The literature of “Parasite”

In the modern times, it is practically a challenge to find a film that explicit different themes rather than normal everyday themes. “Parasite”, is a movie that contains various designated points which in chance created History in Hollywood’s. The use of its remarkable symbols, unforgettable characters and significant plot makes itself embedded to the minds of viewers.

Directed by the famous South Korea director Bong Joon-Ho, Parasite falls under the genre of black-comedy thriller. The film portrays two typical families, the poor family and the wealthy family living in South Korea. It focuses on how poor people are treated by the surrounding society. Unlike many other thriller pictures, “Parasite” expresses an optimistic message to the watchers. It also expands a huge tension among the two classes, at times using just a couple of words. Critics have much praised Bong Joon-Ho’s screenplay for importantly marking crisis plus climax in the film.

The plot deals about The Kim and Park Families of which the latter is wealthy whereas the other is poor. Meaning “Poor” doesn’t mean to be that they are at the extreme. This family consists of Kim Ki-Taek the father, mother Chung-Sook, eldest and only son Kim Ki-Woo, not forgetting the youngest daughter Kim Ki-Jung. Kim’s live in a semi-basement apartment with having low-payment yet temporary jobs as pizza box folders. However, things change with the arrival of Ki-Woo’s well off friend Min-Hyuk who gifts a scholar stone as he’s about to move abroad. Nevertheless, Min-Hyuk asks his friend to overtake his job in teaching English for the only daughter of Park Family. To which Ki-Woo responds happily. After forging several education documents he is soon hired by the Parks for tutoring.

The plot takes a different turn when each of the Kim family members start poking around into the Park family in cunning ways. The father is hired as a qualified driver, meanwhile Ki-Jung pretends as Jessica an art therapist for Da-Song the Park family’s young son. Lastly the mother is also taken in as the housekeeper. The Kim’s becomes successful in interfering the household of the Park’s. This interference is complicated but at the same time interesting as the Kim’s are introduced to the Wealthy family as unrelated to each other. Over next few days or weeks things continue peacefully. However, the plot enters climax, when the Park family leaves out for a camping trip, to which only the Park family is accompanied. In this spacious time the poor’s make their selves at the home of the wealthy, not worrying about the consequences that may occur after hand. Unknowingly the earlier house keeper of Park’s, return insisting that she has left something important in the basement. The last housekeeper Moon-Gwang enters a hidden underground bunker not knowing that she’s being followed by the other four. Really soon the reason for existence of a such bunker is revealed, Moon-Gwang’s husband Oh Geun-Sae lives in the bunker from four years or more to escape loan payments. Getting to know this Chung-Sook tend to threaten her, of revealing the truth. However, at the same time Kim family’s cover is blown away. Which is immediately filmed by Moon-Gwang in order to threaten them. This commotion doesn’t last long due the early arrival of the Park’s as a severe rainstorm gets into the camping trip.

Before the arrival Ki-Taek is able to capture Geun-Sae and Moon-Gwang underground. After a huge struggle Ki-Taek, Ki-Jung and Ki-Woo are able to escape the house. Chung-Sook stays behind as she’s the housekeeper. Once reaching home, they find their basement house flooded with dirty sewage water, hence forth are forced to spend the night at the gymnasium with other displaced people. Ignoring what they are facing at the moment, the family moves on with their respective work the next day. Half Unexpectedly, the Park’s throw a grand house party in order to celebrate Da-Song’s birthday. During the party, Ki-Woo enters the bunker clinging to the scholar’s stone. Upon his entry he learns that the older housekeeper has died from the night before. That makes Geun-Sae’s anger rise. Geun-Sae attacks as Ki-Woo as he sees just a glimpse of him. Ki-Woo is knocked over by Geun-Sae with the use of Scholar stone and lies still in a pool of blood. Seeking revenge for his wife’s death, he storms in to the kitchen, picks a knife, gets outside into the party, finally stabbing Ki-Jung. Seeing Ki-Jung being week, her mother rushes out pulling a barbecue skewer from which she kills down Geun-Sae. Watching all these result’s Da-Song’s sudden seizure. At the moment Ki-Taek, who is helping Chung-Sook to stop blood flow of Ki-Jung is ordered by Mr. Park to drive Da-Song to the hospital. The tension overall makes Ki-Taek to kill him. At the end he flees leaving rest of the Kim family behind.

