Thats all for my in-depth analysis! He works as a list writer for Valnet, Inc. covering Screen Rant. A visual medium requires visual methods. Ki-jung is Ki-woo's sister, a smart and tough young woman who does not suffer fools. How could they possibly compare to a couple leeching off the Parks like this? The original housekeeper, Moon-gwang (Lee Jung Eun), displaced by the scheme, turns up at the home while the Parks are away and begs the Kims to allow her husband, Geun-se (Park Myeong-hoon), to continue living there after they discover him. That he also manages to go into hiding in the Park's basement as did Geun-sae is pretty impressive given all the people that had to be going in and out of the house. Director Bong Joon-Ho himself has described Parasite as a cross-genre film, dipping its toes into the regions of dark comedy, satire, thriller and family drama. The family lives in a garden unit where they struggle finding a Wi-Fi signal to sneak into in order to get . No. Mr Kim is visibly affected, even sniffing his own shirt. However, things went downhill from there. She gains the upper hand with Mrs. Park by feigning extreme expertise and confidence, and insisting on very specific ways to educate and take care of Da-song. The topic of class is one that Bong Joon-ho has a clear fascination with. Josh Weber is a cinephile and avid reader based in the eastern shore of Maryland. It is the only common factor between the Parks' young boy and Ki-Woo. Parasite study guide contains a biography of Bong Joon-ho, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. It perfectly encapsulated each moment of the film, whether it was absurdist humour, dark humour, escalating tension, or setting the tone for future revelations. At some points, it seemed that the music didnt match the situation, such as instilling fear or anxiety in the listener when there was really nothing to worry about at the moment, but the sense of foreboding always pays off later in the film. Through the analysis of the audio-visual language of the movie, this article starts with the storytelling of Parasite, enumerates and analyses the elements that appear in the movie to reflect the gap between the rich and poor. TURN BACK NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE FILM PLEASE!*. Just as he called Snowpiercer his film about class revolution set in a dystopia his "hallway movie," he has called Parasite his "stairway movie." It is an upstairs-downstairs film that. And by the time she's left the Park family home, she is already making her next play by taking off her underwear and hiding them discreetly, but not so discreet that they can't be found by Dong-ik. I could sense my fellow audience members discomfort after the movie ended, and I even made eye contact with my neighbour as both our mouths were agape. He notices the flickering light and deciphers a coded message from his father. This causes Da-song to faint, and Mr. Park (Lee Sun Kyun) immediately demands that Ki-taek drive them to the hospital instead of tending to Ki-jung. Ki-jeong manages to gain the trust of the young Da-song, and was even the last person to show compassion towards Moon-kwang and her husband, offering to bring them food when theyre trapped in the basement. On his birthday, a day like today, he had snuck down to the kitchen to eat his birthday cake, but Moon-kwangs husband had snuck up the basement stairs and made eye contact with Da-song. Mr Kim is eventually condemned to live and hide in the bunker, truly fulfilling the parasite-like behaviour of leeching of its host at someone elses expense. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist,The New York Times, and Rolling Stone,and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Interests scouting. Bong Joon Ho's Oscar-contending "Parasite" masterfully explores class divisions in Korea with voyeuristic delight. The Kim family, living in poverty, struggles to make ends meet by doing menial jobs such as folding pizza boxes for a local pizza shop. Brian Tallerico is the Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. To take advantage of all of CharacTours features, you need your own personal What is Mumblecore? These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Parasite by Bong Joon-ho. Parasite is a South Korean movie from 2019 filled with numerous themes, all being the fault of a patriarchal and hierarchical society we have created. Min-hyuk offers Ki-woo his tutoring job while he's away noting that the family of the girl he tutors is not necessarily the best judge of character. Today and maybe forever the Kims remain underground. Interests smoking. Ki-woo makes some rather poor choices, too, though. The Artist, a French and Belgian production, won best picture at the 2012 Academy Awards but was ineligible for the best foreign language film category as it is a silent film. However, she makes a grave mistake by letting Moon-gwang back into the Park family home, thereby unleashing