Parasite Movie Analysis Essay

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. The main themes are capitalism, deception, and violence. “Korean dramas vary in terms of theme; from non-violent stories to very dynamic and violent stories.” (Parc, J., & Moon, H.-C., 2013). The main characters in Parasite are the Park family. Because of the Park’s lower class rank in society, they are forced to be “parasites” in order to live. However, eventually their greed causes them to ruin not only their own family, but two more by being deceptive and resorting to violence. Although most of the time it is no one’s fault that they struggle to get out of poverty and never anyone’s fault that the rich look down and frown upon the poor, deceiving a family for your own benefit is horrible. Two wrongs do not make a right. In the end, all of this stems from capitalism and the lack of help for low income families and communities. “The banjiha* in many ways has come to symbolize a segment of South Koreans squeezed by increasing density and diminishing affordability, crammed into unseen corners of a city where the rich keep getting richer and occupy more and more of the space.” (Kim, 2020). Although the culture in South Korea is different from America, the concepts and themes explored in Parasite are able to be shared across other cultures with other humans because poverty is present everywhere (Poepsel, n.d.).

The filmmaking aspect that stood out the most was the use of the color green throughout most of the film. The different shades of green used in the 3 main settings are extremely powerful in how the viewer perceives those spaces, the people who live there, and assist in sewing together a “multi-layered story” (Poepsel, n.d.). The bright green yard in front of the Kim’s house shows how bright and stable their lives are and lets viewers know that they live a happy life and don’t worry about anything. The grass is greener on their side. That dynamic changes in scenes where we are in the bunker and semi basement. The bunker has a dusty and dark green lighting leading down the steps, and at the bottom there is dark green paint on the walls mixed with dirt. In the Park household we see dull green cabinets and more dull green lighting, but in this home it’s more greenish blue lighting. I chose this filmmaking aspect because it was one of the things that stood out to me most throughout the film. The colors used in a film always grab my attention the most, especially when I see the same color repeatedly. The usage of the color green in Parasite makes it stand out against other films because when you think of the word “parasite”, one of the first colors that come to mind is the color green. The color can also connect to money and greed, two more ideas present in the film. I think by using that and implementing it helps the overall message strike closer to the viewer.

“Movies are popular because of the stories they tell and the way they tell them” (Poepsel, n.d.). I think one of the reasons why Parasite was so popular is because there is no one villain. The film is filled with wrong decisions and actions by all characters, because everyone has their own opinions on life. In a world where the system is designed against people in poverty, it is only fair that you need to take on any job in order to get by, and it also makes sense that you might smell different than someone with money. However, as horrible as this may sound, just because you are poor, it does not mean you can get away with tricking an innocent family and lying to their face. In doing so, they not only put themselves in an even worse place, they destroyed 3 families, including themselves, with one not deserving it at all. On the other hand, Therefore, I think that determining the “villain” of the story depends on how you interpret the film. In Parasite, I understand that the system is against the Park family, but I see them as the villains of the story. In the end, everything that happened was their fault.