Domingo, Bianca Faye D.

BSPT – 1

Parasyte – Analysis Paper

When we were instructed to watch the movie parasite, at first I was not that
interested in watching it since this type of movie was not really my forte. However, I
tried to keep an open mind and dismiss my biases and analyse every scene of this
movie accurately. I had no expectations walking into Parasite, but now my love and
appreciation for it has exceeded beyond my imagination. Upon reading the title I first
thought that this movie is going to involve fiction and mostly fantasy, far from reality. I
must admit that I was completely wrong since this movie represents the reality of
society symbolizing a long lasting problem that has been lurking in the lives of people.

Parasite, is a movie that centers on two families on opposite ends of the economic
scale whose lives become intertwined. The movie started with a family living in together
in a scuzzy, stinky basement flat, with the teenage son and daughter continuously
roaming around their home trying to find connection from their neighbors or nearby
café. The family included the dad Ki-taek, a laidback loafer married to former track star
Chung-sook. The son is Ki-woo, a shiftless young guy who has failed the university
entrance exams, and the daughter is Ki-jung, a smart daughter with artistic talent and
web-based fraud. During the beginning it also showed the struggles of the family living
in a rundown area trying to keep their life a float through a thin line of money by
folding pizza boxes for a pizzeria shop. However the tension and the uprising of the
story did not yet start until a college friend of Ki-woo offered him a chance to tutor a
girl from a prestigious and ridiculously rich family. The girl was the daughter of the
wealthy Park family named Da-hye. He had doubts at first but he eventually agreed
since they badly needed some money. Ki-woo’s student Da-hye, had an instant crush
on him. The mistress of the house, Yeon-kyo kept going on about how his son is
talented with art, and eventually the smart young man thought of a brilliant plan. Ki-
woo gave a suggestion in which he will recommend an art tutor for Da-hye’s negligibly
talented kid brother Da-song. This is where it gets interesting since he passes off his
sister as the cousin of a friend, pointing out that she is a gifted person with amazing
talent when it comes to art and handling children, and eventually bags her the job. All
of this wouldn’t be possible withought the forgery skills of Ki-jung. As I have observed
both Ki-jung and Ki- woo are smart, but due to the lack of money and their unstable life
their opportunities were limited. Soon, these wicked kids have cunningly contrived to
get the family chauffeur and housekeeper fired then Chung-sook the mother became
the housekeeper, and Ki-taek the father as their driver. In the age of extreme wealth
disparity, the Kims’ plan and scheming is thoroughly relatable for some people. After all,
who wouldn’t latch on the treasures of the rich if given the opportunity?

Even during the begging of the movie it already brilliantly exposed the capitalist
system in society that has been presented as the 'Parasite'. It also shed some light on
the class difference and economical boundaries set by the same people. It symbolized
every aspect of the core issues that every major society in the world currently faces.
But you need to give your sincere focus and intellectuality while watching because
almost every scene of the movie has been crafted metaphorically. Going back to the
plot of the movie, the whole family pretended to be strangers to each other. But then
the little kid points out that they all smell alike. As they were trying to point out the
smell, based on my analysis the kid probably means that they smell like poor people.

The story continued smoothly and it seemed like their plan had worked. However
one evening Moon-gwang, the family's former housekeeper, shows up while the Parks
are away for the weekend to celebrate their sons’ birthday and Chung-sook was
instructed to take care of the house.  The only problem is that she invited her husband
and kids to hang out at the house with her, and if the old house keeper finds out about
the situation they would be in big trouble. After some thinking she let the old
housekeeper in and waited for her as she goes to the basement. She waited for a long
time before going down the basement herself and witnessed something odd and
unusual. This is the part in which things started to go eery. A whole new secret bunker
was reviled and a secret that the housekeeper was hiding was also unraveled. Moon-
gwang confessed that her husband, Kun-sae, has been stowed away in a secret bunker
underneath the Park house for four years. Sadly most of the unfortunate people are like
Kun-sae, drowning in dept. and running from loan sharks. The Kims are shocked by the
state of his living conditions. Moon-gwang continues to beg to allow her husband to
continue hiding in the bunker, she calls Chung-sook “older sister” and says that they
are both “neighbors in need.” She tried to explain that they are both in the same
situation, struggling with poverty however, Moon-gwang refused such label. If you will
take time to stop and think the basement-dwellers could be easily viewed as parasitic,
along with the Kims. The two families rely on the Parks for income, food and shelter,
and enter their house deceptively, aggressively competing with each other. The movie
Parasite continuously showed us how the working class are forced into conflict against
one another, fighting for left overs and scraps. While on the other hand families like the
Parks live a comfortable life, fueled by the labor of the many individuals working
beneath them. Clever set ups like this one can only be observed thoroughly if you are
paying enough attention. Every character and their actions represent something, and
we badly need to find that connection in order to further understand the next scenes.

