No fawning over Joker and Best Picture for Parasite: The Oscars just proved they’re relevant again

‘Parasite’ is the biting social satire ‘Joker’ tries so hard to be. The fact that it won Best Picture is a huge sign of hope inside and outside the movie industry

As celebrities began making their way onto the Oscars red carpet this Sunday, I didn’t expect to be surprised. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which manages the ceremony, has a way of acting rather... predictably, shall we say. Things the Academy likes: movies about Hollywood. Movies about acting. Big splashy performances in which a household name brings a historical figure back to life or goes full Method. Things the Academy – and, to be fair, the entertainment industry as a whole across the world – tends to overlook: women. People of colour. Foreign language features.

All this to say, with Todd Philips’s Joker leading the Oscars nominations and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood trailing not too far behind, I went into the evening thinking I knew what to expect. After all, this is the same Academy (well, almost the same, since new members joined in 2019) that crowned Green Book Best Picture just a year ago.

I was prepared for Joker, a film that thinks it’s much deeper than it actually is, to sweep the ceremony. I was fuming thinking Parasite, the blistering social satire that Joker tried so hard to be, would end up being overlooked. And if Joker didn’t take Best Picture, I thought for sure that Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, a film about Los Angeles and the movie industry and the pains and trials of actors, all topics that tend to win the Oscars popularity contest, would prevail.

Well, reader, I’m so pleased to report that I was wrong. As it turns out, I should have trusted the Academy to recognise the fact that Joker wasn’t the best film of 2019, and neither was Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. In a jubilant moment, Parasite, having already made history by taking home the trophies for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film earlier in the night, took Best Picture. For the first time ever, a foreign-language film won the biggest honour of the night.

I’m sorry, I need to type this again: for the first time in 92 years (I’m no maths genius, but sources tell me that is very close to a century), a movie which is not in English, that requires many viewers to read subtitles, won the biggest award you can possibly win in the film industry.

It’s especially notable when you consider that Joker, one of the biggest blockbusters of the year and a surprise success in itself (it became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever in October last year), tries to tackle the same themes that Parasite explores so brilliantly: class violence and oppression.

But where Joker keeps throwing “serious issues” on the table without truly knowing what it’s trying to say about them (something about mental healthcare, poverty, and the necessity to fight back against a ruling class), Parasite offers an uncompromising portrayal of class warfare, and structural inequality. It’s so brilliant, so intelligent, so astute, and so necessary – and I’m so glad it won.

Perhaps most importantly, Parasite is one of those movies that may require you to step outside of your own world in order to truly receive its message. If you’re wealthy, you have to care about the lives of poor people. If you don’t speak Korean, you have to – yes – read subtitles. If you’ve never been to Korea, you need to get acquainted with a whole new setting. Parasite, for many viewers, will require a level of empathy coupled with imagination. The fact that it just won four Academy Awards is a huge sign of hope, inside and outside the world of movies.