To say a little more about Parasite's victory, beyond the fact that it's a non-English film, it's truly shocking to me that the Academy has rewarded something that is so unavoidably about class conflict. The typical move (and this comes to race as well) is to reward films that meekly split the difference -- "Sure, you're poor and I'm rich, but deep down we're the same!" (Insert "you're black and I'm white," "you're gay and I'm straight," rinse and repeat.)
The point is, Hollywood almost never recognizes race and class conflict as deeply structural, embedded, and often invisible. Race and class and gender politics are always just subjective annoyances, something you can just brush away with healthy doses of fond-feeling and gumption. (A white guy being "saved" by a non-white guy also helps.)
So I guess I'm saying saying nice things about the Academy. That's also shocking.
TL,DR: Is 2020 the year the Academy stops ignoring films just because they confront class and race stuff in serious, structural, adult terms? Or does it go back to being meaningless in 2021 when the next Green Book or Crash comes along?
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