a Pandora's box she can't close. Parasite dominated the Academy Award, including a Best Picture win. Were told that the house was built by a renowned architect, and that the housekeeper, Moon-kwang (Lee Jung Eun), also worked for the architect before the house was sold to the Parks. You would think that maybe before you hire someone else, you stop to think if maybe your household staff is disappearing faster than usual? What is the movie Parasite about? has many answers. Living in a musty semi-basement in the slums of Seoul, South Korea. Let me know if, like me, you wanted to re-watch the film from the top immediately after it ended. Despite their circumstances, you never get the sense that theres any animosity or resentment between them; only a shared discontentment for their living and financial situation. Honestly, it may be a tie between Dong-ik and Yeon-gyo here as they both fall for the deceptions of Ki-jeong and the rest of the Kim family. However, she has no ill intentions, and can even be credited for saving Ki-woo after he was attacked by Moon-kwangs husband. More importantly, his failure to dispose of Geun-sae with the rock eventually proves to be not only his undoing but both the Park and Kim families alike. Moon-Gwang has been living in the mansion as the architect's housekeeper since it was first built. Mr Kim, already an accepting and adaptable character, was unknowingly triggered by Mr Parks reaction to Moon-kwangs husband as his pent-up resentment comes crashing through. If he is ever caught, he may suffer the death penalty for committing a murder. Her charismatic personality makes her excellent at fooling the Parks. She is the archetype of the mistress of a wealthy household: glamorous, naive, and good at wielding power with feminine grace. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene BreakdownTuesday: PlotWednesday: CharactersThursday: ThemesFriday: DialogueSaturday: Takeaways. When you move up the ladder, someone else has to be displaced. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Parasite by Bong Joon-ho. Maybe you're the one who isn't a good judge of character, Min. The characters are a reason for the success and we've ranked how smart they are. Writers can shade and shape a storys character in limitless ways. Yeon-gyo is a well-meaning mother and wife, but she's rather gullible. I left the cinema with my heart racing thats just how impactful this movie was. Profession stay-at-home housekeeper. The young man changes his name to Kevin and begins tutoring Park Da-hye (Jung Ziso), who immediately falls for him, of course. She is easily deceived by Ki-jeong's framing of the Park family chauffeur as explained by Dong-ik. Parasite has a cynical view of how class operates in a capitalist society, but as Bong has said, its also painfully realistic. Now, the exquisite building is home to Yeon-Kyo, her husband Dong-Ik, and her two children. Living in a small, musty semi-basement in the slums of Seoul, South Korea. Parasite dominated the Academy Award, including a Best Picture win. moon-gwang's husband. At the party, Da-song falls into another seizure upon the sight of Moon-kwangs husbands bloodied face (from when he tried to signal Help me through the light switches), and the Park family summon Mr Kim to drive Da-song to the hospital while Ki-jeong bleeds out on the lawn and Mr Kim attempts to stop the bleeding. Ki-taek and Chung-sook, the patriarch and matriarch, are having trouble finding employment, and their children, Ki-woo and Ki-jung are trying to help in whatever way they can. Its no accident that the lower-class protagonists happen to have the single most common surname in South Korea. Get entertainment recommendations for your unique personality and find out which of 5,500+ He has always been fascinated by pop culture and film. Suffice to say, the wealthy in any country survive on the labor of the poor, whether its the housekeepers, tutors, and drivers they employ, or something much darker. The musty smell follows Ki-Jung wherever she visits, revealing her poverty. For example, Mr Park making callous comments at the expense of the Kim family which eventually lead to him getting stabbed, Mr Park pressuring Mr Kim to make a fool of himself at Da-songs birthday party with the threat of money, and the Parks only concerning themselves with Da-songs seizure despite the fact that Ki-jeong, someone who works for the Park family, had been stabbed at the birthday party. Each character inParasiteis unique, but they definitely differ in levels of intelligence. They fold pizza boxes for a delivery company to make some cash, steal wi-fi from the coffee shop nearby, and leave the windows open when the neighborhood is being fumigated to deal with their own infestation. Moon-gwang is pretty remarkable in that she has not only managed to ward off people from taking her job up until the Kim family, but she has also managed to keep her husband hidden in the Park family basement for alongtime. