So after Parasite, a wildly uneven, overlong, clumsy satire, improbably wins the Best Picture Oscar and its South Korean director also wins Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, the complaint this morning is why weren't its actors also nominated.
There was a time when a review of Oscar night would actually talk about the movies, not the gender and ethnicity of the filmmakers. But those days are apparently over.
Identity politics reigns supreme. Much to the detriment of our culture and our sanity.
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@Charles. Of the several dozen articles written in the Times since the Oscar nominations came out, I would guess 80% were primarily about identity politics rather than movies per se.
I am 1000% for giving everyone equal opportunity to succeed, but ultimately movies (and all art forms) should be judged solely on merit rather than the race, gender or ethnicity of the artist(s).
I vote for numerous film awards shows (not the Oscars) and while I wasn't a fan of Parasite, I wasn't a fan of 1917, Once Upon a Time or The Irishman either which might be considered white, establishment movies.
I voted consistently for JoJo Rabbit, whose writer/director I had never heard of before a few months ago, and whose movie I thought was positively brilliant.
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@Sparky If you thought it was a satire then the movie went over your head. This was not about identity politics, it was significant because the movie was so good that it was worth dealing with subtitles.
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@Sparky
Parasite received widespread critical and popular acclaim. The majority of viewers, both expert and layman, therefore do not regard it as a "a wildly uneven, overlong, clumsy satire".
It is horribly unfair to dismiss this film as "identity politics". I also cannot follow your reasoning. I am not entirely sure what you mean by "wildly uneven", but I do not think it is "overlong", particularly in comparison to films like The Irishman or Once Upon a Time. And far from "clumsy satire", I think that mixture of the outlandish and the subtly cutting provided for a nuanced commentary that emerged effortlessly.
15
Imagine Kim Jong-Un taking the stage to speak about the value of a diverse culture where all are free to speak their mind and pursue life, liberty and happiness without government restriction. That would be no more absurd than it is for rich celebrities who practice in their daily lives a level of hedonism that viewers can barely imagine to strut on stage and give us a short lecture on the importance of living selfless, sacrificial lives. It is unbearable to watch, as the TV numbers will certainly show.
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How did the leader of North Korea get into this discussion. The movie was made in an entirely different country. Maybe we could criticize American cinema while quoting Donald Trump.
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@Chuck Burton I think it's a coincidence that @ehillesum referenced North Korea in a year that a South Korean movie won. The comment seems to actually refer to Joaquin's speech about not destroying the earth. I didn't watch the first half of the awards, so I don't know if other celebrities made similar speeches, but I don't think the comment refers to Parasite or anyone involved with it at all.
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@ehillesum
Take a deep breath.
We don't know these actors or how they live.
2
As a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences I did Not vote for Parasite as a Best Picture
because I knew it would win Best Foreign Film
(now called Best International Film).
Honestly I do Not believe that Parasite should have been
Nominated in both Categories, it makes no sense and many
of my Academy colleagues felt the same way.
Since every Academy member can vote Best Picture
regardless of the other category that one is permitted to vote
in, to me it was Not fair that Parasite were nominated for
both awards, therefore winning both awards...
It deprived another Best Picture Nominee from Winning Best
Picture and Or it deprived another Nominee from Winning
Best Foreign Film...
Parasite is Spectacular in its own right deserved one or the
other but Not both.....
1917 & Joker were remarkable in their own right and so were
many of the foreign nominations and the other nominations
for Best Picture
That's how we feel....
5
This talk of Oscarssowhite, etc. -- what is a voter supposed to do? Ignore the film itself? Yes, the Academy membership should be broadened -- but then people should vote on the basis of how they judge things. Otherwise it's just an exercise in condescension.
1
It was also amusing the celebrities repeatedly came out with jibes at white male privilege, then the show showcases the greatest case of black appropriation in modern music, Eminem. Americans have yet to figure out irony.
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But many have been: Parasite, most notably. Moonlight, for another. I will always remember West Side Story, which made me as a youngster appreciate Shakespear's timelessness and choreographed dancing. Ordinary People. Crash. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Argo.
It's hard to please everyone all the time.
1
I saw Parasite twice. The first time was in Nov 2019. I found the film haunting, for weeks afterwards. When I saw it the second time, it was a completely new experience. I could see things I hadn't noticed the first time. What a brilliant film, theme,story. As to who, what gets nominated? Art is subjective. I am glad there is an increasingly diverse population of academy voters.
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Not even Billie Eilish singing Yesterday by Paul McCartney could make it sound suicidal.
I liked this director's Snow Piercer much better than Parasite. The former was openly neo-reactionary in its politics (Peter Thiel / Curtis Yarvin style) and therefore refreshingly counter cultural. Parasite, while entertaining up to a point, seemed more dishonest to me. For one thing, the refusal to admit that social class may well be correlated with 'merit' in a depressing way: the blue collar folk in Parasite are very good looking, very smart and very cunning. In any actual 21st century industrialized country reality they would be doing just fine. By suggesting an 'arbitrary' quality to class differences the movie can then trash class warfare and show it as counter productive. At least I think that is what the movie is trying to achieve as propaganda and probably why it's so popular with the NYT set who would just hate to admit, a. that their IQs rather than their 'good fortune' are what make them 'parasites' and b. that class action against high IQ parasites might be quite justified and productive.
2
Actually, no. And that is the exactly the point.
You don't get ahead just by being smart, cunning, etc., but by your family being able to afford private tutoring from early on and access to the best schools to give you a leg up in getting to a good university (like Yonsei Univ, for which a diploma is faked, one of the top 3 univs in Korea), which in Korea's hyper-competitive society, is a prerequisite to making a good living.
That's the point-- people who are seemingly indistinguishable in smarts, cunning, and good looks as you say, nevertheless face different life prospects based on their starting point. And they think there is something wrong with that.
You may or may not agree with this view...but for what it is worth, neither in Korea nor in the U.S. are social mobility indicators stellar.
13
Parasite is the best I’ve seen in years. Completely unpredictable and crazy. And you come away wondering who, exactly, is the parasite in all this.
11
““The South Korean movie industry became 100 years old last year, and this is a momentous event that makes South Koreans proud..."
Which is a pretty good trick since South Korea is only 72 years old.
2
Best dressed: Regina King, Leonardo DiCaprio
Worst dressed: Billie Eilish, Billy Porter
All the movies nominated for the best picture were great but Parasite was exceptionally good not only in terms of a tight script but because it was real. The social stratification of the "haves" and "haves not" in any Asian country is portrayed exactly in this movie. You can eat the food your maid cooks for you, you go about your business in your chauffeur driven car and then you turn around an talk about that "peculiar" emanating from these poor people. The director has captured every little nuances in this movie so beautifully.
6
Slumdog Millionaire was essentially an Indian film that was not entirely in English.
It was a mix of Hindi, English and Hindish. It won 8 Oscars in 2009.
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Well deserved! An incredibly powerful film.
