Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari starring Steven Yeun is much more of an American story. Chung, who was born in Denver, Colorado, tells the story of a family of Korean immigrants who lived in America for some time while adapting to their new farm life in a small Arkansas town. That said, the film A24 was placed in the category of Best Foreign Language award for the upcoming Golden Globe – and people are not very happy about it.
“Minari it’s the most / best American movie I’ve seen this year, ”tweeted Phil Yu from the popular site Angry Asian Man.” That’s complete nonsense. “
Yu was one of many who spread the Golden Globe when the news was released about Minari. Another was filmmaker Lulu Wang, who faced the same problem last year when his film The Goodbye was classified as Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globe.
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“I haven’t seen a film more American than #Minari this year,” tweeted Wang. “It is a story about an immigrant family, IN America, chasing the American dream. We really need to change those old-fashioned rules that characterize Americans as just English speakers. “
Term learned that Minari has been entered in the Best Foreign Language award category and has been in this category ever since. The Golden Globe eligibility rules state that any film with at least 50% dialogue in other languages, falls into the Foreign Language category. Dramas, musicals or cinematographic comedies with 50% or more of dialogues in English are eligible for Best Film – Drama or Best Film – Musical or Comedy awards.
In addition, according to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association website, they made some changes to this year’s ceremony. The website states: “to qualify, a foreign language film must have been released in your home country during the previous 15 month period, from October 1 to December 31 before the award. This year, due to the disruption caused by the pandemic, several changes have been made to the qualification rules. ”The website also states:“ The ‘country (ies) of origin’ of a foreign language film is (are) the country (ies) of your production entity (ies) ”. Minari was produced by A24 and Plan B Entertainment, both American producers. The film was shot in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A lot of Minari it is in Korean, but like Wang, many were pointing out how American this story is, despite being in a foreign language. The nuance was being neglected and people started bringing in revenue when it came to previous nominees for Best Film for the Golden Globe, when it came to what constitutes a foreign language and an American film.
In a tweet, All my life star Harry Shum Jr examined the ratio of English to German and French and Italian in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds which was approximately 30:70. “#Minari is an American film,” he wrote.
Franklin Leonard, of the Black List, stated the following: “Let us not forget that Inglorious Basterds was not written in English and was not classified in the same way.
To add to that, Alejandro Iñárritu Babel, which included five different languages, was nominated for Best Film – Drama at the Golden Globe in 2007. It can also be argued that the Lombardy set Call me by your name which includes a fair amount of Italian language, should have been considered a foreign language film, but it was still nominated for Best Film – Drama in 2018.
Spider-Man: In the Spider-Verse producer Phil Lord tweeted: “It turns out that at Minari and the Globes, this is not an oversight. It’s a choice. The rules could and should have changed after last year. This year, many people have argued that Minari is an American film. This is a carefully considered, deliberate and damaging decision. “
He added: “I just can’t see why ANY film in any language would be disqualified from competing in the best film categories. What is the reason? “
It turns out that in Minari and the Globes, this is not an oversight. It’s a choice. The rules could and should have changed after last year. This year, many people have argued that Minari is an American film. This is a carefully considered, deliberate and damaging decision.
– Phil Lord #WinGA #BlackLivesMatter #WearAMask (@philiplord) December 23, 2020
I just can’t see why ANY film in any language would be disqualified from competing in the best film categories. What is the reason?
– Phil Lord #WinGA #BlackLivesMatter #WearAMask (@philiplord) December 23, 2020
Since then, even more people in Hollywood and beyond have turned to Twitter to voice their complaints.
Daniel Dae Kim wrote this Minari being in the category of Best Foreign Film was “the cinema equivalent of being ordered to return to your country when that country is actually America”
The MandalorianMing Na Wen didn’t like it either. ”“ It pisses me off on many levels. STOP THIS STUPIDITY !! ” she wrote. “A film like #Minari is as American as possible !!! Correct this, #GoldenGlobes. Especially in 2020. ”
“Just for the record, Minari is an American film written and directed by an American filmmaker that takes place in America with an American leading actor and produced by an American producer,” he tweeted. Shang ChiSimu Liu. “… And without spoiling anything, it’s a BEAUTIFUL story of a family of immigrants trying to build a life from scratch. What could be more American than that? “
Andrew Phung, Liu’s co-star Kim Convenience, tweeted: “A sad and disappointing reminder that a film about the American dream, set in America, starring an American, directed by an American and produced by an American company, is in some foreign way. ”
“Please change your name to ‘Golden Only For English Speaking People’, because it would be more accurate,” Congressman Ted Lieu interjected. “#Minari is an American film about an American Korean family in Arkansas. Why does the best photo need to be in English? Globe is in your name. Take it?”
Min Jin Lee, the author of Pachinko which is currently being developed on an Apple series, said: “#Minari is an American film about new Americans. Everyone in America, except the Indians, came from elsewhere by choice or by force. English is not an indigenous language. Enough of this nonsense about Asian Americans being permanently foreigners. I finished.”
This news also comes after the Academy rejected Deepa Mehta’s proposal Funny boy as Canada’s official entry for the 93rd Academy Award for Best International Feature Film because it contained many dialogues in English. Based on the best-selling Canadian novel by Shyam Selvadurai, the film was shot on location and set in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 80s. Funny boy explores the awakening of sexual identity by a boy named Arjie. As political tensions reach a boiling point between the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority, a boy comes of age in a society and family that does not accept differences outside social norms. It looks like an international resource, but based on Academy rules, it is not.
Hollywood Foreign Press has not yet responded to the reaction.