The Golden Globes have been criticized for their decision to dismiss Minari from their Best Picture category, instead placing it in the Foreign Language Film category. Minari, produced in America by A24 and Plan B Entertainment, follows a Korean-American family in search of their own version of the American Dream, with both the Korean and English language spoken throughout. It stars The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun, who also starred in recent Korean language films such as Okja and Burning.
The huge Oscar wins for Parasite earlier this year prove that Korean cinema is now fully within the Western mainstream. Although that film was produced in South Korean and was helmed by South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho, the Academy made the historic move to include the film within their Best Picture category, which is historically reserved for English speaking Western cinema. Consideration for films from other countries is taken in by the Best Foreign Film category. While the rules for the Golden Globes are largely the same, the awards body caused similar controversy last year for their decision to nominate The Farewell, an American-made film with a combination of Chinese-American and Chinese talent, under the Foreign Language Film category. Now it seems that ruling has set a precedent the Golden Globes is sticking to.
According to Variety, the Golden Globes have categorized Minari for the Best Foreign Language Film award, and not Best Picture, despite being an American production. The decision has sparked criticism from not only audience members, but prominent film industry figures. Actors, creatives and directors took to Twitter to voice their stance against the HFPA's decision. 21 Jump Street co-director Phil Lord wrote, "I’d argue that Korean is not a “foreign” language at all in America. #Minari." Author Ellen Oh tweeted, "This is how they other us. This is the racism we always have to deal with. We will never be American enough for them... #Minari is literally an American story! I'm so tired of Asian Americans being treated like foreigners forever!" The Farewell writer and director Lulu Wang tweeted, "I have not seen a more American film than #Minari this year. It's a story about an immigrant family, IN America, pursuing the American dream. We really need to change these antiquated rules that characterizes American as only English-speaking." See other reactions below.
As with nearly every Hollywood awards show, the Golden Globes are notorious for their infamous nominee snubs. However, as the industry's BIPOC communities have noted, this particular snub represents a significant disregard f0r the plot themes and context of the feature in question, with Minari clearly being a representation of the American dream. Not only that, but writer and director Lee Isaac Chang has stated that the film is semi autobiographical, with a story that not only means a lot to the filmmaker but to many other Korean-Americans. The Golden Globes' decision to similarly maligned The Farewell last year caused backlash as well, but to use this ruling again in a year that saw such huge success for Korean cinema in the mainstream with Parasite is truly baffling and disappointing. Unfortunately, the HFPA's decision echoes President Donald Trump's disrespectful Parasite comments, making it seem that despite that film's win for representation, not much has changed.
Minari's Golden Globes snub feels like the nail in the coffin of an already difficult year for cinema. 2021's ceremony will take place on February 28th, and will be the 78th edition of the awards show. Due to limited film releases this year, nominees are hard to pinpoint, but with the controversy already lit, the HFPA will likely find it difficult to escape criticism when the nominations are announced.
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Source: Variety, Andrew Phung, Simu Liu, Nancy Wang Yuen, Phil Lord, Ellen Oh, Lulu Wang