Parasite: Perfecting Class Critique - Wisecrack Edition 

Glad you caught that scene where they were banging on the couch. So many got it wrong thinking she really wanted drugs, the point was that it turned them on to “pretend” to be poor or low class like its a game

The attention to detail and symbols in this movie is unreal...

Just when you thought you were done with parasite analysis videos, here comes another excellent one. God Parasite is a masterpiece

It's funny that you point out how Illinois State University would be seen as high-class because it's American. As someone from Illinois, people joke that ISU stands for 'I screwed up.'

I feel like celebs talking abt how you have to stay in is a lot like the dynamic in parasite, the celebs can stay in their multimillion dollar mansions but lower class or even middle people can’t afford to go jobless for months on end. It’s like the rain that destroys their house, the kims are homeless and all their stuff is gone, meanwhile the kims see the rain as a blessing because it watered their lawn

This movie was ridiculously good, every scene is necessary and every detail is meaningful

I really liked how the Kim's lack of personal space transferred to the rich house. The family being messy on the couch and the the sister's bath getting interrupted. They're using the mansion's space radically different to the Park's.

What I loved about "Parasite" is not only the modern critiques of classism, poverty and globalization. Or even the zany slapstick and comedy of manners that imbue it with a delectable, manic energy, or the incredible plot-twists that keep you at the edge of your seat until the unexpected ending. I loved this movie because the director was astute enough to also anchor it in ancient Chinese and Korean lore and myths. Just like the best American and European movies are sometimes loaded with Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman symbolism, “Parasite” does the same with ancient Chinese and Confucian symbolism. The first crucial symbol here that carries great weight-both literal and figurative-is the stone the Kims’ son is gifted. These stones are famous in Chinese classical tradition and in Confucian ideology as “scholar stones,” (供石) or stones that imbue the owner with good fortune. I lived in China and I saw them everywhere, but especially in spots where feng shui was the most propitious. Here, the son states that the stone “can never leave him,” and he’s correct on that count. The stone comes in to the family’s life, imparts its good fortune on the family, and then serves as a tool to advance a few crucial scenes in the movie (almost like a McGuffin), at times to almost deadly effect. As the movie progresses the traditional classical symbolism of the scholar stone is inverted-it is no longer a thing that imparts good fortune but is instead almost a curse. The son leaves the stone in some water by the time he feels he can part with it for some other unlucky schmuck to find it. The second crucial symbols are the ancient imperial tombs of China and Korea. One of the more basic characteristics of these tombs are the narrow staircases that open to separate false levels that zig-zag and lead to further narrow staircases, until you reach the bottom level, where the emperor or king was buried in a stone sarcophagus with all his wealth (usually in the guise of jade implements). This is exactly how the underground bunker under the rich family’s house is laid out, like an imperial tomb. This symbol is further strengthened by the fact that the door leading down to the basement is beautifully framed and lit by the rich family’s extensive collection of porcelain china. But if you notice carefully, some of the pieces of china on display are actually porcelain replicas of funerary implements used when burying Chinese emperors and Korean kings, like Shang Dynasty funerary vessels. Inserting imperial tombs like this into the film was a way to invert classical Chinese symbolism on its head. Instead of finding the most powerful and wealthy at the bottom of this tomb, you find the least powerful and most impoverished at the bottom. The fact that all the poor people in this movie lived in basements is not a coincidence: it is a deliberate poke in the eye of ancient Chinese customs-that the poor are now so unworthy that they may as well be dead, with all the terrible taboos attached in classical Chinese culture to anything having to do with death and the dead. That inversion is carried out throughout the film, when the rich smell the poor and are revolted by their basement scents. This is an allusion to how poor people smell like dead people, and the revulsion this elicits from the rich, or the only people who are truly “alive” in this highly unequal modern world. The third crucial symbols are peaches