Parasite: A Korean Family Feud
Parasite is what happens when economic and class inequality is personified in a monstrous form. Director Bong Joon-ho’s masterful cinematography and gripping dialogue leads to a suspense-filled classic of modern cinema.
In the film, an idyllic upper-class life shadows a trail of deceit left behind by a lower-class Korean family. The Kims, Ki-taek, his wife Chung-sook, their son Ki-woo, and daughter Ki-jung are a lower-class family who have to cling to their ceiling for free Wi-Fi. Living in a Seoul basement apartment, this family is barely hanging on to what little they have. Ki-woo becomes fortunate when an old friend gives him an English tutoring job while he leaves to study abroad. This job happens to be for the daughter of the wealthy Park family, where Ki-woo pretends to have a college degree.
Subsequently, the daughter Ki-jung becomes an art therapist for the family’s youngest child, thanks to the recommendation of Ki-woo. Ki-taek and Chung-sook follow suit. Ki-taek becomes the family’s driver after Ki-jung plants her underwear in the old driver’s car, and Chung-sook replaces the old housekeeper after the Kim family sprinkles shades of peaches towards her, which she is allergic to.
Through this elaborate scheme, the Kim family slowly weaves their way into the life and house of the Park family, servicing themselves with their utilities. A seemingly parasitic approach, where the lower-class Kim family is habitually exploiting the wealthy Park family. Ironically, Yeon-kyo refers to a “belt of trust” when describing the Kim family’s chain of employment recommendations. Yeon-kyo also hates when people cross the line (“she may look like a sheep but inside she’s a fox”) even though she is actively employing and endorsing these con-artists, for lack of a better term. In this lavish, wealth-filled lifestyle, the Kim’s embody the Park’s. The day a ghost in the house brings wealth, and the Kim family represent those ghosts.
As viewers have seen in other timeless Bong Joon-ho films such as Snowpiercer and The Host, Joon-ho likes to deconstruct the morality behind the wealthy citizens versus the poor. In these introspective journeys, it becomes evident that Joon-ho’s filmmaking is a social commentary on the humanity of society as a whole. What does it mean to be rich? What does it mean to be poor? These are questions that Joon-ho attempts to answer in Parasite and films alike through his visual techniques.
The cinematography of Parasite serves the story by evoking class division. In a shot of the staircase leading to the secret basement bunker, the horizontal lines represent a lowering of class, a startling visual stratification. This also occurs through the visual contrast from the well-lit upstairs area and the dimly lit semi-basement with no windows. This dynamism is achieved through the film’s creative cinematography.
It is interesting to note that there is heavy thunder and rain when the Kim family resides in the mansion. In contrast, the Park family’s presence brings about pleasant weather radiating through the open windows and a feeling of cleanliness and order in the household. A reoccurring motif is the symbolic stone Ki-woo carries around, which is ostensibly a sign of wealth. A stone that he hangs onto for dear life but a stone that also leads to his downfall. This superb mansion contains as many layers as the narrative itself. Particularly, in the two family’s distinct motivations and the stunning visual contrasts.
The division of social classes is so enthralling in Parasite that it hits you like a truck. The term “eat the rich” is often used as a rhetorical device. But for anyone wanting to see the rich truly subjugated, this dramatic, symbiotic thriller is a must-watch.
