Critique: 'Parasite' Won, but Asian-Americans Are Still Losing




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This opinion piece talks about the victory of Parasite at the Oscars and the different responses that came from it. While the writer includes their personal experience in the piece, it’s kind of difficult to figure out their angle. As I read it multiple times, I figured that their angle seems to be as international films are gaining proper recognition, Hollywood will continue to take Asian culture into their own hands.  

The writer uses the examples of Jackie Chan in the Rush Hour movies and Bruce Lee in some of his most famous films. Both actors often play a stereotype (or someone from a totally different country they are from) which is seen as demeaning.

There is research scattered throughout the piece from different sources. The sources they provided—I think—are credible, since some came credible news sites such as the New York Times and LA Times. He included a statistic from the Japan Times about the number of Chinese people who had died during the second Sino-Japanese War. He even adds a picture of the tweet from Jon Miller, who he mentioned in the piece. As far as I can see, there were no fallacies in the piece.

I thought the lead was great. The writer used an anecdotal soft lead, the anecdote being his own experience as an Asian growing up in a predominantly white community. This lead made the piece feel more personal and drew the reader in since personal experience is just as good as any other type of source. The kicker was pretty good too. He included a quote for the kicker which summed up his piece.

The quote in the kicker came from the director of Parasite, Bong Joon Ho in which he said that the Academy Awards were “not an international film festival” but “they’re very local.” This went along with his stance very well. Since the writer talks about how “racist” the industry is, the quote plays on that notion.

The story flowed pretty well although it didn’t have any “colorful” transitions. As for keeping the audience interested, the writer didn’t use simple enough language for any reader to want to stick around (including me). The language would require the reader to read the piece at least one more time to get the entirety of it. Even though the lead caught my attention, after reading the next couple of paragraphs, I didn’t want to continue on.

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