and plums. Notice that peaches and plums make an appearance at pivotal points of the movie’s plot. In classical Chinese culture and in Confucian ideology, the peach is the most important fruit, the foremost symbol of great health, perpetual vitality, longevity and unity. But traditional symbolism of peaches is inverted in this movie, as it becomes a fruit that in the plot brings illness, a loss of vitality, a short life and disunion. Plums, in the guise of the plum juice, also make an appearance. In classical Chinese culture and in Confucian ideology, the plum symbolizes perseverance, hope, beauty, purity and the transitoriness of life. In the movie, the plum symbolism is not inverted (it is one of two symbols whose traditional representation is not inverted), as when the plum juice is poured over the Kims’ son, it revives him after his head is split open when the scholar stone fell on him. The plum juice allows the son to persevere, against all odds, and to provide hope that his family will continue for another day. The fourth crucial symbol in this movie is water. Notice that all the terrible things that befall the Kim family happens when there is too much water in the environment. In ancient Chinese mythology, the notion of being ruined by uncontrollable water and floods, and of controlling water and floods to bring good fortune, was central to many foundational parables, especially that of the first mythical emperor of China’s first dynasty, Yu the Engineer. Here, our heroes are ruined by a flood. Yet they learn to overcome the flood, if only temporarily, during their greatest crisis. That in itself works with classical Chinese symbolism attached to water and floods, and is the only other symbol whose traditional representation is retained. The fifth crucial symbol is the garden-that’s where the climax takes place. The way the garden is framed by the windows of the rich person’s house almost makes it seem like a classical Chinese or Korean play-stage. Chinese, Koreans and Japanese drew backgrounds on their traditional play-stages with monochromatic colors, but almost always totally green or with a splash of green. The garden here is a solid green, with no flowers. In classical Chinese thought, gardens with no flowers were symbols of the myth of Mt. Penglai, about a mythical king’s search for the islands of immortality where the eight immortals lived and where everyone was happy, with no pain, no winter, no suffering, and where wine glasses and rice bowls were always full. Gardens were cultivated in ancient China and Korea to recreate the delights of this paradise of Mt. Penglai and the eight immortals. But in this movie, again, the classical Chinese myth attached to gardens is toyed around with. At first, the garden serves the traditional symbol-when the rich family is away, the Kims toast to their good fortune with lots of wine and food, enjoying a taste of what it’s like to be wealthy by sitting down in the living room and contemplating the garden. They dream of a time when they can be rich, powerful and free of worries too, reinforcing the traditional Chinese myth of Mt. Penglai. But then the symbol is inverted, because it’s in this very garden where most of the pain and suffering happens for the rich and poor families, perversely enough when there are wine bottles and full rice bowls on the tables placed in the garden to celebrate a party. But then the garden is brought back to its traditional symbol again-this is where, at the very end of the movie, in the son’s dream, his whole family is reunited, and they can live happily ever after in this rich man’s house. The sixth crucial symbol is filial piety. That gets to the root of Confucian ideology-that the son must do his utmost to protect and honor the father. In this case, the Kims act like the ideal Confucian family-the children honor their parents by scheming their way into giving them jobs in the rich family’s household. The children didn’t have to do this, yet they did. Again, Confucian ideology is inverted here because filial piety then leads the children to commit rather horrible acts against others so as to advance their parents’ station in life. Filial piety leads to a loss of harmony between inferiors and superiors (in this case between the poor and the rich), which is one important tenet of Confucianism directly undermining another important tenet of Confucianism. It’s clever, how the director was able to set these two Confucian ideals against each other and to ratchet up their competition until both exploded in a crazy orgy of violence during the climax. There were other classical Chinese and Confucian symbols in this movie-especially with the ghosts-but I feel I’ve gone long enough. There’s a plethora of these hidden gems in this movie, making “Parasite” a very well thought-out film.

