SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED THE FILM
Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite," released in 2019, captivated global audiences with its intricate storytelling and sharp social commentary. This South Korean masterpiece transcended language barriers to shed light on universal themes of class disparity and societal divisions. In this blog post, we will delve into the profound cultural context of "Parasite," dissecting its exploration of socioeconomic layers and offering insight into its impact on contemporary discourse.
The Socioeconomic Layers:
Class Struggle and Disparity: "Parasite" meticulously portrays the contrasting lives of two families from different socioeconomic backgrounds: the affluent Park family and the struggling Kim family. The film exposes the stark disparities in wealth, privilege, and opportunities. The Kims' desperate attempts to infiltrate the lives of the Parks highlight the lengths individuals may go to escape poverty, while also underscoring the inherent power imbalances within society.
Metaphor of Parasitism: The title of the film itself holds a metaphorical significance, emphasizing the parasitic relationship between the two families. As the Kim family gradually integrates into the lives of the Parks, the film raises questions about exploitation, dependency, and the blurred lines between victim and oppressor. This narrative serves as a reflection of broader systemic issues in which the marginalized are often pushed to exploit the system to survive.
Architectural Symbolism: The stark contrast between the architectural designs of the Parks' luxurious home and the Kims' cramped basement dwelling is a powerful visual representation of class divide. The Park residence, elevated and surrounded by pristine nature, stands as a symbol of affluence and isolation. In contrast, the Kims' basement represents confinement, marginalization, and the harsh realities of poverty.
Discussion Questions for Reflection:
- Visual Storytelling and Set Design: "Parasite" employs meticulous set design and visual cues to convey its themes. Choose a specific scene or location from the film, such as the Park residence or the Kims' apartment, and analyze how the design and visual elements contribute to the film's exploration of socioeconomic layers. How do these elements help establish the mood and deepen the audience's understanding of the characters' circumstances?
- Satire and Social Critique: Bong Joon-ho employs dark humor and satirical elements to critique societal norms and structures. Identify a humorous or satirical moment in the film that reflects larger social issues. How does the director's use of satire add layers of meaning to the narrative? Discuss the effectiveness of using humor to address serious topics and encourage critical reflection.
- Finally, Did you like the film? Why/Why Not?
1. A scene that stood out to me in the way it represented the socioeconomic layers was when the Kim family was fleeing the Park residence after the traumatic events in the basement and the Parks’ sudden return home from their camping trip. In the scene, the Kim family, specifically Kiwoo, Kijung, and Kitaek, are running away from the Park’s house out of panic. Throughout, we see the Kims hurriedly run down a series of staircases or downward slopes. The use of the staircases represents the Kims' descent from high-class status. The entirety of the film is focused on the Kims trying to obtain a higher income and social status by “leeching” off the Park’s wealth. At that point in the film, the Kims are well-inducted into high-class life where they are now accustomed to the Park’s affluence they are benefitting from. When they leave the residence in a rush, it is a snap back to reality for them as they have to “climb” back down to the social ladder where they belong. Bong’s use of wide shots and extreme wide shots allows the scene to feel excluded and observant. As an audience, we feel as if we are watching this tragedy take place, as the Kims scurry down the stairs to whatever is waiting back at their apartment.
ReplyDelete2. A scene that uses humorous elements is when the Park family finds female underwear in their chauffeur's car. The Kims had planted the underwear as a way to get the chauffeur fired so that Kitaek could get hired instead. When the Parks find the underwear, the wife, Yeonkyo panics at the thought that the woman who may own the underwear could have been on drugs. This moment is seen as humorous due to the wife's dramatic and outlandish reaction to the underwear. However, later in the film when the Park husband and wife are together on the couch in a suggestive manner, Yeonkyo asks for her husband to buy her drugs. The contrast of these two scenes demonstrates the social issue of how the rich view the poor. In the instance of the chauffeur and the alleged woman in the car, drugs are seen as a bad thing and looked down upon. But, when someone of a higher class indulges in drugs it’s seen as normal and a delicacy. These scenes allow the audience to understand the juxtaposition of the classes and how they view/interact with each other.
3. I did enjoy this film. I remember when it came out and everyone was praising it for how good it was. I’m glad I was finally able to watch it and understand the hype surrounding it. I think the movie did a great job of showing the differences between social classes. The name of the movie allows the audience to question which social class is the “parasite”. The poor manipulate the rich into giving them money or the rich feeding off all the hard work done by the lower class. It really made me think about the situation. The birthday party scene really stuck out to me as I watched members of the Kim family get terribly stabbed, while the Parks and other rich families ran away worrying about themselves rather than the people actually seriously injured.
1. At the very beginning of the film, we see that the Kim family lives in an underground apartment. Their house is messy, dirty, has bugs, and crammed with things placed everywhere so it feels almost claustrophobic. A person can be seen fumigating the street from out the window and instead of closing the window so that all the toxic gas does not enter the house, Ki-taek says to leave it open in hopes it would get rid of all the bugs, like free fumigating but instead they all end up coughing wishing they had closed it while the camera does a close up of Ki-taek’s face with a hard expression. This scene shows how much they are struggling and these elements help establish the mood and deepen the audience’s understanding of the characters’ circumstances because they are seeing the way the Kim family is forced to live and how it is affecting them. It especially contributes to the film’s exploration of socioeconomic layers when the Park family home is shown and it is way bigger and spacious than the Kim family home and has everything that the Kim family only wished they could afford to have.
