The large hill that leads up to the Park family's house.
An area from the Park house that shows the natural light coming in, creating a bright environment.
The party that the Park family hosts, showing the bright and clean clothing of the wealthy.
A spacious and clear shot of the interior of the Park house.
The exterior of the Park house.
The kitchen from the Park house, next to the cellar that leads to the underground bunker. Mrs. Park and Mrs. Kim as their maid.
The tunnel that the father, son, and daughter of the Kim family use to escape to their house.
The lucky rock that was gifted by Kiwoo's friend. It was said to bring the family wealth.
A shot of the Kim family huddled on the ground in their semi-basement house. At the beginning of the movie, they first try to earn money by folding pizza boxes.
The underground bunker of the Park family where the previous maid's husband lived in. It has a dark and haunting atmosphere.
The Kim family's house when it flooded the day it rained. The daughter, Kijung, is seen smoking amidst the chaos.
In this scene, Kijung received a call from Mrs. Park about arranging a party for their son. Here, the Kim family is sheltering at a gym with other poor families since their houses were flooded from the rain.
The long path of stairs leading the way down to the destitute neighborhoods. Here, the Kim family is rushing to their home to avoid the rain.
Mr. and Mrs. Kim, asleep on the couch after the rainstorm that only caused their plans of camping to be canceled. They have the luxury to relax in their safe home.
The South Korean film Parasite written by Bong Joonho is a film that starts off as a comedy and gradually grows into a horror film. Released in 2019 with immense popularity worldwide, the film heavily focuses on the class divide between the rich and the poor. Two families living in South Korea, the Park, and the Kim family, establish a relationship that has intentions hidden beneath the surface. Kim Kiwoo, from the destitute Kim family, is one day given an opportunity to earn more money by acting as an English tutor for the daughter of the wealthy. One by one, every family member makes their way into being con-artists to the oblivious Park family by recommending “acquaintances” to replace those who already work for the family. While the movie may appear comedic in the beginning by showing the clever ways the Kim family deceives clueless “simple” wife and husband, an unexpected situation creates suspense that may take away their already made plans of overtaking the Park family’s wealth. The previous nanny was hiding her husband in the bunker deep beneath the house, and reality hits. The characters soon realize that they aren’t made for the wealthy world, fighting their way to keep their plans in order. The problems continue building up, eventually leading to the haunting scene of the characters murdering one another at a party held for the son of the Parks.
The major theme of this film is the upper class versus the lower class. It is shown symbolically through the film with the Park family living in a spacious house on a hill, while the Kims live in a cramped semi-basement at the bottom of a hill. There is a scene when the father, son, and daughter flee the Park house while there is torrential rain. Despite the rain falling seemed rather normal for the Park’s, it ended up pouring down the hills to the poor neighborhood. The family rushes down flights of stairs only to find their semi-basement home to flood. The family was then forced to shelter in a nearby gym packed with others experiencing the same problem.
Another theme could be the false hope that the lower classes have. Kiwoo’s friend, Min, gifts him a rock that’s said to bring good luck and wealth, but even when their plans are crushed, he continues grasping onto the rock, claiming that it’s “stuck to him”. His father, when asked the question of what to do next in the midst of their problem, says the “best plan is no plan” because that means you’ll never fail when things go wrong.
In a way, both the Park family and the Kim family leech off one another like parasites. One, with the Kims deceiving the Park family to gain wealth from them, and two, from the wealthy, sucking away any chance of the poor attaining their level of wealth. They exploit the poor by having them do cheap labor that the rich couldn’t be bothered doing.
As for the aesthetic, the Parks’ house and clothing appear very bright and clean along with lush plants decorating the outside of the house, while the Kims’ house has a dark and dirty color scheme with dim lighting. On the movie cover, their eyes are censored with bars covering them, but the wealthy family members have white bars while the poor have black bars. It means that the two families are parasites but in different ways.
Contrast, deception, planning, comedy, thriller. With the growing contrast between the wealthy and the destitute families in South Korea, the Kim family deceives the rich Park family by working for them as con artists. Starting off as a comedic plan to take over the Park’s wealth, reality soon crushes the Kim’s expectations, gradually turning the film into a thriller.