Minor correction about "ramdon": The original word was "chapaguri" (짜파구리), which is a portmanteau for "chapagetti" and "noguri", which are two different kinds of instant noodle, which can be cooked together to become the infamous dish. Because most outside of Korea simply don't know those brands, Darcy Paquet translated the text to "ramdon" because international audiences are much more likely to be familiar with "ramen" and "udon", although that particular combination does lose some of the "cheap food" connotation since at least udon is a bit more expensive for many. A rough American equivalent would be like "Easy MacBurger Helper" as a (clumsy) portmanteau of "Easy Mac" and "Hamburger Helper", but that obviously doesn't visually describe what you're seeing. There clearly was no easy way to translate this succinctly and get all the points across. And the meat used isn't just "sirloin", but it's "hanwoo", which is an extra expensive local Korean beef, rather than the imported beef that's more common in Korea. (Think of it as the Korean equivalent of wagyu beef for Japan.)

The fact that the first part of the movie was a funny comedy as well, that is what makes this movie so good to me. Such a serious topic in such a funny film

The part about this movie that really resonates with me is that the Kim family is always referred to as a group of people who 'cunningly infiltrate' the wealthy Park family, but all they want is an opportunity. They're not stealing or taking something for nothing, they all work hard and do the jobs they are hired to do to the best of their ability and the Park's are happy with their collective work product - Mr. Park's only complaint is that Mr. Kim isn't continual subservient. Even at the end of the movie, the Kim son doesn't fantasize about winning the lotto or being a skilled crook, he just wants to work and work and save the money to buy the house. It's so frustrating to see wanting a job as parasitic. I love how there are no clear heroes or villains (I understand that the wealthy are also parasites in their own way) and yes, the Kim's do use some trickery but only for the chance to work.

I feel like the point about capitalism making every class "evil", and not only the top 1% was too important to not bring up. The Kim family is not portrayed as a merely a victim, but as a group of people that have no choice but to be brutal in regard to their competition in class, and they immediately become smug the moment they move in the house (see how they treat the old housekeeper as a lower class person the instant they start working in). While the top is blissfull ignorant of the suffering and the struggles of poverty, the lower classes feel like they have to resort to ruthless cruelty to have a shot to rise up and the fews that do, instantly close the door behind them. The only antagonist of this movie is capitalism, and how it build a world around us that make us all miserable (all the focus on architecture i feel, is also in parallel to this. It's not a coincidence that the architect of the house is seen as a god, he is a metaphor for the first architects of modern capitalism). At the same time, it doesn't feel like the movie is giving any hope to us, the Kim son only idea to save his father is to move inside the system of capitalism that fucked his family up in the first place. Capitalism is like the architecture, the stairs etc... it's not good or evil, it just "is", and as such, as many have said, it's easier to see the end of the world than the end of capitalism.

i also noticed how the rich husband is repeatedly shown to acknowledge he doesnt really love his wife but the old housemaid was willing to risk her job at first and later her going to jail simply to take care of her husband in the basement.

The world: Goes into pandemic chaos Jared: RETURNS

Jared closing words, are so on point, las year, the government in my country (Chile) increased the subway ticket for peak hours and the transport minister on tv said people who wanted to save money should wake up earlier People burned the the subway stations (a lot of them)

To answer your question: Yes. To all. Also, it's a shame that Song Kang-ho wasn't nominated for best actor. That dude killed it.

_"Bong Joon-Ho is enormously sensitive to performance. He knows what he needs to see and that's all he needs to shoot. He is so daring. We don't do that in the West. We shoot everything."_ *~ John Hurt*

ISU Graduate represent!!! I literally laughed my ass off when I saw that in the movie. I'm teaching in Taiwan, and the fetishism of US education is ever present here as well. As you said, the movie speaks to everyone.