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There are 192 countries in the world. According to the new direction taken by the Academy, foreign movies compete for the Oscar for the best foreign film and for the Oscar for the best (American) film, so they have 2 shots at glory. American filmmakers, however, no longer have an award for their own best picture, just a slice of it, when it comes to the odds. It would be fairer to introduce an award for the best Global Picture (US and foreign) but keep an Oscar for the best American picture. Foreign movies also have the Golden Globes, Palme DțOre, and many other international festivals.
7
The show's low ratings also made history.
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We must remind ourselves how meaningless and superficial this event is, juxtaposed with the current tumultuous domestic (reign of Trump) and world events (spread of the new Coronavirus). It is analogous to fiddling while Rome burns.
4
Am I the only who is thankful at how many award winners used their acceptance speeches to share their political views? I, for one, can’t imagine enjoying a movie (or reading a book) by an artist who favors a cut in the capital gains rate or a boost in military spending. So wonderful that our brightest stars feel the same way!
10
It's very difficult to enlist the film going public in the push for Hollywood diversity, especially when the debate only occurs annually for a brief period. We argue about it incessantly during awards season, then the matter is immediately overtaken by other controversial issues.
I would have liked to have known the name of the woman who translated Director Bong Joon Ho's startled reactions at winning his Oscars!
Her words were seamless and fluid, rendering meaning so quickly, the audience could react to them without a hitch.
Do you know her name?
Thanks!
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@BLB
Just discovered this amazing translator's name is Sharon Choi, a filmmaker!
6
Has anybody in the US seen this best picture?
@David I did and I thought it was a dog. Walked out of the theater. It reminded me of those artsy movies made in Russia in the late seventies and early eighties where the plots were simply implausible but the politics were the main focus of the director. Not my cup of tea.
4
Yes and hated it. Could not wait for it to end. Guess the academy just can’t resist senseless violence in any form and venue
1
@David...my friends and i have. It's on Netflix and it's very great.
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Hollywood bites back. Nice to see them send a message to Netflix and the other streaming services out there that : “No, just because you jade a big budget film and squeaked in under the wire, you are not supporting the movie houng experience”.
Last years Roma was an incredible, brilliant and extraordinary film. Kudos for Netflix supporting it. Perhaps Hollywood turned its back on it” Like many, I saw it the day it came out on Netflix and was impressed but I also saw it on a big screen in 70 mm and that opened up it’s true genius to me. It was made fir and intended to be seen on a big screen on some home grown plasma device.
Right now the novelty has worn off and I’m not sure anything these streaming services create is anything other than a sad substitute.
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@TrumpTheStain (the Abomination)
Patent nonsense: The Irishman easily the best, most compelling, poignant 2019 film comprising brilliant white ethnic ensemble cast--woke lox eating element drawing revenge against "white" type perceived as deplorable trumpsters.
1
I enjoyed Parasite and recommend another movie by Bong, Snowpiercer, now available streaming.
12
The Host (2006)
Memories of Murder (2003) based on true story- last year the serial killer was identified
3
@Yeah He did Snowpiercer? No kidding.
1
Well deserved
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Another special aspect to Parasite winning best picture: it seems to have had two women as its producers! They weren't identified on screen but they made the acceptance speeches!
10
Technically, wasn't The Artist not in English?
6
So tired of all this inclusion politically correct mumbo jumbo. Parasite simply blows your mind & it blew the competition away. That's why people jumped to their feet when it won, ( I didn't see the show ). I read that happened. They knew it should win but didn't expect it.
85
I didn't share the enthusiasm for Parasite, and would have given it to my favourite, Almodovar's Pain and Glory. The performance by Antonio Banderas in the film was also, to me, far richer, subtler and more effective than the showy performance by Joaquin Phoenix. But I'm glad at least that perhaps the new international membership in the Academy opened the possibility of a foreign language film winning the award.
Last year, I would have given the best picture award to Capernaum, and I felt it deserved to be nominated there and not just in the foreign category.
I still remember the travesty of Gwyneth Paltrow winning Best Actress over the magnificent Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro for Central Station in the late 1990s. I wrote it off to narrow-minded Hollywood wanting to keep things more American. Perhaps the additional international membership would have changed that outcome if the film were to be released today.
1
Glad to see some new faces, but the Oscars should really make an effort to show more Hollywood royalty. Sure, Jane Fonda and Sigourney Weaver were great, but otherwise it seemed more like the Teen Choice Awards.
3
I thought the best part of the evening was when Boog Joon Ho won for best director, stated that he wished he could break the Oscar into 5 equal parts and give a piece to each of the other nominees. Not only did he quote Martin Scorsese, but he singled out each of the other four directors who were nominated by name and thanked them and recognized why he thought they were so important to the industry and to him learning that craft.
It's that kind of elegance, graciousness, thoughtfulness and generosity that is so sorely missing and much needed in the world today.
Bong Joon Ho is an incredible role model, across the board, for so many reasons. He is an inspiration for South Korea, the United States, and the entire world.
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Parasite was good. Best picture good? I think so, amongst the movies nominated this year, but that's not why it won. Parasite was a godsend to Hollywood this year because of its PR value at a time Hollywood needed to show diversity. Not only does it finally include non-white (specifically Asian) actors in significant roles, but it was a solid enough movie for the recognition to feel genuine, not pandering.
21
Parasite could only win in an environment that has devolved into narcissism, which is apparently occuring on an international scale. A 'masterpiece'? This is a movie for brainwashed masses who believe that irony (hey, I get it!); cleverness (I'm clever, too, because I get it!); great cinematography and acting (I'll give it that); and gratuitous violence (cool!) somehow make up for a lack of character development, plot, meaning, message, and humanity.
13
@dga Just curious: Which movie would have deserved the Oscar this year, in your view?
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@dga
I agree, and would add that it won because it's a movie that Hollywood & the media can praise as being subversive & political, though it isn't either of those things. It belongs wholly to the society it pretends to condemn.
4
@dga i have to agree with part of what you said. not sure about the narcissism you mention.... i'm thrilled that a non-english speaking movie won best picture. but i found the movie clever, calculating and without much new to say about class divisions. lower class people living on lower levels than rich people? wow, not much of a metaphor...if there was an Oscar for ensemble acting, i'd have chosen parasite as the acting and directing were terrific- but with ensemble acting it's hard to pick out someone to nominate, plus the oscar voters are still so conservative, male and white that the lack of any asian actors being nominated didnt suprise me. i'll dream about how i'd fill that enormous house if i lived there, but i don't find much else to meditate on.
2
I thought the French silent film that won Best Picture was the first foreign film to win in that category No one spoke bt it is still a foreign film. Curious.
I haven't seen any of these films, I hope they are available to stream with the exception of Joker and Parasite both of which I will pass on. I wish I had caught Ford v Ferrari in the theater as it is probably better on the big screen than the computer or television. Oh well....
1
Try parasite. It has many crazy plot twists you never see coming.
6
Who really cares anymore except people in the movie business? There's so much to see now with streaming and everything else, it's almost overload. And who really makes good movies anymore? The golden age of moviemaking came and went. Now it's all derivative. Sort of emblematic of an age where social media and smartphones dominate everyone's lives. Vacuous and empty.
