Parasite

I’m not a grade A student in filmmaking, but even I see how Bong Joon Ho understands his craft perfectly and therefore managed to produce a film which is not only critically acclaimed, but also adored throughout the widespread community of cinema fans.  And also narratively, this is obviously a very important film, and I also have to say that any criticism that I might give or not give, comes from a place of an ignorant westerner, who has no idea of Korea’s system or infrastructures. And even then, this film still does a great job at conveying us the class differences and Bong Joon Ho displays that in many ways. The rain, for one family a blessing, an occasion to celebrate a birthday party, where everybody attends spontaneously, yet looking chic. Whereas the rain for another family meant destruction, cigarette smoke on the toilet where shit is flowing out of, a lost home, sleeping next to the other unfortunate people, just like you. And one thing, something which you can never get rid off; the Smell.  Not caused by the soap, not caused by the clothes. No, that smell is caused by their environment, caused by who they are. And THEY notice it. They can smell it, and they hate it. Sure, nice people. That is how upper class society members are, nice. At the end of the day, what is there not to like? Our biggest worry is our daughter needing a new english teacher, our son not behaving properly, our driver having sex affairs in our car, our maid having TB, but hey, we can tell her to go fuck herself and despite all the years she has served for this house, she’s still nothing but a burden. No help. No help for Jun either, oh he will find something new. The maiden? She will find something new. At the end of the day, they can be disposed of.  So what was that again with them being nice? Oh yes. Very nice people. Just a little pretentious. Just a little snobby. Just a small feeling of standing above the others, the ones who smell bad. Replaceable, I mean, they all smell the same anyway. Bong shows the Park family dehumanizing the poor by establishing a line that shouldn’t be crossed. That line is knowing that they are replaceable. At the end of the day you poor people smell all the same anyway, therefore you are all the same, therefore it is easy to get themselves new workers.  Bong isn’t trying to be revolutionary with Parasite, he just shows us the harsh reality of a capitalist society. The film doesn’t show us the Kim family rebelling against the Parks, instead it shows us the poor fighting each other. The former maid and her husband and the Kims, all desperately trying to fight for it, to fight for the place at the Couch, with a view on the garden, yet, in a house that doesn’t belong to them and never will. If anything, they can have the basement, and feel comfortable in it.  However, the ending reminded me of something which the film didn’t do. And that scene was Ki-Woo daydreaming of buying the house, living happily ever after with his family, finally making it out of those shackles, out of the smell. However, this is nothing but a dream, since the system won’t allow for it. And now here is where my problem is; why not expand on this topic a lot more? The Parks are definitely criticized in this film. They are shown to dehumanize the poor people, the ones who smell alike. They are shown to be ignorant of culture, ignorant of class differences. But to me, I feel like the biggest critique this film has towards the Parks is merely their ignorance. If someone who is not class conscious at all would watch this film, he would likely assume that the Parks vast crime is just being ignorant, if anything. I think this film had a lot more chances to go deeper into exploitation, not just show the reality of poverty, but sharply criticize the system which CAUSES poverty. I’m aware that they tried it, with the house being the symbol of what the working classes hope to achieve, but will never amount to it. But I don’t think that was exactly accurate enough of what exploitation really is. One could say that this might also be done on purpose, since capitalism and the caused poverty of it is so deeply integrated into our society that the rich’s actions have become invisible. But that just kinda ruins the ending scene for me, Ki-Woo’s dream then is not unrealistic because of the system, but rather just a sad coincidence of being born into poverty.  Overall, I still think this is a great movie, and arguably a masterpiece.