The movie is absolutely brilliant. My favorite "obvious" detail in the film is that the class relations are made manifest by physical distance and elevation. The Parks live in one of the highest points of the city while the Kims live in one of the lowest. Every street away from the Kims home is an incline, and the Kims live on the basement to boot. This is also highlighted in the act structure. In the first act the Kims slowly make their way out of their own home and into the Parks. They are moving up in the economic standing by partaking in the life of the Parks, which means that they also spend more time higher in the city and several shots have them walking uphill or up stairs. The second act starts with the Parks on their daytrip. The Kims first are upstairs in the Parks home, playing around. Then they are drinking in the ground floor. Then the housekeeper shows up and they descend into the basement and the bunker beneath. Finally they are escape from the house when the Parks show back up, and make a long downhill walk back to their home as their scheme almost completely collapsed. In the final act there is movement both ways, as the secrets from the basement come bubbling up and cause a downfall for all involved. I also particularly like the final scenes in this regard. With the father hiding in the basement, the son climbs a nearby hill where he observes the morse code message, looking down on the Parks former home. However, he of course can only stay temporarily on that hill. At the same time he is narrating how he dreams about making an honest go and earn enough money to buy the home and free his father from the basement. However, that is just a pipedream. It is no more real than staying on the hill permanently.

I currently work as an assistant professor of English in South Korea. Except for the raised toilet, I've seen apartments that look just like the Parks'. Hell, I lived in a semi-basement apartment in Seoul (until it flooded and destroyed everything I owned other than clothes). I would like to mention though that probably 70% of my students say "chicken" (meaning fried chicken) is their favorite food, mostly because it goes well with beer and going out with large groups with friends. When I have mentioned there are other ways to cook chicken I get confused looks. So I'd say the chicken and much of the food commentary (other than the ramdon) is less an cinematic affection and more an accurate reflection of modern Korean life. Also, it's not an "LA kalbi style" that's Korean barbecue. My friends and I cook that in our apartments.

As someone who grew up poor, this movie made me very uncomfortable and gave me a sort of ptsd. It was very good and I wonder how it affected different classes when watching.

RESPECT! for knowing that fruits are very expensive in Korea and the recognition of low-end alcohol choices. And you even got the reference to the Taiwanese cake shop craze that crashed. Man you guys really do your research :) Love it.

Wow! I completely missed that the daughter despite both acting and appearing the most sophisticated still mistook their DOG treats for human food because of the quality difference. That's really sad. Speaking of, there better be some mention of how just moments after talking about how nice she would be if she was rich, violently pushes the dog such that it yelps just for being near her.

As a Korean, I really appreciate all the research about Korea you did for this video! It really enhances and contextualizes your points

Parasite is a masterpiece. Bong Joon-Ho is a genius. I will never get tired of saying this

I LOVE that you talk about food, when I start buying my own groceries I was on shock on how expensive eating right and healthy really is.

The conflict between the two "parasite" families, and the eventual violence at the birthday party, I think, again highlight "inter" and "intra" class conflict. The conflict between the have-s and the have not-s has historically always boiled over when "bread and circus" runs dry and the masses become restless. We see it in Roman subsidiaries, the French Revolution, even the American Revolution - when the ruling class squeezes too hard, bloodshed is quick to follow. The second element of this is intra-class conflict, which is rampant in most western-style capitalist societies. Rather than lower classes finding solidarity for their abuse at the hands of the ruling class, it becomes easier to fight someone of your "own size". Lower classes spend more time dreaming of joining their oppressors and rising out of poverty (or at minimum defending them in and effort to preserve their so-called hosts), than consolidating their collective power to bring about change. As smaller subgroups of the poverty classes step on one another, they weaken their own power to realize class liberation.

EXCELLENT. I missed these deep-dives with Jared so much. Thanks Wisecrack!!✌

"American education is seen as being of high-quality" Comedy gold right there!

The elevated toilet actually makes a lot of sense from a real engineering/architecture perspective. They live in a basement. Sewers in the UK, for example are about 5-10m below ground. Depending on how far your toilet is from the sewage line, you need the waste to slope down at an steep enough angle to fully clear into the sewer (otherwise you need a pump). The entire system works on gravity. So the higher the toilet is, the easier the waste is able to clear into the sewer by gravity alone.

