Who has never heard of Parasite? This film drew a lot of attention when it won the 2020 Oscar, taking home 4 statuettes. It was the first film not in English to win in the Best Picture category. Definitely a great milestone for South Korean culture.
The film Parasite (기생충) was released in Brazil on November 9, 2019, directed by Bong Joon-ho and produced by Barunson E&A Corp. The main cast includes the actors Park Seo-joon, Park So-dam, Song Kang-ho, Jang Hye-jin, Cho Yeo-jeong, Sun-Kyun Lee, Jung Ji-so, Lee Jung-eun among others.
What made this drama deserving of the Oscar? What message does it convey and how does it compare to the biggest series of the moment Round 6?
Table of Contents
Plot of Parasite
According to the dictionary definition, Parasite means ”an organism that lives on and in another organism, obtaining food from it and often causing it harm”. Surely this name could not be more appropriate! The film tells the story of a family of 4 people who suffer from extreme poverty. They have no jobs and live in a very simple place.
Their luck changes when Min (Park Seo-joon) receives a proposal from a friend to take his place as an English tutor while he leaves the country. His friend teaches English to a wealthy young woman and seems to be in love with her, so he asks Min to take care of her until he returns. But Min has no qualifications, although he knows English. So he asks his sister, Ki-jung (Park Seo-joon), who understands art, to make a fake resume.
Min gets accepted to teach the young Da-hye (Jung Ji-so) and ends up falling in love with her shortly after. There, he realizes that the son of the house owner likes art, so he suggests his sister (without mentioning that she is his sister, but rather a former college classmate) and she also manages to get a job in the house. They both earn well, but not satisfied, Ki-jung sets a trap for the driver to be fired and then suggests her father Kim (claiming he was a driver for an acquaintance) to work there.
After the three family members are already in the house, Kim and the children set a trap for the housekeeper and have her fired. He then suggests his wife Chung-Sook (Jang Hye-jin) without saying that she is his wife. Then the whole family starts working in the house based on lies to have a better financial life.
One day, the parasite family is alone in the rich family’s house, then the former housekeeper appears saying she needs to fetch something she forgot. Upon entering, she takes Chung-Sook to a basement where she hides her husband and tells her that she has kept him there all this time because she couldn’t afford to take care of him and asks her to continue feeding her husband.
But Chung-Sook refuses, and the rest of the family rolls down the stairs, and the former housekeeper discovers that they are like her. The former housekeeper threatens to show the rich family the video of them. When the homeowners return, everyone pretends, and the former housekeeper and her husband are locked in the basement, but she ends up falling and dying when she hits her head.
On the day of the youngest son’s birthday of the house owner, everyone is gathered, and the former housekeeper’s husband manages to escape from the basement, throws a huge rock at Min’s head, stabs Ki-jung in the chest, and tries to stab Chung-Sook, who manages to kill him, but Kim stabs his boss, feeling complex about him always complaining about his smell and covering his nose when getting close. Kim then hides in the rich family’s basement and stays hiding there until the day he can leave.
Social Critique of Parasite
The film Parasite makes a heavy critique of social inequality in South Korea. It shows the extreme divide between those who have a lot and those who have nothing. And those who have nothing will do anything to try to reach the top, even if it means doing illegal things. They are even capable of killing to avoid going back to the same life as before.
The critique that I believe is also present is about the poor having fewer job and study opportunities due to their social situation. Everyone in the parasite family really had the skills they used to work, but none had enough education and couldn’t get jobs due to lack of experience and proven qualifications. And when they managed to get some jobs, they were not paid fairly.
The desperation of not having the basics is so great that they accept to humiliate themselves to the point of living in other people’s basements just to have food. And those who have resources do not want to get too involved with those who are not of the same standard of living. This desperation caused by inequality is global, especially in less developed countries.
Parasite X Round 6
I have already written about Round 6 here, and the dorama is leading the ranking of the most-watched series on Netflix. What they have in common is being well-received South Korean creations. Parasite received 4 statuettes at the Oscars, the first film from North Korea to receive an Oscar, and Round 6 came to break the prejudice surrounding Korean productions by leading the platform.
Both have comedy, drama, and suspense. The starting point is financial difficulty and debts. These people are capable of anything to escape financial suffering. This reality draws attention because many people also live on the edge.
Have you watched any of these South Korean productions?
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