The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 8 - ‘Parasite’

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• The hosts celebrate Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Parasite’ as an instant classic and a signature film of the century, noting its perfect construction, nuanced critique of class systems, and thrilling genre elements.  Copied to clipboard!
• The film’s success, including its historic Best Picture win at the 2020 Oscars, is seen as a pivotal moment that dragged the Academy Awards toward a more global perspective.  Copied to clipboard!
• A key formal decision highlighted is Bong Joon-ho’s visual distinction between the Kim family (shown as a collective) and the Park family (shown as individuals), illustrating how wealth grants personal freedom.  Copied to clipboard!

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Parasite’s Instant Classic Status

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(00:00:12)

• Key Takeaway: Parasite was released in October 2019 and is considered one of the signature films of the century, having been voted number one in the New York Times poll by both critics and readers.
• Summary: The film was released in October 2019 and is already established as a signature film of the century. It achieved the rare feat of being voted number one in the New York Times poll by both the selected voters and the readers. The hosts recall a famous clip of Sean Fennessey cracking his voice while announcing its Best Picture win in February 2020.

Formal Decisions and Universality

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(00:05:33)

• Key Takeaway: Despite its specific South Korean social nuances, the film’s Hitchcockian thriller design, utilizing visual metaphors like stairs and elevation, provides a direct universality accessible to all audiences.
• Summary: The movie’s structure is described as a fairly simple Hitchcockian thriller in design, relying on straightforward visual cues like characters moving up or down stairs to telegraph class hierarchy. While some sociological nuances are specific to South Korea, the film’s construction offers a directness that makes its themes universally understandable. This formal construction includes the tripartite division of the world into upstairs, middle, and basement levels.

Class Critique and Nuance

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(00:08:17)

• Key Takeaway: The film offers a nuanced portrayal of what systems do to people, avoiding a simplistic ‘rich bad, poor good’ dynamic, suggesting all characters are victimized by organized societies.
• Summary: Class and income inequality are identified as defining problems of the last decade, making the film highly relevant. The movie avoids simple moralizing, instead offering a nuanced look at systemic pressures on individuals. The ultimate lesson is that everyone inside the story has been victimized by the way modern societies are organized.

Formal Construction and Character Agency

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(00:09:55)

• Key Takeaway: Bong Joon-ho perfectly constructs the film as a system, using every shot to move characters like cogs in a dollhouse, contrasting the collective Kim family with the individually free Park family.
• Summary: The film itself operates as a perfectly constructed system, with every image storyboarded by the director, making the characters feel like they are being moved around in a dollhouse. This visual language reinforces the metaphor of people as cogs in the system of late-stage capitalism. A key formal choice is showing the Kim family as a collective unit, while the wealthy Park family is always shown as separate individuals, reflecting wealth creating freedom.

Genre Blending and Pop Sensibility

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(00:12:07)

• Key Takeaway: The film masterfully blends big ideas and tight construction with the fun, pop sensibility of a thriller, exemplified by the shocking and effective basement reveal.
• Summary: The movie is deeply entertaining because it functions as a wacky, funny, and dark comedy satire while also being a tightly constructed thriller. The basement reveal, reminiscent of Psycho, provides a major pop sensibility moment rarely found in important, socially themed films. This blend of high concept and genre thrills is part of its magic, making it a ‘jewel box of perfect cinema.’

Themes of Grifting and Delusion

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(00:14:50)

• Key Takeaway: The Kims’ actions reflect the contemporary ‘grifter’ and ‘gig economy grindset’ mentality, where the only perceived path up is through elaborate scams and self-delusion.
• Summary: The film taps into the late 2010s excitement around righteous scammers and the gig economy, where success seems dependent on securing the right gig. The Kims’ initial job folding pizza boxes exemplifies this low-level gig work. Their delusion is highlighted when the son claims his printed-out degree is not a forgery, but simply ‘printed out early.’

Defining the Parasite

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(00:16:05)

• Key Takeaway: The title ‘Parasite’ applies multi-directionally, suggesting everyone is either feeding off a larger system or being fed upon, with the father figure being the ultimate parasite due to his failure to provide stability.
• Summary: The hosts conclude that the title refers to everyone being a parasite on the larger system, or being consumed by it, making it a multi-way street of interaction. In the context of South Korea’s patriarchal structure, the Kim father is seen as the ultimate parasite for training his children to be grifters while failing to create stability. The wealthy family is also parasitic on the wider structure of capitalism.

Sensory Class Markers

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(00:20:29)

• Key Takeaway: Class division is communicated through sensory details, most notably the pervasive ‘stench’ of the Kims, which the Parks repeatedly react to by pinching their noses.
• Summary: Beyond the obvious wealth gap in living arrangements, the stench associated with the Kims—derived from riding the subway and living in filth—is a constant marker of class. Mr. Park clenching his nose at the end when touching the Kim father is the final, triggering offense, demonstrating a social breaking point where even paid service cannot overcome inherent class boundaries. Food choices also delineate class, with the Kims eating processed food versus the Parks enjoying fresh fruit platters.

Critique of Solidarity and Ending

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(00:25:44)

• Key Takeaway: The Kim family’s downfall may stem from a lack of solidarity with the original housekeeper and her husband, as everyone is trained to be ’everyone for themselves’ in the system.
• Summary: One interpretation suggests the Kims’ tragedy resulted from failing to conspire with the housekeeper’s family instead of victimizing each other, highlighting the system’s ability to prevent class solidarity. The immediate shift in hierarchy when the housekeeper realizes the Kims are also imposters shows how quickly people revert to self-preservation. The ending is described as beautiful and tragic, showing the son’s delusion of buying the house as a ‘hug that will never be.’

Bong Joon-ho’s Cinematic Style

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(00:30:38)

• Key Takeaway: Bong Joon-ho is recognized as one of the great directors of the last 25 years, known for blending ecstatic set pieces, dark humor, and large-scale violence within his narratives.
• Summary: The film features ecstatic set pieces, including the flood sequence and the garden party, which is a classical Bong setup featuring extravagance and huge violent moments. His style is characterized by an antic, comic, absurdist tone, even when dealing with serious subjects like ecological damage in The Host. Parasite is considered a culmination of his directorial prowess, though his subsequent film, Mickey 17, was seen as a letdown in comparison.

Academy Recognition and Legacy

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(00:35:40)

• Key Takeaway: Parasite’s Best Picture win signaled a major shift in the Academy Awards toward honoring global cinema, paving the way for future international wins like Yuh-jung Youn for Minari.
• Summary: The win was seen as dragging the Academy Awards into a global future, following the shift signaled by Moonlight’s victory. The hosts note that while the Kim family cast received no nominations, the film’s SAG Ensemble win was a key indicator of its momentum. This success is expected to lead to more nominations and wins for international feature performances.

Scheduling Update

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(00:48:28)

• Key Takeaway: The podcast schedule has been adjusted, separating the discussion of House of Dynamite and Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere into two separate upcoming episodes.
• Summary: The hosts announced a schedule change because a film they expected to be widely released in November is not. This Friday’s episode will cover Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, featuring CR’s expertise on Nebraska. The discussion for House of Dynamite will be delayed until Monday, allowing listeners time to stream it on Netflix.