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Golden Globes 2021: What is the 'Minari' controversy and why are fans saying it 'reeks of xenophobia, racism'?

One fan summarized the outrage stating, 'Movies about immigrant stories in America are only American when its based on White immigrants'

Do you have your eyes set on the Golden Globes 2021? The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has rolled out its complete yearly review for The Golden Globes nominations and there seems to be quite a lot of controversy over ‘Minari’ — a 2020 American drama film directed by Lee Isaac Chung — that will reportedly not be competing in the Golden Globes ‘Best Film’ category.

‘Minari’ (which means water dropwort) will not be eligible for the main category ‘Best Picture’ award citing it is predominantly made in a foreign language, that is Korean, a Variety report noted. The exclusion follows suit of 2019’s ‘The Farewell’, which also saw the same fate at The Golden Globes citing the usage of Mandarin.

The movie follows the story of a South Korean immigrant family in America in quest of a better life. Did you know the cast includes South Korean-American actor Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Youn Yuh-Jung and Will Patton? Premiered on January 26, 2020, at Sundance Film Festival, the film has won both the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the US Dramatic Audience Award.

After its release, the film reached several viewers and ‘Minari’s exclusion from the Best Film category has sparked much outrage on social media as users are accusing the committee of being racist and bearing the White gatekeeping culture.

What is the controversy?

Shedding light on the rules, Variety wrote, "The Globes eligibility rules state that any film with at least 50% of non-English dialogue goes into the foreign-language category, and movies that compete for best foreign-language film can’t win the best musical/comedy or best drama prize. The film’s distributor, A24, confirms that it submitted 'Minari' into the foreign language category due to the current rules. In other words, the company had no choice and thought this was the only avenue for recognition of the film itself."

The report further read: "However, other films that have a great deal of non-English dialogue, such as 'Babel' and 'Inglourious Basterds' have competed for Globes, with 'Babel' winning the drama honor in 2006." As of now, the HFPA has not responded, and going by the Variety report, it has declined to comment.

What do fans feel?

One Twitter user said, "The difference is that this was written directed by an American and produced by American production companies and has an American lead actor and English is spoken in the film. But go off I guess." Another outraged user said, "...BUT IT'S SET IN AMERICA, SPECIFICALLY ABOUT AN AMERICAN DREAM, AND HAS MOMENTS WHERE THE CHARACTERS SPEAK AND LEARN ENGLISH TO INTEGRATE INTO AMERICAN SOCIETY. Jesus Christ, the lengths people will go to in order to other every film that's not made mostly by white people…"

Another summarized the outrage stating, "Movies about immigrant stories in America are only American when its based on white immigrants." While another user pointed out, “Just say the film wasn't white enough for yall!"

A blogger, ‘Angry Asian Man’, stated, “Minari is the most/best American movie I saw this year. This is complete b******t." And added, "1. The Golden Globes, on the whole, are a joke. 2. These rules are truly terrible. 3. Clearly, nobody foresaw a scenario in which an American movie about an American family, set in America, could be performed in anything other than English." Another user shared, "They are scared because of Parasite. Whew the xenophobia reeks."

A similar tweet read, "@goldenglobes continue to show how xenophobia & racist it is. Minari is an American film. The US is a melting pot full of different cultures & ethnicities. Just going to your profile and scrolling to see only non-BIPOC media is very telling…"

Check out more stills from the film here:

Watch the trailer here:

The complete list of Golden Globe nominations will be announced on February 3. The ceremony is set to take place on February 28. To know more about Golden Globes, click here.