Why is Parasite nominated for best picture, when it's a foreign film?

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The Acadamy Awards sometimes do things with more "pop-mindedness" than what's generally assumed, though it is minor. Besides, a lot of people in this world, no matter what country, gets bothered by subtitles. That's quite a shame. But to immediately assume "xenophobic" is coming from an anger-mindset. Did it ever occur to the people who whip these words out like pistols are sometimes the first to do the offending? It's an immediate assumption people make to bring a villain in their lives to justify their anger mindset. The Academy Awards do whatever makes them money.

1. America, like every other country, loves things from its own country. Common factor. Not racist.

2. Big name ceremonies will do whatever grabs the most money, usually capitalizing on the country-based aesthetic all countries have. Not racist.

3. English is the most-spoken language on Earth, and the dominant language of two continents. Not racist.


4. Subtitles are known to distract people. Not racist.


5. Immediately throwing hateful words like "xenophobic." Not the Academy Awards, and a bit rude. Not everything has to be turned into "sticks and stones don't break your bones but words will massacre your body" to fit an agenda. If people are worried about morality, they'll realize "words eill never hurt me" shouldn't be so easily forgotten, and those that do forget sometimes look for offense.



I just thought it was interesting, how Parasite was nominated for best picture, and best foreign language picture, cause usually the Oscars only put foreign films in the best foreign language film category.

Is this the first time the Oscars have done this with a foreign language film? Is it a cheat to put it in both best picture categories?
Why would it be a cheat? If a foreign film is the Best Picture winner it is by default Best Foreign Picture. It would be a cheat to deny it the opportunity to run for Best Picture if it genuinely is.

The rationale for having a foreign language award is that it draws attention to other film industries in other countries- an acknowledgement that Hollywood isn’t everything,
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I think this is overstating things a tad, given that film quality, contra much simpler art forms, correlates highly with affluence. Even assuming a perfectly even distribution of talent and quality across the world, one would expect more great films from wealthier countries, and more than that, one would expect this to persist even as that gap narrowed, assuming we also believe that filmmaking experience correlates with quality.

That isn't to say the Academy hasn't overlooked lots of quality foreign films or does not have a bias towards English-language films, but I think there are lots of structural reasons some bias would exist even in a perfect (whatever that means when judging art) process.

I also think, even if somebody doesn't accept any of that, we'd probably be dealing more with implicit bias than out-and-out racism, though perhaps the latter term is a lot less charged in your usage than in mine.
Good points, but you only need to look at the Cannes film festival to see that a "fair" film awards system can exist. Their version of best film has been won by a far more diverse selection of directors in this generation, albeit not many females (Kore-eda, Haneke, Coen brothers, Dardennes, Bong Joon Ho, Ken Loach, Michael Moore, Tarantino, David Lynch, Lars von Trier etc etc etc).

It can be done. The academy simply chooses not to do it. They changed their "Best foreign film" award to "best international film" award. Then disqualified Nigeria's entry, because it was in English (Nigeria's official language is English.) Nice.



But I think every award ceremony for movies, in every country operates this way. Let's take the South Korean Blue Dragon Film Awards for example. Has there ever been a movie foreign to South Korea that was nominated for best picture?
Aren't the Blue Dragon awards specifically for South Korean films?



The Acadamy Awards sometimes do things with more "pop-mindedness" than what's generally assumed, though it is minor. Besides, a lot of people in this world, no matter what country, gets bothered by subtitles. That's quite a shame. But to immediately assume "xenophobic" is coming from an anger-mindset. Did it ever occur to the people who whip these words out like pistols are sometimes the first to do the offending? It's an immediate assumption people make to bring a villain in their lives to justify their anger mindset. The Academy Awards do whatever makes them money.

1. America, like every other country, loves things from its own country. Common factor. Not racist.

2. Big name ceremonies will do whatever grabs the most money, usually capitalizing on the country-based aesthetic all countries have. Not racist.

3. English is the most-spoken language on Earth, and the dominant language of two continents. Not racist.


4. Subtitles are known to distract people. Not racist.


5. Immediately throwing hateful words like "xenophobic." Not the Academy Awards, and a bit rude. Not everything has to be turned into "sticks and stones don't break your bones but words will massacre your body" to fit an agenda. If people are worried about morality, they'll realize "words eill never hurt me" shouldn't be so easily forgotten, and those that do forget sometimes look for offense.
Ignorance isn't an excuse for a lack of diversity / xenophobia.

The Academy Awards do whatever makes them money.
Which is fine. But the credibility of these awards should then be acknowledged as zero.



3. English is the most-spoken language on Earth, and the dominant language of two continents. Not racist

How is this true? As a second language maybe. But mandarin speakers are almost 4 times the number as a native language. And which second continent speaks English as a majority? In North America, English just edges out marginally.
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They changed their "Best foreign film" award to "best international film" award. Then disqualified Nigeria's entry, because it was in English (Nigeria's official language is English.) Nice.

Yeah. This was a kicker. Nigeria, Australia, New Zealand and maybe even Canada, will get the boot. Total rubbish.



Australia, New Zealand and maybe even Canada, will get the boot. Total rubbish.
I think the film industries in those countries are more likely to succeed. They are wealthier countries.

But it's such a shame for a country like Nigeria to be told you can never compete in this category. It's not like there are already a number of Nigerian films kicking around that we've all seen.



That maybe, but again, if it is being fair, then wealth should not be taken into consideration as well. And lets face it, the Aussies and Kiwis are richer, but their movie industry is just not up to scratch. Considering they speak English, they just make the jump to Hollywood, without trying to work in their own local environment.



