Parasite

Plot

Exposition

Setting

Kim family

They live in basements with no sunlight, and their only source of income is folding takeout boxes for pizzerias.

Park family

They live on top of a small hill in a modernist house that is spacious, well-lit, and surrounded by gardens and trees with a butler and a chauffeur. They were rich but stupid, they didn't know there was a man living in the basement of their house for years.

Character

Kim family

Ki-taek (Kim father)

As the head of the family, there is no job and no financial resources. He tries to change the situation of poverty, but his ability is limited. He can only adapt himself to the situation.

Ki-woo (Kim son)

Failed the college entrance examination many times, before his classmates went abroad, accidentally obtained the opportunity to apply for the park family.

Ki-jung (Kim daughter)

She was gifted in art, but was unable to pursue advanced studies due to poverty. She was teaching the park family's son painting

Park family

Dong-ik (Park father)

CEO of an IT company. He does not like people crossing the line and does not like the taste of poor people.

Yeon-Gyo (Park mother)

Yeon-gyo is a well-meaning mother and wife, but she's rather gullible. As long as she believed she was getting the best, she was willing to pay any price.

Rising Action

After Kim son(Ki-woo) successfully became the tutor of Park's daughter, they then plant the seeds. First, he lets his sister (Ki-jung) get a qualifications as an art therapist to get the job. Second, fire Parks' driver so that the Kim father (Ki-taek) can get the job. Park's original housekeeper was also fired and replaced by Kim mother(Chung-sook).

Climax

When the Parks have a birthday party for their son. Geun-sae(the person who has living in the Park's subterranean basement for many years) gets out of the basement and attacks Ki-jung, killing her. After Kim's father realizing he will never be equal with people like the Parks, he kill the Park father(Dong-ik).

Falling Action

Kim Father hides in park's basement; Kim Son and Kim Mother were caught, because Kim Son was beaten, so the brain got some problems; Kim Sister died.

Resolution

At the end of the movie, Kim Son has a fantasy that he makes a lot of money and buys the park house, to get her father out of the basement. However, the film brings us back to reality, Kim son still in the subterranean apartment with little hope for the future.

The Movie Parasite (2019) revealed the class struggle caused by the wealth gap between the rich and the poor from the perspective of Marxism.

First of all, the two families have completely different living environments

Secondly, their psychological states are primary based on their experiences.

Thirdly, chronic unequal treatment leads to greater internal strife, which in turn leads to greater class struggle.

Class struggle

Parasite reflected the class struggle through the difference in living environment between the Kim family and the Park family. The Kim family lived in a cramped basement, squalor indicative of their status in society. They are the proletariat at the bottom of society. The Parks belonged to the successful bourgeoisie. They lived in villas and were waited on by servants. After the Kim family became workers of the Park family, they improved economically, but the gap between their wages and poverty still remained.

There is a stormy night in the film that perfectly demonstrates the class gap. When the King family escaped from the villa, they went straight down, which shows that the gap between the rich and the poor is immutable. The Kim’ home was flooded by the heavy rain, and forced to sleep the other victims of their natural product, while the Park family is safe to rest at home. The storm was a disaster for the poor, but for rich is another sunny day.

Morality

In the movie, Park family keep emphasize smell, they describe Kim father's scent as "a smell hard to describe," which smell like subway. The son of the Park family also mentioned that tutor, art therapist, driver and housekeeper have the same smell. The indelible smell of the Kim family means that the bottom is always the bottom, and the same smell cannot be concealed by using different laundry detergent or soap.

Inequality

The economic gap is the basic reason of the inequality between the two families. In the movie, the Kim family says of the Park family, "They are rich but still nice. They are nice because They are rich." The Kim family steal wifi from their neighbour and open windows to get the free fumigation. The Park family use Japanese crabs to feed their dogs and celebrating with camping trips and gathering others for impromptu parties.

Personal opinion

In the movie, I felt pathetic for the Kim family, they were able to work for the Park family because they were capable. But what causes them to become parasites is laziness. They could have chosen to work hard and make a good life, but they chose to stay in and be lazy.

Social background

The film also reflects the problems existing in today's society. No matter is in Korea or around the world, there has always been class struggle. The difference between the rich and the poor cannot hide the taste of the poor, no matter how much the poor try to hide it.