@ABC News) 1581305423.0