The film’s last minutes shows Ki-Woo healing from brain surgery. After a few weeks he and Chung-Sook are convicted for fraud, meanwhile Mr. Kim is wanted by police for Mr. Park’s murder but isn’t found. Ki-Jung had died on spot.

Later the son keeps watch on the Park’s home from a far. The house is now sold to a German Family. Ki-Taek had escaped to the bunker through the garage on that day. Every day he flickers a light, in order to create a Morse code hoping Ki-Woo would see it. Who sees it. The Film ends on a note with Ki-Woo pledging to buy the house one day with his own money.

Approaching the film through literature, the use of symbols is a very important factor that Joon-Ho uses to bring out differences in the classed society which in order creates conflict. The movie’s title is itself symbolic. A parasite grammatically means an animal or plant which lives on another organism. The Title "PARASITE" shows two contrasting meanings. The first being how poor people depend on the rich for money while the other being how the rich depend on poor for labor. Parasites are very harmful to the organism at times. The word metaphorically expresses how both the low and rich family becomes a parasite to each other including the society they live in. The director of this picture states that at first the marketing management opposed the title, but later clarified and used it as the title. The first real symbol we can notice from the film is the dwelling of the Kim’s. The Kim family resides in a semi-basement house. Semi-Basements are often found around South Korea as a shelter rather than no shelter at all. This practically explains the level of the family, emphasizing that they aren’t immensely rock bottom poor but better, over the line. Meaning that they do have a sort of place to live, something to eat and clothes to wear, whereas some don’t have any of these. However, many South Koreans refer to the semi-basement houses as “Hell” because they are mostly dusty, and dirty. Other than this they often come with pools of bugs plus cockroaches. Nevertheless, the director doesn’t want the viewers to have a whole pessimistic view regarding the Kim’s House, therefore introduces a wide, short window that brings in light into the house, this also tends to mean that they may have a hope in moving to the outside world.

The next symbol, is by far considered the best also the most important repeating unit existing in the movie. The Scholar Stone gifted by Min-Hyuk depicts an extra ordinary unit throughout the story. Used as an immediate motif to show Ki-Woo’s determination as well as obsession. Scholar Stones or Viewing Stones known as Suseok in Korea, are derived from stones similar to Chinese Gongshi and Japanese Suisek. They are collectives, mostly owned by the rich class. Scholar stones share various meanings. But here Min-Hyuk brings it in as a lucky sign for the family. As a motif the object is shown in the movie for three specific times. First when it’s introduced, the stone depicts the courage along with the determination Ki-Woo has to gain a job in order to have money. The stone’s ultimate purpose is that it explicit the aspiration Ki-Woo has to gain wealth. In the screen Play, as he sets eyes on the stone for the first time, he says “How Perfect for us. Symbolic” the character himself tributes it to be a symbol in his life. As the story flows the second time we are able to see this motif is when the Kim’s throw a party for the acceptance of Ki-Woo as a tutor by the Park Family. In the mentioned scene, a drunkard can be seen relieving himself in a corner, but in front of them. As soon as Ki-Woo notices this he grabs the stone, lifting it up he walks towards the entrance. This once again reveals the original symbolism of the stone. The last time we are able to see the stone is when, the Kim’s apartment is flooded with sewage water. Ki-Woo is moving around packing minor amount of essentials, when the stone recurs in the deep water. “…Ki-Woo pants heavily as he hugs the rock. It’s like he just found a precious treasure…”. The stone emphasizes the time line of luck of the Kim’s. Beginning with a good start, forging documents, getting the job and lastly losing all they have because of the greediness. The viewing stone pops up at different parts to prove the life of poor class, the pathetic nature plus why they must not be greedy. Apart from the three major events, the object also appears again at two minor scenes. Once when Ki-Taek questions his son on hugging the stone to which, he replies “It wants to be with me... It’s true, it keeps following me.”. This short yet lasting scene outlines the obsession Ki-Woo has for the stone. The next minor scene is when Geun-Sae hits Ki-Woo’s head with it portraying, how the luck was destroyed by falling into his hands, besides it also shows that all troubles seem to beat him to the very end. Director Bong-Joon Ho’s introduction of the symbolic viewing stone, truly highlights the movie’s unique theme and message.

