He works as a list writer for Valnet, Inc. covering Screen Rant. He has always been fascinated by pop culture and film. Moon-kwangs constant wails of Husband! Mr Kims face as he picks up the tissue stained with blood from the dustbin. Moon-kwang reveals that a large cabinet in the basement is actually hiding the entrance to a secret underground bunker, where her husband (Park Myung-hoon) had been living in secret the past few years. Kim Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik) and his family live on the edge of poverty. Now he leads a pleasant life in the mansion with his wife Yeon-Kyo and two children. A fight breaks out in the living room of the house, and the Kims manage to get Moon-gwang and her husband down into the bunker, but suddenly, Mrs. Park calls and tells Chung-sook that they are heading home after the campgrounds flooded from a rainstorm. Ki-jeong is usually one step ahead of Ki-woo and really solidifies getting the Kim family into the Park family home. characters are most like you. A highlight of the film for me that cannot go uncredited was the music and score. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. And theres a reason the Kim apartment is halfway undergroundtheyre caught between worlds, stuck in the growing chasm between the haves and the have nots. The next day, Mrs. Park calls each of them in to work on Da-song's birthday party, which will take place on the lawn. Min-hyuk is a friend to the Kim family, primarily Ki-woo. capture a large family group in a single frame. Please enable Javascript and hit the button below! 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. Parasite was not just the first South Korean film to win the foreign language prize at the Oscars but also the first foreign language film from any country to win the overall best picture prize. For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here. Mr. Park is the head of the Park household. Parasite essays are academic essays for citation. This review was filed from the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7th. We even learn that Moon-kwangs husband, like Mr Kim, also had a failed business venture in a cake shop. A third leads to the upper floor of the Parks stylish home. 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. Lets shift gears from a Parasite summary to a Parasite movie analysis. Ki-taek, the father, begins working as the Park family chauffeur after the Kims have removed their previous chauffeur from his position, and similarly Chung-sook, the mother, replaces Moon-gwang, the housekeeper who has served the home longer than the Parks have even lived there. Some time ago, she and her husband purchased the beautiful mansion from its architect. as an art student at a middle-class family. Personality cool and cynical. After hearing about the peach allergy of the housekeeper, Moon-gwang, Ki-jung and Ki-woo trigger an allergic reaction and make it look like she has tuberculosis. 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. 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. This paper aims to study the gap between the rich and poor reflected in movie Parasite. When a fluke of luck gets the son, Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik), a job as an English tutor for the wealthy Park familys daughter, the lives of the two families start to intertwine in comedic, dramatic, and eventually, disastrous ways. 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. As the end credits began to roll, the tension in the cinema was palpable. 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 real deception is carried out by the Kims, and it works flawlessly. Parasite: Every Main Character Ranked By Intelligence, Parasite: 7 Reasons It's Bong Joon-Ho's Best Movie (& 7 It's Not), The 10 Worst Family Movies Of All Time, Ranked, 5 Reasons Why HBO's Parasite Is A Good Idea (& 5 Why The Movie Should Be Left Alone), Parasite: D&D Alignments Of The Main Characters. After the run-in with Moon-gwang and her husband, Ki-woo becomes exceedingly attached to the lucky rock that his friend gave him, and carries it around as a totem. For additional insights into director Bong Joon-hos creative process, listen to him discuss his decisions and directorial style with the other 2019 DGA nominees for best director including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Taika Waititi, and Sam Mendes: Power shifts from Moon-gwang and her incognito husband to the Kim family as both lower-class families fight for leverage over each other. Seeing an opportunity to get his artistically talented sister, Ki-jung, a job, Ki-woo says that he knows someone named "Jessica" who went to college in Illinois, who might be perfect for the job. The cultural swell around Parasite is much deserved and hopefully leads more audience members to check out Parasite director Bong Joon-hos previous films and more South Korean cinema in general. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Parasite by Bong Joon-ho. 