5
Woke hand wringing aside, I'm delighted that Parasite won best picture. If you have not seen it, do so. It is a superb piece of movie making. The fact that its director and cast are not white English speakers is by far the least interesting thing about it.
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“Hollywood’s overreliance on white stories told by white filmmakers may finally be ebbing ...”. Why must these Oscar stories always be characterized by racial overtones? Not enough Asian or black actors nominated? Don’t media like the Times realize that they are perpetuating a culture based largely on insuring racial diversity, whether deserved or not? Big deal! A film from South Korea won the Oscar for best picture. It had already won the PalmeD’or at Cannes, so it was right up there in the running. No black actors were nominated? So what? Academy members didn’t think any black actors merited a nomination. This is an adult contest, not a minor Little League where everybody gets a medal. The Academy Awards will have arrived at its summit when movies and actors are no longer referred to in the media by their racial backgrounds.
5
I got the point, reiterated time and again, from the Academy Awards show that they are more than entertaining us; they are educating us. Their best picture of the year, “Paradise,” is billed as being about class distinctions. Let’s see, what did I learn about the lower classes from that film? That they take money for folding pizza boxes and don’t bother to do it right. They get working people fired and take their jobs. They lie about their credentials and qualifications and tutor young girls (whom they seduce) and presume to do therapy with troubled children. They cower in basements and steal food after they fail at businesses and default on loans. They trash the homes of other people. They hide under tables trying not to be seen, smelling like radishes in the process. And they tie people up, smash them in the head with large rocks, and stab them to death, including teenage girls. And from “Joker” I learned . . .
3
@Robert Griffin it seems as though you completely missed the point of the movie.
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@Scott Shaffer
And the point was what exactly, Scott? Don't leave me hanging.
1
I finally picked a winner! Parasite. Yes!
The Irishman? Too long and self-indulgent.
1917? Indiana Jones comes to WW1. Wrong, very wrong.
Marriage Story? Another shrink movie for the self-obsessed
Little Women? Nicely done but hardly deep.
I haven't seen any of the others. However The Two Popes, Pain and Glory, and Portrait of a Woman on Fire, were all excellent movies, far better than the list of non-winners above.
A shout out too for Gully Boy, the Indian hip hop movie, by Zoya Akhtar.
1
To say that you watch the academy awards for the acceptance speeches is akin to saying you read playboy for the articles, but both are true in my case because i am a collector of knowledge, and the academy awards led me to the thoughts and words of Parasite Director Bong Joon-ho, whose films deal with class consciousness and the what it means to be a human in a society dominated by capitalistic ideas.
some of his thoughts:
" The rich mom who's really gullible. But i never thought of her as dumb, she's smart but she is too trusting because nothing bad ever happened to her. Because she's never experienced anything bad she's never had to doubt people. While the poor people in the story have a built in sense of who to trust( which is, basically don't trust anybody) that comes from hard experience."
" You see the have nots and the needy clawing at each other and hurting one another. That's sad but its also realistic."
"The story is universal, just as true art is universal, and no matter where it screens, which country it plays, the audience response has been pretty similar, while on the surface the film features very Korean characters and details, in the end its as if we're all living in this one country of capitalism."
" The film is about the rich and the poor, and capitalism-and the U.S. is the heart of capitalism."
"I like to sit in Cafes and coffee shops when i write, the noise of the people walking by stimulates me."
2
I agree; however, we can’t be the heart of capitalism because capitalism has no heart. Our healthcare system has proven that. It was so much better when most of it was not-for-profit. The American form of capitalism has only a mouth, sucking in everything that comes across its path.
Dear members of the Academy, the Parasite was a very good movie but the Oscar for the best foreign movie would have been more than enough.
Indeed, by comparison, American movies have become formulaic and a tad soulless, with the family always portrayed negatively (see Marriage Story), the freak du jour (Joker), the Hollywood stories (Once Upon a time in Hollywood), and the historical pieces (1917, Little Women).
However, I think you made a terrible and unfair choice to give Parasite both the Oscar for the best foreign film and for the best (American) film. Whipped into submission by the Woke Police, you dismissed a crucial thing:
American filmmakers face the greatest competition on the planet because there are so many talents in the US fighting for fewer and fewer opportunities with so much consolidation in the entertainment industry.
Also, American filmmakers are out in the wild, without massive government help to make their movies like in Europe, Asia and many other countries.
To squeeze American filmmakers them even more, and turn the Oscars into a global award, robs Americans of their right to be praised in their own country.
In the times of Trump’s America First policy, the Academy opted for America Last. Shame on you!
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Sounds like an interesting movie. But since I gave up on theatres a few years ago (too loud, too uncomfortable, to ad heavy, too much junk food), will wait for a home-accessible version.
My larger comment deals with today’s column by Aisha Harris, and using history as an excuse for all-white, all-male movies. Good column, and....no comment section.
I’d like to see a major studio, or several, do a series of movies based on the NYTimes’ series of ‘overlooked obituaries’. Some intriguing, interesting lives there. Maybe title the series, ‘Who Knew?’. Ms. Harris, and many others surely did. I didn’t. Until now.
And NYTimes- increase your comments sections. We’re not all bad out here....!
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In other words the only way to cheat Joker was to double-award this film.
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What a shocker, Hollywood celebrating its diversity and rewarding tales of class warfare! Who could've possibly imagined that today?
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I have yet to see this film, but it is on my shortlist.
I feel like the African-American, #OscarsoWhite contingent must be so embarrassed by victory. The South Koreans (people of color) did not complain about not getting any Oscars. They just went ahead and made a great film and took them.
See how it works?
5
I wonder if Parasite would have won if it was made in the US in English and with local actors.
2
Here's my analysis:
1) The ceremony couldn't spare 5 minutes for a proper Kirk Douglas tribute? Sad.
2) Lamenting the Irishman and it's loss? Another mob movie with an aging cast of white guys, doing what they always do...settling scores with bullets? Pathetic. I think we're done with Scorsese working out his demons on us. It's like at a party when your best friend starts telling you the same story he already told you. Marty..you're a master..we love you. But enough.
3) Marriage Story? It was a reboot of the War of the Roses with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, using the kid in stead of the stuff to fight over, and slightly more woke. Driver? Great? Scarlett? Great....but...it was a redo.
4) Joker...pure art. Tour de Force
5) Once Upon a Time?....ok....just ok
1
Parasite was a great movie! Great to see it win Oscar!! For the people who are lamenting, did you even watch the movie? Or, just trolling?
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Happy that Parasite won. Astounded that Apollo 11 wasn't even nominated for best documentary
Even without a host to latch onto, Parasite won the Oscar.
5
What does that mean?
I watched nearly all of the major nominees, and really hoped that Parasite would win Best Picture. For me, it had a bit of everything -- humor, drama, suspense, gorgeous cinematography, and an important political statement. I really liked JoJo Rabbit, too. Both movies were incredibly original and well executed.