Han Ji Woo who co-wrote the screen play with the director objectifies the feature as a stairway film to express how vital stairways have become in the movie internally. Entirely the stairways have become very much important throughout the whole plot. Stairways depict the rise and decline in classes. When Ki-Woo first arrives at the Park’s house he ascends a flight of stairs to an upper floor, when examined closely it seems to signify the up rise in the social class with influence of money. We can see flight of stairs again but towards the end, when the three Kim’s barely escapes from the Park house. Descending of the stairs show how they are going down further from where they are at the moment. Stairs descending as well as the climax rise has been well adjoined and aligned together, giving an enjoyable glaze to the story. It also reminisces the house of Kim’s. Placed on a basement with less facilities, the Kim’s still strive hard enough to live life. In my opinion, all the 4 members from Kim family ascend the stairs in the mornings but descends it at the end of each day. This outlines how their profiles change from day to night. Their pull down from Professionalism to lower state. Bong-Joon has qualified himself in using the stairways as a metaphor to expand the tension among the classed society. The climbing up and down of stairs bring out the main theme of this film amazingly.

Rather than just the stairs of the Park’s house, the whole visual architecture is simply magnificent, when compared with the crappy, dirty basement. The rich bungalow may seem as not a big deal, but it has a lot of techniques used underneath to create the perfect house. As per the director’s advice this Architectural Structure was built on set for convenience, while some parts were combined at post production stage. This wealthy house depicts spacious, clean and modernized style trending in Asian countries. Which is in order used to enhance the fact for the themes “Modernization”, “Westernization”. Modernization, Westernization are arguable topics prevailing in the world at present.

The film uses small, tiny details to express diverse ideas. One of these symbolic encounters is the smell. Smell brings out a lot within the story. The major image of smell explicit the bond among family members. One main time the ‘Smell’ appears in the film is when Da-Song rushes down for his father’s arrival “Da-Song suddenly starts sniffing the air. He runs over to Chung-Sook and shoves his nose in her belly, startling her greatly. Da-Song then darts over to Ki-Taek and shoves his nose in his pant leg.”. This scene from the film is highly memorable. The connectivity amongst smell of the family members are brought out with the help of a few sentences. When the son is questioned for his actions, he replies in rather smartly mounting the tension in climax “Same smell. They smell exactly the same.”. However, Da-Song’s parents don’t agree with this behavior, by forth making him go back to his teacher Ms. Jessica (Ki-Jung). Still in his childhood, he speaks out “That’s weird. Ms. Jessica has the same smell”. The father isn’t disturbed by the unusual remark; he laughs this off with the others. The perfect establishment of symbolism in the film to portray general themes as well as ideas is truly exemplary thanks to Han Ji-Woo and Bong-Joon Ho.

The symbolism of “Smell” comes back towards the end of the movie. When Geun-Sae is being killed by Chung-Sook, Ki-Taek throws the keys over to Dong-Ik who orders him to drive despite his own daughter being stabbed, the keys land on the ground few feet away from Dong-Ik. Soon Geun-Sae rolls over the keys making it hard for Dong-Ik to pick them up. But, when Geun-Sae finally moves over he bends to pick them up, but pinching the nose due the smell of Geun-Sae. The extreme point rises at this moment, Ki-Taek stands up, and charges towards him with an axe, lastly hitting Dong-Ik with the axe out of anger. Ki-Taek’s anger is reasonable because of two things. Recalling to a part from the Parasite’s screenplay, when Dong-Ik is on the sofa lying down, he explains, at the moment he speaks his opinion regarding Mr. Kim’s smell and driving in this way “I mean I like his driving. And the man never crosses the line. Sometimes he teeters very close, but he never actually crosses it. That’s all great. But that smell. It definitely crosses the line. It just creeps into the backseat and surrounds you” Here the “Line” metaphorically express the gap among the poor people and wealthy people, how poor people aren't liable to interfere beyond the "Line". Simply meaning that the Poor must be onto the limits when working with the rich. Dong-Ik pinches his nose, the action shows how irresistible the lower class is to him. On the other hand, showing how he prefers poor people, also his attitude towards them.

