The Image of National Minorities in Popular Culture as Exemplified by Films that Won an Academy Award in the ‘Best Picture’ Category

Abstract

Problems related to national differences are a relevant topic raised in the public sphere. They are also present in popular culture, including cinematography. Among the films that capture such issues, it is important to focus on those awarded with an Academy Award (Oscar). The aim of this paper is to present the results of the research on the image of characters of nationalities different than American and their meaning for analyzed films. The research sample included 90 films that won the aforementioned award in the 'Best Picture' category. Particular attention was paid to cases that showed stereotypes and conflicts related to nationality and whose focus was on the role of migrants. The results of the conducted research showed that national differences were a relevant topic in the awarded films. In many of the analyzed film productions, the nationality thread played a key role, for example, in presenting the way to regain independence or the image and problems of migrants in the United States of America. Moreover, non-American characters appeared in 81% of the analyzed film productions and more than half of them played leading roles.