Parasite

By: Raisa Islam

Parasite is an Oscar-winning South Korean movie which is an allegory of segregation within a society and portrays the rising class tension in modern society. Capitalism and classism are portrayed through symbolism, which makes the plot more powerful adding more depth and significance in the portrayal of the struggling class. Plot

The struggling Kim family, who live a semi-basement, suffer from unemployment and financial crisis so they trick their way into becoming the servants of the wealthy Park family. What seems like an indispensable step to prevent poverty soon turns into a selfish and excessive desire for more than what is needed motivated by naked ambition and greed. Oblivious of their relationship, the movie starts as dark humor where the poor trick the affluent, but this later develops into a thriller when the Kim family discovers someone even more poverty-stricken than them discreetly living in an underground secret basement in the Park family’s home, which even they are unaware of.

Analysis

The film makes a clear distinction between the rich and poor not only through what is perceptible but also through visual metaphors. It is emblematic of a larger problem. Some prominent and recurring motifs used in this movie are the viewing stone and the different kinds of stairways the families have. The Kim family gets a stone in the form of a gift which was supposed to bring them prosperity and it did, although it was impermanent. Throughout the movie, the theme of the stone keeps changing. At first, it represented their desire of getting out of poverty which slowly turned into greed and inclination of being a part of the upper class and ended with demonstrating their dreams descending. Stairways are used to denote their different social status. No matter how they aggregate their plans to conceal their identities and alliance, they cannot get rid of one thing that ties them together: their stench. The smell symbolizes poverty which acts as an obstacle to their social climbing, and could eventually be an inaudible threat that could uncover their masks. The movie is a clear depiction of modern-day capitalism and class warfare and is interesting in a manner that challenges society’s outlook and frame of mind towards the social classes. There are many valuable lessons to learn from this and each time you watch it, you discover something new. All possible scenes, dialogues, and visuals are connected to depict something deeper Parasitewhich makes it one of the most thought-provoking movies out there. The harsh reality that money does not make one immune from misery as well as the consequence of being ignorant is one of the few lessons one can learn. Neither the wealthy Park family nor the penurious Kim family is aware of anyone else’s miseries other than theirs. They are ignorant of the fact that their reality is not all there is. They view life from a tunnel-vision perspective and that is the root of all problems. They view their sufferings to be more dreadful than the rest which creates a sense of pleonexia in their heart. My opinion

This is a must-watch for people of all ages as it is deeply intriguing and lets us view life in a way that is true but often forgotten by people. The best way to describe it is said by the creator himself - “a comedy without clowns, a tragedy without villains”.