And if you hate the Oscars and didn't watch them, why are you here complaining about them? Maybe you wouldn't be so unhappy if you tried actually doing something you enjoy instead of complaining to people for the sake of complaining to people.
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Best picture or not, Parasite is bold, visceral, thought-provoking, modern, masterful filmmaking.
12
I'm wondering if perhaps I'm just not intellegent enough to have comprehended the magnificence of Parasite - because I sure don't see what all the fuss is about.
2
The Academy is so woke! Parasite is Best Picture!
Meanwhile, lest the women in Hollywood think that parity and equal pay are coming anytime soon or that #MeToo put a dent in the male money and cultural dominance, think again. Weinstein and Epstein were sacrificed for the appearance of the common good but the establishment wants to make it very clear that their money and power in the industry will not be thwarted by women.
3
Full disclosure, I was most entertained by "Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood" and am STILL laughing, but themes of class-struggle and inequality presented to moviegoers over decades can't lose their momentum and 'Parasite' might be the most creative delivery I've seen in a long while. The basement metaphor was strong and effective, but the pivotal moment for me was the two poor families in violence toward each other separated by the "send" command on an iPhone, parallel to the threat of a North Korean missile. Yikes! American audiences will never understand this kind of parity so this was intelligent, relevant, funny, global and quite original. Kudos to this ensemble, absolutely well done.
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As a commentary on society and classes, Parasite was at best uneven or at worst distorted. It was thorough in portraying the Korean working class Kim family as fatally flawed. Their complete corruption was ultimately represented by the murders they committed. Parasites moral statement with regard to the Kim family, was unequivocally negative.
The moral standing of wealthy Park family was, by contrast, ambivalent. Patriarch, Park Dong-ik's disdain for the working class (and their odor) proved a fatal flaw but beyond that, the implication by omission was that his character was morally superior. His moral standing was also portrayed through association. His family was naive but innocent, pure and beautiful. As patriarch, he imparted these qualities on his family and by in turn was imbibed with them. Further,his character flaws are derivative and ambivalent. As such, he was at worst, thoughtless and uncaring while the rest of his family are cast in an entirely sympathetic light.
The character representations and class statements of Parasite are a stark statement about the moral worth of the social classes. It underplays or ignores the moral flaws of the rich, instead casting them as innocent victims. In doing so, it provides them with cover to distrust and disengage from casual contact with the working class suggesting that it is better to insulate oneself from the violent and unclean rabble than look in the mirror.
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@Charlie
There's a powerful old saw that goes: "morality is a middle class characteristic, the rich don't need it and the poor can't afford it."
While there are plenty of people outside the middle class who are ethical or moral or decent, the point is well made. In 2014, roughly the 6th year of Obama's presidency, the U.S. Census declared that the middle class was no longer above 50% in our society. 2 years later the grotesquely decadent Trump was elected. The GOP knew how to get middle class voters by pretending to b the champions of morality, but are totally reliant upon Trump in a post middle class majority era to win elections. This is why they didn't convict him in his impeachment trial that, & the fact that he delivered their dream tax cut.
Anyway the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" did manage to get all of this right. It's a primer for American civics, that celebrates the triumph of the common man upon the defeat of Fascism in 1945, & the promise of the Golden Age that was to come that peaked in 1969 w/ the high-point for minimum wage & an American landing on the moon. 1972, 3 years later, was the last time the median (meaning everyone's) wage went up & a man was on the moon, even though GNP is up 150% since then (See graph 2 at bit.ly/EPI-study).
Art follows life. After 1980 fascination w/ Vampires grew (twilight saga & its corp analog 50 shades) which has to do w/ the fantasy of economic immortality in an era where economic stability is no longer possible for most.
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@Charlie
"They're rich, but still nice."
"They're nice because they're rich."
I think the over-the-top narrative and exaggerated caricatures may have blinded you to many of the nuances in the film.
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@Charlie
It sounds like the extreme wealth division is perfectly fineness by you. Maybe you should pause to consider: the whole point of the movie is to illustrate that hunger and poverty drive class war. And that all people hunger for more of everything, and are capable of anything.
4
“1917” was robbed. “Parasite,” while somewhat original, was strange and uncomfortable to view, but it obviously caught a contrarian wave. Perhaps the film even benefited an different wave: guilt and/or remorse for shutting out actors/production personnel of color. The Academy’s members comprise an insular, elitist group which has managed to elevate their view of filmmaking to the level of “must-see” television, irrespective of the industry’s consumers.
“1917” was an extraordinary example of filmmaking in many, if not most, of the award categories designated by the Academy.
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@samsolomon Technically a very well-made film but it has virtually no character development and, therefore, no heart in the film.
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@samsolomon 1917 probably did very well in the balloting but other films collected votes too. Parasite likely won when the others cancelled each other out. If voting was only between 1917 and parasite, 1917 may have won rather decisively.
@samsolomon When you start a movie with an urgent message given to an anonymous soldier, it's very difficult to care about his journey because you know nothing about him. All the technique in the world (how did they shoot that?!) doesn't make up for the central characters being little more than an archetype.
1917 deservingly won for cinematography, but a characterless movie is not deserving of Best Picture.
4
what about the 2011 film, The Artist, which won Best Picture?. It was silent and had French subtitles. Does the whole film have to be in a foreign language to qualify for the only film not in English to win Best Picture.
2
I bet all the Red Hats lamenting that a nice American film didn't win Best Picture would have been perfectly fine with it if a British film like 1917 had won.
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@Bigmouth It is very telling that comments such as yours are greenlit by the NYT but the ones against the grain are not - it shows a lot about the so-called objective journalism practiced these days at the NYT. Diversity of opinions is prohibited just racial diversity is mandatory.
1
I don't give the Oscars any attention.
Winning films stay in my heart for years, decades. Very few of them have been recognized at this ceremony.
10
So... "Parasite's" victory is a huge step forward and historic because of the recognition bestowed upon it by an American institution? Is this progress?
Maybe, but in thinking so one can only feel this elevates the stature of the Motion Picture Academy even more... now the whole world must compete for Oscar-worthy prestige as marker for ultimate success? Why anyone cares which move wins an Oscar is beyond me (last year's big winner was....no idea), but I guess there's a marketing opportunity (no doubt, the real prize!)
7
Thrilled about Parasite's well-deserved win! However, I wish Antonio Banderas had won best actor for his masterful performance in Pain and Glory
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@n/a All he did the entire movie is smoke heroin and reminesce. I was close to walking out if it weren't for the touching scene with his aged mother.
1
the academy uses a preferential ballot to decide best picture. Sometimes the least disliked film wins.
3
Is no one bothered by a Korean film winning best picture in two categories? It’s a flaw in the new system, not leveling the playing field. An American film could not have won in best foreign language category, therefore no American film could garner so many Oscars. Go back to the old system, I say. And by the way Jamie Foxx should have been nominated for a fine, deep performance in Just Mercy.
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@Slim chance I agree completely. I was baffled by this. What category does the film belong in--as a competitive entity? Not fair,really.