Up to this point things just gradually get more intense, the two families are still
fighting for their place. Temporarily the Kims were able to trap Moon-gwang and her
husband, Kun-sae, in the bunker. However during the intense fight between both
families, Moon-gwang was badly injured in the head since she was pushed down the
stairs. The Kims were able to escape and leave the house without them being noticed
by the Park family. During this time the rain was pouring down heavily and when they
got home the place was flooded with water. Plenty of people were trying to save their
belongings as much as they can, and so did the Kims. They hurriedly went inside their
home and tried to prevent the water form coming in. One of the scenes that I clearly
remembered was when Ki-jung smokes as if she has already given up, she seemed so
hopeless as she sat on the toilet smoking her cigarette. On the other hand Ki – woo
despite the flood was able to find the rock that his college friend gave him, that was
supposed to bring luck. But so far luck has already run out for this family, it was as if
the rock its self was hollow and fake on the inside. He still carried the rock with him.
Due to the rain most of the family in their area were evacuated to the gym. As they
were lying down, Ki-woo still embraced the rock tightly, as he was having a serious
conversation with his father and sister. His father kept on insisting that he has a plan to
solve all their problems. When we carefully analyze this part of the movie it simply
explains to us that they can’t escape their poor situation no matter what. They might
experience a taste of being rich however, everything will eventually fall back into place.
Back to the reality that they will forever be poor and that they do not fit in with the
rich.

The Kims we’re asked to sacrifice a weekend off to throw a birthday party for the
Parks’ youngest son. You would’ve thought that everything is finally at ease however
during the party, everything went completely wrong. Bellow the bunker a sad scene
was about to happen, Moon-gwang the old house keeper was bleeding out and nearing
to her death. Before she took her last breath she kept saying the name of Chung-sook
to her husband as if she is trying to say to her husband that she is the woman who
caused the death of his wife. Anger and despair was the only thing she felt before she
died, her husband was still in utter shock but with anger boing inside him he did
something beyond what we could’ve imagined.

Ki-woo returns to the house for the party while still carrying the rock. Geun-sae
enraged that Chung-sook killed his wife escapes from the bunker and attacks Ki-woo
with the same rock that he was carrying. Then Geun-sae sneaks upstairs and out onto
the lawn and stabs Ki-jeong in front of all the party guests. Seeing her daughter being
stabbed Chung-sook charged forward and kills Geun-sae with a barbecue skewer. The
highlight of the movie is not yet done. The most unexpected happened and it was when
Mr. Kim fatally stabs Mr. Park in front of his wife and kids and flees the scene. But for
me, Mr. Kim did such a thing because of how Mr. Park repeatedly pointed out about his
“poor smell”. You might think why would Mr. Park do such a thing? Well it is because he
felt as if Mr. Park surpassed his line by treating the poor as if they mean nothing. Mr.
Park’s final act was emblematic of his snobbery, even in a completely brutal and violent
situation, he believed he was better than working-class people. Even though the Parks
are not depicted as villains, their naivety, casual entitlement and their parasitic nature is
laid bare. 

Ki-woo awakens in the hospital from head injuries only to have his Miranda
rights read to him. He’s charged and on probation with his mother however his sister,
Ki-jung, has died and their father long disappeared and his whereabouts unknown. Ki-
woo continues to go to the Park house where he notices a flicker of light that registers
as Morse code. It was his father, tapping out a message to his only son. As he writes
his reply, his fantasy take shape. He has a plan to go to college, get a job, and make a
lot of money. He’s going to make enough money to be able to buy the house himself,
and all his father will have to do is go up the stairs and walk out into the sun. The
fantasy of upward economic mobility is Ki-woo’s fantasy. It’s a nice thought that he
could become rich and buy the house to free his father and they’d all live happily ever
after, but that’s never going to happen. Because they are all trapped where they are. It
was a heart-warming scene seeing a father and son hugging on the bright, green lawn
of the old Park house that is now rightfully theirs. But then reality hits once more, just
like what I have mentioned it was only his fantasy it was only a dream like state. It
could’ve ended in a happy state but then it was as if Parasite” concludes where it
begins, in the semi-basement apartment, as Ki-woo pens a letter to his father. Based on
what I have observed the idea of wealth becomes both a fantasy and a prison for the
Kim family, something they’ll chase but never achieve. They’re stuck completely, Ki-taek
in a basement and Ki-woo only able to look at the house from a distance. There is no
mistaking as to what reality is.

The title of the movie turns things on its head. Because what I thought to be
quite obvious at the beginning of the movie is turned upside down. Parasites are found
in all classes of society. If we look closely the story is centered upon a poor family
infiltrating and creeping into the rich house, it seems very obvious that the title
parasite refers to the poor family. But if you look at it the other way, you can also say
that the rich family, are also parasites in terms of labor. They can't even wash dishes,
they can't drive themselves, so they leech off to the poor family's labor and depend on
them entirely. So both are parasites in my point of view. The entire movie gave us a
slap in the face to wake up and face reality. Even the upstairs-downstairs construct
represent something. The literal levels of a house demonstrate the differences between
the wealthy and those who serve them. The “upstairs” people are comfortable, happy,
and prefer to be oblivious to what’s going on “downstairs” with the hired help, who do
their work and live their lives invisibly alongside. It was even mercilessly highlighted in
the closing scene. It’s heartbreakingly clear and obvious that Ki-woo is never, ever
going to be able to afford the house his father is trapped in. This isn’t due to his lack of
talent or intelligence, it’s simply because he wasn’t born into the right family. His desire
to continue striving is Sisyphean and is the root that will eventually be the end of him.
The hope that Ki-woo has is the emotional parasite in the film, the thing that keeps us
going but sucks out the very life of our soul.