Parasite: A Reflection of Humanity

Parasite is all about a poor family, the Kims, con their way into becoming the servants of a rich family, the Parks. But their easy life gets complicated when their deception is threatened with exposure. The film received critical acclaim, with praise directed towards its screenplay, Bong's direction, acting, social commentary, cinematography, editing and production values, and has been featured in multiple listings of the best films of the 2010s. It has grossed over $269.4 million worldwide on a production budget of about $11 million, becoming the highest-grossing South Korean film. As such, it has become apparent to talk about the movie's culture, politics and society through understanding and reacting to its plot.

Parasite: A Reflection of Humanity

Explaining Personality through
Socialization

The planning of Mr Kim Ki-taek's plan

1.) Socialization

The film portrays socialization in a way that the members of the Kim family communicates with each other to get each one to work for the Park family. They also have a strong bond with each other, making it easy for them to execute their plan. 

2.) Personality

The execution of Mr. Kim Ki-taek's plan

The film portrays different personality among the characters. For instance, for both families, the Kim family portrays a cunning and manipulative personality where they easily fooled every member of the Park family while the Park family portrays a naive and ignorant personality where they easily believed everything the Kim family said.

3.) Theories of Socialization

a.) The Looking Glass Self-Theory

Ki-woo with his fake professional takes on the paintings

The looking-glass self is a social psychological notion, created by Charles Horton Cooley, affirming that a person’s self grows out of society’s social interactions and the observations of others. The term denotes to people influencing themselves based on other people’s perception, which leads people to emphasize other people’s perspectives on themselves. The Kim’s family shaped their image in a way that would make the Park family put their trust in them and hire them. People shape themselves based on what other people perceive and confirm other people’s opinion on themselves, through this, Ki-woo was able to change how the Park family saw them by forging documents, fake connections, and barnum statements to look professional.

b.) The I and Me Theory

Jessica practicing her persona before entering the house

The 'I' and the 'me' are terms dominant to the social idea of George Herbert Mead. The terms refer to the psychology of the individual, where in Mead's understanding, the "me" is the socialized characteristic of the person, and the "I" is the active characteristic of the person. The "Me" is what is learned in interaction with others and with the environment: other people's attitudes, once adopted in the self, establish the Me. The Kim’s internalized what was needed by the Park family and changed their attitude to better fit what was required of them. At the same time, 'the "Me" disciplines the "I" by holding it back from defying the law of the community in this case the standards of the Park family. Mead states that "the "I" responds to the self which arises through the taking of the attitude of others. They do not blindly follow rules. They create a response based on what they have learned, the "me".

Human Dignity 

 

1.) Dignity

Park Dong-ik disguested by the smell

Dignity comes from the word, "dignitas" in Latin, which means "worthiness". It implies that each person is worthy of honor and respect for who they are. Human dignity cannot be earned nor be taken away; it is an inalienable gift from God to us. In the film "Parasite", there are several factors which affect the human dignity and one of them is the smell. The smell plays an important role and crucial factor in the movie because it determines one’s social class, either poor or rich. In the scene where Da-song , the youngest child of Park, notices that the people who works in the house smells identical to each other. It signifies metaphorically, that even you will change and fool somebody with your appearance; you cannot easily hide your true existence which entitled them as poor. We can clearly understand that the poor family cannot just remove their smell unless they will move out from the basement. In the scene where Park was slain by Ki-taek, we can tell that the smell factor really disturbs and insults the human dignity especially to Ki-taek. Why? It is simply because Park was disgusted by the smell given off from Geun-sae which symbolizes that rich people are disgusted and doesn’t care about the poor. It was also portrayed that Park values more the person who was just passed out, which is his son, than someone who is actually dying, which is Ki-jung. Ki-taek’s pride and dignity were hurt that’s why intentionally or not he murdered Mr. Park with his own hands. Ki-woo and Ki-taek were the ones who have strong desires and portrayed them until the end. These elements signify human dignity despite of the terrible things they have done in the film.

 

The crimes mentioned from the Kim family

2.) Declaration of Human Rights 

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that human rights are universal. It is to be enjoyed by all people, no matter who they are or where they live, it includes civil and political rights, like the right to life, liberty, free speech and privacy, economic social and cultural rights, etc. In the film “Parasite”, there are also several human rights presented, either followed or violated. One of the human rights is “We are all Born Free & Equal”, we should all be treated in the same way. Yet in the film, it is presented that rich oppress the poor and force them to exist in a brutal society, and it’s usually how class in society works. “No Unfair Detainment” and “We’re Always Innocent Till Proven Guilty” type of right was also presented and was encountered by Ki-woo and his mother in the later part of the film. There are some other human rights present in the film, and may be unobvious to us to unveil and discuss furthermore.

