Parasite Wins an Oscar
Introduction
Parasite is a South Korean film that was released in 2019. In 2020, the film was able to win four Oscar awards in different categories. As a foreign movie, it was the first-ever to win the best picture award at the Oscars. The film has also been able to win other awards, including Golden Globe and Cannes Film Festival. In my view, Parasite won an Oscar because the awards needed a foreign film to end is favoritism outlook, there is a need to take care of other ethnicities, the film was well-done from an artistic point and performed well commercially, and also develops the ills of social class creatively and entertainingly.
Discussion
Oscars will not Favor Local Movies
- Ethnic and Gender Parity
The film industry, especially in America, has always been faced with the issue of gender and ethnic parity. However, in recent years, there has been an upward trend that is geared towards equality (Jenkins, 2019). This is a trend that has seen the hiring of more diverse teams in the process of film making as well as in developing creative articles. The issue of attaining cultural diversity is one that goes beyond the need to gain parity for parity’s sake. Cultural representation, especially in film, is an issue that looks at people’s innate needs to be mirrored in the eye of the public (Jenkins, 2019). This is an aspect that allows people to live as full dimensional beings for the development of an identity. As such, there lies great importance in ethnic representation that requires that people be mirrored in popular culture, which develops identity through watching entertainment in films, sports, and television.
In this way, culture is a way of dealing with inequality and one way is by the recognition of different pieces of film work that borrow or reveal various aspects of other cultures. Parasite is a black comedy thriller based on Korean culture (Luklwoska, 2020). Additionally, the film is anti-capitalist, which makes it even more unique in the American setting. This is an aspect that challenges convention and in some great way, dares to go beyond the limits that many western films dare to tread. By doing so, the film has been able to gather a wide variety of audiences from the traditional or probably intended audience. This creates a perfect opportunity to understand the workings of the Oscar’s as an impartial award.
- Dealing with Ethnic Inclusivity
The 88th Oscar awards were particularly rocked with the issue of ethnic inclusivity. There was a larger share of nominated actors who were primarily white, which was happened for the second year running (JT, 2016). Once is probably chance, but two times in a row is more of a scandal. This created animosity on the attendance of the awards. To deal with this issue, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences developed guidelines aimed at meeting its goal of doubling the diversity of the awards by the year 2020 (Whitten, 2020).
However, even with the changes, only two out of the nine films nominated for best picture were predominantly non-white with Parasite being one of them. As such, one would expect that the winner would be favored by a large number of white films on the list.
However, that is not the case. With Parasite winning the 92nd Oscar award for the best film alongside three more categories, the statement becomes clear that the awards will not favor local movies. This made Parasite the first foreign language film to win the best film award. This does not mean that it won only as a basis of increasing ethnic diversity. There are other factors considered in the film, were pieces of world-class excellence.
Taking Care of Different Races
- Breaking the Scripted Role of White Movies Winning
Parasite is a non-English speaking film which makes it a unique film to win the Oscars. The film is also primarily composed of an Asian cast. According to Blackmon (2020), the win by Parasite indicates a shift in awarding Oscars where for the first time, a good movie took the prize. The question thus arises, what makes it a good movie? In this respect, the award can be taken to consider Parasite a good movie due to the inclusion of ethnic diversity in its award list over its nine-decade existence. The award was nothing short of a surprise or twist in the expectations of many people (Obenson, 2020). This is an indication of the sort of scripted role that the awards have been associated with especially when it comes to taking of races.
- Breaking the Dilemma
The film, Parasite, broke a dilemma that has plagued various foreign films in the awards system. Before the film winning the award, few other films from a foreign aspect had managed to come close to the award. The movie that reached near-success was the 2001 action film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragons, by Ang Lee (Lee, 2001). This shows a nearly 20-year dominance of primarily white-based films being awarded at the Oscars. This has had an indebted on its credibility as an impartial and all-inclusive awards forum for creatives. Therefore, the Oscars also needed this win by a non-English film to prove to the world that there is room for other ethnic-based films with themes that promote social inclusivity to gain awards and in doing so promote the film industry as a global community.
- Rebranding the Oscars
The Oscars has been struggling with increasing its ethnic diversity ratings to its portfolio. One of the aspects is reflected in the efforts that the academy has taken in a move that is seen as reaching out to different races in the film industry. For example, in February 2019, the academy developed new rules for its foreign-language film award. One of the top notable changes was the change in its name to the “International Feature Film Award” (Oscars, 2019). The main reason given by the academy on its website is that the use of foreign language film has become outdated in the modern integrated global environment (Oscars, 2019). To this extent, the academy recognizes that the filmmaking community is now a global entity that has content developed for a wide outreach that appeals to people from various backgrounds.
For the academy, therefore, the inclusivity of different races in its award system is a positive and inclusive view of filmmaking. The art of film, as such, becomes a global experience. For this fact to adequately reflect in its audience, there is a need to have a universal experience. The best way to have a universal experience is to develop and be seen to promote movies that meet its selection criteria but carry an ethnic diversity background that addressed the needs of the society in various aspects. This is a theme that is seen in Parasite through the development of the theme of social class.
Commercial and Artistic Aspects
- Commercial Performance
The film, Parasite, was a sensation from a commercial and artistic manner. Commercially, the movie had made more than $44.5 million in the US alone as of February 2020 from ticket sales (Epstein, 2020). Globally, the film had accumulated about $205 million (Epstein, 2020). This made the film the fourth-largest foreign-language grossing movie of all time in the US (Epstein, 2020). Perhaps it would have enjoyed higher success were it not for the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen social gatherings such as Cinema halls being closed down. This success reveals the great difficulty with which foreign-language films have to make it in the US.
