Why the Academy’s Disqualification of Lionheart Was a Form of Linguicism
NOTE: I thought the following paper I wrote last year for my Cinema Studies final is particularly relevant to the conversation about the decision made by The Golden Globes to put Minari, Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical film about a Korean American family in 1980s Arkansas, in the Best Foreign Language Film category instead of the best Dramatic Film category. This mirrors the conversation about language and imperialism that I wrote about last year when the Nigerian film, Lionheart, was disqualified from the Best International Film category of the 2020 Oscars.
INTRODUCTION
If I were a betting person then I would guess that the most popular ice breaker question in any room of adults is, “So, what do you do?” This question has become a shorthand for “Who are you?” that people use to determine whether or not the other person is interesting enough to hold a conversation with. I’m not saying that this is right, I’m just saying that this is true. So much of our identity as an adult has become wrapped up in how we make a living. We are, in some sense, where we work and who we…
Tiffany ‘New York’ Pollard, YouTube, and Soundcloud created the environment for ‘Old Town Road’ to become a hit
Lil Nas X was correct to compare his life to a movie in the lyrics of his hit song “Old Town Road.” The “country-trap” earworm has now catapulted the 20-year-old rapper from relative obscurity into record-breaking fame. Not only has the genre-bending song officially achieved diamond certification (10 million units of streams and sales), it also became the longest-running #1 song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 list with a 19-week run. …
Anuli Akanegbu
Anuli Akanegbu (Pronounced: Ah-noo-lee A-ka-nay-boo) is a transdisciplinary scholar and media maker working at the intersection of Internet culture and race.
