Golden Globes Apologizes by Offering Minari “Best Anime”
“We nominated Crazy Rich Parasite last year, didn’t we?”
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
By: Victor Tran
The Golden Globes received backlash for only accepting the Korean-American film, Minari, in the Best Foreign Language category. This categorization disqualifies Minari from being nominated for “Best Drama,” their highest award.
To apologize, the Golden Globes offered Minari a consolation prize- “Best Anime.” In this category, Minari competes against only one other nominee: Mulan. However, a new string of problems arise, as “Best Anime” disqualifies Minari from winning “Best Animated Film.”
But to Minari’s “Best Drama” aspirations, the Golden Globes bids, “Farewell.” The Farewell was a Chinese-American film that was snubbed by the Golden Globes last year.
“It was a simple mistake; we never claimed to be experts of foreign entertainment,” explained the self-titled Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The HFPA blamed the misunderstanding on the language barrier. “Without a translator, we had no way of communicating with those involved in Minari!” However, the film was made by an American studio, with an American director, starring an American cast.
When the HFPA was informed that Minari took place in rural Arkansas, they asked, “There’s an Arkansas in Korea?”
In the past, other Non-English films were categorized outside of “Best Foreign-Language Film”. The French Film, The Artist, won “Best Musical/Comedy” without having dialogue, musical numbers, or comedy. Babel won “Best Drama,” even though it’s named Babel. Inglourious Basterds was nominated for “Best Drama,” and that film wasn’t even spelled correctly.
The only commonality between those movies is that they were directed by white people, and starred other white people. “Well, The Artist was technically… black-and-white,” argued the HFPA.
A simple solution would be to move Minari into the “Best Drama” category, but the Golden Globes doubled down on their decision. “We are looking for originality, and Minari isn’t it. Make a Korean Joker, and then we’ll talk about ‘Best Drama’.”
