In fact, the film uses the trope of a family settling new land as a way to ensure that the audience can meet the Yi family unencumbered by any juxtaposition to white America. The movie is informed by its characters’ Korean identity, but it is not dictated by it. That’s not to say that Minari is not specifically Korean American, in the same way that The Godfather Part II might be specifically Italian American. The director has been pretty diplomatic when addressing the Golden Globes controversy, telling Gold Derby, “There are all kinds of categories that we have over people and we try to define people, try to define their place in a country, and I think it’s good when we’re being challenged on our categories that we set up, especially when people feel that those categories don’t apply.” It also discounts Chung’s family’s own American experience. This categorization might be technically correct, but practically, distinguishing Minari as “foreign” and apart from the “Best Picture” category enforces the idea that Asian Americans are not real Americans. And yet, the Golden Globes classified the movie as a “Foreign Language Film” nominee because it is mostly in Korean.

Chung’s parents still do, in fact, own a farm in Arkansas. And while it isn’t “based on real events,” the people who inspired the family at the center of Minari are very much real. The film is semi-autobiographical, inspired by Chung’s experiences growing up on a farm in Arkansas, the son of South Korean immigrants.

Film semi family