Parasite: A Film Review Analysis of Socio-Economic Class Divide in South Korean Cinema
Overview
This paper reviews Bong Joon-ho's 2019 film Parasite, analyzing its depiction of the socio-economic class divide between wealthy and impoverished families in South Korea. The review examines the film's characters, narrative arc, and critical reception while evaluating how education and class struggle function as central themes in the work.
What this essay covers
- Introduction presenting the film's production details, cast, awards, and critical ratings
- Film Summary detailing the Kim family's circumstances and their infiltration into the Park household
- Expanded Evaluation analyzing socio-economic gaps, class interaction, directorial approach, and theoretical frameworks from Marx and Weber
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Parasite: Film Review
Introduction
Parasite is a South Korean black comedy thriller produced on 30th May 2019 and directed by Bong Joon-ho. The director's screenplay was written in association with Han Jin-won and is available in two languages: Korean and English. The main actors in the film include Cho Yeo-Jeong (as Yeon-Kyo), Woo-Sik Choi (as Ki-woo), Park So-dam (as Ki-Jung), Kang-Ho Song (as Kim-taek), and Lee Sun-Kyun (as Park Dong-ik). The film's success is evidenced by the several nominations and awards it received, including the Academy Award for Best Picture (2020), Academy Award for Best International Feature (2020), and the Bafta Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was rated 8.6/10 on IMDb, 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 96% on Metacritic. The film is a classic depiction of the widening gap between the poor and wealthy and the potential dangers the situation might result in within and without families regardless of the social class. Thus, the paper is a review of the film based on the widening socio-economic class divide.
Film Summary
The Kims are a low-income family residing in a cramped shabby basement apartment in Seoul's lower working-class resident (Chang). The family consists of a mother (Chung-sook), a father (Ki-taek), and two offspring young adults in Ki-woo (son) and Ki-Jung (daughter) (Joon-ho). The parents have lived in poverty for so long that they do not even realize it because they don't know any other kind of life. Collectively, the family perpetrates minor scams for survival.