How ‘Parasite’ spotlit a major social issue
Never has a film deserved a ‘Best Picture’ win more than Parasite. The Bong Joon-ho-directed thriller rightfully took the box office and award season by storm in 2019 for its slick cinematography, engrossing storytelling and, perhaps most importantly, its masterful and meaningful commentary on class.
True to its name, the film was a tale of the parasitism that exists both within and between classes – the rich take from the poor and the poor take from the rich. To exacerbate the different experiences between the two, the genre-defying director expertly utilised visuals, language, and set design. The most striking example of the latter was the houses that the two families lived in.
While the wealthy Parks live a life of luxury in a house that looks like it might feature on Architectural Digest, the Parks live in a semi-basement flat, also known as banjiha, where they are subject to flooding and fumigation. The latter, of which they even welcome, hoping it will get rid of the crickets.
The Kim family bask in light through wide, expansive windows, their house set atop a hill. Meanwhile, the semi-basement allows the Park family just a slither of light. They’re quite literally set below the richer family, reflecting their class indifferences. It’s symbolic of inequality, but it’s also realistic. Less wealthy Korean families have been subjected to the dangers and issues that come with residing in banjiha, an issue the director has addressed outside of the story.
“People live underground but want to believe that they are above the ground because they have a moment when sunlight comes into their room,” he once told The Guardian. “But at the same time, they are afraid of falling into a complete underground situation if things get worse.”
After Parasite demonstrated the issue to the world, pushing it into the press, the Seoul government turned to focus on the problem of banjiha and how to support those living in semi-basements. Just three years later, flooding killed a number of people, and they were forced into action, leading authorities to urge owners to turn their properties non-residential within the next 20 years.
Parasite remains a monumental film, a seminal work that finally broke through the Westernised biases at award season, but also one that shone a light on major class divisions and social issues. Though Bong focused on South Korean issues such as banjiha, the movie was so well-received because of just how universal it was. Those class disparities still remain across the world, making Parasite just as important now as it was four years ago.
