Parasite Movie Review

Parasite Movie Review

 Neo-liberalism is seen as the dominant element in the movie parasite. Neo-liberalism is associated with previous systems of the free market and laissez-faire economic liberalism, which advocated for less government intervention in economic activities. Neo-liberalism focuses on privatization and concentrating economic power to citizens rather than the government.  The movie parasite vividly depicts how neoliberalism and capitalism have had impacts on our societies and the economy. The two classes presented in the film play an important role in shaping these effects. It also shows how people in the capitalist world struggle to bridge the gap between classes and failures of capitalists in other social aspects other than social classification.

Capitalism advocates for each person to accumulate wealth, which he/she should use to gain utility (Brown, 2015). That is, it is the survival of the fittest model, where the unfit people n the society ends up with low utility. For instance, in the movie, the parks have accumulated wealth, which is beneficial only to them. Due to theism social class, they live in better conditions as compared to the poor in the same society. The kinds, on the other hand, live in poor conditions. According to the film, the Kims lived in a shared space, which was crowded. Besides, their space was subject to drunkards urinating in the streets next to their room. This is compared to the parks livening condition, which is described as spacious and with ample resources. The parks had refrigerated, clean water while the Kims and other poor class suffered from lack of water. From these comparisons, the movie tries to depict the failures of neo-liberalism. It is a system of rich and wealthy people, which oppresses the poor societies. That is, neo-liberalism provides opportunities for the rich to accumulate more wealth while it offers fewer opportunities for the struggling class, which widens the gap between the two social classes.

The film also depicts how the system had negatively influence businesses, driving the small business to closure while the dominant businesses like moneylenders were thriving (Kaklamanidou, 2013).  This captures the situation in South Korean cities, where capitalism had grave effects on small businesses. As observed, employment opportunities and other generous income generation opportunities were only open to high-class societies. The low class and poor were left to run small businesses, which were highly unstable and mostly financed by loans. In the midway of the film, an expelled house help makes a return to Parks when they were away. After getting permission from Chung Sook, who was the current house help, she races to a secret basement, where we learn that her husband, Geun-sae, had been hiding. He had taken a loan from loan sharks to start a pastry shop. This type of business was well-liked because it only required little capital to start. However, the market became saturated, forcing some shops to close, including Geun-sae’s. This left the owners heavily in debt since most of them started the business on loans. Since Geun-sae could not raise funds, and his wife was fired at Parks, he opted to hide from loan sharks.  From this scene, we learn the economic system in Korea was a total fail. It could not control its markets, resulting in overcrowding and saturation, which translated into losses. However, the loan sharks were the only beneficiaries of the crisis, which leads us back to wealthy benefiting from the system while the poor are crushed into a mess by the system.

Neo-liberalism has turned the working class into worshipers of the wealthy and successful (Layton, 2010).  This implies that the system not only affects the society’s economic aspects but also has an impact on its social facets. The poor believe that they ended up in poverty because of immorality. This is evident where the Kims family regard poverty because of their moral failing, burring them from perceiving it as a failure of the system. Therefore, the poor get comfortable with what the system offers and rather than finding ways to bring revolution.  In one scene, KI-teat is perplexed to learn that Geun-sae gives thanks to the parks for shelter and everything they offer him. This is ironic since he lives in parks’ basement secretly, where if discovered, he would be forced out. He manipulates the lighting system to pass thankful messages to the parks. Besides, more scenes of thanks and undeserved respect for the rich follow this scene. After the whole Kims family secures employment in parks family, Ki-taet suggests that they are offering a prayer of gratitude to the great Mr. Park.  This depicts how the system wrecked society by transforming the working class into worshipers of the rich in society. The unearned respect accorded to the rich prevents the poor from identifying with each other and finding solidarity. Therefore, the poor unknowingly support the system, which pushes them to the edge risking their survival. Thus, the movie captures how capitalism is propagated; both the poor and rich support it. The poor worship the oppressors for survival while the oppressors push to accumulate more wealth, which buys them more utility, including services delivered by the poor working class.

