Film Fandom - Parasite

Description

Free Admission | Thursday, June 24 - 7:00 PM CST | South Korea | 2019 | 132min | 18A | Directed by Bong Joon Ho | In Korean (English subtitles)

Additional Information

Introduced by Cullen Angus

Stream this film for free any time, any day with your RPL library card on Kanopy.

The Kim family is struggling but sees an opportunity when their son starts working for the wealthy Park family. Soon, all of them find a way to work within the same household and start living a parasitic life.

Introduction by Cullen Angus:  

"The film, Parasite, is a punishing focus on the detriment of capitalism on the working class. Although the narrative is donned in a Korean script, the motifs cut through linguistic and cultural barriers like a scalpel.
The cunning Kim family, steeped in struggle, conn the Park family - headed by patriarchal figure Park Dong-ik - to climb out of their subterranean apartment with aspirations of a better life. One by one, son Ki-woo, daughter Ki-jung, mother Chong-sook, and father Kim Ki-wong find themselves among the inner circle of the elite where they develop a palette for revelry.

If I may quote the films namesake, one can interpret the Kim’s as a parasite; slowly entering and spreading through the Park family estate. Their ambitions a parasite within themselves that motivates an exponentially more insidious plot to economic independence. Although I wouldn’t call it greed, the daily struggle of the Kim’s forces their hand to deceive the Parks further and further.

The second parasite I encourage you to observe is that of the Park family’s privilege - a sickness that weaponizes their status against fellow man. Their privilege dissolves their empathy, sheltering them to the disparity that exists right under their noses. Oblivious to the world outside of their comforts, the Parks perpetuate violence through their ignorance while remaining sheltered by wealth and good fortune.
Without giving too much away, the final parasite lies within the personification of the Park residence. The house itself is an integral character at the mercy of the aforementioned parties whom it hosts. The structure is revered numerous times in the film, worshiped even, as a sanctuary by all those who dwell within it. Yet the characters exist like malignant tumors that will eventually poison the bones of the home.

After violent conflict, a storm washes the Kim’s away from their arid fantasy of the bourgeois bellows into the flooded slums from where they came. Sweeping the family further and further away, down seemingly endless staircases back to the lower echelon. The use of stunningly bleak visuals presents a grim reflection to the viewer. Forcing us to examine our participation within the system of capital and questioning how the ethos may undo what it is that makes us human."