How 'The Farewell' proves The Academy still has racism issues.

The Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang and released in 2019, was a film loved by both movie goers and critics alike. Praised for it’s gorgeous direction and heart warming story; fans were left in bewilderment when the film received zero recognition from the Academy. I myself was perplexed as to why until I saw the film listed as a ‘foreign film’ that follows the life of an American going back to China. Then it all began to make sense to me as to why the film was snubbed.

It is well known that foreign films have a tougher time breaking into the zeitgeist of Oscars season. Even the recent Norwegian film Worst Person in the World only received recognition under the best foreign film category, which irked many fans of the film, but chalking The Farewell up to just being a victim of the foreign film category over simplifies the main issue here… The Farewell isn’t a foreign film!

At first, a claim like this may shock many people but I will break this down as simply as I can to help highlight the issues of prejudice in the academy, and maybe even within ourselves. The movie is directed by Lulu Wang, yes she is Chinese born but moved to America at only the age of 6 so is far more American than Chinese. Furthermore, under this logic we have to consider Roman Polanski a foreign director as he does not come from any English speaking country (Poland or France). So why is Lulu Wang treated differently?

Rather than just say this is because she is a woman who is not white, I will try to provide some actual evidence as to this being the case. Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and was not treated as a foreign film because the director, Danny Boyle, is not a ‘foreign’ man.

To my second point, the movie is about an American girl visiting a foreign country but is still considered a ‘foreign film’. Many in the west consider this film a Chinese film, where as many in China consider this a Western film. If we are to apply this logic to ANY other film, you can see how this way of thinking carries no water. We don’t consider Indiana Jones a peruvian movie, nor do we consider The Mummy an Egyptian classic. All three of these films are about an American, visiting a foreign country directed by Americans.

Regarding the counterpoint that Drive My Car is a japanese film that was nominated for best picture, I only need to point you towards the Black Panther/Popular Film category debacle to show that the academy is not above shoehorning in ‘representation’ to help upkeep an image.

Why I have such frustration with The Farewell being considered a ‘foreign film’ is that we don’t consider these other films in the same regard. What’s the difference between The Farewell and Indiana Jones? Representation. Hollywood and the Academy don’t view white men as foreign (Spielberg, Ford, Polanski) but two Asian women, BOTH having grown up in America, are viewed as foreign because of the way they look.

The Farewell doesn’t have an identity issue, the Academy has a recognition issue.