Nevertheless, the cast too has taken effort when objectifying the respective roles. The viewer often gets confused when choosing the main character in the flow. Many guess it to be Ki-Taek, while others think it is Ki-Woo. Well, actually Ki-Taek does have a lot of profile, but Ki-Woo is the ultimate main character. Ki-Woo is brought to life by Choi-Woo Shik who has experience in many other remarkable roles. Choi-Woo Shik’s natural acting was highly praised. He himself stated “I'm pretty sure Ki-woo is one of those bright kids. He'll come up with some idea, and he would just go into the German family's house, and I think he will rescue his father.”. Choi-Woo was very much attached to the character, that indeed resulted in a good output. Ki-Woo’s character is One-Of-A-Kind to play. The character may seem cunning and opportunistic, but his character evolves due to the passion he has to move through in life. Amazingly Ki-Woo shows a deep attachment towards the viewing stone. This may be due to the vital role Min-Hyuk plays in his life. Ki-Woo tends to absorb and imitate his wealthy friend, in turn building a firm trust with the Park’s daughter which soon turns into an unexpected relationship. Min-Hyuk mentions in the start of the screenplay that he will date the Park’s daughter, as soon as he returns from overseas. Ki-Woo is therefore kind of imitating Min-Hyuk. For him the scholar stone is Min-Hyuk. Although Min-Hyuk isn’t physically present, the object is a living memory him. Of course he did betray the friend, however still respects Min-Hyuk to be a good friend. Besides his friendship with Min-Hyuk, Ki-Woo cares a lot for his family also, this is emphasized when he lies in order to employ the family.

The next most significant character by approach is the father of the Kim family. Namely Kim Ki-Taek, He’s a relatively large man in size of around 60. Acted by Song Kang-Ho who had prior worked with the director, took up the role regardless of how the character would turn out. Song-Kang Ho was very sure about the director’s work with no doubt. Ki-Taek’s character is complex and complicated rather than Ki-Woo’s, even though the latter is considered main character. Ki-Taek is a different personality. Opportunistic in many ways, like his very own son, He’s a very calm person in comparison to his wife. But he may be cunning at instances, like when Ki-Jung requests to close the windows due to fumigation, he says too keep them open as then they can get rid of crickets “Leave it. Free fumigation. Get rid of the damn crickets.”. As the breadwinner of the family he tries hard to earn money and contribute towards the household. Although he seems to be a courageous person at first sees, however at the end he leaves the family as a coward.

The characters Chung-Sook and Ki-Jung portrayed by Jang Hye-jin and Park So-Dam respectively are also very remarkable. Park So-Dam had a Character with far more unique perspective, different to her previous roles. Ki- Jung is a role with wide ranges of traits, She’s beautiful, young and typical. Her typical nature may have been the hardest to act. The effort she paid to have act out two personalities at Once-One being “Ki-Jung”, while the other being “Jessica” the tutor for Da-Song-was highly praised. This woman is much of influenced by music, to remember her details as Jessica, she uses an old, rhythmic, easy, plus childish tune “(singing) Jessica, only child, Chicago Illinois / My classmate Jin-Mo is cousin of Kevin” Anyways her unexpected tragic ending may have put the viewer into shock, the death can’t be blamed on herself neither can it be blamed on any other. On the other hand, her mother’s character wasn’t a normal day-to-day mother we find in the society. From the start her usage of swear words may be highlighted for the fact, this is probably due to her class and the surrounding society. At the end still she is still a caring mother and wife.

Moving on the other significant family is the Parks who are extremely gullible, with influence of money. Lee Sun-Kyun as Park Dong-Ik, Cho Yeo-Jeong as Choi Yeon-Gyo(Mother), Jung Hyeon-Jun as Park Da-song and Jung Ji-so as Park Da-Hye, were indeed successful in bringing out the wealthy yet weak family of the Parks. Without them the film may not have been successful. In the film Oh Geun-Sae and Gook Moon-Gwang were portrayed by Korean veteran actors Park Myung-Hoon and Lee Jung-Eun. The cameo appearance of famous TV actor Park Seo-Joon was highly regarded.

To sum everything up, Parasite is truly a unique movie including the backfires of themes like “gap among the social classes”, “Modernization” etc.

Bong-Joon Ho’s extreme skill in literature as a director and a screen play writer is immense which therefore resulted in a great Oscar-Winning Film like “Parasite”