I will never get tired of parasite analyses videos

A big reason why I loved this movie so much was due to the subtle references from Kubrik. Although I can't say for sure that it was from him, the mistreatment of native American culture (The Shinning) and the amazing shot where the poor family fights for the phone from the old housekeeper (2001 A Space Odyssey, The shot where HAL kills Frank in space, there is a fast cut zoom in on HALs eye similar to the wife and husband drinking tea then suddenly stares at the camera). Amazing shot compositions that invoke so much emotion just from the timing and what the audience is experiencing. Also the idea of alignment with the architecture and incredible long panning shots that captures what the character is feeling at that moment. It was clear that Bong thought this movie through and through with no exceptions. I also wondered how they would introduce a slow-motion shot because it would go against the idea of realism (even though I know now that they did slow some shots down) he decided to use the LG phone slow-motion capability as a vessel for displaying what the character saw which I thought was very clever. Amazing tableau shots (One of my favorites might have to be when ki woo and min go to a corner store to drink soju) Just the static shot of ki woo coming out of the store and Min finishing his cigarette was great. To me, it kinda shows that Min has some problems of his own and isn't perfect.

When I read the title, I thought it said "Perfecting Glass Critique" 😅😅

Im just grateful that these extensive analysis and explanations are available on such an open and accessible platform. It fascinates me how we can learn new concepts from the “behind the scenes” of films regarding their context, philosophical ideas and intentions, which not only adds value to their work but what makes me love film even more.

Awesome review, and as a Korean myself as well as a huge parasite fan, I particularly enjoyed your detailed explanation on Korean food, history of demolishing middle class in Korea, and connotations behind it. However I cannot help pointing out a tiny tiny error. The pics you put in to describe taiwan cake bubble, the one you put in is actually taiwan "pineapple" cake. The exact name of that cake is Taiwan Castella, which is a type of sponge cake. With ram-don, someone already explained it I see, and with sirloin, it is indeed sirloin, despite one of replies' suggestion, it is just Korean beef(Hanwoo) sirloin. (Honestly, I am not particularly happy with some of translater's word choices, but I admit it's also a very tricky job to be done without complaints). Thanks for the video!!

You know a Film is good When it is rated higher than 90 in the Moist Meter

The mother is not suffering from substance abuse, they were roleplaying during sex, pretending to be poor and exchanging sex for drugs

Damn, I didn't catch the Ram-Don bit. That analysis that the steak represents the rich sitting atop the noodles or the poor. It amazes me the amount of attention which Bon Joon paid to every aspect of the film.

"...the movie that makes the Oscars cool again." True.

Great video as always! The one aspect that seems to go amiss in a lot of "western" critique of Parasite is the domestic Korean political commentary within the movie. Hats off to Wisecrack on getting the whole chicken shop and Taiwanese cake shop reference! But I feel like the DPRK/North Korea commentary isn't as always addressed in a lot of reviews. Especially when there were very explicit scenes between the housekeeper (pretending to be a North Korean news anchor) and her husband (portrayed as a worshiper of the patriarch of the Park family). Any thoughts on those? Perhaps it was a commentary on not only the political conflict between North and South but perhaps the cultural/socio-economic differences between north and south?

Such an philosophically layered movie. It felt like I was watching a truly special movie

This movie made me want to make a movie

Unfortunatelly i saw so many Anglophones especially Americans in social medias dislike subtitled foreign movies in cinemas and bullied this movie for having subs and being foreign sadly and many Europeans such as the Germans, the Frenches, the Italians, the Spaniards, the Hungarians, the Czechs, the Russians prefer to watch dubbed foreign movies sadly while Asian countries like Indonesia, China, South Korea, Malaysia, the Phillipines and many countries in Latin America except Brazil prefer to watch subtitled foreign movies in cinemas. I think dubbing is the most offensive movie translation since it replaces casts' speaking skill with somebody else's voices. It's kinda when you are watching Taylor Swift's concert but instead her voice is replaced by somebody else's voices with your national language

This movie made me want to have a secret bunker in my apt 😂

the most interesting aspect in parasite's depiction of architecture is the film's ability to express the natural lived experience of its inhabitants and how the different spaces within the house have a specific form and function that inevitably shape and influence the lived experience of its occupants. it's interesting to note that the house is the embodiment of the past, present, future and a juxtaposition of all the thoughts, dreams, and desires of the people who stepped foot into it. the house is the embodiment of what people can become and what people should become. i like how each character occupy different spaces inside the house, and within those spaces, they are able to express the complexities and idiosyncrasies of a human person, it shows how both the person and the house adapts to their needs and desires

The messed up thing about Parasite is that this story can happen anywhere in the world.

