Parasite, The Oscars, and American Exceptionalism

why the film’s best picture win represents an important cultural shift

It only took some ninety years or so of Academy Awards history for a foreign language film to finally win the coveted “Best Picture” prize at the Oscars. But here we are, and as they say, better late than never. Following widespread criticism for giving the award to “Green Book” last year, whilst overlooking two masterpieces of modern filmmaking — Afonso Cuaron’s intimate “Roma” and the witty film “The Favourite” by Greek director Jorgos Lanthimos — it’s tempting to see Parasite’s win as a vindication of sorts by the Academy, an inevitable and necessary response to criticism. But maybe, just maybe, the Korean film’s triumph is a symptom of something deeper and far more relevant: the fading power of so-called American or Western exceptionalism.

2020 was supposed to be the year of Sam Mendes’s 1917, itself an instant classic. Much has been made of the film’s cinematographic achievement of appearing as if shot in one take, with up-close camerawork and visually stunning explosions offering a haunting reminder of just how brutal war can be. It’s a truly stunning film, but an important one also at a time when armed conflicts continue to destroy lives in Syria, Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, you name it. Above all, however, 1917 is an English-speaking film, likely to…