If you’re a millennial baby like me, the High School Musical trilogy was a big deal. “We’re all in this together” and “Fabulous” are the soundtracks to our childhoods, and in a burst of lockdown nostalgia, I took a trip down memory lane and rewatched the trilogy.
Last year, Parasite became the first South-Korean film to be nominated at the Oscars. It also became the first non-English language film to win Best Picture, taking home four Academy Awards in total. In contrast, this year the Golden Globes brought some controversy surrounding the exclusion of Korean-American film Minari. Undoubtedly, international cinema in predominantly English speaking countries has increased in popularity in recent years.
Hollywood’s perception of age has always been skewed. Actors over 60 are almost non-existent and teenagers are played by people who probably have a mortgage. This has inevitable affected our self-perception, and some young adults, fresh out of their adolescent years, feel they must fulfil their life dreams before they reach the ‘dreaded’ age of 30.
The power of art lies in its ability to make us feel things. Some say it is better to receive a negative reaction to your art than none at all, as at least it means you have made someone feel something. Yet currently, in the height of ‘cancel culture’ the freedom of art is being challenged, and it seems art is losing its right to offend.
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