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. After being added Hulus catalogue for exclusive streaming, it became the platforms most streamed film in both the independent and foreign film categories, reaching even more audience members and wowing them with its immaculate presentation and resonant themes. After waking up in the hospital, he and his mother are charged and put on probation. Characters from Parasite (2019). Moon-kwang eventually succumbs to a concussion, leading to her husband desperately smashing his head into the light switches in the bunker to signal Help me in Morse code. Ki-woo Kim (Choi Woo-Shik) is a young man living in poverty in the slums of a nameless South Korean city with his family - father Ki-taek Kim (Song Kang-ho), mother Chung-sook Kim (Jang Hye-jin), and sister Ki-jung (Park So-dam). Ki-jung gets the job after impressing Mrs. Park with some pseudo insights about psychology, and Mrs. Park hires her as both a tutor and an art therapist. RELATED: The 10 Worst Family Movies Of All Time, Ranked. The entire plot of the film was completely unexpected and otherworldly, giving the audience a great sense of uneasiness and formication. It is one of the most effective satires in recent memory. If not for the homicidal tendencies of the Kim family, she may well have lasted longer. He also does a great job in coaching his father's performance for Yeon-gyo so that she will get rid of Moon-gwang. He is obsessed with keeping his employees controlled and hates nothing more than when one of his charges "crosses the line." After getting referred for a tutoring gig, he orchestrates a plan in which his whole family begins working for the same wealthy family. I tried to avoid it. Ki-Woo's high school friend persuaded Ki-Woo to take his place as an English tutor for the Parks family's young girl. Chung-sook takes over as the housekeeper. director Bong Joon-hos insightful and engaging comedy/thriller became one of the most talked-about films of the year and set a new precedent for the mark a South Korean movie can leave on United States movie-going audiences. Over the course of a few pulse-quickening scenes, and unbeknown to the Parks, Chung-sook critically injures Moon-gwang by pushing her down the stairs, and Ki-taek traps Geun-se in the bunker. Alongside actor Choi Woo-sik, he explains the significance of production design elements from the beginning of the film, such as the cultural context of scholars stones in South Korea and the idea of distant hope conveyed by the semi-basement window. Mrs Kim calling Mr Kim a cockroach, which we all understand is a relentless survivor that not only 1) runs and hides at signs of danger, but also 2) is literally a parasitic insect that doesnt contribute to the ecosystem. If you are interested in reading through the rest of the script, you can find it below. Here, the director drags out the scenes of the Kim family running, down, down, down several flights of stairs to reach their neighbourhood. Ki-woo visits the Parks in their gigantic home, where he is introduced to the spacey and out-of-touch Mrs. Park. I had my doubts over who the one would be, but it seems to be Mr Kim. What ensues from this point on is a chaotic, discordant frenzy, where the tension set from the moment we discover the hidden bunker never eases. Though Parasite cannot be confined to a single genre, it centers its focus on class struggle, a sort of precursor to the warfare of Bongs 2013 thriller Snowpiercer. The staircases represent divisions of class and power the Kims wonder upon wandering upstairs whether, in a just world, they would also belong among the rich, so far above ground; upon descending to their flooded apartment in a storm that merely throws off the Parks camping trip, the Kims are reminded of the disparities between the two families. More books than SparkNotes. Dong-Ik has a housekeeper to keep his mansion comfortable and a chauffeur to drive him from the busy workplace to his peaceful home. Official synopsis: Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan. Required fields are marked *. I noticed that the house, the main setting for the plot, is always perceived by the audience in wide shots to show the expanse of space available. With a run-time of 2hrs 15mins that you would barely notice due to the amazing pacing of the film, the film moves seamlessly through its different genres and settings without missing a beat. And then Bong takes a hard right turn that asks us what were watching and sends us hurtling to bloodshed. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. 