The South-Korean thriller ‘Parasite’, by “Bong Joon Ho” has created history by winning the prestigious academy award for the best picture. This is the first time in the Ninety-two years of Oscar history that a non-English movie has bagged the top academy award.
The film’s seismic win came in wake of the #OscarsSoWhite protests in 2015 and 2016 that forced Hollywood to examine its systemic sidelining of minorities.When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its 2016 Oscar nominees, only white actors and actresses were among the chosen few in the top four categories — for the second year in a row — resulting in the resurgence of the social media hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and a bevy of concerns about diversity in Hollywood.
Humiliated by the outrage that followed its failure to nominate any minority actors for Oscars at the time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vowed to double minority membership by 2020.
In 2015, about 8 percent of the academy’s 8,500 voters were people of color. The percentage of minority members now stands at roughly 16 percent.
Bong’s social thriller was the frontrunner to win the International Feature Film Oscar after nabbing six total Oscar nominations this year, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Production Design, and Best Original Screenplay. “Parasite” was the first South Korean movie to be nominated in any of these categories, making the film a history-making before the awards ceremony even began.
As Bong and his co-writer Han Jin-won took the stage
to accept the film’s first award for best original screenplay, Bong thanked the
Academy for the “great honor.”
“Writing a script is a very lonely process, you never write to represent
your country — but this is the very first Oscar for South Korea,” Bong
said, lifting the trophy up to a loud round of applause.
“I thank my wife for always being an inspiration to me. I thank all the
actors who are with me today for bringing this film to life,” he added.
Later in the evening Bong was back on stage to accept the award he was most expected to win, the best international film Oscar.
And it wasn’t long before Bong was returning to the
stage yet again — later in the ceremony Parasite and the
Korean auteur won yet again, this time in the best director category.
“After winning best international feature, I thought I was done for the
day and was ready to relax,” Bong said upon receiving the award.
“Thank you so much. When I was young and studying cinema, there was a
saying that I carved deep into my heart, which is that ‘the most personal is
the most creative.’ “
That quote is from “our great Martin Scorsese,” he said, to massive applause. Scorsese stood up to accept the applause and waved.
Bong added, “When I was in school, I studied Martin Scorsese’s films. Just to be nominated was a huge honor. I never thought I would win. When people in the U.S. were not familiar with my films, Quentin always put my films on his list. He’s here, thank you so much. Quentin, I love you.”
Not only at Oscars, but the thriller also gained popularity by becoming the first South Korean movie to take home the prestigious Palme d’Or prize at Cannes film festival.
Neon released “Parasite” in the U.S. in the fall and it has gone on to gross over $30 million, making it one of the biggest foreign releases ever at the domestic box office. “Parasite” is Bong’s first $100 million grosser worldwide. The film’s current global tally is more than $163 million and counting. Expect U.S. grosses to continue to soar now that “Parasite” is an Oscar winner.
As for what Bong will do next following his history-making Oscar win, the director is currently developing a television series adaptation of “Parasite” for HBO. Bong is working with fellow Oscar winner Adam McKay on the project. McKay is the producer of HBO’s beloved “Succession.” When it comes to movies, Bong has not announced a follow-up project.
It’s time for a big time celebration not only for Bong, but for entire South Korea that has now created a mark for the rest of the world to not only count them in, when it comes to Cinema but also to learn from them.