JARED!!! Please don't ever leave us again!

Hey thank you for this analysis. I feel like this is one of the most spot on takes I've seen of the various themes and symbols in the game

Kinda sorta hoping that this film's oscar wins and Bong Joon Ho's speeches of "universal language" start a pattern that eventually abolishes the "Best international film" and "Best animated Film" categories so that those films get more easily merged into the "Best Picture" category, rather than being silo'd off into their special corners. Quality is quality, whether or not a film is fully animated, or speaking a non-english language. The alternative is to create several more "genre" categories to join, Documentary, International, and Animated, like "Best Comedy", or "Best Horror", so that the existing ones don't feel arbitrarily isolated/niche. But still, allow every genre an equal chance to be in the running for Best Picture. It's in the name after all.

Wisecrack actually showed the foreplay scene lol.

Unusually for a film whose main plot twists rely on suspense, surprise and shock, it only gets better on subsequent viewings as we appreciate what this director has to say about society and the sheer artistry with which he does it. Hats off to the cast too. That poor family's dad for one should have been at least nominated for an acting Oscar.

Wisecrack should do a Philosophy episode of "Beastars" on Netflix

Damn...you guys blew my mind with the romdon analysis. I had never heard of it but assumed it was some version of top ramen that's popular in South Korea. This is one of my favorite videos you guys have ever done, nice job!

Wow your timing is amazing, just watched this amazing movie yesterday, was looking if you have content about it and now you do❤️

The high toilet could be because the family are so low, they are below the cesspit, which meant waste couldn't be drain easily, hence an elevated toilet.

Although I personally wanted the movie to move in certain directions that ultimately disappointed me, I really appreciate the film for exploring so much of the class critique like no other film in so many years, truly a brilliant film.

I know that it's an incredibly popular name in Korea, but it could be said that Park is a deliberate choice for that family, given the large, clean space of the house, along with the verdant garden in full view.

Another striking point made by Bong Joon-Ho, and a very disturbing especially for Western audiences, is about smell. I mean, yes, talking about the Poor smelling bad is still a thing in Asia, and it's all too shocking for our Western political-correctness. Smell is intimate, it links us to our deepest instincts. And the Kim's feature smell brings them not only back to their unsanitary basement, but also links them to animality. The way "president Park' comes back to his wife thanks to the cheap panties of his son's teacher. Just like in 'Get Out', the privileged comes out very insecure on the heights of their social influence and material wealth. An empty shell devoid of passion by social representation. Cf. Norbert Elias' 'Court Society'. Refraining one's animal instinct causing frustration, leading to impotence (for Mr. Park) or addiction (for Mrs. Park).

All I can say is; what a movie parasite is!! With every analysis video I learn something new!! This is a lovely video. One of the best I’ve seen!

Wisecrask 리스펙!!

Seoul National University is often referred to as the Harvard of Korea (Koreans do this a lot: "Jeju Island is the Hawaii of Korea", etc). But it somehow has an exchange program with my hometown's mediocre St. Cloud State University (Minnesota). You're absolutely right about western education being viewed as superior by default. Case in point: I'm a philosophy grad teaching English in Korea (any degree will do! :P)

I haven’t gotten to see it yet, but if it’s anything like Snowpiercer (based of reviews and awards, it must be at least as good) I can’t wait until I can sit down and watch it!

