Written by: Ashraf Sharaf

Edited by: Dr. Alaa Alghamdi

Introduction

      Parasite tells the story of a poverty- afflicted family, the Kims family, who elegantly place themselves in the service of the affluent Parks family, a wealthy household who have been unknowingly housing a stranger in their basement for a long time. In addition, it tells the story of the Kim family, who live in a small basement in a poor district of Seoul and struggle to get by, working a series of badly paid temporary jobs. Everything seems to work in their safe side until they’re not safe because of the fake identity begins to break down. The director, Bong Joon-Ho made history with his wildly popular movie, Parasite, for” being the first international film to win Best Picture at the Oscars”. One day, the Kims are offered a kind of hope. A school friend of Ki-woo offers to set him up with a new job which is teaching the daughter of the Parks family, a rich Seoul family. However, there is one trouble which is Ki-woo has never been to university, because the family can’t pay for his education. For him it wasn’t a big deal. So, he decides to fake a degree.

The Park family live in a fancy, gorgeous and modern house in one of Seoul’s luxurious hill-top neighborhoods. On the other hand, the Kims forced to live in a dark basement. Both sides of their lives are such a visual representation of two families on either side of class division.

Seeing the Parks’ affluent wealth, Ki-woo claims an opportunity. He begins a play to gain employment for his whole family, as they maneuver to replace the Parks’ other household staff through funny and creative means of sabotage.

The film ratchets up the tension as the Kims’ plan starts to unravel in an increasingly violent manner. It becomes obvious that the central theme of the movie is the way the poverty of those at the bottom of capitalist society pushes people to struggle against each other to survive. The Kims do hateful things, but only because capitalism has pushed them to a breaking point and their lives depend on it.

On the other hand, the Parks might seem to be nice, but that’s only because they can afford to be. “She’s rich but still nice,” says Ki-Taek of Mrs Park. “She’s nice because she’s rich,” his wife Chung-sook replies. Towering above the struggle to survive by their enormous wealth, the Parks can afford compliments that are not open to the Kims.

Characters:

Ki-WOO

Ki-woo is the son of the Kim family. He represents the savior role for his family. He is smart and ambitious young man who feels held back by poverty. He coordinates a plan in which his whole family begins working for the same wealthy family. He has good intentions, even if he is dishonest about how he achieves success, and just wants to create a better life for his family.

Ki-Jung

Ki-jung is Ki-woo’s sister, a smart and young woman who does not suffer fools. She gains the upper hand with Mrs. Park by feigning extreme expertise and confidence, and insisting on very specific ways to educate and take care of Da-song. When the Kims move into the Parks’ house, Ki-woo notes that Ki-jung seems to fit in well with the trappings of wealth, and can carry off a luxurious lifestyle naturally.

Ki-Taek

The patriarch of the Kim family. He has held a bunch of different jobs, working as a valet and at a bakery, but struggles to provide for his family. When he is given the opportunity to work as Mr. Park’s driver, he figures out how to be the best driver he can be, and to provide some light companionship to Mr. Park. He soon discovers, however, that Mr. Park does not like his smell, and feels deflated by this insult. After their home is flooded, Ki-taek tells his son that it is best to never have a plan, since plans never work out the way one expects.

Chung-sook

Chung-sook is the matriarch of the Kim family. She is brusque and unsentimental like her daughter, toughened by life in poverty. She likes to play games with Ki-taek, calling him a cockroach and belittling him, as part of their marital dynamic.

MR. PARK

Mr. Park is the head of the Park household. He is a generally congenial but snobbish man. He is obsessed with keeping his employees controlled and hates nothing more than when one of his charges “crosses the line.” He spoils his son and is rather alienated from his desires and happiness.

MRS. Park

Mrs. Park is a beautiful, wealthy, and ditzy head-of-household who prides herself on not being able to do domestic chores. Wealth has rendered her completely helpless, and she often spends her days napping on the couch or purchasing items for the house. She is very nice, but not especially deep or compassionate. She is the archetype of the mistress of a wealthy household: glamorous, naive, and good at wielding power with feminine grace.

Class Struggle

One of the most dominant themes in the film is class struggle. At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to the Kims, a family struggling to live their day and basically they are under poor conditions. When they see how life really is as they start working for a wealthy family called the Parks, they discover how easy life is for some people to fulfill their dreams, a life without problems and how some people live in luxury. When it comes to the characteristics, the Parks are kind, but also a bit foolish, helpless, and naive in different aspects. When we think about the most important question “what do the Kims want?” basically the most important thing for them is the security of wealth which remains a dream for them, and that’s obvious when we see Ki-woo dreaming of buying the Parks’ old house at the end of the film. However, the film also seeks to present the ways that wealth and class inequality is what creates the violence that blows up as if it’s an explosion in the final scene. The film also represents class envy and greed. In addition, it also shown that how one family can be limited by societal norms for so long that one day, they snap. In addition, wealth is portrayed in many different aspects throughout the film. For example, it has been portrayed even in the lights. Because we have learned from Dr. Alaa Alghamdi that everything is connected. It has been applied to the characters as when the light makes one brighter, more natural, nicer. However, something obscure one’s sense of responsibility and meaning, that puts one “out of the image of the responsibility.” Another example from the file is the eating scene which has been shown many times and there’s a reason for that which is to show the gap between the rich and the poor by representing the difference in their food, such as the eating scene. At the beginning of the film, we see that the father of the Kim family when he carefully takes out a bag with only two slices of toast, showing that the family is living a very hard life. Thus, the Kim family receives a reward by folding the pizza boxes. In addition, in another scene we see the four members of the Kim family sit around the table drinking beer and eating snacks, but that is when they have worked for the Parks. So, if the eating scene has been repeated over and over again, that leads us to understand that food shows the quality of life of the Kim family which has seen some improvements. On the other hand Mrs. Park only gets her food from an organic supermarket and even the three dogs of the Park family eat different high-end dog food, we can also consider this as an irony which shows that the food that the poor eat is not even as good as the food bought for the dogs of the rich. In addition, the Smell plays an important role in the film, which represents the gap between the rich and poor people. It is shown four times in the film. The first time the smell appears is when the youngest son of the Park family finds that the same smell on Kim Ki-taek and Chung-su’s clothes, they are the father and mother of Kim family. And because of that, the Kim family thought that this smell is the same because they use the same washing powder, but they have no money to wash clothes. The second time happened when Mr. Park and Mrs. Park smell a similar smell on Kim Ki-taek’s clothes when they are lying on the sofa. At the same time, Kim Ki-taek, Ki-woo and Ki-jung are hiding under the table next to the sofa. That time, Mr. Park smells the same smell when he has taking the subway. The third time that the smell has shown is when Kim-Ki taek drives Mrs. Park back to Park’s house. When we look to the previous scene of the night before, Kim Ki-taek, Ki-woo and Ki-jung escaped from Park’s house at a stormy night. The semi-basement they live in is flooded and they have to move to a shelter arranged by the government. So, Mrs. Park opens the car window because of the bad smell on Kim Ki-taek’ clothes, which makes Kim Ki-teak feel embarrassed. So, the smell of Kim’s family actually refers to the smell of the poor or the low- class. The smell has become an invincible gap between the poor and the rich, always reminding each other that their identities are completely different.

Alaa Alghamdi: Associate Professor of English – Taibah University

@ayghamd