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No foreign-language film has ever taken top honors at the Academy Awards. But thanks to Donald Trump, Netflix, and a director named Bong Joon Ho, South Korea’s “Parasite” stands a fighting chance.
Imagine this. A stocky Asian man, with wire-framed glasses walks up on stage. The black mop of hair on his head suggests that he hasn’t slept in days. Don’t let that fool you. To deafening applause, he’s presented with the top prize, even though nobody like him has ever won it. His name is Bong Joon Ho, and he’s a 50-year-old film director from South Korea, whose film “Parasite” has won the Oscar for Best Picture — making it the first foreign-language film to ever receive the honor. Appropriately, if Joon Ho gives an acceptance speech, it will be clear that his handle of the English language is limited. But his voice will speak to something more significant — a transforming media landscape and appreciation of cinema.
Tomorrow, this scenario could become a reality as the American film industry gathers in Los Angeles for the 92nd iteration of the Academy Awards. In some ways, the event has become a glamorous but stale affair — the prizes usually go to a handful of predictably white dramas. Times are changing though. An age of social media-backed movements has led to an evolving Oscar winner demographic, paving the way for recent black-centric Best Picture winners “12 Years…
