Sandra Oh's Reaction To 'Parasite's First Oscar Win Is EVERYTHING
Parasite is one of 2019's most perfect movies. A blend of black comedy, horror, drama, and tragedy, it's also a damning critique of the capitalist system. Considering it's in Korean with subtitles, and only had a limited release in the United States, it's a miracle how many Oscar nominations it landed. But director Bong Joon Ho has serious fans in Hollywood, both in the directing world and the acting world. That was on full display as Sandra Oh's reaction to Parasite's first Oscar win proved that Hollywood is cheering for the groundbreaking film.
It's particularly touching for Oh to be excited about Parasite's win. The Canadian-American actress is the daughter of South Korean immigrants. In 2017, she began breaking down barriers in her role as Eve Polastri in BBC America's Killing Eve. She was the first Asian American actress to be nominated for Best Actress at the Emmys and the first to host the Golden Globes in 2018.
Bong Joon Ho is also breaking down barriers. Parasite's win for Best Screenplay was the first ever to go to a South Korean film — or an Asian writer, period — in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards. In the whole of Oscar history, Best Screenplay has only gone to a foreign language film five times prior to this, and all of those were European countries. (The last one was Pedro Almodóvar’s "Talk to Her" in 2002.)
Twitter was also touched by Oh's support for fellow history makers.
This is not the first time Parasite made history this awards season. At the Stage Actors Guild Awards, only a few weeks prior to the Oscars, the film took home the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. This movie beat out the likes of Bombshell, The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Jojo Rabbit. But it was also historic because it was the first time a Foreign Language film had ever won in the category.
Even if Parasite does not take home the hardware for any of its other nominations this evening, writers Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won have officially made history.