Every time I watch a review on this film I learn something new. It's phenomenal

I didn't really get the idea of her suffering from drug abuse. I saw her passing out in her front yard as a symbol of her being so carefree, while the maid is working and Kevin is there for a potentially life changing interview. It's a contrast between their lifestyles. One can afford to simply laze around and fall asleep in a chair out front, while the others worry about their well being. The housekeeper claps because it irks her. The later scene of her asking her husband to give her drugs is a callback to the panties earlier being found from what they believe to be a drug addict. I believe this was also shown to show how far below them they find drugs to be that pretending to do drugs and have sex in a back seat is far beneath them, adding to the "thrill." In no other point, other than her being asleep (although someone being asleep isn't automatically indicative of drugs lol) can you point to her doing drugs and very much less so does it seem she has a problem with them. Drugs are such a taboo subject for them that the husband has to whisper the idea into her ear, and she seems shocked and almost disgusted at the idea.

Hi! Guy from Hong Kong here. The Kims' window isn't facing a fence. Those are anti-intruder security grates on the window itself. Very common in Asia.

Very nice. There’re also lines everywhere. “Crossing the line” is very important to the rich. It’s definitely a masterpiece. But please checkout “memories of murder” also from Bong, it had surpassed all expectations and better. What a brilliant artist.

Watching in 2024. Parasite was such an ingenious movie.

Having lived there ROK for seven years as an expat from America. The visuals and metaphors especially the visuals and what they imply are pretty damn good. The competition the economics the class. Pretty damn goodZ. Can’t wait To actually watch. Like going hkmeZ. And of course only scratches the surface . But what a surface

I read the title as “perfecting glass” and looked at the thumbnail and was like “yeah, that glass does look really clean”

To answer your question: Bong Joon-Ho is a freaking genius, Parasite is a fun family thriller AND a subtle invitation to set fire to the system.

This movie captures the special relationship in Seoul . First hand , trust me. It’s cool an auteur of upper class was willing to make a very realistic portrayal

This movie was so refreshing. It was nice to see a movie that actually had a message. Also the way it was shot is just genius. I love the class struggle and the stuck up nature of the rich family. It's very much the same here in the U.S.

the way the mom was going to report the old housekeeper and her husband to the police was so fucked up to me. Like, you dont see how that's you? Great example of how poor people still see themselves as better than poorer people, and homeless people as not even human.

Super interesting critique, thanks! Why does nobody mention how awesome both the Park kids' acting is? So expressive despite having limited lines. Every time I watch clips I find more interesting details... :)

Lived in one of those semi basements, blocks from the million dollar homes, in the middle of Seoul Sounds like a legit critique

Of course Mr. is a freaking genius! I didn't even realize that until many people explain the film to me via RU-vid! No wonder people are talking about this film!

There are so many symbols in this film it is unreal. Bong Joon-Ho, master of his craft.

It's definitely not my favorite movie from 2019 but I admit it's the best. Never seen a more deserved Oscar 🔥

As a Norwegian, I was so surprised to see VOSS bottled water in a South Korean house.

5:02 I think you guys are conflating the McModern with McMansions, two very different things when it comes to architecture.

Anyone else notice that Mr. Park's business is called "Another Brick"? As in "...in the Wall." Build and separate. The poor live right next to their neighbors, but the affluent barely share a street, and cannot see their neighbors. Walled off from the reality of life outside. Vacuum sealed, even in their cars, from their bed to their office, separate from regular people. Oblivious to others, except for what services they can be hired to do for them. Even their friends are seemingly hired out to attend parties. Birthdays aren't really about the kids, but on how rich they can be towards other rich people.

The class difference in parasite is Real, Universal and Creepy.

I'm not sure I've seen this point in Parasite analyses, but one thing that I did notice from the get go was that it was relatively easy for the Kim family to get jobs at the Park's house. You'd think with all their wealth that they would do better vetting to make sure that the Kims were qualified for their roles. I feel like this was yet again the movie's way of saying that when you're that wealthy it's fine to be oblivious because even if something bad does happen it won't completely ruin your life.

