Hey everyone! So I have some explaining to do. As you all can see, I had taken a leave of absence for the last two weeks because sometimes life just gets a little chaotic. I decided to go home to Hawaii for the past two weeks because I felt like I just needed to be surrounded by nature away from the bustling city of Los Angeles. Anyways, this week I’m back and ready to get back to work :). For this week’s post, I’m going to be talking about the Oscars and PARASITE WINNING FOUR AWARDS!!! It was the first non-English film and first South Korean film to win best picture at the Oscars. It was also the first film to win both best international feature and best picture. And the director, Bong Joon-ho, also won best director. Now I haven’t gotten the chance to watch the movie yet (don’t hate me please. I really want to I just haven’t found the time to yet), but I just want to write about how momentous of a moment this was.
Now, this film winning this many awards is a very important moment because, as you all may know, the Oscars is a very white and male dominated awards show as are many award shows are here in America. This foreign film winning an award I believe is an amazing step towards more representation in nominations at award shows. Some people might not see the significance of this, but I do believe that this win contributes to paving a path for more foreign films, as well as, more people of color to be recognized at these award shows. Also the fact that it was an Asian film makes me feel even more proud because I am half asian and I feel strongly connected to that side of myself. Just like how Crazy Rich Asians helped pave a path for Asian-American actors I believe Parasite can do the same for foreign ones.
And it isn’t only just about race being more represented at award shows, it is also about gender. As I mentioned, the Oscars is a very white and male dominated award show. I understand that at the time it was founded, that may have been how the times were, but as we are now in 2020, I feel as though the awards show is still stagnant in its ways. Yes, we have had some wins and representations here and there, but overall you can’t argue that the nominations aren’t still white and male dominated. For example, in the best director category only five female directors have ever been nominated for and Oscar in the 90 years that it has been around. fIvE. Only one woman has won best director. And in the recent Oscars, not one female was nominated. Now you could argue that maybe their movies aren’t as good, but let’s be real here, there are plenty of amazing films with female directors that people just aren’t recognizing.
Now this isn’t me trying hate on men because trust me there are also plenty of films that I watch and love that are directed by males. I mean for real, I just talked about Parasite above and it was directed by a man, so clearly, that isn’t my point. My point is that those deserving of being recognized should be recognized even if it’s just a nomination. Maybe one day we’ll reach that point? But until then we can keep trying! So that’s it for this week. Thank you all for understanding me taking a break, we all need one sometimes and my advice for this week is to go watch Parasite if you haven’t…..like me lol. Okay peace!
Sage ❤
Midnight Advice With Sage 