The film opened in the US in only three theaters only (Epstein, 2020) while there are thousands of theaters across the country. The film, however, expanded slowly to cover the other areas. As such, American viewers are not often subjected to foreign-language a film which gives them dismal performance in the country. However, a new avenue enabled the economic success of the film – social media and streaming.
- Social Media and Streaming
Social media as a network enables people to communicate and share ideas widely. In the modern age, streaming enables people to watch movies from across the globe from the comfort of their living spaces. For a variety of films that lack mainstream considerations in cinemas, the use of social media to reach an audience is a great boost. In 2018, video-on-demand services generated about $11.3 billion which shows a great increase in the growth of the streaming services (Watson, 2019).
- Artistic View
From an artistic view, the film was able to deliver plenty of twists in a creative sense that made it captivating despite needing to use subtitles. The film has a Shakespearean approach to delivering its message. There is comedy yet there are no clowns and there is a tragedy but with no real villains. Everyone seems to be doing what best fits them.
The metaphorical use of imagery by having Mr. Park always seem to be moving upstairs and the poor Kim moving down the city steps to their squalor apartment reveals some dramatic effect on the people who have a higher social standing in the society. The film in this way highlights a key societal issue that is easy to relate to the audience. As such, from a commercial and artistic view, the film has a great interest in the Oscar award.
Social Class Issue
- Relating Social Class to the Audience
From the perspective of the storyline, the film explores the theme of social class that is relatable to most of the audience. The choice of storyline allows the film to integrate the views of people across the world on the issue of sociology issues in the aspect of bringing two different worlds together by fate. The film rotates around the Park and Kim family. The Park family is the ideal aspirational wealth family that is pictured nearly uniformly across the world. The Kim family is from a lower level of social class that is good at being street smart. The opportunity to work for the Park Family thus becomes a golden opportunity for the Kim family.
- Symbiotic Versus Parasitic Relationship
The chance helps Kim and Park families to develop a symbiotic relationship. The Park family can provide services such as tutoring to the children while Kim’s bankroll the living expenses. However, the relationship quickly turns to a parasitic one. The Kim family uses wit to get the house servant and other employees in the Park family fired. They recommend each other for jobs by posing as unrelated fellows. This continues but quickly greed overrides them. As a result, the storyline turns sour with Mr. Park being killed alongside other murders. There is a sudden twist in fate.
- The Title and Social Class Issues
The film also uses its name, Parasite, to indicate some concepts in social issues. For example, the Kim family lives in a semi-basement apartment. The apartment is small and crowded with a high risk of disease and prone to flooding as a result of the monsoon season. At a point, Mr. Park states that there is a smell that is associated with Ki-Taek – father to the Kim family – has a smell. This represents an issue of social status that plagues society.
- Various Effects of Social Class Issues
Social class has far-reaching effects on people’s ability to acquire health, family-life, education, and hygiene among other services. People from a higher social class have access to well-developed social networks that enable them to receive adequate services in society. This also includes the ability to gain leniency from the criminal justice system. As such, the lower class citizens often have great difficulty in getting the same kind of treatment.
The discrimination that results makes the lower social class being viewed in a belittling manner can be considered as being parasites. The Kim family in their affluence also turns out to be good people, a fact that Ki-Taek states, but is convinced otherwise by his wife. This further develops the parasitic relationship between the Kim and Park family.
- Highlighting a Taboo Topic
This issue is relatable from all aspects of the world. Other than being a culturally specific film, the film is able to capture an issue that is avoided universally in a captivating manner. The plot twists and the development of the theme build on gradual complexity that reveals the motives and true personality of the individuals. The setting of the film is also characteristic of the themes, with each character being able to develop their space in the film. As such, the film gets an Oscar for being much more than a foreign piece but by being also able to address a global issue that is considered a taboo in an intimate manner.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Parasite won an Oscar on several bases. From an academy perspective, the Oscars needed a foreign film to end is favoritism outlook, there was a need to take care of other ethnicities, the film was well-done from an artistic point and performed well commercially, and also develops the ills of social class creatively and entertainingly. The film is an adequate demonstration that foreign-language films can make it to the American seen. Moreover, the analysis reveals the growth boost of social media and streaming sites as a way for foreign films to make it to the American market. Additionally, this gives the film industry a global perspective that allows for the growth of the industry as a global community that can be used to highlight and address various societal issues around the world.
References
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Blackmon, M. (2020). The Oscars Needed “Parasite” To Win. Retrieved from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michaelblackmon/oscars-parasite-bong-joon-ho-oscars-so-white
Epstein, A. (2020). Thanks to “Parasite,” we know what it takes for Americans to see an international film in theaters. Quartz. Retrieved from https://qz.com/1804271/the-us-box-office-success-of-parasite-provides-a-blueprint-for-foreign-language-films/
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Lee, A. (Director). (2001). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon {Motion Picture}. Sony Pictures Classics, United States.
Luklwoska, A. (2020). An Oscar for Parasite? The global rise of South Korean film. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338843909_An_Oscar_for_Parasite_The_global_rise_of_South_Korean_film
Obenson, T. (2020). Oscars: Despite Historic Wins, Advances in Diversity Remain Slow and Inconsistent. Retrieved from https://www.indiewire.com/2020/02/oscars-2020-diversity-parasite-1202209902/
Oscars (2019). “Foreign Language Film Award Renamed “International Feature Film Award” Retrieved from https://www.oscars.org/news/academy-announces-rules-92nd-oscars
Watson, A. (2019). Streaming – Statistics & Facts. Statista. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/1594/streaming/
Whitten, S. (2020). The 2020 Oscar nominations show the Academy Awards is still a white man’s game. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/17/2020-oscar-nominations-show-the-academy-has-an-issue-with-diversity.html