The Rise of Asian Cinema in Hollywood: Asian Oscar Winners and the Path Towards 21st-Century Global Film Representation

Note. Image captures of Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once's movie trailers. From Madman Films, 2019 and A24, 2021.

Introduction

The Oscars, established in 1929, are widely seen as the most prestigious award in the entertainment world. As much as it primarily tries to appreciate Hollywood and foreign movies, the Oscars have also influenced people's attitudes about whose voices and stories must be heard. Since 2015, such Western-oriented approach has been sharply criticised through the viral movement #OscarsSoWhite, an impromptu reaction to the news that all 20 acting nominations for the 87th Academy Awards went to White actors. This raises further questions about whose stories become legitimised and how cultural hierarchies are established through global cinema. This criticism echoes the theory of Orientalism (Said, 1978) — the Western proclivity to Orientalize and reduce Asian cultures to simplistic interpretations. In global cinema, Orientalist views have consigned Asian characters to stereotypical roles or exotic locales for Western heroes.

However, there have been some developments recently, where Asian representatives have secured additional seats in the said award-giving organisation. One such milestone was awarded in 2020 where Parasite, a South Korean film, secured four out of six nominations, and emerged as the first Asian film to secure the Best Picture award. Other notable winners include the South Korean movie Minari, which enabled actress Yuh-Jung Youn to win the Best Supporting Actress award in 2021. A year later, Japan's Drive My Car won four nominations and the Best International Feature Film award, further indicating growing Asian film recognition on the global platform. And only last 2023, Everything Everywhere All At Once broke grounds for Hollywood's new narrative in representing Asians on the screen by making their stories and struggle in America the focal point of the film's story and swept the Oscars with seven wins, including its acting awards that went to Asian performers: Michelle Yeoh becoming the very first Asian Best Actress winner, and Ke Huy Quan the second Asian actor to be given Best Supporting Actor.

Although several Asian films have won and been nominated at the Oscars since 2020, this article will discuss two of the most highly publicized films, Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once with their record-breaking feats at the Oscars that are viewed to have never been broken in the past. This analysis examines how Asian Oscar winners have significantly influenced the rise of the Asian film industry while recognising the need for changes in global cinema to overcome decades of Asian underrepresentation in the highly influential Western entertainment industry.

Parasite and its message transcendence beyond language

Parasite’s win at the 2020 Oscars has been a stepping stone in introducing South Korean films to global cinema given the fact that it was able to prove that distinctive cultural depictions can overcome language barriers in the global market. The film’s outstanding screenplay explored Korean society while reflecting broader themes of class warfare. The picture of the relationship between the Kim and the Park family is not only a struggle between two social classes but a metaphor for the functioning of South Korean society. Each member of the two families symbolises another aspect of modern society. This is not new for Western societies, but Parasite differs due to its peculiar perspective on Asian society. Through the lens of Bong Joon-ho, the film has masterfully contrasted the house of the Kim family with the penthouse of the Park family: the first space is a banjiha (half-basement apartments), a damp and dark space, representing poverty, while the second house is a clean, light space and shows the life of wealthy classes.

Moreover, Parasite breaks the language barrier and expands the commercial opportunities for Asian cinema. As Lima-based film critic José Sarmiento Hinojosa has observed, the predominance of English-language content has prevented most American cinema audiences from adopting the habit of reading subtitles. He explained, “If cinema is seen as entertainment, the mindset is that nobody wants to pay to read subtitles; nobody wants to make that effort”. However, being one of the shortlisted Asian films for the Oscars, Parasite later won the support of international audiences, thus further validating itself in the Western cinema space and making more viewers access movies outside Hollywood (Yuen, 2020). With a high revenue of more than a hundred million dollars, this film has led to the discussion of how this film developed Asian representation in global cinema. In particular, Tom Quinn, the boss of the film’s American distribution company NEON, said, “I do not see a trend that foreign-language films are super popular in the U.S.,”. Similarly, Yoonhee Choi, head of international sales at CJ Entertainment which sold Parasite worldwide, commented that this film has opened a new market where the percentage of audiences watching Asian films has been increasing.

