Parasite

[Katherine Oh]

Parasite is comedic yet suspenseful Korean film that tells the story of a poor family who uses their connections and prior work experiences to manipulate and take control of a household.  The film focused on the social hierarchy and the struggles of making one's way up the social ladder, due to the societal status of one's parents. It shows the gap between different groups in society as well as the physical differences and lifestyles of the class system. 

After watching the film in theaters, I was surprised by the ending as well as the audience's response to the ending credits. It was the first time I was in a movie theater in Hollywood where 75% of the audience was non-asian, who clapped and expressed their awe towards the movie at the end. Not only has the director of the film, Jong Bong-Ho received high remarks about his film, but so have the actors from the film. 

There were so many “plot twists” in the movie that reveals deeper conflicts and issues in present day Korea that has not been represented or revealed in other films. As a Korean American, I was grateful to see a film that represents my culture and heritage in the mainstream media. I also saw my own friends, who do not identify as Korean, praise the movie and give it high reviews on social media. If I were to integrate this movie in my classroom, I would show clips of the different family lifestyles of the characters and ask students to share what they notice and why they think these two different families live the way that they do and what kind of attitudes they might have due to their lifestyles. I will then share with the students that even though the poor family might seem "nicer" because they have less, the movie actually depicts the family as a parasite, or annoying bug that takes everything for its own survival. I won't show the graphic scenes from the movie but I might share how the story ends and asks students if that was what they expected, even after seeing the different lifestyles of the two families.

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[Jonathan Tam]

I am very late to the Parasite train - watching it almost a year after its initial release and months after its academy award win. The plus to watching it this late though is that it is a film that I am assuming a lot of students have watched at this point. WIth its accessibility on Hulu as well as its appeal to thriller fans, Parasite seems to be a great gateway into foreign cinema for students and its implications are going to be what I talk about in this review.

It’s a well known fact that Parasite is a film about social class. Within minutes of starting the film or from talking about the film with other people, one of the more immediate things you’ll hear is that it’s a film about disparities in wealth and power. I think that for many students who are around the high school age and have seen this film will gather that. But, what I found much more interesting about the film is its title - parasite - and my thoughts on the film are actually similar to another film: Sorry to Bother You. If you watch the film closely enough, you’ll start asking yourself who is the parasite and who is the host. Was the main character’s family members parasites to him? His family members did use him to get jobs and a nice house. Were those bottom bunker dwellers parasites to the rich family? I think that this is the most apparent example. Or were the rich family members parasites to? They were hardly able to take care of themselves and fell so quickly to the rumors and lies that the poor family made.

By the climax of the film when murder is committed, you realize that the film does far more than paint the social issues of our society because it’s very clear that there are more than just wealth and power issues in our society.. There are exploitation issues. We are impulses away from stable relationships turning into unstable ones - and symbiotic relationships turning into parasitic ones. We are constantly looking to get ahead by whatever means necessary and it will be what kills us in the end. I think that this platform for discussing the film might be a far more interesting one.

It’s one thing to say that capitalism is the issue in societies where wealth is disparaged, but it’s another to also say that our mindsets in any system are far more important.

 

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