MODERNISM IS DEAD This is a common thing that many students of Architecture hear about which ironically contradict the current views of the movement in society. The movement started with the Industrial Revolution where the automobile was created and hence, a need to increase "efficiency and simplicity". Many Architects went to the idea of quick production and brought to us the International Style that we commonly see in glass shoe box high-rises and skyscrapers that imitated the Assembly Line at the time. This is something a lot of Architects are against as it removes the context and cultural identity of places as well as gives the role of god to the Architect that dictates what is right and wrong based on their personal views without understanding the concerns of the people. Buildings such as the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier was considered a beautiful masterpiece by other Architects without actually realising that the family living in it was unhappy that the ceiling kept dripping while it was raining as a result of the flat roof. Today, many houses in Asia still follow a Modern style with majority of upper class houses looking the same as the style now is seen as a status symbol through "beautiful art" when it is in fact a symbol of detachment from reality and ignorance to the concerns of people which is why Architects try to push for the Death of Modernism.

Jareddddd! Thanks for being here with us in these trying times.

"Food is an issue indistinguishable from class." Can I quote you?

At 6:19 you say that the window is facing a fence that makes it feel like a cage. Thats not a fence. In a lot of asian countries it is common to bar windows. you can see that when you look at he other windows in the later scene.

"Fun Thriller or invitation to set fire to the system?" Why not both?

The attention to details. When the father drove the car for the first time for Mr. Park the latter said something along the lines of "relax this is not a test" but he is observing his cup of coffee for spills and nope he has perfect cornering. And even the daughter and the son did a good job the first time they tutored, I wonder how the daughter managed the kid, he even bow before he left and pay attention while being tutored I dont know if she made up the diagnosis too. I think they are all street smart and if given a good chance they'll be successful.

Oh, Jareds back. His smug aura continues to mock me

Deep or dumb? “The architecture was meticulously crafted, the rich family had an expensive looking house and the poor family had a poor looking house” oh what a keen eyed viewer you guys are here at wisecrack!

Yes this film is a masterpiece IMO, thanks.

The fact that they live in a half basement is meant to represent their middle class life and how they have the opportunity to either rise or fall down the economic scale, and it seems they are moving up the scale using their scheme until things all start to fall apart. At this point the father has committed murder and is forced completely underground to live a life of complete poverty with no way at all to rise higher on the totem pole. That or the themes are vague enough that you can say anything about the film and idiots will be impressed with what you have to say as long as it fits in with their existing world view prior to seeing the film. Its metaphorical to quote Kevin. This is a well made film with very realistic characters which makes it very easy for people to project their existing world views onto the film. It doesn't say anything about these ideas just holds a mirror.

Wisecrack is using the same background music as Philosophy Tube lol, gives me major Deja Vu.

With this quarantine...i might really try to watch this..

THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING

So many lines in this film mean way more when you know what happens “1 out of 4 are rejects”-one out of 4 from each family dies “None of the art teachers last long”-Jessica, the art teacher, dies in the ending “She always eat enough for two”-the housekeeper was actually taking more food and using it to feed her husband in the hidden basement “If the Parks came back now, he’d scatter away like a cockroach” when the Parks return early, the son crawls up the stairs in all fours, like a cockroach “Food would be better”-Ki Woo takes the people in the basement the rock instead of food, and that rock is used to nearly kill him Not to mention the symbols and visual details in this film: -the rock being hollow(showing that the promise of wealth that the rock represents is hollow. Not to mention the rock/promise of wealth that Ki Woo spends the movie clinging on to is the thing that causes his near death) -the amount of natural light a family has access to as a symbol of their social and economic status -vertical distance being used to measure/represent wealth -in almost every shot with a rich and poor character there is something in the background that acts as a line that separates them

i see jared i click

My dumb ass out here thought that the parasite movie was a live action of the anime..

I first I thought parasite was a horror movie, not that the flawed system of capitalism isn’t scary enough already