‘Parasite’ and the changing Oscars

The final Oscars ceremony of the 2010s has wrapped up and it was one of the most, if not the most, exciting conclusions to an awards season ever.

Parasite made Oscars history as the first film not in English to win Best Picture and the first South Korean film to win Best International Feature — it was also the first nominee. Not only that, Bong Joon-ho upset heavily favored frontrunner Sam Mendes for 1917 in Best Director and took home Best Original Screenplay‚ the first foreign-language film to win since Talk to Her seventeen years ago. 

Reader, when I tell you I screamed. I might have scared my neighbors.

However, you have to consider the biggest context for last night's Oscars. It is perhaps the largest step forward for the Academy and possibly a glimpse at the next decade of awards. Parasite's historic win was at the expense of a type of movie we've all come to know as an “Oscar movie.” 1917 had everything going for it on paper. It was a technically-stunning war epic from a major studio directed by an industry veteran and Oscar winner himself. However, in the weeks before the ceremony, you could feel the momentum shifting, beginning with the Parasite actors' upset at the Screen Actors Guild awards. 

Barely avoiding #OscarsSoWhite

However, that win also shows us that the Academy isn't completely ready for change. Even though the film won Best Cast in a Motion Picture, none of the actors received individual nominations. Instead, save for Cynthia Ervio's nomination in Best Actress for Harriet, all the acting nominees were white. This throws back to 2014 and 2015 when the #OscarsSoWhite controversy began. And while the Academy technically avoided that, Parasite was the only Best Picture nominee that showed any semblance of diversity. 

Along with last year's awards, it's clear that as much as the Oscars are moving forward, there's still a dying gasp of the old ways. Green Book, a regressive look at race in America, was last year's Best Picture winner. On the other hand, Regina King won Best Supporting Actress for her sensitive portrayal of a black mother and Olivia Colman won Best Actress for a dark comedy playing the closeted queen of England. You could say we're moving forward in fits and starts. 

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How did Parasite pull it off?

We were left for the final moments of the ceremony to actually have some excitement in terms of winners. Every category went to either the frontrunner or runner-up. And just like in 2017, all four acting winners swept every single award. However, this could have been a symptom of the shortened season — we had about a month less for voting this year. Less time means fewer movies seen which means more of the same winners. 

Still, just like 2016 when Moonlight upset La La Land, which almost had the same configuration of precursor wins as 1917, Parasite began to surge at just the right time by building momentum throughout the season rather than starting big like 1917 — which nabbed two surprise Golden Globe wins — and fizzling out.

However, what's more important to note is that Parasite likely would have won without the preferential ballot. The reason the Oscars switched to a ranked-choice voting system was an effort to award consensus rather than passion. Arguably, this is how Spotlight, Moonlight, The Shape of Water, and Green Book won their respective years. But with the all-out sweep that Parasite had, it feels more likely that it won in the first round with the most number one votes. 

Does this mean that the preferential ballot is doing its job? 

There's been a lot of skepticism about how Best Picture is voted on, but the results from this decade are kind of undeniable. We've had some blips along the way — Green Book, Argo, and The King's Speech most notably. However, it's also led to some braver picks, as well. Only time will tell if this pattern holds.

The slow to progress categories

We're still waiting to see just how much diversifying the Academy voter base can change the winners. After all, the four acting winners were all veterans largely giving Oscar-y performances. Even more, the nominees were also less than inspired with easy interesting picks like Jennifer Lopez for Hustlers, Awkwafina and Zhao Shuhzen for The Farewell, and Lupita Nyong'g for Us being left out.

Even looking at the tech nominations, it's clear that we've regressed slightly. Last year, Best Cinematography had three foreign language nominations, two of which were in black and white. This could be again caused by the shortened season. Only time will tell.

Streaming remains taboo

Netflix came into the night with two Best Picture nominations — Marriage Story and The Irishman with a combined 16 nominations, two Best Animated Feature nominations, two Best Documentary nominations and went home with just two.

After Roma‘s surprise loss last year and The Irishman‘s complete shutout, it's not premature to say that it seems like the Oscars, unlike the Emmys, are less inclined to accept streaming services into their circle.

What does it all mean?

So, what has this decade at the Oscars taught us? Change is hard. Change is slow. But change is coming. In the 92 year history of the Academy Awards a non-English language film has never won Best Picture. One just did. A few years ago a movie with a gay main character never won Best Picture. Then, Moonlight did.

There is so much history to make. However, for one night, I was hopeful it could be.