5
The highlight of the night was Hildur Guðnadóttir's win for Best Score for Joker. Her music was simultaneously simple, gorgeous and bone-chilling.
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@Dave S.
Excellent! There is nothing like a cello to move us into bliss, but her arrangements brought us to the depths of madness and that was quite exquisite. This was the first category I was absolutely sure about. The fact she is the first female recipient of this award is as sweet as the cello itself in my humble opinion.
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@Dave S. Definitely better than Phoenix's overrated performance and Phillip's 'derivative from every NY crime thriller of the '70s and '80s' film itself.
4
These awards are celebrations of an industry and a form of advertising. We all know there isn't a definitive best in art like there is with the long jump. The picks reveal more about ourselves than the art, including our conversations and reactions about what constitutes "best" at this moment in time. Make whatever you wish out of it; this is a ceremony of a cultural Rorschach test.
13
It's great to seek out the fine actors, the best musical score, the supreme costuming. But I want a film with a story. The story arc in Parasite was beyond amazing. What a great film. Congratulations all.
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@Gary Yes ! Parasite's screenplay will be studied for years !
3
All the awards for Parasite, I'd have to say, are a belated recognition by Hollywood of the brilliance of Korean films and the Korean film industry more generally. People with serious interest in films began taking note of Korean movies more than 15 years ago. For me, the war drama Taegukgi (2004) was the eye-opener.
Better late than never, I say. Nice to see people in Hollywood (you'd think a bunch of people in a city with such a large ethnic Korean community would have noticed this earlier) catching up to what hundreds of millions of people in East Asia and much of the rest of the world already know about the South Korean film industry.
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@AR I agree. I've been a fan of Bong's since I saw The Host (2006) years ago, and I think Lee Chang-dong's Burning (2018) was even better than Parasite. But Parasite has more crowd-pleasing appeal, and I'm very pleased that it won this year. Bong's awards for this film are completely deserved.
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@TMJ I have been too but some of his recent controversies made me turn my back on him. Such a pity considering his talent but what can I do, I cannot conscientiously consume the work of someone I find so repulsive.
Somebody made a Coen Brothers film set in contemporary Korea, and it's the best thing since slice bread? It was adequately engaging, but basically derivative.
14
Derivative? You’re using that word incorrectly. It was most definitely NOT like a Coen Bros film whatsoever. I don’t know what Parasite film you saw but that wasn’t what I saw two weeks ago. Instead of making a statement saying somebody copied somebody else, which Bong Jon-Ho didn’t do, perhaps showing why you think it is so. As it stands it’s original, hence the win for Best Original Screenplay, or did you miss that too or just think that it’s derivative?
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@Working Mama
Interesting that you thought that Parasite was "derivative" and not the Coen Brothers.
It could easily be the opposite: the Coen Brothers could be very possibly great fans of Korean cinema (many film directors are) and could have "derived" many of their splendid ideas from those films. Or Japanese films. Or Russian, French, British, Indian films, etc., etc.
There's a vast world of cinema out there and gifted directors watch ALL of it.
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@Working Mama I think it's likely you're missing a lot of the Korean specific social and political commentary.
1
Although I liked Jojo Rabbit the best, good for Parasite and it’s engaging director!
And good for Phoenix (who should have won for Gladiator) and Zellweger. Watching their speeches, they seemed a little bit like the characters they played. Or maybe it’s the reverse. Scary.
I just wish everyone would stop injecting race into this.
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@Steven Roth I liked Jojo Rabbit, but had a hard time not comparing it to Waititi's earlier films. Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople were so much better written and full of charm and heart, while also touching on difficult subjects (though obviously not on the same scale as the Holocaust). I think Waititi does a little better when he's dealing with his own original material.
As a busy parent, I managed to see an unprecedented 6 out of 9 Best Picture nominees. Thanks in part to the recent trend of acclaimed films appearing in the direct to streaming video format. A three and a half hour long movie like Irishman would have eluded me if it had only appeared in theaters. Marriage Story would not have been child appropriate, and would have involved unwelcome babysitting costs, had it not been released by Netflix. However much industry gatekeepers like Steven Spielberg may object to bypassing the cinema, I think it's a blessing for film lovers.
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But, “The Irishman” would have been “child appropriate “?
2
I applaud the improvement in selection of voting members and encourage further progress toward inclusion.
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I think the Oscars need a host(ess)—not one who tries to steal the show or be the show, just someone to steer the ship. I don’t mind some music from the movies, but I don’t need an elaborate set of singers—though I did appreciate Sir Elton! When I watch the Oscars, I’d rather see longer clips from the films than dancers and singers—it's an award show, not a musical. Presenters with a bit humor or a witty statement add to the presentation is enough. I do hope something has been learned about adding color and gender to the nominations if worthy, but I’m not certain what or who was skipped over. So tired of super-heroes.
I agree with the academy that Parasite was an excellent film. The film entertained me, made me think about the huge class differences that are in this country now—more of which is yet to come— with sad nostalgia about what used to be before Silicon Valley and and its neo-millionaires. Yep, I have sad nostalgia about the days of ma Bell and free phones I didn’t have to carry around with me so I could be interrupted when ever someone wanted to show me their new shoes. A totally unexpected ending capped the film off nicely. I have difficulty hearing, even with hearing aides, so closed captions are a god-send for me—I use them all the time and have for years. I appreciated Brad Pitt's comment about no witnesses at Trump's mock trial. No one else seemed to notice the pitiful state of our government or maybe they were just sick of it all, as are we.
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@Gerithegreek518 I agree. The show needs a host or hostess as you describe. Also more clips from the movies. Fewer and shorter song and dance numbers. And I'd like presenters to tell us, when they open the envelope, what film the award is for.
@Gerithegreek518 It's a little funny that you say it made you think about the class differences in this country, since it's a Korean movie. It actually made me realize that class divides in the US aren't nearly as bad as in Korea. It's interesting learning about politics of other countries because, like you, I tend to only think about things through my American lens. I think Burning is an even better movie about the class issues in Korea and a deeper look at the gender issues that you only get a taste of in Parasite.
I never understood the fuss over this movie, thought it was pretty unspectacular. But more importantly, the Academy Awards have to do with the American film industry, not th South Korean film industry. We honor foreign films in their own category and that's fine. But "best" everything else should stay close to home.
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I don’t agree. Lot's of foreign films are good. Why limit them to one award?
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@JimBob
It is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and not the "American" Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
AMPAS is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. That a foreign film was determined the best picture this year serves to amplify the organization's commitment to giving its highest honor to the most deserving picture regardless of the film's country of origin, the ethnicity of its director or language of the film's dialogue.
I can't think of anything more American than that.
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@Stefan Ackerman thank you for clarifying that, did learn something today
3
Billed as a Drama/Comedy, the horror film ending was a shock for me. Violence is part of American culture so no surprise it did so well here. Parasite is a great movie for its actors, complex themes, class distinctions, etc. but the gratuitous violence near the end ruined it for me.
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Could you kindly not give away the ending? Lots of us want to see it and have yet to do so.
