Thoughts on Parasite

I finally watched Parasite. And honestly, I don’t know where to begin. So let’s start with this. I liked it. I think it is really, really good. It is a wonderfully crafted film that everyone should see it.

And while I know what I think about the movie, I still don’t know how I feel about it. Which is really weird.

Parasite is a complex movie and I have complex emotions towards it. I didn’t not like it. I’m not indifferent about it. This was a worth while watch. I was captured by its mood, tension, and dread. It is a really well made, with an inventive story, superbly directed, and finely acted (with the sub-titles are an absolute and complete non-factor). Every emotion, nuance, and tension came across crystal clear through the direction and acting. But with all that said, I still don’t know how I feel about what I watched.

As with a previous Bong Joon-ho film Snowpiercer (full disclosure, the only other Bong film I’ve seen), it is a reflection on class and wealth separation contrasting the conflict and shared experiences between the rich and poor.

More full discourse, I had almost zero idea what this movie was about before I watched it. I vaguely knew it was involving a group rich and poor people trying to escape a house. I some how along the way thought zombies or other creature were involved in some way. ¯(ツ)/¯. Anyway, it’s not what I thought it was.

What it ended being was a remarkable story that had me from the beginning. It had a confidence in itself from the start, knowing what it wanted to build and show, even though we the viewer didn’t know yet. Piece by piece by piece, moment by moment, it constructed its vision. But even once it it was finished, I don’t exactly know what I’m looking at, or what it meant to me.

This process of building, is how we learn about our protagonist and his family. There is great deal of empathy created for them in the beginning, showing their distinctly low status in society. They barley have enough food to eat or enough wifi surf the internet. But they are in their situation together and work together to get by, day by day. It’s an endearing introduction to this family.

Soon the opportunity presents itself to a possible better future with decent job, in service to a family on the other end of the wealth gap. Through a series of events, which include deception, our protagonist brings his whole family into the fold.

On the inverse, the wealthy family has everything- money, beautiful home, high influence, children spoiled with every advantage. They live in a perfectly manicured and designed bubble (and house), but like the poor family, they too have an enduring quality of love for one another. This love is show in different subtle ways, but they want the best they can provide for their children.

Introduced later is the third family, the bunker family. Their love for one another and their desperation is palpable and gut wrenching. They share the common need to provide and protect their own no matter what.

This is where the complexity begins to weave itself through the story, leaving my feelings and understanding of the movie less clear. As the story progresses, the multiple families’ conflicting needs and torment, push and pull throughout the film. As the story progresses, each family rises and falls with who I am rooting for and relating with. From scene to scene, moment to moment, it continually shifts.

But as we progress to the conclusion, I have a sense that I don’t like a particular family, due to their specific decisions. That is the poor family. But this makes me feel guilty. They are treated less than by the wealthy family and held captive briefly by the bunker family. They are inherently disadvantaged, and my predisposition, as is most people’s, is to root for the underdog, the David. But what about when the underdog is a shitty person? Does your situation excuse certain behavior? Does wealth cover over the need for primal instincts, thus not revealing your true self? Does humiliation count in the need to defend against?

These are just some of the questions I’ve been grappling with. But by no means are the limit of my existential inquiry. As you can see the nests of complexity are entwined throughout the story.

My conclusion is that I think this is the purpose and intention of the filmmaker. Bong has painting an amazing look at complicated nature of human survival through the prism of class, wealth, and social structure.

And that is the heart of the story, survival. Each family is doing whatever it takes to survive in their world. Be it meticulously designed modern house, a dingy bomb shelter, or a basement of a tenement building, they’ll do whatever it takes. But where they are on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, influences their actions and choices.

But what is so unique about this story is it’s ability to blur the lines, even on a chart such as Maslow’s. Life is complicated with less black and white than is commonly portrayed to use in our daily life, or in the films and shows we watch.

While most traditional stories have a point-of-view of encapsulating good versus bad. Even layered stories, where you have sympathy and a connection for those on the amoral side, have a clear demarcation of where the lines are and the choice of you pull for. Here Bong intentionally works hard to eschew a clear point of view. It ping pongs you back and forth throughout the film until it’s final climax.

Even then I’m left questioning. How do I feel about these people? I expect to have a clear pull toward a certain set. Relate to one more than any other. Understand a characters plight like it is my own.

But my inner moral compass seems broken at the end. I’m Ieft with a mixed feeling of connection and contempt with everyone. I care for them all on some level, despise them on another. Knowing that I probably have a piece of myself in all of them, both good but specifically the bad.

I want to believe that I would be able to make the right choices no matter what in any situation. But I know that is not the case. Survival and family has to power to make you do unimaginable things.

I’m still not entirely sure, but I as I think it through, I have a growing feeling of connection to all the characters on different levels. I know what I would want it is connect to all thier best atributes. The acceptance I need to have, is that I could succumb to any of their worst instincts.