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. Living in a musty semi-basement in the slums of Seoul, South Korea. He is obsessed with keeping his employees controlled and hates nothing more than when one of his charges "crosses the line." Trying to make long term plans for him to eventually marry Da-hye are laughed off by his family. The emotionally-affecting resonance of the ending is the perfect cap to the wonderfully layered social commentary spread throughout the film. Stick with me here. Buy TVs. Electronics prices are defying inflation. as Yeon-kyo ( Mr. Park's wife ), Choi Woo-shik 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. But, before we dig deeper into the social commentary, lets take a look at how the film managed to break through to an unmatched audience size. It is the only way Ki-Jung relieves her stress from the reality. Grew up as an art student at a middle-class family. It's all fun and games until Moon-gwang shows up, insisting that she left something at the house. After waking up in the hospital, he and his mother are charged and put on probation. Here are our rankings of the most intelligent and least intelligent characters. Read the script for the award-winning foreign film and analyze all week. But that he doesn't press Yeon-gyo for replacing Moon-gwang, who has been with the family for quite some time is really when his fate is sealed. I had my doubts over who the one would be, but it seems to be Mr Kim. He's pretty checked out as to what's going on in his home until it's ready to smack him in the face. 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. Not just because the film went full circle with Mr Kim hiding out in the bunker, forever condemned to hide and steal from the houses occupants, but also due to the small hints dropped throughout the film: Its also difficult to identify the main antagonist of the film. Nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards, this Korean film certainly has a wide fanbase all over North America. The film is packed with social commentary, thrilling moments, and plenty of meaty writing worthy of a full , FREE: StudioBinders Screenwriting Software , The Ultimate Guide to Call Sheets (with FREE Call Sheet Template), How to Break Down a Script (with FREE Script Breakdown Sheet), The Only Shot List Template You Need with Free Download, Managing Your Film Budget Cashflow & PO Log (Free Template), A Better Film Crew List Template Booking Sheet, Best Storyboard Softwares (with free Storyboard Templates), What is an Antagonist in a Story Definition & Examples, What is Telos: The Ultimate Guide to Understand Telos for Video Marketing, What is an Anecdote Definition, Examples, and Functions, What is a Memoir Definition, Examples in Literature & Film. RELATED: 5 Reasons Why HBO's Parasite Is A Good Idea (& 5 Why The Movie Should Be Left Alone). 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. The argument between the two families becomes violent, with the Kims temporarily coming out on top. It is somehow, and Im still not even really sure how, both joyous and depressing at the same time. He is a generally congenial but snobbish man. When Ki-woo goes into the basement, Geun-sae attacks him and bludgeons him in the head with the rock. Its so clichd at this point in the critical conversation during the hot take season of festivalsto say, Youve never seen a movie quite like X. Such astatement has become overused to such a degree that its impossible to be taken seriously, like how too many major new movies are gifted the m-word: masterpiece. Director Bong even uses a wider aspect ratio of 2.35:1 to not only capture a large family group in a single frame, it also gives the viewer the impression of wide spaces that dont allow for hiding spots. Ki-jeong, Ki-woos sister, is the main brain behind the scam operation that brings in the rest of her family into the Park residence. In our Parasite movie analysis video, this mid-point scene was the focus. Josh Weber is a cinephile and avid reader based in the eastern shore of Maryland. Get entertainment recommendations for your unique personality and find out which of 5,500+ The films accolades speak for itself it won the prestigious Palme dOr award at this years Cannes Film Festival, which is an award of the highest order at one of the worlds most renowned film festivals. The family seems to be a tight-knit, supportive group. When Moon-gwang tries to ascend the stairs and reveal herself, Chung-sook kicks her down, concussing and killing her. But yet, we cant help but to sympathise with the protagonist family as we witness first-hand their destitute plight and desperation to climb out of squalor. Writing Exercise: Think about each character. The director even created a hash tag to warn people not to spoil the movie for others. Hes going to get his whole family into this house. The characters are a reason for the success and we've ranked how smart they are. 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. The Kims return to find that their apartment has flooded with sewage water and try to rescue whatever valuables they can, including the fortune rock gifted to Ki-woo. These steps are involved in many of the films pivotal moments, including those in the gruesome final act. