Parasite a critical analysis of modern society

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Bong Joon-Ho triumph black comedy thriller Parasite is a careful examination of growing class tensions in modern society. Through this film, Bong demonstrates his mastery of oral and visual storytelling: the smooth transitions, sarcastic dialogue and morally ambiguous characters that come together to deliver one of the most important movies of the decade The film centres on an abjectly poor family who rally on manipulation to survive in their harsh society. The narrative begins when the son of the poor family, Ki-Woo is presented with an opportunity to tutor the daughter of the rich Park family. Due to the trusting dispositions of the Parks Ki-Woo and his family are able to effectively deceive their way into obtaining service jobs in the household of the Parks. However, it´s not long that the poor family discovers that they are not the only ones leaching off The Parks. In a long and suspenseful scene, it´s revealed that the Park´s former housekeeper has been hiding her husband in an unknown bunker beneath the house to escape the violence of his debt collectors. This scene marks a significant shift in tone it´s like a whole new movie is about to unravel. After a long and miserable night in which the poor family essentially kills the former housekeeper in front of her helpless husband and run home only to discover their semi-basement is flooded with sewage water. We see how these jobs that the family once enjoyed are now becoming tiresome and emotionally exhausting This is slipped through subtle moments and interactions during the film. We can draw from these scenes that there is a new clarity with which the family views themselves. At first glance, the title parasite represents the way these members of the lower classes leach off the good nature and generosity of the Parks. However, what Bong is really trying to tell us is that the Parks also take advantage of the lower classes by living comfortably off the backs of their labour. It´s here that the film presents us with a frightening but important question: In late capitalist society who are the true parasites? The difficulty of answering this question can be explained with two concepts: “cool capitalism” and “cultural hegemony” In the book “The coolness of capitalism” the author states “neoliberal capitalism has constructed popular legitimacy of such a resilient kind that it goes beyond management ideology and propaganda into the texture and common sense of everyday life” To support his idea, he uses the example of Apple, who through their sleek and shiny products have become so embedded in the Western culture that we have become blind to the company's real exploitation of their workers This disaffection amongst consumers to the severe poverty and exploitation of others is the definition of cool capitalism. To understand how cool capitalism plays out in Parasite let´s take a look at a scene from the second act (clip one) Here, the former housekeeper´s husband who has been hiding in the bunker for four years maintains his sanity through a daily routine of hitting the light switches to illuminate Mr Parks as he walks up the stairs at night Mr Park unaware of the bunker beneath him is led to believe that these motion sensor lights are a marvel of modern technology. This scene expresses the idea that Mr Park is blind to the fact that these luxuries he enjoys in his everyday life are affordable to him through the hard labour of someone beneath him. It´s no coincidence that the former housekeeper´s husband lives also physically beneath the Parks. This cluelessness and ignorance towards the suffering and labour of others at times shows an indifference and insensibility which is showed most clearly in the Parks relationship with the poor family For example, as Ki-Taek drives Mrs Park home from grocery shopping she says to a friend on the phone that the storm on the night before was a blessing (clip two), completely ignorant to the fact that thousands of people in the city had their houses flooded with sewage water including Ki-Taek. Another example of this ignorance is how the Parks show physical disgust to the smell of the poor family. This theme becomes increasingly prevalent throughout the film as their reactions to smell become more and more exaggerated. In Parasite, we see how the Park´s revulsion to the smell of people like Ki-Taek is actually a revulsion to people they perceive as lesser than themselves because the smell is associated with poverty (clip 3) Their desire to escape smells like the one that poor people “have” signals to the viewer that those who benefit from capitalism distanced themselves from those who don´t benefit from it both metaphorically and physically. In an interview the director of the film, Bong said, “What the Parks really want and this is something Mr Park said in the film as well is that they draw a line over their sophisticated world and they don´t let anyone cross it. They´re not interested in the outside world, the subway and people who might perhaps smell. They want to push everyone of that line and they want to remain safe behind it” Much like consumers of Apple do not need to think about the exploitation of their workers because they live on the other side of the world, the Parks do not have to worry themselves about the poor because they are physically isolated from the nearby slums. The