Neo-liberalism changes people’s perception of self. That is, people are changed into homo economicus (Brown, 2015).  Homo economics is a wordplay on Homo sapiens that is used to portray humans as rational agents who invest in themselves to obtain an optimal utility.  Neo-liberalism converts humans such that they are entrepreneurs of self. They perceive non-economic elements in terms of value that could be achieved or profit that could be derived from such items. For instance, people focus on aspects like dating in light of market value. That is, dating is analyzed in the light of the value it brings as well as the cost of being involved with a particular date.  The concept of homo economicus is dominant across the movie, parasite. In the initial scenes of the movie, Ki-woo is informed of a lucrative opportunity as a tutor to a wealthy girl. However, he is no qualified for the job since he is yet to join university, which is a requirement for tutors. However, ki-woo forges his university papers and takes the opportunity. From this scene, Ki-woo finds a chance, and he invests in himself. He is an entrepreneur of self, where he aims at maximizing his utility. The whole of Kim’s family infiltrates into the rich settlement of Mr. Parks with each member forging their qualification.  Each member invests in himself or herself to maximize the family’s income and try to ensure economic mobility. EconomicEconomic mobility is hard to achieve for the working class since their needs exceed their income.  The only option left for such families is to invest in themselves, where they act as agents of the economy. That is, they are the entity itself, and they value non-economic aspects in terms of market value. Economization is a direct impact of capitalism.  Besides, the concept also touches the wealthy class. They are dependent on the working class to meet their basic needs. For instance, the parks are dependent on Kim’s family to conduct all the house chores. The working class also meets transport needs. This depicts that non-economic elements are the only opportunities available to optimize utility in a capitalist society.

The title of the film, parasite, suggests that there is a gap between the parties involved in the movie. The relationship between Parks and the Kims is described as parasitic (Matthews, 2020). Kims find means of infiltrating themselves into the prosperous settlement of the parks. They benefit from this relation by enjoying the wealth of the Parks family. They hide their familial relationship to continue to enjoy the benefits that come along with living at Parks.  This implies that if the parks went bankrupt, they would no longer be appealing to the Kims. On the other hand, the parks depend on the kims for the services they obtain.  The parks cannot manage to carry out their domestic and transport needs on themselves. The two families are presented in the movie metaphorically to represent the relationship between social classes in a capitalistic society. The higher class needs to exploit the lower class for utility. Likewise, the lower class clings on, the upper class for survival and in search of economic mobility. The relationship between the two classes can be attributed to having its roots in neoliberalism. Thve system makes the society dependent on each other, such that if one player is eliminated, the society is likely to crumble.  Therefore, capitalism results in poor serving the rich, while the rich concentrate on accumulating more wealth at the expense of the poor.

Neo-liberalism makes the disadvantage people opt for revenge from the wealthy class (Matthews, 2020). In most capitalist countries, the crime rate is always high as compared to communist countries. This is because capitalism is not fair. It promotes oppression and individualism, where every player in the society fights to gain their utility.  The same case applies to the film parasite, where the working class takes advantage of the wealthy people. The Kims family infiltrates into the park’s family to enjoy their wealth. Although they are compensated for their services, they secretly turn parks basement into their residential space. When the parks are out, the Kims take advantage of such opportunities to enjoy the park’s house for themselves and buy goods on Parks credit.  This depicts that the Kims want a share of the accumulated wealth, and the right way of gaining it is through infiltration. Besides, due to capitalism, the dykes of the river are neglected. Neo-liberalism eliminates government intrusion into the economy, which results in neglect of social amenities and other infrastructures. Unfortunately, the burden of neglected facilities falls heavily on the lower class. For instance, in the film, the neglected dyke led to floods, which destroyed Kim’s residence. In revenge, the Kims relocate into Park’s basement, where they accrue all the benefits of a residence. Therefore, the relation between the two classes may be viewed as revenge for the wrongs of neo-liberalism.

References

Brown, W. (2015). Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s stealth revolution. MIT Press.

Kaklamanidou, B. (2013). Genre, gender and the effects of neoliberalism: the new millennium Hollywood rom-com. Routledge.

Layton, L. (2010). Irrational exuberance: Neoliberal subjectivity and the perversion of truth. Subjectivity, 3(3), 303-322.

Matthews, J. (2020). Movie Review: Parasite.