Parasite’s victory at the Oscars 2020 represented more than just an award for an independent film in global cinema. By breaking language barriers and proving the commercial ability of Asian films in Western markets, Parasite strongly contributes to the transformative movement for Asian filmmakers today.

"By breaking language barriers and proving the commercial ability of Asian films in Western markets, Parasite strongly contributes to the transformative movement for Asian filmmakers today."

Everything Everywhere All At Once and the revolutionizing West's Asian film stereotypes

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) is among the best Asian portrayals in film, winning seven prestigious Oscar awards and ranking $185 million at the box office. With particular emphasis on Western culture and values, this film ultimately creates a particular issue within the Asian American community: the cultural isolation and racism of Asian individuals in America. The approach marks a change in how Asia is perceived in global cinema, where particular issues and realities of Asian individuals are increasingly being heard and acknowledged.

By breaking the Western stereotype where multiverse films – a type of film that explores the concept of multiple parallel universes or alternate realities existing simultaneously – are typically presented with an all-White cast, Everything Everywhere All At Once has proven the opportunity for recognition and good sales at the box office to an Asian cast’s film. The film heavily invests in celebrating Asian culture, expressing the distinction of Asian Americans among American communities. Certain points of reference such as the hackneyed "tiger mom," as well as Lunar New Year, are treated lightly and are in the vein of verisimilitude. Secondly, the directors demonstrated a massive cultural affiliation with Asian culture by borrowing stylistic flourishes in the forms of traditional Chinese as well as Hong Kong Kung Fu movies and slapstick humor. The English-Mandarin or Cantonese back-and-forth dialogue among the characters sprinkled a sense of cultural authenticity during the entire film.

By placing Chinese cultural facets at the very core of its story, the film is a giant leap beyond the forced and watered-down constructions of Asian identity that dominated Western films as revelations of Orientalism’s consequences in the past. Besides projecting Asian culture onto the global screen, the film also boldly portrays various forms of racism faced by Asian individuals in America, including racism based on looks (Joy’s character), status and language (Gong-Gong’s character), and sexualization of Asian women (Evelyn’s character) (Rizkia, 2023).

"By placing Chinese cultural facets at the very core of its story, the film is a giant leap beyond the forced and watered-down constructions of Asian identity that dominated Western films ... in the past."

Long road ahead

While Asian films gradually gain increased access to a global audience, its path remains nascent. It requires consistent representation to have a lasting influence within the international film industry. Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once have undoubtedly broken down barriers, but these are not sufficient to dismantle the structural underrepresentation of Asian filmmakers and performers today.

"Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once have undoubtedly broken down barriers, but these are not sufficient to dismantle the structural underrepresentation of Asian filmmakers and performers."

In a report by Smith, as cited by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, showed that around 18% increase in the proportion of Asian characters have been observed in the top 1,700 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2023. During the same period, the proportion of White characters decreased from 78% in 2007 to 62% in 2022. Although Asian nominations have dominated Oscars awards in recent years, the total percentage of Asian Oscar winners has been approximately 2% to 4% since the first Oscars season. This proved that even though a shift for more Asian representatives both onscreen and offscreen has been observed, inequality still exists and Asian representatives continue to be less than others looking at the full historical picture.

As such, Western film producers still rule most of the world’s cinema industry. Although earlier films displayed at the Oscars have somewhat improved the influence of Asian figures, their presence still reflects significant disadvantages compared to the West. This raises critical challenges for Asian performers standing firm and striving to achieve new heights in the global film industry.

The success of Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once has indeed created new global attitudes towards Asian films, proving that narratives with particular cultural contexts can achieve box office triumphs. These films have not just only increased representation, but it has paved the way for future generations of Asian film actors and directors aiming to enter the global scene. However, Asian films still remain underrepresented in cinema and Western dominance today continues to provide smaller arenas for these films on the global stage.

For a sustainable change to occur, the film industry should continue to promote diversity through providing more extensive options for global audiences. The present success of Asian films should not be viewed as a standalone victory but as a bridge towards a more diverse and inclusive film industry, where Asian filmmakers are finally noticed and their stories bloom.

This article represents the views of contributors to STEAR's online digital publication, and not those of STEAR, which takes no institutional positions.

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