Exploring Visual Language and Symbolism in "Parasite"

Why just leave a watermark to Vanity Fair's video when you're using sections from it? At least put it in your description if you can't put it in your credits...

so it is true, money does buy happiness. and this movie should teach how not to be poor

"This is fucking awesome" Bong-Joon Ho

i also saw a metaphor within the basement, adding to the idea that the rich have the inability to see what is right below them (just like with the tree covered view) i saw the basement as another blow to the rich saying they are blind to anyone below them (both literally and economically) but that's just me

" Do it Clockwise ... "

This movie is a masterpiece. I repeat this movie is a masterpiece. Love from India ❤️

This is more along the lines of what I see the film to be. This movie is not a critique of capitalism, nor is it a promotion of socialism. It is a critique of human nature, how the ideas of one class eating another are harmful and don't help anyone. It is truly an amazing piece of film making.

Another is that at the end (spoiler alert)







The dad finally reached the bottom after the party and lives in the basement he becomes the basement dweller

We honestly have to tax the rich form the Middle East, the nation this was filmed, America Europe we need to take the trillions from them. We need to ask why we are in this system, why in countries like South Korea, America, Russia nations with so much wealth and money so many are poor or struggle? I saw a television interview where a firefighter in America has to work multiple jobs just to get by(a firefighter a person whom should be making lots of cash has to work multiple jobs just to pay bills and fees he’s family) the system is a illusion we need to change it all over the world. We all should be able to have the sam opportunity’s. Education and healthcare should be free for all.

one of the most cruelest movies I ever saw.

crabs in a bucket....

Isn't it funny that the rich friend of that guy selected him to be the tutor for the girl was because he felt the most secure with him teaching the girl he has hots for 😂😂😂 Why else would he not choose his actual college guys ? He thought this guy is poor and simple so he will not dream of hitting on the girl. But he ends up doing just that 😂

How many viewings did it take you to get to this level of understanding? Great job!

This is EXCEPTIONALLY well-done! It must’ve taken a great deal of time. It’s very disciplined & thorough. Thank you for helping me understand the film better. 👍🏼

This was quite well written and very interesting! I'm not sure the rest of your content is to my taste, but I'm gonna poke around a bit, if it's all this good I think I'm going to stick around :)

Brilliant analysis, thanks!
I had missed that the Park father says "in a week my clothes will start to smell", nice one :)

getting a sponsor by an amazon service and critiquing class inequality as the same fucking time
lmao

Something that I think has been somewhat overlooked by analyses of this film is the symbolic use of water. Some have suggested that water represents reality, however, in my opinion water is used to represent wealth and power. The wealthy family's fridge is lined with expensive bottled water, you see them drinking water constantly at home, whereas in the poor family's home we only ever see them drinking cheap beer. Another example, as mentioned in this video, is the attack on the man pissing outside, where, after gaining wealth and power in the form of employment, they then used water to attack a man they see as now below themselves.

When the poor family moves into the rich family's home, Kim-woo is shown drinking the bottled water from the fridge, demonstrating the wealth and power he has obtained. At the same time, Kim-jeong takes a bath, which mirrors a shot of the rich father earlier in the film. In this moment, Kim-jeong is physically situated within the wealth and power that water symbolises. Kim-woo rolls her a bottle of water suggesting a transfer of power from the son to the daughter that is paralleled by other motifs in the film. For example, the son helps the daughter get the job, yet the daughter quickly excels, becoming more embedded in the rich family than Kim-woo.

During the storm scene, after the poor family have lost their perceived power, water in the form of rain is used to physically flush them out. The water, symbolising wealth, demonstrates how the powerful are flushing the parasites back down to where they came from. The family end up in water again except this time it is sewage water: they are back at the bottom of society.

Finally, at the end of the film, when Kim-woo climbs the hill, it is snowing. Water, symbolising wealth and power, is in this moment, frozen and unobtainable hence reinforcing the absence of hope that the end of the movie creates.

Any good recommendation of similar movies?

Park saying “in a week our house will be a trash can, my clothes will start to smell” foreshadowing that the higher class can afford their way out of certain situations. Something the lower class cannot do and is shown by the kid noticing they all smell the same, and the mother and father plugging their noses at Mr. kims smell. The lower class families house turns into a literal trashcan with sewage everywhere

I dont recall the names of personages, but i like a scene when the brother sees the sister on the bathtube, and later he says to her "it was like you belong here" or something like this, meaning, yeah, she deserves those things too, but... they are poor and they dont have it. Its not about fairness or what we deserve, its about what it is, plain lucky if I may.
Also, the "ghost" the kid saw sometime ago (who was actually the poor guy who lived in basement), he will torment the kid for his life, the image of the ghost.. its a haunt. The poor haunting the rich since the start of their lives, forever.

