Ki-Woo (Choi Woo-Shik), has a plan to help his struggling family get out of poverty and the dirty, dingy semi-basement apartment they huddle together in. He plans to take over for his friend as an English tutor for tech company CEO Park Dong's (Lee Sun Kyun) daughter Da-Hye (Jung Ji-So). While there, he hatches a scheme to not only bring on his sister Ki-Jeong (Park So-Dam) as an art therapist for young Park Da-Song (Jung Hyoon-Jun), but his father Kim Ki-Taek (Song Kang-Ho) as Dong's personal driver and mother Chung-Sook (Jang Hye-Jin) as the housekeeper and maid of Dong's wife Choi Yo-Jeong. While the Kim family run their little collective hustle, events take a turn for the strange and things escalate to a shocking, brutal conclusion.
Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite starts out as a kind of dark comedy, with a family on the brink of destitution while they struggle for work and are down on their luck. It's almost like the opening to Mickey And The Beanstalk with everyone huddled close together and trying to find something, anything to eat and get through the day. It'd be depressing if it weren't for the almost absurd ways they try to make money and keep their phones on through searching the house for a wi-fi signal and chasing away drunks who urinate near their window. So naturally, they'd jump at the chance at even the slightest hint of a better life when it's presented to them.
It doesn't take long for this movie to remind me of Snowpiercer, Joon-Ho's 2013 drama about class warfare on a train rolling along a desolate planet Earth in a post apocalyptic future. The Kims, people of little opportunity and means try to climb up the ladder of success through any methods necessary. They hustle and manipulate to get some of the good fortune from those who have enjoyed an almost obscene amount of material wealth. The way they do this is ethically questionable at best, but such is the world they, and unfortunately we, live in where such methods become almost necessary to even make ends meet. The result of the cult of materialism and the bondage of modern capitalism.
It's easy to see why this movie comes with this particular title. If anything it's pretty much on-the-nose. The Kims, in essence, feed off of the pay that the Parks give them for their work (unknowingly on the Parks's part) and then suddenly they realize that they aren't the only ones who've had this idea, or at the very least, aren't the only ones with problems dealing with their lot in life. Each family takes their turn privately looking down on the other, not recognizing the humanity in others, treating them as means to an end or as simple tools to use and discard on a whim.
The film makes it a point to bring up young Da-Song's obsession with Native American (called Indian in the film) activities, culture and garb. Whether or not this is considered cultural appropriation is something that I am, admittedly, not educated enough to gauge, though I would say he seems particularly enamored with the watered-down "Americanized" version of it. It's entirely possible they consider it a phase of impressionable childhood fascination as one does. On the other hand, I think the inclusion of this character quirk is not just for "you little rascal" type shenanigans, but an explicit reminder of how anglo-centric cultures like majority white societies borrow or feed off of the cultures of others.
Take the American settlers, for instance. Arriving on a land already settled by various Native American tribes. Little by little, they take and take and take until they begin to have this notion that what they have stolen was already theirs or that they deserve it more than those who have learned to balance their respect for nature with their need for consumption of food, shelter, etc; People do what they must to survive. Morality or even dignity often times don't factor into it. It simply is what it is. But it's when the bar for what constitutes "survival" raises higher and higher that one can question the morality behind the methods with any sort of authority. It's one thing for a poor man to steal a load of bread to avoid starvation. It's an entirely different thing for a billionaire to steal money from his own company for his own personal hoarding.
Parasite doesn't try to make one family or group better than the other. All have their flaws and prejudices toward the other and engage in almost vicious condescension behind each other's backs. Park Dong constantly makes reference to Mr. Kim's raunchy stench, brought about by stink bugs introduced in the first scene. Mr .Kim repeatedly asks Mr. Park about loving his wife, to which the latter either blithely concedes or dismisses entirely.The characters constantly refer to Mrs. Park as "simple" and we get implications of Da-Hye having repeated affairs with her young English tutors. The Kims are benefiting off of the Park's wealth that Mr. Park has worked for. However, the disrespect the Parks have for Mr. Kim especially, weighs on Ki-Taek, as evidenced by multiple outbursts whenever his pride is wounded or he is insulted. He learns all too late that sometimes your dignity is the currency with which those who hire you want in trade.
Envy and the feeling of want can drive people to unethical extremes and in our modern hyper-capitalist society that considers greed not just good but a necessity, it's its own parasitic nature that creates poverty for many, opportunities for few. Instead of trickling down like Regan promised in the 80's, capitalism, particularly for the top percentile of "job creators" and "billionaires" feeds itself like an economic ouroboros. It's a financial feedback loop that is unsustainable with prices ever swelling and less people being able to afford even basic needs. It's no wonder impoverished people turn to hustling or other less savory methods of making money simply to stay afloat. Those in need have little choice but to either take it for themselves or rely on the whims of those of means.
