On Feb. 28, the Golden Globes finally announced its winners. This year’s Golden Globes was especially odd, from the scandal over the lack of Black members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to the scandal over Sia’s ableist film “Music” getting nominated, to the odd digital format they had to use due to COVID. This year’s Golden Globes was under a lot of pressure.
Which makes their choice to nominate “Minari” under the “Best Foreign Language Film” even more odd.
The film “Minari” is an American film; it was produced by A24 and Plan B Entertainment, both founded and based in America, and distributed by A24. It is the story of a Korean immigrant family attempting to start their new life on a farm in Arkansas. The only aspect that would make this film “foreign” is the language they speak (we don’t have an official national language in the United States) and the fact that the characters are from Korea (a majority of the United States are descended from immigrants). The fact that they decided to nominate this in the category with foreign films is honestly a bit insulting.
The HFPA did this last year, as well. The film “The Farewell,” also distributed and produced by A24, is about a Chinese immigrant family who returns to China in order to see their dying grandmother before she passes. The film isn’t over 50% English like the HFPA guidelines mandate, but it does feature a good bit of English in its dialogue, and it features American actors and characters. Stamping the label of “foreign” does nothing to help these movies gain award traction, but it does exoticize explicitly American stories.
It also prevents other movies that are actually from foreign countries from gaining entry to the Golden Globes. When slots are filled up in the “foreign” category with movies that are explicitly American, we prevent great foreign films from winning well-earned awards, and the films that do enter are mislabeled.
The HFPA, along with rejuvenating their member choices, needs to rejuvenate the way they categorize movies. This is the second year in a row they have categorized explicitly American films into a foreign category and received backlash for it. “Minari” is a beautiful American film, and though I am glad it was able to win a Golden Globe, I wish it were in the correct category.