This movie shows the fallacy of "work hard and you will succeded" and "poor people are poor because they want to."

The ending of the movie is always so sombering

Great film

The last shot is of the son weeping into the camera, dude. No way he can earn enough to buy the house.

Genius

Worth investing my time in this incredible analysis. Cheers with a glass of Water :)

This film is less a class critique than it is a subversive parody of the heist trope.

There is no consideration of the Parks at the end because, like a bank or art gallery, they exist to serve as a foil for the protaganists' whacky exploits.

There is certainly aesthetic contrast between the 'elevated' life and the 'subterranean' life, but this is to serve the parody.

As for it's creator's claim that the rich are parasites as well, I submit that he is trolling us -- that this is part of the parody. (After all, it depicts the Kim's as hiding like cockroaches under the furniture. And it portrays the anodyne Park family as ... having an evilly overactive olfactory sense? That's parody gold!)

Let the flaming commence! :)

Masterful film and masterful video essay. Thanks for sharing!

I personally think that the windows of the basement symbolize a jail cell. The light outside of it is the illusion of wealth. The light tricks us into believing we can get to it, but the windows of poverty keeps us locked in slaving away.

my mom has a bunch of health issues and went on disablitiy but it took years to happen and when she finally got approved we recieved nearly 60k in backpayments...man we fucked that up so bad...me and my sister were young teenagers at the time and we completely wasted that money...we lived like we were rich for a couple months and we got a real harsh reality check when we suddenyl went back to living month to month...this is a huge reason people on the low end of the economic scale will never reach financial freedom..or anything close...cause we have no idea and were never taught how to save or manage our money/finances

When Min gave the Kim family the stone and the mother said ‘food would be better’, it could symbolize the fact that the rich don’t actually help the poor by giving them hope or saying fancy words (stone). It would be better to provide help in the form of better salaries/opportunities/etc. (food).

To me, wealthy viewers will see this movie and validate their disgust for all others - but especially the poor.

On the other hand, this is a movie where viewers on the lower end of the economic scale can somehow reason with themselves and believe that the wealthy people are the parasites. Reviewers of the movie have said as much.  

Yet, there is NO indication in the film AT ALL which supports that idea.

Because the idea is WRONG!

I think the director is secretly laughing at the United States government.  

Because the poor people in Parasite represent the wealthiest nation in human history… USA.  

They’re scheming for power, their lies and deceptions, getting their friends and buddies in power (who are at best inadequate).  

Americans shout out their (white americans) superiority, although they are clearly very ignorant, compared to nations with cultures over thousands of years, shows why everything (that being the world) ends in a mess, where the innocent (third world people) die.

Thx. Literally lived in that type of apartment in Seoul , blocks away from million dollar homes on the main mountain in the center of the city.

Tried to spend most time on the roof top to escape the basement life.

It’s a good film

Parasite was probably shot in many places I lived in and explored

Very well put in the right places for the message

For those who love the movie, I highly recommend buying the director's storyboarding book. An amazing insight into how he prepared for the movie vs the final product

I love this movie

Now I have to rewatch to see what I missed.

Although, I am very 'into' Asian culture, music, arts, etc. I avoided seeing Parasite at the time it came out; because I heard it was a 'violent' film, which is something I avoid. The analysis does make me want to watch it. I have, for many years, enjoyed 'Suiseki' which are the 'viewing stones'. They can represent many things. They are like Bonsai trees, and can relax the viewer. I do plan to watch the film now, Thank you.

Rest in peace Lee Sun-Kyun

Yo, does this video contain spoilers? Haven’t eatched it yet

I just watched it a couple days ago. One interesting thing I noticed is that the poor people fantazie about having what the rich have and the when the rich couple have sex they fantasize about having what the poor have.

Absolutely amazing film - Alex

I'm blown away by hiw good tjis film is every time I think about it, which is often.

cheers boss

Thanks for watching! I fully realize that this topic is pretty well exhausted at this point, but A) Parasite was my favorite movie of 2019 and I had a lot of thoughts and B) I took way longer than anticipated in making this one, so hopefully you all still enjoyed and aren't sick of people gushing about this movie yet. I'd love to know what your thoughts on the film were!