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. Ki-woo and his sister Ki-jung forge credentials for the job, and thus begins the long-con that sees each member of the Kim family infiltrating the upper-class Park family one-by-one. Mr Park yells for Mr Kim to throw him the car keys, which unfortunately get stuck under Moon-kwangs husbands body as he falls. It was definitely worth all the $9.50 (Grab movie voucher for Cathay :P) I spent to get the full cinematic experience, and I would definitely watch it again (once I recover from the mental scars it left on me). Your email address will not be published. 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. 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. The script for "Parasite" will get a ton of attention as it's one of those clever twisting and turning tales for which the screenwriter gets the most credit (Bong and Han Jin-won, in this case), but this is very much an exercise in visual language that reaffirms Bong as a master.Working with the incredible cinematographer Kyung-pyo Hong ("Burning," "Snowpiercer") and an A-list . "Parasite" displays the world of the impoverished and the hypocrisy of capitalist "laws." The family lives in abject povertyfirst trying to survive through the precarious work of folding pizza boxes and then finding a hustle by pretending to be middle class, educated and helpful. Today and maybe forever the Kims remain underground. Parasite has a lot worthy of analysis and it has a lot to say. To take advantage of all of CharacTours features, you need your own personal The friend is in love with the young girl and doesnt want another tutor slavering over her. To access over 70 analyses of previous movie scripts we have read and discussed at Go Into The Story, go here. Official Screenwriting Blog of The Black List. This is especially impressive given how ethnocentric the Academy Awards often unfold, prioritizing English-language films over foreign-language films much of the time. She is easily deceived by Ki-jeong's framing of the Park family chauffeur as explained by Dong-ik. describe ki-jung. Managing to never get caught up to that point, though, was definitely a feat on its own merits, even if it was in a basement. 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. GradeSaver "Parasite Characters". The Parks suddenly call, informing Mrs Kim that they would be arriving home in 8 minutes. The contrast in appearance between the Kims semi-basement home and the lavish home of the Park family is impossible to miss. Her family members have joined her in working for the Park family. Staircases are among the many things in Parasite that could be considered metaphorical, as becomes a refrain of the Kims son, Ki-woo (Choi Woo Shik). So how do critics convey when a film truly is unexpectedly, brilliantly unpredictable in ways that feel revelatory? Living in a state-of-art mansion. Now that he is both her tutor and her boyfriend, he dreams of an affluent future as her husband. Grew up in a middle-class home that was neither poor nor terribly wealthy. Objectively, I would say that this has to be the best film that Ive ever watched. Moon-kwang herself is a suspicious character; she must definitely be unhappy with Mrs Kim for being her replacement (although shes unaware that it was due to the Kims meddling that got her fired), but why did she have to visit the house on, of all nights, the night that it was raining cats and dogs? For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here. Each has their own distinct backstory, personality, world view, and voice. The film begins with the Kim family at home in their tiny, cramped basement apartment. The Question and Answer section for Parasite is a great Parasite Genre Shift Subscribe on YouTube open/close all folders General The Kim family The Kim family as a whole Kim Ki-taek Kim Chung-sook Kim Ki-woo Kim Ki-jeong The Park family The Park family as a whole Park Dong-ik Park Yeon-kyo Park Da-song Park Da-hye Other characters Min Moon-gwang Geun-sae Yoon Previous Index Next It is a rather short-sighted one on his part because not only does Ki-woo end up pursuing Da-hye, but he ruins any possible opportunity to tutor for the Park family again. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Parasite by Bong Joon-ho. Realizing that they are all related, Moon-gwang takes an incriminating video of them and threatens to send it to the Parks. One of the main reasons why Parasite was such a massive success around the whole world in 2019 is because of its themes and messages of classism and the wealth divide, which are truly universal. It is a tonal juggling act that first feels like a satirea comedy of manners that bounces a group of lovable con artists off a very wealthy family of awkward eccentrics. Theres something off about Moon-kwangs unnamed husband. I left the cinema with my heart racing thats just how impactful this movie was. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. Because I plan on going to this school next year." What is Mumblecore? The second half of Parasite is one of the most daring things Ive seen in years narratively. Guen-sae may not be the brightest of the bunch, but he's not entirely an idiot either. Equally impressive was Parasite becoming the first South Korean movie to win the Palme dOr, which is the top prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. 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