ReplyDelete2. A satirical element is used to critique societal norms and structures. There is a scene where Moon-gwang threatens to send the video of the Kim family that would expose them to the Park family. Moon-gwang’s husband refers to the send button as a missile launcher. Almost like a North Korean rocket and a North Korean missile button that if threatened to be pushed people would not be able to do anything about it. Moon-gwang gives a whole speech about how she refers to herself as the Great Leader in the age of denuclearization and they laugh at the North Korean news anchors who say the same things. As all this is happening in the foreground the Kim family is in the background with their hands in the air, almost as if they are being held hostage and at gunpoint. This satirical element reflects larger social issues and adds layers of meaning to the narrative by showing how truly scared the people are. They are using humor as a way to cope with the overwhelming feeling of helplessness from their government and encourage critical reflection because it makes the audience really think about what they just said and perhaps what deeper meaning it could have.
3. I liked the film because the story and visuals were very engaging. I thought the differentiation between social classes was very well conveyed.
1. A good place to analyze is the Park residence, as it also has the bunker within it. The bunker, which the man lived in and now Mr. Kim lives in, is dingy, dark, grossly colored and depressing while the rest of the house is vivid, lively, artistic and modern. The bunker, though the Park’s own the house and therefore should understand the layout, goes completely unnoticed by the Park’s throughout the entire film. This is a metaphorical representation of the misunderstanding or obliviousness that the upper-class has regarding the lower classes. The juxtaposition of the living conditions of the classes also emphasizes the disparity between the two.
ReplyDelete2. The moment in which the Kim family is fighting tooth and nail against the previous maid and her husband to maintain their status as working for the Park family and not be arrested is a powerfully satirical moment. The Park family, whilst calmly enjoying their evening once they return home from a failed camping trip, are completely oblivious to the literal war that both the Kim family and two others are having with one another to keep themselves alive and afloat. The previous maid and her husband battle to keep the husband fed and alive while the Kim family fights to keep their reputation alive so that they can prosper financially. Because their ambitions end up contradicting one another, they get into a fight that escalates so much that the climax is a direct result of these events, in which much of the Kim family is lost and the father of the Park family is murdered in anger. The previous maid suffers a fatal brain injury in addition to a weaponized allergic reaction and the Kim family has to swiftly pick up the mess that they made and in addition to this, lock away the maid and her husband in the basement. This huge struggle is juxtaposed with the calm entrance and subtlety of the Park family. This moment is meant to highlight the effort that was required of the Kim family compared to the Park family to merely be on the same playing field economically, which in all reality isn’t really true, as their positions as master and servant didn’t change; the Kim family, after all their effort, which ultimately resulted in murder, didn’t even compare to the success that the Park family experienced, who were completely oblivious to both the literal physical struggle between those two forces as well as the constant struggle those in poverty experience merely trying to live their lives to the fullest.
Delete3. I thought that it was quite strange, but ultimately I feel like that was a charming aspect of the film; it was definitely intentional to make the movie quite unrealistic as it was a satire meant to overexpress the issues existent in real life. It was stressful and scary in its own right, though it was not what I expected coming into the film. Whenever I heard the term “thriller”, I expected something horrific or scary, which I wasn’t sure was a correct way to define the genre but I hadn’t experienced anything to contradict that until then. Now I further understand the genre better as a genre meant to invoke fear, anxiety, or a sense of anticipation within the audience. I thought that the plot, though quite simple, was very interesting and tragic, which perfectly encapsulates the message intended to be conveyed through the film. The Kim family only experiences loss and is expected to do the worst they are capable of to merely exist in a fair economic standpoint while the Park family is able to casually exist and happily at that. The rich are unaware of the struggles of the poor and are insensitive to the poor experience and the poor are forced to either war with one another or live in their cramped homes, relying on free 2g wifi from nearby shops, convenience store goods for food, with no jobs, low pay rates, with a lack of ability to get higher education to possibly get better living conditions for themselves. The rich embellish in their wealth and the poor merely get to bear witness as they themselves can never aspire to live a happy, prosperous life, rather, no more than fantasize that they themselves may have been born into opportunities beyond their own.
Delete1. Set design is used when the audience is first introduced to the Kim family. They live in a small underground apartment that's dirty, has bugs, the appliances in their home look old, is crammed with things that aren’t in their conventional place (like their clothing rack being in their living room) and they also have wires running along the ceiling in their apartment. When the fumigation man shows up to fumigate the neighborhood Ki-Jung says to close the windows because the gas is toxic, but Ki-taek tells his family to leave them open also they’ll get free fumigation. Even the outside of where the Kims live looks dirty and crammed. But when the audience is introduced to the park family it's at the same time as Ki-woo so it's as if we’re entering a new world. The Park family lives in a spacious house, with new appliances, and new technology (like intercoms at the front door and a front door that opens itself). When Ki-woo goes upstairs with Park Yeon-Kyo the director uses tracking to show the Park families' luxurious home. The choice of introducing the characters through their homes creates background of the film’s exploration of socioeconomic layers because right away the audience can see the economic differences between the Parks and the Kims, the Kim family is desperate and struggling while the Park family is wealthy and comfortable, and can make the connection that the Park family has everything the Kim family wants (high paying jobs, education, and a nice home in a nice neighborhood).
ReplyDelete2. In one scene Park Dong-Ik finds women's underwear in the driver’s car. When he shows Park Yeon-Kyo the two start to discuss the possible state of the women that would make her forget her undergarments. Yeon-Kyo then suddenly and dramatically panics, wondering if the woman was on drugs. But later in the film, Park Yeon-Kyo asks her husband to buy drugs for her. Despite judging the woman in the car for forgetting her underwear (who was really Ki-Jung planting it so the driver would get fired), it's as if Yeon-Kyo thinks that when people of high class such as herself do drugs it's okay. But when it's people of lower classes its a bad thing that she casts judgment on.
3. I liked the film, I think the story and visual elements were engaging. This is the second Bong Joon-ho film I’ve watched and I want to watch more.