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@Frank Violence is part of any culture, and you should see other Korean films. American gun violence is actually very sanitized violence when featured on movies. Korean movies get very creative with violence without guns, in a way lack of guns make it very gruesome. And the movie did well all over the world, not just here.
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@Frank The violence wasn’t gratuitous. It was meant to be shocking. A different ending would have been a completely different film. -NW
14
'Parasite' is one of those Oscar winners that most people won't even be able to remember in 6 months. I thought it was a bad fantasy movie and certainly not worthy of a 'best picture' Oscar.
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@RRM It was a bad idea for the show to have that 'history of music numbers in films' montage; reminded viewers of when Hollywood built films to last.
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I won’t ever forget “Parasite”. Thrilled it won.
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@RRM with the way ballots are tabulated for best picture sometimes the 2nd or 3rd place film on the ballot wins.
Enough with the hyperbole and celebrity self-aggrandizement. Winning the Oscars is not “making history.” It is “making money,” that’s all.
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@LTJ A foreign language film winning Best Picture is making history for the simple reason that it had not been done before. You may dismiss the significance of that, but it is still history. -NW
7
Since they didn't nominate "A Hidden Life" this was probably the only wise alternative. Brad deserved his award, though for the wrong movie ("Ad Astra" was the better performance), Phoenix was overrated as the Joker ("look how crazy I'm acting") and anyone who saw Tracie Bennett's portrayal of Judy Garland several years ago on Broadway in "End Of The Rainbow" knows it blew Zellwegger's out-of-the-water (maybe they gave it for the most face-lifts). Oh well, other than the tiresome 'white male privilege' jabs, some amusing bits to tune into (Rudolph and Wigg's songs, the Telly Savalas twins winning Best Documentary) while flipping back to the Breaking Bad marathon.
4
@steveconn Respectfully, regarding the documentary filmmaker winners, Julia and Steven Reichert: Ms. Reichert has terminal cancer; one assumes that she is bald due to ongoing treatment, and that her husband has shaved his head in solidarity and support. Their film, American Factory, is powerful and moving.
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@Ilene Starger - I so appreciate that information. I tried looking it up during the ceremony but couldn’t find anything as to the why. It’s important to understand what’s going on before making jokes!
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@Kathryn Yes, we all have been guilty, at times, of making wrong assumptions or questioning, often with disapproval, how others present themselves.
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Re: a lack of winners/nominees for acting awards for minorities.
How can an actor who is speaking Korean impress an Academy member with his/her acting? Subtitles just won't do it.
Solution: none that I see.
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Acting and great filmmaking goes way beyond the actual text. There’s body language and vocal intonation. There’s the way characters react to circumstances and to each other. There’s the overall atmosphere of a film. Even with subtitles, all of this is easy to observe and apppreciate. In fact, much of a great film can be felt and comprehended without sound or subtitles. Try it!
I suspect you didn’t watch “Parasite”.
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No, I did see the movie and loved it. My point is only that if you cannot understand the words and how the actor is using them he/she is at a disadvantage to an actor who is in an English language film.
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Per the article, the movie has made $165 million worldwide. So plenty of people have watched it. It’s good to know that, from time to time, a great work of art gets the accolades, critical acclaim and financial rewards that it deserves, as is the case with Parasite
3
Hollywood doesn't make cinema anymore, they make amusement park rides.
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@DimitriT and how is Parasite an amusement park ride? And Hollywood has always made fluff and serious films, nothing new.
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@DimitriT Or shut out films like A Hidden Life or Ad Astra from contetnion that conveyed old motion picture feeling.
@steveconn Ad Astra was an awful, boring mess that relied too heavily on visual references to 2001: A Space Odyssey. All style, no substance.
I've always known that the rich outsource their lives to the working and poor class. It's great that the writer of this script is making the general public aware of this; knowledge is power. To be 'dependent' on others makes you their servant, eventually. That' why we need good governments who look after the poor and vulnerable so they can't be exploited. Too much dependency on others can eventually take away your own freedom and ability to make decisions and organise your daily life. This movie should give a lot of poor people self awareness and self empowerment.
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@CK
The rich people survive on the labor of the poor. The poor survive by leeching off the rich. It’s a circular relationship, not linear or one sided. We need to appreciate our co dependencies. We are in this human experiment together.
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@ach It's almost like we're all...*gasp* parasites!
I question the very idea of "best". Why do we need the Oscars anyway?
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@Mary Ann
Filmmaking is a huge business. 2019 box office revenue was $11.8 billion. The Oscars is “The Marketing Event” for this industry. It’s about making money.
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@Mary Ann It's just an awards ceremony, a chance to wear fancy clothing, pat one another on the back... I wouldn't lose sleep over it. As far as questioning the idea of best, well, yes, everyone is ok!
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@Mary Ann
It helps me when I know a movie has had some qualitative review. A nomination gives the movie a leg up. There’s a lot of rotten entertainment to parse through.
It should be called the Gratuitous Violence Picture Awards.
At least five of the nine nominated pictures have gratuitous violence as an on going theme in the picture totally negating any other merit of the films.
30, 40 or 50+ yrs. from now they will be looked at like Birth of the Nation or Cowboy westerns, are now groundbreaking for the time but ugly, damaging and disgusting yrs. from now.
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@Paul I guess they won't be making any more of those mob or war movies in 50 years. It was a good run while it lasted...
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I hope you are not including 1917 which almost minimized the violence inherent in the story. A film about war is violent by definition. I also detest gratuitous violence.
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@Paul
I agree. I walked out when the first real blood was shown.
1
The Economist had a piece a couple of years ago with actual data (something missing from every one of these "woke guide to the news" articles).
It showed that black people are almost exactly proportionally represented in film roles and Oscar nominations and awards as the black percent of the U.S. population.
Asians and Latinos were the group that seemed the most underrepresented. Of course I'm sure there are many other underrepresented groups if we divide the population up into finer slices. And if we expand to the global population, well, not sure how many Han Chinese, Turkish or Arab winners there have been.
And is percent of the U.S. national population even a sensible measuring stick? No, certainly not. It is a simple-minded construct. For instance, about half of Asian Americans earn a B.A. degree or higher. Guess what the percentage is for white or black folks? Would you expect that educational attainment would have an effect at Oscars? Of course.
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I saw it (Parasite)-- can't understand why it was nominated for Best Picture... But, I felt the same about Tarantino's One Day ...Hollywood ... Have zero interest in even seeing 1917, and I am not sure about the others. Marriage Story was two hours of being depressed watching a couple implode. What has happened to the really great movies of the past???
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There used to be a category for vest musical.
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Taste is subjective. Particularly in art. Expressing yours without supporting exposition does not further a discussion.
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@Karen Green The Oscars never had a category for best musical. Perhaps you're thinking of the Golden Globes, which have a musical/comedy category.
