On the Success Of the Korean Film ‘Parasite’ – 全球新知

The ideal way to experience South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho’s international awards-laureate ‘Parasite’ is to have as little prior knowledge as possible.

So if you’re watching this before having seen the film and you’ve managed to avoid the whirlwind of publicity it has attracted since sweeping the Oscars this year, it may be simpler to just stop and watch the social satire.

Spoiler Alert! If you still want to watch this film, do not continue reading this.

Halfway through ‘Parasite’, the Kims, a family of grifters who live in a dank semi-basement in Seoul have by hook and mostly crook wangled their way into jobs in the ultra-chic mansion of the Parks. Twisty as the plot has already been, viewers know more surprises must be in store, but can scarcely imagine what they will be.

The screwball shifts in tone somehow cohere into a biting parable of haves and have-nots.

On February 9th, this South Korean farce became the first foreign-language film to be crowned Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It also took Best Screenplay, Best International Feature Film and Best Director, for Bong Joon-ho.

Here is ‘Parasite’ and its impact, explained. In any country, you have the rich and you have the poor, and between those classes you have very steep levels. The social level is symbolized by the “stairs” in the film. You go upstairs into the center of the rich people’s life; and when you go downstairs, you go into the basement where the rich have never heard about, or they don’t want to admit that they know about it. Moving from down to up is extremely difficult. So when Ki-Woo, the poor young man who wanted to take the whole family go up the stairs of the social class, ends up with everyone going down the stairs. It’s a sad portrait of our current times.

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