South Korea has fallen into a wave of national celebration since "Parasite" made history at the Oscars on Monday.

The film, a dark social satire from South Korea, won four Oscars, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film and Best Picture. No film had ever won both international feature film and best picture at the Oscars. "Parasite," about the gap between rich and poor in modern Seoul, beat movies by major studios and Hollywood veterans such as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.

"Parasite" has grabbed over 36 million U.S. dollars in North America, making it one of the most profitable non-English films on the continent. It has also smashed box office records for a foreign language film in many other countries, including Italy, Spain and Vietnam.

Nationwide celebrations

"Parasite" was first released on May 30 in South Korea last year. Many cinemas across the country have rerun the film since its big win at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The black-and-white version will also hit the cinemas on February 26.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in congratulated the movie's crew members the same day the Oscar results were announced. In a message posted on Twitter, the president said that the film "has moved the hearts of people around the world with a most uniquely Korean story."

Unexpectedly, director Bong Joon Ho is also getting support from conservatives in the country. One candidate seeking election in the upcoming parliamentary election has proposed naming a street after Bong and erecting statues to him and his characters, according to Bloomberg. The report also says that another candidate even proposed building a film museum in the director's hometown.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Tourism Organization has launched a tour of the film's locations this week. Much of the movie was shot on purpose-built sets. Both the rich Parks' mansion and the poor Kims' squalid "sub-basement" apartment were inspired by, and set amid real neighborhoods in the capital city.

Criticism over undue celebrations

Not everyone is embracing the countrywide celebrations. The Korea Times, a veteran English newspaper in South Korea, published an opinion piece questioning the "overreaction" to the film's success.

Entitled "Is Korea overreacting to 'Parasite' success?" the author sharply argues that the celebration has gone too far. "Gaining recognition there is worth celebrating, but we are acting as if it proved we are the best in the world and altered the course of the nation," he wrote.

The author explained that the Academy Award is a U.S. festival in Hollywood and celebrating cannot by itself be faulted. But he said that it's "uncool to claim ownership of the win and get nationalistic by acting as if the film were a new source of Korean pride."

(Cover photo: Crew members of "Parasite" attend a press conference during the 92nd Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and on February 10, 2020 in Hollywood, California. /VCG Photo)