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Well deserved! Parasite is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Every shot was beautiful, the performances stunning. The film is never one thing. It's comedy, drama, heist, thriller, social commentary...I hope this encourages more Americans to watch Parasite along with other South Korean films. Stories can and should be so personal, so specific. Audiences deserve more than watered-down comic book films, and artists should be allowed to push their stories and visions to the brink. The way Parasite producers encouraged Bong Joon Ho to "push the envelope" should be a model for all producers. When artists evolve their work, we as audience members evolve with them, creating a more empathetic, engaged culture. Next time, let's recognize the actors, too. Kang Ho-Sa was exceptional--a long-time collaborator with director Bong Joon Ho who deserves recognition from the Academy as much as the film itself.
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@LG from Brooklyn, every shot was beautiful? Even the bloody knife attack and the shot where the son is bleeding on the floor after being hit over the head with his special rock? I agree with the rest of your comments but I also think the conflict could have been resolved with less violence and death. It was a very clever movie, but then it descended into blood and death. Knocking the former housekeeper down the stairs was funny, but after that, I think the movie took a bad turn.
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@LG
Do you think that the little boy earned the violence ? I realized that the movie was about to get very violent and left. One of my thoughts was : " I don't want to see what is going to happen to that little boy." As I recall he was quite a perceptive child but he was not nasty or mean. And he was very young. This sort of thing satisfies so many people I guess. I don't see it as art.
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@Consuelo Most real life most victims of violence do not deserve it either. Why should movies sanitize violence? -NW
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The subtitles were a problem for me, particularly reading white lettering against the actresses white shirt. I would really rather read a book than two hours of subtitles. But I went on IMDb and read the synopsis, then watched again knowing the story and enjoying the spoken Korean. I particularly enjoyed when the poor mother did an impression of the North Korean Pink Lady (Ri Chun-Hee)
4
Subtitles don’t bother me - I hate dubbing. I like hearing the original language!
1
One of a few films I might remember for the rest of my life.
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During the post awards interview, the director was asked how he thought the film could resonate so universally. In a previous interview he explained that global capitalism rules the world, so the human experience is the same even if it happens in another language.
However, during his acceptance speech for best director he said his guiding principle was, “The most personal is the most creative.” Parasite is foremost a story about the slipperiness of human relations and not a politically driven work (both the rich and poor families are at times admirable and other times distasteful). Therein lies its success and accessibility, like all great art, it reminds us of what it looks likes and feels like to be human.
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@Charles only if the director wasn't so repulsive..
@Leo how so? What did he do?
Yeah, not a bad movie, but it must be so gratifying for art critics to get on the 'woke' bandwagon....
The Times, which has been on this Oscar campaign for weeks, as if an industry trade show was the greatest social injustice in human history, would seem somewhat blinkered, when it's own editorial interests are oh so white, oh so rich.
6
An award? Did someone say something about an awwaaard? I just couldn't watch a bunch of white guys pat themselves on the backs for their misogynistic films. Again. The right movie may have won last night, but why weren't Parasite's actors nominated? Slumdog was in the same situation. Wonder what they have in common.
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@Islandgirl Loved Parasite. Saw twice in theater and twice on DVD. Would be hard pressed to single out a "best" lead/supporting actor/actress with such a great ensemble cast. Hence, the SAG award for Best Ensemble.
@Islandgirl Parasite’s actor’s weren’t nominated because each acting category only has five slots. Inevitably many talented people will not be included. There is no evidence of an agenda. If there was Parasite would not have won six awards. -NW
@Islandgirl Unlike Slumdogs with optimism and positive attitude, Parasite shows how one family destroys the other family by cheating, stealing and murdering.
My wife and I saw Parasite. We hated it. I have no idea why it was nominated and won. I guess that is why I do not watch the Oscars anymore. Seeing the actors and actresses in real life is a big disappointment.
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@DickN I was lucky enough to see it for free when flying last week. I turned it off after a half hour. If the Academy wanted a foreign film to win so badly, it should have found a better one.
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@Hothouse Flower How would you know? You watched half an hour. The movie has a lot of twists and turns you couldn't begin to guess if you quit that early. Anyway, it was better than most domestic films. The only true competition it has was 1917.
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@DickN I guess people have different tastes. I loved Parasite but hated Uncut Gems, which many loved. The reason it was nominated and won is that many disagreed with you. Deal with it.
30
Sorry but this article has a political correctness feel good bad scripted all over it. In an effort towards diversity, forced diversity, stop all this. let art be art. Stop trying so hard to force your political correctness down our cultural institutions throats. Last years green book was mostly unwatchable. Why that won is suspect. The academy like the Grammys like a lot of our institutions are suspect. But not because they lack diversity-which of course they do. It is because of the cache that is put upon being an academy member. A wealthy membership in another country club institution. How much was spent on joker? A billion? It had one good thing about it. A fine example of one mans acting ability.
4
@William Criticism on Green Book is fair but are you seriously attributing political correctness to the award which had five men (four of them white) as nominees for the best director? Not sure if you've seen Parasite, but I thought it was well deserved. Only real competition was 1917, which was a technical masterpiece and would've deserved it too.
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@William Sorry, what is diverse or forced diverse about a Korean movie full of Korean actors in Korea? Maybe you should realize the world extends beyond your doorstep.
3
I enjoyed PARASITE but considered it almost a dark comedy as opposed to a thriller. I thought the entire film was damaged by the last 10 minutes - a truly awful ending.
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@Mrs Ming
I agree.
I walked out when the gruesome violence began. It was an otherwise good movie, but the saying; "All's well than ends well," does not apply to this film.
@Frank The dramatic change in tone was what made the film. It was pulled off superbly and was what made the movie what it was. Without that twist it would have been a completely different and much less memorable film. -NW
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@Frank
It's a drama, not a comedy. Shakespeare's ending to Hamlet is just as bloody and senseless. Similar to Parasite, the tensions boiled over and exploded into violence.
3
Everyone seemed to praise "Parasite" for its political edge. But to me, it may have depicted class division in an entertaining way, but it made no real political points, offered no analyses, exposed no hidden structures or hypocrisies, etc--it had no moral center. Am I missing something?
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@Martin It had no moral center? So, a perfect encapsulation of many modern societies?
5
I wouldn't presume you are missing anything, as interpretation is subjective, but I can say what I saw--if we speak of the purely social and political. I thought the film helped express the frustration that today's youth feel after being told that you can jump through all the hoops to succeed, and finding in the end that it is a sham--if you are poor, you have little chance of progressing. In some ways, this is stark because Korea grew very rapidly and everyone seemed to have a chance initially...but inequality grew even faster and people find that there is little social mobility possible now. This was dramatic in Korea (from Asian tigers, through the IMF crisis, to today), but has also been the case elsewhere in the world (in the U.S., it took a long time...compare the Baby Boomer generation to today). Which is why it resonates so much abroad.
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@Martin I
You voiced it so much better than I could. How can a movie that depicts the horrors of class conflict in such a depressing way be classified as a dramedy?
The movie seemed to make no point And I’m baffled by its critical praise.