5 Parasite Character Analysis (Avoiding Spoilers) Living in a smelly semi-basement located in the slums of Seoul, South Korea. Dong-Ik purchased the beautiful home from its architect some time ago. Elevation clearly equates to status; the parks have a multi-level home at the top of the hill while the Kims live below street level in a semi-basement, and the surprise 3rd party lives deep underground in a sub-basement. A short but impactful conversation with Yeon-Kyo (Mrs. Park) was all it took for Ki-Jung to secure the art tutor job for the Park family's young son. Challenge finding a way out of family's misfortune. The family also laments that the rich are only nice because money is like an iron it irons out all the creases in your life, making life smooth and untainted. Parasite tells a story about disparate families, but also about disparate social classes, who are scrambling in a society that doesn't set them up to be protagonists and by default, pushes . Were in a golden age of TV writing and development. To take advantage of all of CharacTours features, you need your own personal Parasites ending features a sequence of Ki-woos plan to work hard, buy the house under which his own father now hides, and reunite the family but this plan is nothing but a fantasy. Hence my principle: Character = Function. However, to qualify for the job, Ki-Woo must forge his identity from a man in his mid-20s with no formal education to a student studying business at an elite university. The musty smell follows Ki-Jung wherever she visits, revealing her poverty. Were here to help. This time it's true. As Moon-kwangs husband and Mrs Kim struggle, Mrs Kim manages to stab Moon-kwangs husband through the abdomen with a skewer. Living in a small, musty semi-basement in the slums of Seoul, South Korea. The films social commentary on class is at its strongest in this depiction of the lower classes fighting against each other rather than against the 1% who truly hold more accountability. Now he leads a pleasant life in the mansion with his wife Yeon-Kyo and two children. The only thing I can think of is that the original housekeeper was in contact with the original tutor of the family. Not affiliated with Harvard College. (Note: One of these ranked characters is a huge spoiler for one of the plot's biggest twists, so if you still haven't seenParasite, get on it and then come back and read this!). At its exact mid-point, Parasite undergoes a massive tonal shift. The film starts with the Kim family, a South Korean family struggling with poverty in a poor neighborhood in an unnamed city. Plot Summary: All unemployed, Ki-taek and his family take peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks, as they ingratiate themselves into their lives and get entangled in an unexpected incident. Mr Park (Lee Sun-gyun) is clever enough to question that fact that leaving panties behind in a car is not something normal, even in the throes of forbidden fornication. The visual effects We can't blame him too much for developing such trust in Ki-taek that he doesn't see his impending death coming right for him. Her family members have joined her in working for the Park family. Its both a literal and metaphorical depiction of just how far removed the Park family and Kim familys circumstances are, and how far down the class divide the Kim family are from the Parks. Reading scripts. Geun-se worshiped Mr. Park and his professional success but continued to live beneath him. The Kim family lives in a semi-basement and struggles to keep food on the table. With its overwhelming plot and acting, this motion picture retains a long-lasting effect and some kind of shock. At the party, Ki-woo decides to head back down into the basement with the fortune rock, likely intending to end Moon-kwang and her husbands lives. As with great stories, every seeming-antagonist has their own reasons for doing what they do, making it nearly impossible to clearly identify an antagonist as we sympathise with their actions. Mr Park yells for Mr Kim to throw him the car keys, which unfortunately get stuck under Moon-kwangs husbands body as he falls. I finally caught the highly raved-about film, Parasite, after hearing nothing but praise for the movie from anyone who watched it. For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here. After he gets the job, Ki-Woo proceeds to fetch employment for the rest of his family members--sister Ki-Jung as an art tutor, father Ki-Teak as a chauffeur, and lastly mom Chung-Sook as a housekeeper. Outside of the sub-basement, violence erupts, and the prophetic scholars stone becomes an instrument of violence. Characters are the players in our stories. Parasite director Bong Joon-ho became the first South Korean filmmaker to win best director at the academy awards. He takes a liking to Ki-jeong and trusts her, but unjustifiably suffers the most at the hands of Moon-kwangs family and the Kim family, suffering two seizures resulting from shock. A knocked-out Moon-kwang soon gains consciousness and tries to flee up the basement stairs just as Mrs Park arrives back home, but Mrs Kim deals a deft kick to Moon-kwangs chest, sending her tumbling down the stairs and landing in the basement with a sick thud of her head against the concrete wall. 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