Parasite

Parasite is so much more than a movie about a poor family slowly infiltrating a rich family’s house. At its core, it’s about class, inequality, dignity, and how the system can turn people who are already struggling against each other What I loved most is that the movie never makes the situation completely black and white. The Kim family does terrible things, but it’s hard to completely hate them because you understand why they do them. They’re trying to survive. On the other hand, the Park family isn’t made up of cartoonishly evil rich people either. They’re mostly just living comfortably, completely unaware of how different their reality is from the people working for them. And somehow, that makes the class divide feel even more realistic The house itself is probably one of my favorite parts of the movie. The architecture almost feels like a map of the social hierarchy. The Parks live high above everyone else, while the Kims live half underground. There is this constant movement of going up and down stairs, and it never feels accidental. The Kims are always trying to climb their way into a better life, while someone else is always being pushed further down The rain scene is such a perfect example of this. For the Park family, the rain ruins their camping trip and becomes an excuse for an unexpected night at home. For the Kim family, that same rain completely destroys their home. One family experiences it as an inconvenience; the other experiences it as a disaster. Same rain, completely different realities And then there’s the whole idea of “smell.” The fact that the Parks can recognize the Kims by their smell is honestly one of the cruelest details in the movie. No matter how hard they try to dress differently, speak differently, and become part of the Park family’s world, there is still something they supposedly cannot hide. Their poverty becomes something physical that they carry with them The basement reveal completely changes the movie. Suddenly, it isn’t simply the poor family taking advantage of the rich family. There are people even further down the social ladder, completely forgotten by the world above them. And instead of the poor people working together, they end up fighting each other for the little space and security they have That’s what makes the title “Parasite” so interesting. You can ask who the parasite actually is. Is it the Kim family living off the Parks? Is it the Parks living comfortably because other people serve them? Or is the entire system parasitic, forcing people to depend on and exploit each other just to survive? And the ending is probably the most heartbreaking part. Ki-woo imagines becoming successful, buying the Park house, and finally freeing his father from the basement. It looks like hope for a moment, but the more you think about it, the sadder it becomes. The dream requires him to become incredibly wealthy just to fix something that should never have happened in the first place Parasite doesn’t just tell you that there is a gap between rich and poor. It shows you how that gap affects the way people live, think, behave, and even see each other. Nobody really wins. The rich remain protected by their wealth, the poor destroy each other trying to survive, and the people at the very bottom are practically invisible This is the longest I've ever written, but this film deserves it