How are the two families characterized in the Film? I.e., name some that show their respective situations in life?
- the Film consists of two families, the Kims, and the Parks. The Kims are the low-income family who cunningly finds ways to work for the Parks family. Their poverty is shown through their living standards as they live in a half basement property and operated as pizza box folders. The Kims family disguise themselves as professional workers to get jobs from the Parks family. This is shown when Ki-Woo, son of the Kims family, pretends to be a qualified tutor for Da-Hye, the daughter of the Parks family, by faking his documents. Ki – jing, daughter of the Kims family, disguises herself as ‘Jessica’ an art therapist to the youngest son of the Parks family. Chung- sook, the wife of the Kims family becomes the housekeeper as she accuses the housekeeper Moon-gwang of having tuberculosis. Ki-taek, the head of the Kims family, gets a job as a driver as Ki-jing falsely accuses the original driver of sexual assault. The Kims family also takes over the Parks household, when the Parks leave for a trip.
The struggle between the Kims family and the housekeeper Moon-gwang whose husband has been living in the basement as they struggle to maintain a relationship with the Parks family to avoid the hardships of life. Chung- sook is also depicted as violent when she pushes Moon-gwang down the stairs causing her death.
- Park’s family is portrayed as a wealthy family living in a modern family. Mr. Park is depicted as one who despises the poor, as shown in the Film, when he talks about Ki-taek foul smell. Mrs. Parks is portrayed as a wealthy woman who is not able to do any household chores and instead depends on the housekeepers. She is also lovely to the Kims family, which leads to Chung-sook, claiming that she is only friendly because she is rich and does not have to go through the hardships of life.
- Who are the “Parasites” referred to in the title? Which family is more parasitic? Is it the Kims? The Parks? Is it the man living underground, and
- wife, the housekeeper? Make your case with quotes from the Film and/or screenplay.
- Depend on others for food and needs. All the families in this Film are portrayed as parasites. The Parks are parasites because they depend on the poor for labor and services such as cooking and being driven around, which is shown when they have housekeepers, tutor who is Ki-woon, and even hire an art therapist for their son. The latter even does not have any problem. The Kims are also parasites because they cunningly find their way into the Parks household by disguising themselves as trained professionals to get jobs. Ki-woon gets a career as a tutor by forging his documents. They also rely on the Parks on income, food, and even shelter when they all occupy the Parks family when they leave for a trip.
- Basement dwellers who include the housekeeper and her husband are also parasites as they depend on the Parks family for shelter. This is shown when we discover the housekeeper’s husband living in the basement of the Parks family. The husband was being fed by the housekeeper with food from the Parks house while she was living in the household. There is also a struggle between the Kims family and the basement dwellers who both are competing to maintain a relation with the Parks while trying to expose the other.
- The most parasitic family is the Kims. They are greedy and take all measures to ensure they have a relation with the wealthy Parks family. They get a driver fired by falsely accusing him of sexual assault so that they can get a job for their father. Moon- gwang peach allergy was also proclaimed to be tuberculosis for the housekeeper to get fired. They also conduct violence, which was shown in various instances, such as when Chung-sook pushed the housekeeper down the stairs, which led to the death of Moon gwang. Ki taek also stabs Mr. Parks because he always despised him due to his smell.
- Discuss how this Film and its exploration of income inequality and class dynamics ties to the Corona virus.
- Virus, a rising pandemic in the world today, is mostly disadvantageous to most people with low levels of income. As portrayed in this Film, most people in the high-class levels of society can provide medical care and food in any period of a pandemic. In contrast, the low-class levels struggle to provide food for their families. Most people from the low-class work in businesses such as grocery selling which requires contact with many people and also as emergency responders. Most of these jobs require physical contact with other people. Therefore, they have high chance of getting the virus. However, the rich are dependent on the services offered by these people who are struggling to provide needs for their families.
- People doing jobs such as nurses and cashiers also have high risks of the disease because of their contacts with so many people.
- This virus hits hard in crowded places; hence most living standards of the low-class families are poor. Most of them live in overcrowded slums, where the risks of getting the virus are very high compared to the rich who dwell in modern lifestyles in less occupied areas. In the Film this is shown when the Kims family lives in a half basement apartment which were located in the poorest side of the country. For instance, in Brazil, most of the people do hand to mouth jobs and live in households located in overcrowded places, the Coronavirus is spreading rapidly in those regions. Maintenance of social distancing is ,therefore, a major problem in those areas due to overcrowding.
This virus also preys on the most vulnerable people in the society who are the low class because they have no access to health care facilities and health coverage, unlike the high quality. They also experience a lack of clean water and safety precautions against the virus, such as masks and sanitizers, which makes it hard to control further spread of this virus. Since the economy is being shut down to prevent further spread of this virus, most cases of poverty will rise as there will be no access to jobs.
In conclusion, Coronavirus exploits the unequal world. While the wealthiest people have access to health care facilities, most of the other people face problems such as poverty and high risks of getting this virus as they try to make their ends meet. The rich therefore are always privileged in their lives as depicted in this Film while the poor are less privileged and face many hardships.