smell of poverty is an ugly reminder to the Parks that suffering is actually nearby. While the Parks are presented as well-intentioned and kind-hearted people, they choose to be ignorant to the extreme poverty that surrounds them because they are comfortable with the lifestyles that they currently have at the expense of the impoverished. They want to distance themselves as much as they can from the smell of the poor for fear of being confronted with the reality outside of their privileged bubble. Late capitalism and the ever-increasing division between the rich and poor is able to persist in our contemporary world through what Antonio Gramsci calls “cultural hegemony” For Gramsci cultural hegemony is achieved through “inducing the consent of a certain majority subordinate group to a given social and economic status” Throughout the film, Mr Park speaks often about a line he draws between himself and his employees. (clip 4) This line of course represents a level of professionalism that Mr. Park expects of his employees however what it also represents is a division he has established to maintain his status as superior. Mr Park expresses his satisfaction with his former housekeeper because she never oversteps her boundaries, however Ki-Taek on the other hand is always on the edge of this line. In this sense, the former housekeeper consents to her status as a subordinate whereas Ki-Taek, who eventually revolts against this subjugation by killing Mr Park becomes increasingly more conscious of his class and the hegemonic social order that keeps him and his family there. Ironically the poor characters during the film show deep feelings of admiration towards the Park family in a way that they want to become them. For example, in the same scene, each member of the poor family goes around discussing what they like about the Parks. This admiration runs even deeper with the former housekeeper´s husband whose head-banging is his way to pay respect who he believes has saved him (clip one). Cultural hegemony which favours the ideology of the ruling classes teaches anyone who falls outside the dominant worldview that the dominant culture is something to aspire to. With the case of late capitalism, the ruling class is the wealthy and in Parasite Ki-Woo and his impoverished family alter their appearances to fit into the mould of higher status individuals. Their admiration for the people that they are using reflects that they want to become them both economically and socially. Bong tricks the viewer into thinking that there will be a happy ending as we watch KI-Taek who has been hiding in the bunker after killing Mr. Park reunite with his family who have now made enough money to buy the Park´s house. However, this momentary happiness is destroyed as it´s revealed that the scene is only an aspiration written by Ki-Woo in a letter to his father. In an interview the director of the film, Bong revealed that it would take 564 years for KI-Woo to save enough money to buy the house, This directly contradicts contemporary capitalism which has attempted to convince people that with a little hard work and determination anyone can achieve higher economic status. The reality is that through cultural hegemony the rich are able to stay rich by manufacturing the consent of the masses while creation the illusion of social mobility. Ironically the poor daughter, Ki-Jueng is regarded as the only member of the poor family who fits into the wealthy environment (clip 5) and the only who could get to a higher class however she is also the only member of the family to be killed, reinforcing the idea that in modern society it does not matter how much you climbed the wealth ladder if you come from the lower class you most likely will never achieve higher social and economic status. When all is said and done the rich family is able to escape the horror of their situation while the poor family is trapped in it. And when we take a deeper look at the poor characters in Parasite fighting amongst themselves, we see that there is no attempt or even ability to overthrow the prevailing system of domination but rather it´s a competition between the poor of who can be the least destitute. This consent of not even thinking about overthrowing the current system is achieved through cultural hegemony. To conclude in a capitalist society the prevailing conservative argument is that social democracy, higher taxes and budget deficits only serve to extract from the hard-earned pockets of the rich into the pockets of the lazy poor. However, what Parasite points out is that the relationship between the rich and the poor is largely parasitic in the opposite direction. The poor are often poor because capitalistic enterprises are unwilling to compensate fairly for their labour in order to maximize a profit, While the jobs occupied by the poor family offer them proximity to wealth, at the end of the day their wages do not provide them enough means to escape poverty. Rather, the degrading and emotional labour they provide for the Parks only truly benefits the Parks. At the end of the film, Ki-Taek is left to an uncertain fate in the bunker and Ki-Woo in his basement and we are left with the reality that the current capitalistic system is unforgiving to the ones who don´t benefit from it This cruel system can be easily normalized, after all, the greatest trick late capitalism ever pulled was to convince the world that it does not exist.