. Considering they speak English, they just make the jump to Hollywood, without trying to work in their own local environment.
That's the way of the world. If offered more chances and more money, you're going to take it.

If a Canadian or Aussie film is good enough, then it should be in Best International film.



The Acadamy Awards sometimes do things with more "pop-mindedness" than what's generally assumed, though it is minor. Besides, a lot of people in this world, no matter what country, gets bothered by subtitles. That's quite a shame. But to immediately assume "xenophobic" is coming from an anger-mindset. Did it ever occur to the people who whip these words out like pistols are sometimes the first to do the offending? It's an immediate assumption people make to bring a villain in their lives to justify their anger mindset. The Academy Awards do whatever makes them money.

1. America, like every other country, loves things from its own country. Common factor. Not racist.

2. Big name ceremonies will do whatever grabs the most money, usually capitalizing on the country-based aesthetic all countries have. Not racist.

3. English is the most-spoken language on Earth, and the dominant language of two continents. Not racist.


4. Subtitles are known to distract people. Not racist.


5. Immediately throwing hateful words like "xenophobic." Not the Academy Awards, and a bit rude. Not everything has to be turned into "sticks and stones don't break your bones but words will massacre your body" to fit an agenda. If people are worried about morality, they'll realize "words eill never hurt me" shouldn't be so easily forgotten, and those that do forget sometimes look for offense.
Ignorance isn't an excuse for a lack of diversity / xenophobia.

The Academy Awards do whatever makes them money.
Which is fine. But the credibility of these awards should then be acknowledged as zero.
But it might not be actual xenophobia. Lack of diversity and hating other races for the sake of it are two totally different things.



3. English is the most-spoken language on Earth, and the dominant language of two continents. Not racist

How is this true? As a second language maybe. But mandarin speakers are almost 4 times the number as a native language. And which second continent speaks English as a majority? In North America, English just edges out marginally.
I just checked a babbel article written last year. North America's top language, English, has 300 million speakers, while Spanish, the second, has 121 million.

Though I admit I was wrong about Europe, where it's fourth, but fourth is still pretty high.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Good points, but you only need to look at the Cannes film festival to see that a "fair" film awards system can exist. Their version of best film has been won by a far more diverse selection of directors in this generation, albeit not many females (Kore-eda, Haneke, Coen brothers, Dardennes, Bong Joon Ho, Ken Loach, Michael Moore, Tarantino, David Lynch, Lars von Trier etc etc etc).

It can be done. The academy simply chooses not to do it. They changed their "Best foreign film" award to "best international film" award. Then disqualified Nigeria's entry, because it was in English (Nigeria's official language is English.) Nice.
LOL! Cannes has an equally unfair system, just works by different criteria. To win Cannes you need to make a film that has a very strong political/social stance at its center. They haven't judged films by their intrensic quality in decades!

The Academy is based in Hollywood, it's american, they are free to award the films they want, they even didn't need to create a foreign category but they do. The importante each ones gives to the Award depends on each one, not on them. I hate the thing, I don't watch it. But calling them racists just because they use criterias I don't agree with is going way too far.



LOL! Cannes has an equally unfair system, just works by different criteria. To win Cannes you need to make a film that has a very strong political/social stance at its center. They haven't judged films by their intrensic quality in decades!
I don't agree at all. 'Amour' ? 'Uncle Boonmhee'? 'The Tree of Life' ?

The Academy is based in Hollywood, it's american, they are free to award the films they want, they even didn't need to create a foreign category but they do. The importante each ones gives to the Award depends on each one, not on them. I hate the thing, I don't watch it. But calling them racists just because they use criterias I don't agree with is going way too far.
Sure they can do what they want, and they will. I'm just calling it out as having a lack of diversity.

If 'Parasite' wins best picture it will be the first foreign language movie to win in the entire 92 year history of the thing. That is not a good look. You can sugar coat that whatever way you want but it is not good.



But it might not be actual xenophobia. Lack of diversity and hating other races for the sake of it are two totally different things.
Well I strongly believe it is. Xenophobia / lack of diversity isn't always borne out of hate. As I mentioned previously it can be of ignorance.



Maybe we're using the words differently, but I believe the words "xenophobia" and "racism" (the latter in particular) require the presence of fear and/or hatred.



But it might not be actual xenophobia. Lack of diversity and hating other races for the sake of it are two totally different things.
Well I strongly believe it is. Xenophobia / lack of diversity isn't always borne out of hate. As I mentioned previously it can be of ignorance.
Read the post under yours. If you use a cheap excuse like what you just said, anyone on Earth can be a xenophobe. It makes no sense. All it is is Americans thinking about the country they've been surrounded by their whole lives.



Maybe we're using the words differently, but I believe the words "xenophobia" and "racism" (the latter in particular) require the presence of fear and/or hatred.
Right. Because it is a perception that something someone is not used to is strange / unnatural / different etc.



Read the post under yours. If you use a cheap excuse like what you just said, anyone on Earth can be a xenophobe. It makes no sense. All it is is Americans thinking about the country they've been surrounded by their whole lives.
Yes, I agree. They are only thinking very narrowly.



Right. Because it is a perception that something someone is not used to is strange / unnatural / different etc.
Well, perhaps (I don't think all racism works like this, but we'll put that aside for now). The main thing is that the causality does not flow evenly in both directions. We can say that a racist or a xenophobe always fears or hates other cultures/races, and we can say (for the sake of argument) they do this because they are different, but that does not imply that anyone who finds another culture strange or difference is therefore hateful or fearful of it.

In other words, finding other cultures odd is a necessary but not sufficient component of racism and xenophobia.