For a billion-dollar industry, Hollywood has no shortage of films discussing the downfalls of capitalism and income inequality. In an NPR podcast about class warfare in 2019 films, film critic Bob Mondello discusses this pattern in some of the year’s most successful films, including Parasite, Joker, Hustlers, and most interestingly, Jordan Peele’s Us. While Us, like Parasite, is a genre-subverting film directed by a person of color, it is most intriguing in its thematic similarities. Like Parasite, Us addresses the idea of being unaware of one’s own privilege. In Peele’s film, the privileged are “tethered” to versions of themselves that are quite literally below them, condemned to living in the shadows of their more fortunate, more powerful counterparts. In Bong’s Parasite, there is a similar “Upstairs, Downstairs” approach to privilege and class, as depicted by the underprivileged Kims and the wealthy Parks (Mondello). While these and other critiques of class structure are common in many Hollywood films, Bong’s approach is different. In an essay for American Quarterly, Christina Klein discusses how “Bong does not simply mimic Hollywood. Rather, he appropriates and reworks genre conventions, using them as a framework for exploring and critiquing South Korean social and political issues” (873). Essentially, he is borrowing Hollywood’s filmic language to tell his specifically Korean story, hybridizing it with elements of Korea’s Golden Age of cinema from the 1950s and ’60s (873). This is an important facet of his films not only stylistically, but also in terms of content—in Parasite, Bong uses a diverse range of filmmaking techniques to tell a story that is, on the surface, an ode to the destructive nature of capitalism in general. However, when viewed more closely, the film is indicative of a uniquely Korean experience.
At the same time, we must concede that Bong’s relationship to American cinema is fundamental to his filmmaking in terms of both artistic influences and in his role as a successful filmmaker critiquing the capitalist system from the inside out. But despite the irony of such a position, critiquing a system while inside of it does not automatically discredit Bong’s implicit argument that class revolution is messy, cruel, and ultimately heartbreaking. In both the real world and Bong’s fictional one in Parasite, such a revolution is introduced out of necessity to escape a larger oppressive system. Later in her essay, Klein suggests that we might “think about the power relations of global cinematic flows through the spatial metaphor of a ‘larger arena connecting differences,’ in which filmmakers exert their energy not through a simple resistance to Hollywood, but through varied and often ‘ambivalent’ forms of ‘exchange,’ ‘negotiation,’ and ‘contested transaction’ with Hollywood” (874). It would be nearly impossible to separate Hollywood films and filmmaking from their capitalist, consumerist roots. However, as a person familiar with the privilege of wealth and as an international filmmaker familiar with the ostracization of outsiders specifically in Hollywood, Bong has created his own unique platform from which to criticize the social and political norms characteristic of a system he participates in.
Much of Bong’s focus on capitalism and privilege centers on the competitive nature of the working class, who are pitted against each other in an effort to rise among the ranks rather than take down the upper-class root of their problem. While the Kims are on the offensive for most of the film, taking the jobs of the previous Park staff, the most prominent and visually stunning interclass struggle occurs during the film’s second act. While the Parks are away on a camping trip for their son’s birthday, the Kims have the house to themselves, seizing the opportunity to experience a day in the life of the wealthy. However, after the fired housekeeper shows up unexpectedly, they learn that her own financial circumstances have driven her to hide her husband in the Parks’ basement for years, sneaking him food when she can. The arrival of the housekeeper marks the exact midpoint of the film, as well as the beginning of the Kims’ downfall. The Kims struggle to keep their secret, kicking the housekeeper down the stairs and tying up her husband, all while her replacement Chung-sook attempts to make “ram-don” (a loose English translation for the popular Korean dish jjapaguri) for the fast-approaching Parks (Rochlin). After a somewhat violent struggle in which both parties threaten to expose the other to the Parks, the Kims gain the upper hand, but not without consequences. Ultimately, both parties are guilty to some extent, but Bong’s message has more to do with criticizing the institution that encourages the problem, not sympathizing with those who fall victim to it.
Interestingly, despite Parasite’s extraordinary screenplay, abundance of stunning performances, and overall global success, much of the conversation generated by the film centered on its status as a “foreign” film rather than its message about the parasitic nature of privilege. While this was likely not at all Bong’s intention, this in and of itself creates an entirely different narrative regarding privilege and Americans’ apparent aversion to that with which we aren’t immediately familiar. This is typically most visually evident in American awards shows, where most of the nominees are white and international films are bumped to their own ‘lesser’ category. In an article for Varsity Newspaper, James Roché discusses this very phenomenon in relation to Moonlight’s Oscar win, and expresses concern that “films like Moonlight run the risk of becoming ‘the token black friend’ of Hollywood.” Hollywood is generally dominated by liberal ideology, films, awards shows, and actors, all of which make a point to discuss the importance of diversity while continuing to nominate white actors and films with predominantly white casts. The awards and praise Moonlight received were well-deserved, but they do not, Roché says, “make up for 80 years of underappreciation.” Parasite made history by being the first foreign language film to win Best Picture, but the fact that Bong’s Korean film about capitalism and privilege managed to get through to the most elite of televised awards shows is a testament to the success of his message and his ability to enlighten rather than a sign that non-English language films will have guaranteed success in the future.
Parasite is ultimately a film about boundaries. It studies the confines of class systems, social and professional relationships, and the significance of actual, physical property lines. Throughout the film, the Parks express that their first priority is hiring staff who don’t “cross the line” (01:27:59). While this “line” is the unseen divide between the working- and upper-class, Bong’s physical use of boundaries and intersections suggested through cinematography, architecture, and blocking creates a visual as well as metaphorical separation between characters. The first and most visually striking example of this is when the original housekeeper attempts to wake up the matriarch of the Park family. She has managed to maintain her position through various homeowners because of her ability to recognize the class barrier and avoid crossing it. However, as we watch through a window—a jamb dividing employee and employer—we see her briefly cross this line physically by clapping in her dozing boss’s ear. It isn’t particularly significant at the time, but it is a sign that perhaps her status as the perfect, submissive housekeeper isn’t quite as convincing as we are first led to believe. There are other instances of this physical divide between classes: between driver and passenger, for example, or the Kims’ semi-basement home separated by what feels like miles of stairs to reach the Park home. In addition to highlighting these invisible, ever-present lines, Bong’s Parasite defies genre conventions while also challenging the barriers that have limited the diversity of mainstream cinema for far too long.
Works Cited
Parasite. Directed by Bong-Joon Ho, written by Bong Joon Ho and Jin Won Han, CJ Entertainment, 2019.
Kiang, Jessica. “Film Review: ‘Parasite.’” Variety, 21 May 2019, variety.com/2019/film/markets-festivals/parasite-review-1203221435.
Klein, Christina. “Why American Studies Needs to Think about Korean Cinema, or, Transnational Genres in the Films of Bong Joon-Ho.” American Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 4, 2008, pp. 871-898, doi:10.1353/aq.0.0041.
Mondello, Bob. “Class Warfare In 2019 Movies.” NPR, 8 Dec. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/12/08/786039710/class-warfare-in-2019-movies.
Roché, James. “A Fine Line Between Tokenism and Diversity.” Varsity Newspaper, 31 May 2017, varsitynewspaper.co.za/2017/05/31/a-fine-line-between-tokenism-and-diversity.
Rochlin, Margy. “How Steak and ‘Ramdon’ Illustrate Class Tensions in Bong Joon Ho’s ‘Parasite.’” Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2019, https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2019-10-19/parasite-ramdon-bong-joon-ho-ramen-udon-jjapaguri