We all have to consume to survive, whether it be food, resources for shelter and clothing, land, even simple pleasures. Some covet what others take for granted, and yet others squander abundance when spoiled for choice. Others think those who are without are the most free of all, unburdened by choice. There may truly be no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism, especially today when the disparity between arbitrarily designated "wage classes" is more severe than it has ever been.
But as the axiom goes, whatever helps you sleep at night.
Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite starts out as a kind of dark comedy, with a family on the brink of destitution while they struggle for work and are down on their luck. It's almost like the opening to Mickey And The Beanstalk with everyone huddled close together and trying to find something, anything to eat and get through the day. It'd be depressing if it weren't for the almost absurd ways they try to make money and keep their phones on through searching the house for a wi-fi signal and chasing away drunks who urinate near their window. So naturally, they'd jump at the chance at even the slightest hint of a better life when it's presented to them.
It doesn't take long for this movie to remind me of Snowpiercer, Joon-Ho's 2013 drama about class warfare on a train rolling along a desolate planet Earth in a post apocalyptic future. The Kims, people of little opportunity and means try to climb up the ladder of success through any methods necessary. They hustle and manipulate to get some of the good fortune from those who have enjoyed an almost obscene amount of material wealth. The way they do this is ethically questionable at best, but such is the world they, and unfortunately we, live in where such methods become almost necessary to even make ends meet. The result of the cult of materialism and the bondage of modern capitalism.
It's easy to see why this movie comes with this particular title. If anything it's pretty much on-the-nose. The Kims, in essence, feed off of the pay that the Parks give them for their work (unknowingly on the Parks's part) and then suddenly they realize that they aren't the only ones who've had this idea, or at the very least, aren't the only ones with problems dealing with their lot in life. Each family takes their turn privately looking down on the other, not recognizing the humanity in others, treating them as means to an end or as simple tools to use and discard on a whim.
The film makes it a point to bring up young Da-Song's obsession with Native American (called Indian in the film) activities, culture and garb. Whether or not this is considered cultural appropriation is something that I am, admittedly, not educated enough to gauge, though I would say he seems particularly enamored with the watered-down "Americanized" version of it. It's entirely possible they consider it a phase of impressionable childhood fascination as one does. On the other hand, I think the inclusion of this character quirk is not just for "you little rascal" type shenanigans, but an explicit reminder of how anglo-centric cultures like majority white societies borrow or feed off of the cultures of others.
Take the American settlers, for instance. Arriving on a land already settled by various Native American tribes. Little by little, they take and take and take until they begin to have this notion that what they have stolen was already theirs or that they deserve it more than those who have learned to balance their respect for nature with their need for consumption of food, shelter, etc; People do what they must to survive. Morality or even dignity often times don't factor into it. It simply is what it is. But it's when the bar for what constitutes "survival" raises higher and higher that one can question the morality behind the methods with any sort of authority. It's one thing for a poor man to steal a load of bread to avoid starvation. It's an entirely different thing for a billionaire to steal money from his own company for his own personal hoarding.
Parasite doesn't try to make one family or group better than the other. All have their flaws and prejudices toward the other and engage in almost vicious condescension behind each other's backs. Park Dong constantly makes reference to Mr. Kim's raunchy stench, brought about by stink bugs introduced in the first scene. Mr .Kim repeatedly asks Mr. Park about loving his wife, to which the latter either blithely concedes or dismisses entirely.The characters constantly refer to Mrs. Park as "simple" and we get implications of Da-Hye having repeated affairs with her young English tutors. The Kims are benefiting off of the Park's wealth that Mr. Park has worked for. However, the disrespect the Parks have for Mr. Kim especially, weighs on Ki-Taek, as evidenced by multiple outbursts whenever his pride is wounded or he is insulted. He learns all too late that sometimes your dignity is the currency with which those who hire you want in trade.
Envy and the feeling of want can drive people to unethical extremes and in our modern hyper-capitalist society that considers greed not just good but a necessity, it's its own parasitic nature that creates poverty for many, opportunities for few. Instead of trickling down like Regan promised in the 80's, capitalism, particularly for the top percentile of "job creators" and "billionaires" feeds itself like an economic ouroboros. It's a financial feedback loop that is unsustainable with prices ever swelling and less people being able to afford even basic needs. It's no wonder impoverished people turn to hustling or other less savory methods of making money simply to stay afloat. Those in need have little choice but to either take it for themselves or rely on the whims of those of means.
We all have to consume to survive, whether it be food, resources for shelter and clothing, land, even simple pleasures. Some covet what others take for granted, and yet others squander abundance when spoiled for choice. Others think those who are without are the most free of all, unburdened by choice. There may truly be no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism, especially today when the disparity between arbitrarily designated "wage classes" is more severe than it has ever been.
But as the axiom goes, whatever helps you sleep at night.
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