A Film Critique of “Parasite”

AT – Stem 124- MITS01C

March 18, 2020

Bong Joon Ho’s “ 기생충 ” also known as “Parasite” is a 2019 South Korean drama film
presented by CJ Entertainment on May 30, 2019. The author identified the film as “a comedy
without clowns, a tragedy without villains”. Parasite won a leading four awards at the 92nd
Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International
Feature Film. It became the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award recognition. It
also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the BAFTA Award for
Best Film Not in the English Language, and became the first film not in English to win the Best
Picture andScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion
Picture.

Parasite is a lighthearted comedy, a survival yet a heart touching drama and it tells about
a story of a poor family living in a tiny, dark semi-basement. Jobless, broke, and particularly,
hopeless; the unmotivated patriarch, Ki-Taek, and his unambitious family — his loving wife,
Chung-sook; his pessimistic daughter, Ki-Jung, also known as Jessica, and his college-aged son,
Ki-woo, also known as Kevin, — occupy themselves by folding pizza boxes in their small and
unpleasant basement. Fortunately, there is a lucrative business concept that would pave their way
for a living as Ki-woo gathers the nerve to act as an English tutor to the teenage daughter of the
wealthy family, the Parks, all the way on their family’s path to becoming the servants of the
family.Somehow, the film is like a work of Shakespeare, a tale of two families from opposite
ends of the socio-economic spectrum.

In terms of the technical and convention codes that are presented in the film, it isproperly
utilized. For instance, the switching of background and the displacement of the object from
various angles is already noticeable from the beginning of the film. The transition of clips and
events were well arranged. Also, the audio seemed to be the best fit for setting the emotions of
the film, it is reflecting to its genre. However, the choice of filter is kind of popular in films, yet
the contrast between lighting and exposure and the portrayal of objects still provides the right
aura for its genre.

Regarding to the presented story elements, the character traits of the Kim family are
capable of expressing their eagerness to achieve and experience wealth. However, I don't expect
the Park family, particularly Mrs. Park, to be a gullible housewife to recruit people to work
around them without investigating their background information, even though they are capable
of doing anything about it. Furthermore, the chosen environments of the film were capable of
representing its theme and its thoughts. The plot of the film is great as it relates to the current
state of the world today, with the ambitions of the characters to achieve their goals with wrong
motives to the consequences of doing it; providing a remedy on how Kevin is going to solve the
current situation of his father by buying the abandoned house of the Parks. Overall, it was a great
film that was well portrayed and well presented; it is realistic.

In addition, I`ve notice the social stratification in the film’s flow, because it classifies the
group of individuals into a hierarchy based on wealth, rank, or power. As in the first scenario of
the film, the thick line between rich and poor is already foreseen. The Kim family represents the
life cycle of the poor; how they strive to live and survive. They even believe to a rock that is
meant to bring their family a good luck and great wealth. Well that sums up most of the people in
need, they prefer to believe in such silly stuff in order to give them have a little shred of hope.

Poverty can lead people to take such a risk without worrying about the consequences of it
in order to live. As the film reveals Kim's family parasite to the wealthy ones, they even fooled
the Park family in order to get out of poverty, to somehow experience how to live without
worrying about tomorrow. However in reality, there is always a person who has exactly enough
for surviving, but not more, and a person who has more than enough for living. Just like in the
film when the wife of Mr. Park, the privilege one, states “this rain was such a blessing" without
considering the lives of the poor people, the Kim family, who are struggling to save their lives,
their homes, and other valuable things from the flood. Well, most of the people have so much to
say about how they empathize the poor and how they hate the social stratification, but in fact, in
times of crisis, the privilege one can either decide to help or easily turn away from the oppressed
without hesitation. That`s why you can never trust anyone with their flowery words, because you
can never say if it's just a deceiving scent of a deadly poison.And if I had to decide the outcome
of the film, I`d rather not to. The idea of wealth remains both prison and a fantasy for the Kim
family, something they will seek but never achieve. The film is far more pessimistic; those who
are born poor will die poor and those who are born wealthy will die wealthy. It's a nice thought
that Kevin might become wealthy someday and buy that house to free his father, that this is a
happy ending. Sadly, that's never going to happen, because in reality, the world is never going to
be fair to the poor.