Academy Awards: Bong Joon-ho's Parasite Wins 4 Trophies Amid Ongoing Racism Controversy

Movie 'Parasite' Wins 4 Awards at the 92nd Academy Awards
Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and International Feature Film Awards
Racial Discrimination Controversy Continues... "Still White-Centered Except for 'Parasite'"
US Critics Express Concern "'Parasite' May Fuel American Nationalism"

On the 9th (local time), at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA, director Bong Joon-ho won four awards for the film "Parasite" at the 92nd Academy Awards. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] The film Parasite, directed by Bong Joon-ho, won four awards at the 92nd Academy Awards in the United States. While congratulations poured in from domestic and international movie fans and the media regarding the wins, some criticism arose claiming that racial discrimination has not yet been overcome. Domestic fans expressed their congratulations for the awards but also showed regret that opportunities did not extend to actors, such as in the Best Actress and Supporting Actress categories.

On the 9th (local time), the Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. On this day, Parasite received the honor of winning four major awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film.

With this, Parasite became the first non-English language film in Academy history to win Best Picture, and set a record as the third film ever to win both the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The Academy has previously faced criticism for being a "festival for white people," accused of being white-centric and racially discriminatory, and has made efforts to increase diversity.

On the 10th, the American daily newspaper The Washington Post commented on Parasite's Best Picture win, stating, "Recently, the Academy has been trying to move away from criticism of being all-white and to embrace diversity," adding, "Although there is still a long way to go, as seen by the absence of any female directors among this year's nominees, we now know that anyone, from anywhere, can win Best Picture."

However, the Academy still could not escape criticism of being white-centric this time as well. Among the nominated films, except for Parasite, many were still predominantly white. While lead and supporting actors from other Best Director nominees were nominated for acting awards, none of the lead or supporting actors from Parasite were nominated.

A 21-year-old university student, A, said, "Parasite was so popular that it swept major categories like Best Picture, but the actors in the film were not even nominated," and criticized, "If the Academy really wants to say there is no racial discrimination, they need to improve this aspect first."

Previously, controversy arose when Lupita Nyong'o, who starred in the film Us, and Awkwafina (real name Nora Lum), an Asian American actress who gave a stellar performance in The Farewell, were not nominated. Awkwafina, who played the role of "Billi," won the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy award at the 77th Golden Globe Awards held on the 5th of last month, becoming the first Asian actress to do so, yet she was not nominated at the Academy Awards.

One voter, in an interview with the local media The Hollywood Reporter, sparked controversy by saying, "While Parasite is excellent, I don't think foreign films should be nominated alongside the regular films."

On the 9th (local time), the cast and crew of the film "Parasite" attended the 92nd Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

Racial discrimination controversies continued outside the ceremony as well. On the day of the Academy Awards, an ABC broadcast host asked Director Bong, "Other films were made in English, so why was this film made in Korean?" Meanwhile, American broadcaster John Miller criticized Bong's acceptance speech in Korean, saying, "These people are destroying America."

Freelance journalist Jenna Guillaume posted on her Twitter that day, "Someone asked Director Bong why he made the film Parasite in Korean," and criticized, "Are they going to ask every American director why they made their films in English?" Bong's previous works, Okja and Snowpiercer, featured famous Hollywood actors such as Tilda Swinton and Chris Evans. However, the entire dialogue was not in English, and a significant portion was in Korean.

This fact spread through social media and various online communities, leading to criticism that the remarks were racially discriminatory. The comments were seen as U.S.-centric and disrespectful to the languages and cultures of countries other than the United States.

A 26-year-old office worker, B, who introduced themselves as a movie fan, said, "I watch the Oscars live every year and cheer for my favorite films, so I am very happy that our country's work won major awards this time," but also expressed, "I feel a bit disappointed because it seems the Academy thought giving an award to Parasite would simply quell the racial discrimination controversy."

They added, "Still, I think it means they recognized discrimination against the Asian region itself. I was moved to tears seeing Sandra Oh's joyful reaction during the ceremony," and said, "I look forward to more opportunities for Asian films and actors."

Regarding the controversy, foreign critics said that Parasite's win still cannot represent Asian Americans.

Asian American film critic Walter Chaw wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times (NYT), "It is certainly something to celebrate that the Academy, notorious for its questionable tastes, did the right thing this year, and there is no doubt that the Korean film industry is huge," but he pointed out, "Despite the enthusiastic response from many Asian Americans, Parasite's victory has nothing to do with representing them."

Chaw stated, "It simply acknowledges the Korean film industry, which has made the best films for decades," and expressed concern, "Asian Americans continue to lose. This may even fuel the fears of nationalist conservatives."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.