Deviance and Conformity 

1-2.) Conformity & Deviance

Jessica, as the only one fit to become "accepted"

When it comes to the film Parasite, we are faced with the major abstract concept of culture: the poor, poverty side; and the rich, wealthy side of the society. This is one of the major messages and theme that the film portrays, especially with how the Kim family interacts with the Park family in order to sustain their family needs and wants. In relevancy with the film, the notion of conformity and deviance -- that is connected to culture and socialization -- is present in most scenes and plots. Conformity is the desire to go along with the norms of a group of people, so that will be accepted as an in-group person. This definition alone describes how the Kim family, within and outside the way they interact, shows how they desire to fit in the society through manipulating their identities. One good example is how the Kim family, in order to fit in and be socially accepted to the Park family, required themselves to create fraud identities and fake personalities. Another example of conformity present in the film are the family members in the Kim family interacting and working together, cooperating and planning their mischievous scheme, in order to avoid getting caught. If one of the family members did not cooperate, then their secret would’ve shattered way too sooner. One of the parts of the film where deviance was illustrated in the film was when the Kim family, altogether, left their situations of being “poor”. Funnily enough, leaving and not accepting their role models as a poor family disobeyed the laws and norms of being a part of the poverty line, especially when done in a non-legitimate approach. In other words, they “cheated-the-system” through scam, hoaxes, and misinformation: in order to escape their privileges as a poor, misfortunate, and honest family and become a wealthy, earning, crooked family.

3.) Theories of Deviance: 

Kim Ki-taek reading the forged certificates

a.) Robert K. Merton's Strain Theory

Robert K. Merton's Strain Theory is one of the more popular Crime and Deviance positions that is described heavily in the movie Parasite. Merton’s Strain theory argued deviation from social norms is a result of the strain a person feels when they’re unable to achieve legitimately (legally), thus the Kim family already know that they can’t be richer and greater through normal means, so they must strive to whatever opportunity that comes in their way even if it is illegal. These strains such as the lack of the education for the children of the family and lack of funds especially on WiFi push individuals and families such as the Kim family towards Crime and Deviance. One example is when Kim Ki-woo and Kim Ki-jung forged a certificate to be accepted as tutors for the family. Forgery is a crime that the Kim family knew, but it was intentionally done to achieve their plans.

Moon-gwang seeing Chung-sook as fellow workers/sisters

b.) Labelling Theory

 

Labeling theory is presented with the plot twist in the film. We already know that the Kim family is reaching towards crime and deviance through leeching the rich figuratively, and since then, they labeled their own acts as something normal and “okay” in the meantime since they have not been caught yet. After learning about the basement and the people who are under it, the Kim family started to warn and threaten them because of their devious actions. Labelling theory states that what makes something deviant is not what is done, but how people react to what is done. The Kim family at that time had temporary power and used that power to define what is deviant, and thus Moon-gwang and Geun-Se reacted from their behavior since after realizing the truth, they became similar in terms of their social status.

Reaction to the movie "Parasite"

Parasite is a breath-taking horror-comedy film that made us realize of what is happening to everything from living as an individual and being part of a family or society. There are times when trusting someone can be risky, there are times when we face challenges ahead of us; we should know in fact to do it honestly and willingly, rather than deceiving other people – manipulating how it should work – then facing the negative consequences afterwards that can cause more trouble than the trouble just conquered.

The movie Parasite shows the qualities of a knit family. Such as the Kim family, known as a loving, family, practices what it means to understand to the family members and listening to their ideas and opinions. We can see this by how the sister, Kim Ki-jung, helped Kim Ki-woo, her brother, into successfully joining as an English tutor: by creating a fake college graduate with the use of her forgery skills. This portrays a wonderful message that families help one another, no matter how dangerous or risky the situations are, just for the good of their cause and living. Another part of the film where the family united as one and kept their secrets is by convincing the Park family that each and one member of the Kim family is a real professional worker. The brother was able to convince that his sister was an art therapist, the sister convinced that her father was a professional personal driver, and the father was able to convince that his wife was a good housekeeper. And all for this was possible because of the family’s unison and help with one another. 

A strong family tie can do amazing and impossible things. However, because of the bad intentions the Kim family had in mind, Parasite also shows the downfall of what life can be if one lives through dishonesty and lies. Just as how the family loosely falls apart after their lie was uncovered, their lives dreadfully changed to the worst after that party was sabotaged. The truth doesn’t cost anything, but a lie could cost you everything. And everything that you say in this world, matters a lot and cannot be taken back once said. The film tells us what it means to being careful in the words we say and the actions we portray, for it can create a big impact in our lives.