6
During Mr. Bong's acceptance speech, he credited Martin Scorsese for inspiring him when he was studying film in S. Korea. That standing ovation to Martin Scorsese was a very touching moment. Dreams do come true. As a Korean American, I'm proud of what you have achieved. Well done, Sir. I eagerly await your next film.
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@Jeff funny how one of the most notable Marvel films, which were altogether denounced by Scorsese, was directed by an Oscar winner from this year.
How will the Oscars So White campaign be affected?
The accolades for diversity skyrocket this year, thanks to the South Korean thriller Parasite. Meanwhile, diversity in the American studio system continues to be largely ignored by the Academy.
8
So it wasn't the "correct" kind of diversity then ?
Putting all political considerations aside, Parasite won because it was the best film, by a long shot.
Quality counts. Kudos to the South Korean director and cast!
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@Bocheball see my post..
It should be called the Gratuitous Violence Picture Awards.
At least five of the nine nominated pictures have gratuitous violence as an on going theme in the picture totally negating any other merit of the films.
30, 40 or 50+ yrs. from now they will be looked at like Birth of the Nation or Cowboy westerns, are now groundbreaking for the time but ugly, damaging and disgusting yrs. from now.
5
@Bocheball To suggest Parasite's win wasn't largely political is absurd. After being roundly criticized for picking Green Book last year, the Academy suddenly chooses a film with an all-Asian cast (and subtitles) for the first time in their history.
That is not a coincidence.
9
@Bocheball It was a very good movie, with a redundant sentimental ending. It was no better than Once Upon a Time in Hollywood about the cruelty of surviving in the entertainment business. DiCaprio and Pitt were more memorable than any of the South Korean actors.
4
Asians count as people of color in California. It’s actually a very white state. Iowa is 4 percent Black and California is 6 percent Black. The rest of the country, excluding these two is 15 percent Black. California claims to be diverse even though it has a low percentage of Black because Asians are counted as people of color.
2
California does have a lot of Asian-Americans - 14% versus a national average of 6% - but its Hispanic/Latinx population is much larger at 39%.
Non-Hispanic whites are only 38% of California's population.
So, while its Black population is lower than average, it is by far the most diverse state.
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@Rick as a black Californian I totally agree. They still face bigoted treatment by others and discrimination, despite the easier climb to success and prosperit.
1
The Times asserts that America was built by slavery, the Civil War was fought to free Blacks, the Civil Rights movement was about securing rights for Blacks, to argue that Black people are irrelevant to diversity and a state with few Black people can be diverse is to misunderstand America and diversity. Without Black people, California cannot be considered a diverse state, even if it has lots of Asians and Hispanics.
Many years ago, my mother watched S. Korean soap operas. She said they reminded her of Bengali movies that were about the social changes, inequality, advent of nuclear families, mother-in-law-daughter-in-law relationship, middle-class women in the workforce, even the cleaning of the floor every night before putting down the mattress, etc. She was angry at the Oscars for not giving Satyajit Ray an Oscar until one for lifetime achievement at his deathbed. She is very happy at Parasite winning the Oscar. So am I.
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@Gangulee As an Indian this is why I probably enjoyed Parasite even more. The similarities between their and our culture sometimes brought the humor closer.
As an aside, I believe the power of the Internet, which at its best can effect radical change and shatter the status quo, really allowed for the Academy's perception of foreign movies to evolve. If Ray had been alive now, he'd have had a much better shot at winning an Oscar.
Awards for the makers of commercial entertainment preening to be considered as something more culturally significant than, well, commercial entertainers are really just another version of selecting the Prom Court for those long gone from high school hallways. The only real difference is that in high school everyone votes but in the Oscars only the in-crowd votes. So silly. Particularly so when considering the sordid history of “Hollywood.”
5
@hey nineteen Yes, it's commercial entertainment, but look around at the world we live in. It would be hard to give an award for "Best Original Joke Told at the Dinner Table". Although there was that "Funniest Home Videos", wasn't there. I never saw it, along with any of the movies in question last night, except "Parasite", as it happened. So I guess I was lucky, I got to see the Best Motion Picture!
4
A great moment, in a great Oscars. Very annoyed by James Poniewozik’s article (not this one, a separate accompanying article without a comments section) claiming that the Oscars were really random this year—I disagree, I thought this was one of the best Oscars ever!
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@a reader
I fully agree. This was the best Oscars ever! I was really annoyed by James Poniewozik's other article and his ill-considered assessment.
8
So delighted the academy saw fit to bestow it’s highest honor on “Parasite”. What a terrific ensemble! Full of surprises and sharp insight. A parable of the great divide between North and South Korea, and an “Upstairs, Downstairs” commentary on class divide. Brilliant.
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@ach
Or maybe the lazy family could have bothered to fold the pizza boxes properly and earned some money instead of lying and cheating their way into jobs that they took from other honest, hard-working people. This film’s sense of justice escapes me entirely.
1
@ach AND SO WONDERFUL THAT THE upstairs achievement by the downstairs is by beating someone's head in with a rock...such marvels of 'class struggle'..i bet you did not even see the implied violence of the actual violence...WOW
1
@SheWhoWatches - Did you miss the line in "Parasite" which remarked on the state on unemployment: "500 with college degrees applicants for one job as a security job." The despair of the lack of economic opportunity - not laziness!! - was spelled out in the subtitles.
2
So glad it won. Such a great unique film with a wonderful cast. So many amazing foreign films that lots of my fellow Americans won't watch because of subtitles. They are really missing out. Perhaps this will be the beginning of a change in perception regarding them. Let's hope so.
150
I must admit that I used to avoid anything with subtitles, until the Swedish television series “The Bridge” was first shown on British television. After a while, I found that reading text didn’t interfere with the “flow” of the story, and now I can enjoy films and television from all over the world, rather than sticking to the (often) formulaic English-speaking offerings.
24
@jenny I agree with your comments. International films are often brilliant, and willing to take on complex emotions and issues without supplying a neatly resolved ending. If anything, they speak to the fact that human beings, regardless of where they are from or where they live, have much more in common than not. We all love; we all have fears; we are selfish; we are generous; we yearn to be connected to others, and to something larger than ourselves. There are many foreign films which, due to budgetary constraints, are often not given a wide release. These films are made for modest sums, and some of them are extraordinary, with incredible artistry of writers, directors, actors, cinematographers, composers, designers, etc.
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@Joanne Dean
Yes, subtitles seem quite normal to us now, too. In fact, we even turn them on for English-speaking shows with actors who have tricky accents or just don't seem to enunciate clearly. The subtitlers must work from the script because they often clarify things that aren't evident otherwise, such as explaining background noises.
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Kirk Douglas, the last actor of the Golden Age disappears, one of the biggest and nothing ... curtain.
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He was honored just like all the other people in the industry that passed this year....Danny Aielo, Doris Day and dozens of others. He will be awarded a special Oscar posthumously in the future.....I hope.
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@biglefty Kirk Douglas WAS awarded a "special Oscar" during his lifetime.
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@Méz Steven Spielberg introduced the In Memoriam specifically for Douglas. Spielberg doesn't usually introduce this segment......
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