Parasite - with many spoilers

Parasite is the South Korean thriller/black comedy directed by Bong Joon Ho that won Best Picture in 2019.

The director’s father used to collect “Scholars rocks” like the one used for luck in the film. Collecting these rocks became a huge part of Korean society between 1392 and 1897 during the Joseon dynasty.

Verdict

My movie ratings consist of thumbs up or middle fingers as sometimes one starring something doesn’t shame it enough. 5 thumbs up = an absolute triumph. 5 middle fingers = a complete piece of shit, go fuck yourself.

Parasite - 3.5 thumbs up

Thought-provoking and entertaining but overhyped.

Favourite quote

“No, no, it’s not that. What is it? Like an old radish. No. You know when you boil a rag? It smells like that." - Mr. Park talking about Mr. Kim.

Also:

“So we’re all gathered here today to celebrate the reconnection of our phones, and this bounteous Wi-Fi!" - Mr. Kim toasting the stolen Wi-Fi from a flat above the family's semi-basement.

Favourite scene

My favourite scene is quite tame considering what unfolds during the story. The bit I enjoyed the most was the daughter of the Kim family bullshitting the affluent Mother of the Park family about art therapy after sending her out of the room during the ‘lesson’. The shift in the power balance was immensely entertaining.

I also liked that they decided to call the Kim’s Son “Mr. Kevin”.

Best meme from the movie

Analysis

I’m sure the social commentary in this movie was lost on nobody. There is no corner of the earth where there isn’t a wealth gap of some sort dividing the populace. Perhaps Papua New Guinea... although even the indigenous cannibal tribes there have a Chief who I’m sure has more coveted man-skin drums and a greater share of the virgin blood. The intention of this movie was to show the cruel reality of society and the terrible way in which wealth is distributed. Distributed, not necessarily earned.

The title itself completely shapes the film and is a very clever aspect of it, leading us to slowly understand who the parasites are in this specific story, or does it? The title actually works quite cleverly in allowing people to draw different conclusions, possibly based on their own social status.

Cheonmin - To understand the potential parasites identified, a bit of Korean background information is necessary. Dynastical Korea used to have an Indian-esque caste system. People were judged by their job and status in society, which they inherited from their father and his status and job. A cycle that it is obviously impossible to escape. The lowest caste; Cheonmin, roughly translates as ‘Vulgar commoners’. Cheonmin would work in such professions as butchers, metalworkers, servants, and prostitutes. Jobs akin to modern-day pizza box makers, Drivers etc that the Kim family tend to have. South Korea has come a long way since the Joseon dynasty ended in 1897 but threads remain throughout the culture**. I believe one of this film’s ambitions was to shed light on this. So, from the perspective of a wealthy high caste member of society, the Kim family are parasites, weedling their way into the Park’s household to leech money from one family’s bank account to another. They are even depicted as behaving in a way that would be considered low class, getting drunk and rowdy at several points.

I don’t personally subscribe to this view. The Kim’s are a family providing services to the Parks. They are earning their money fair and square, but they have stepped outside of society's caste constraints to get there. As Mr. Kim says himself; driving is not difficult, neither are any of the jobs the Kims perform for the parks, but landing them in the first place would be with an overeducated Korean populace meaning that even Chauffeurs require a degree. For me, this distribution of wealth doesn’t look like one huge tick sucking money from a giant [cash] cow. I see it as a tiered fountain. The wealth is poured into the Park’s huge bank account at the top until it is overflowing. They have too much. The excess then trickles into the next tier, the Kim’s bank account. When they’ve finally earned their way out of squalor and saved up enough, they too will be able to pass on some wealth.

The “Ghost” in the basement is another obvious candidate for the title of ‘parasite’. He lives an insane reality in the bunker beneath the house adoring Mr. Park and eating food his wife, the housekeeper sneaks down there. Mr. Park’s one criticism of his housekeeper is that “She eats enough for two”. This seems to fit when we discover them in the basement, but we later learn that the housekeeper buys her own food for her husband (it comes up when they break out of the basement using the mobile phone as leverage). Therefore, Mr. Parks is once again being a snob and commenting on the housekeeper’s weight. Interestingly, the housekeeper and her husband consider themselves a higher caste than the Kims for being able to appreciate the architecture of the house and not drinking alcohol.

So who are the parasites? the Parks? No. Just no. They are incredibly lucky to be where they are in society but it’s a bit of a reach to assume that Mr. Park is leeching money illegally from the job we barely ever see him do. In an interview, Bong Joon Ho said he was trying to imply that “Hope” is a parasite. Much like the speech Mr. Park gives to his son after being thrown into a metaphorical as well as literal shitstorm.

The idea of hope as a parasite resonates inside my faulty, pessimistic heart. It’s entirely on my wavelength but it doesn’t quite summarize the 2 hours 12 minutes of footage quite as perfectly as I’d like. I’d say the word ambition suits better. Once you’ve been identified as a certain class, caste, or profession, it is near impossible to be judged in another light. You remain forever chained to your past via your CV. The school you went to DOES matter, your postcode DOES matter. This is what makes the ending of the movie so sad. The now brain-damaged son of the Kim family is destined for failure. If life was a Golf tournament, the Kim’s son was entered into The Masters with a crazy golf putter, now a brain-damaged ex-con, they may as well exchange that putter for a cricket bat. His Dad is never getting out of that basement.

If I ever have a child I’ll give them one piece of advice; Don’t even try.

Social commentary aside, the reason I can’t score this movie a full five, or even four stars is that I feel it was overhyped. I’d heard too many things about how good it was and how it had an amazing unpredictable twist. What I received fell well short of what I was anticipating. Granted the people in the basement popping up was weird, but I did feel like Bong was just making it up as he went along and happened to fall upon some lucky ideas late into the project to tie it all together. Never-the-less it worked and it was good, but I wasn't blown away.

The bottom line

Everything is pointless. Don’t even try.

**Side Note: It is not hard to see how being born into a situation where you are taught you are better than most of society as a birthright might have inspired another, more famous Kim family. As well as explaining how people may have easily come to accept them in their roles as forever leaders, champions of the world.