Parasite | Themes and Meaning

In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for Parasite, we talk about themes that help us understand the film. 

Cast

• Mr. Kim – Song Kang-ho
• Chung-sook – Jang Hye-jin
• Kim Ki-woo (Kevin) – Choi Woo-shik
• Kim Ki-jung  (Jessica) – Park So-dam
• Mrs. Park – Choi Yeon-gyo
• Mr. Park – Lee Sun-kyun
• Park Da-hye – Jung Ji-so
• Park Da-song – Jung Hyeon-jun
• Gook Moon-gwang – Lee Jung-eun
• Oh Geun-sae – Park Myung-hoon
• Min-hyuk – Park Seo-joon
• Written by – Bong Joon-ho, Han Jin-won
• Directed by – Bong Joon-ho

The themes and meaning of Parasite

Wealth inequality

The major theme of Parasite is wealth inequality. The Parks are rich and the Kims are near rock bottom. Bong Joon-ho physicalizes this disparity by having the Kims literally travel downward to their home and upward to the Parks. Parasite’s commentary is exciting because it doesn’t settle for a simple contrast in lifestyle, cutting from family to family. Rather, the Kims and Parks collide in a meaningful way and create a much richer and accurate vein of discussion. We see the way in which they benefit from one another. The Parks can only live the way they live because they rely on the Kims. Likewise, the Kims have an increase in livelihood and opportunity through their relationship with the Parks. There’s mutual benefit. 

But the system comes flying apart due to the little things. Mr. Kim has a distinct and powerful smell from living in such a poor place. It’s seemingly part of him. And he begins to resent the fact that the Parks notice it and think less of him because of it. It becomes a matter of pride. Then there’s also the astounding ignorance the Parks display after the rain storm. The flood ruined the home of the Kims. They pretty much lost everything they owned. It was a traumatic and momentous thing for them. For the Parks? It was a simple rainy day. 

There’s a scene where Mrs. Park calls Ki-jung and invites her to the birthday party. We see Ki-jung in the emergency shelter, surrounded by hundreds of other people affected by the flood. She’s tired, disheveled. While Mrs. Park puts on makeup and is surrounded by all her wealth, completely ignorant about what has transpired “below”. This culminates with Mrs. Park in the back of the car, saying to a friend who the sky is so blue thanks to the rain the previous day. The camera then pans to Mr. Kim, driving the car. His expression is miserable. The climax is when Mrs. Park says “That rain was such a blessing!” as she plugs her nose due to Mr. Kim’s scent. 

So we’re shown the ways in which the system can work and benefit everyone. But then the way in which the inequality creates enormous gaps in perspective and living quality. Ultimately, the system is unsustainable and leads to frustration, which evolves to resentment, which culminates in violence. The people suffer but the system continues, unchanged. 

The battle over limited resources: intro

The main conflict in Parasite isn’t even between the Kims and Parks. It’s between the Kims and Moon-gwang and her husband, Geun-sae. Moon-gwang and Geun-sae are, like the Kims, lower class and dependent on the Parks. Geun-sae has spent years in the house’s bunker, surviving on whatever’s in the home. He’s the closest thing to a true parasite that the movie has. In debt, on the run from the law, completely reliant on the household. At least the Kims have their own place and own things and buy their own food and work for their income. The only thing Geun-sae contributes is triggering the lights on the stairs from the garage. A wholly superficial and useless skill. 

The Park home is a limited resource that can only sustain a single other family. That family had been Moon-gwang and Geun-sae. Then the Kims move in, remove Moon-gwang, and think it’s smooth sailing. Unfortunately for them, Moon-gwang comes back to attempt to find a middle ground. This escalates to what is essentially a war that ends up destroying the resource and ruining lives.  

The battle over limited resources: geopolitics

When Moon-gwang and Geun-sae temporarily take control of the house and have the Kims as hostages, Moon-gwang playfully imitates a North Korean news anchor. Later, Mrs. Park uses the Battle of Hansan Island from the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 as an example of how to arrange tables for Da-song’s birthday party. Right after that, Mr. Park and Mr. Kim dress up as Native Americans—the last of several references to the United States. 

These references all involve territorial conflict. North Korea vs. South Korea. Japan vs. Korea. Native Americans vs. European settlers. Parasite is a microcosm of a much larger conflict over resources. 

The battle over limited resources: it’s cyclical

Moon-gwang notes that the Park home used to be owned by the original architect. She worked for him. He moved. The Parks came. Then the Kims show up. Remove Moon-gwang. Conflict ensues. In the aftermath, the Parks move and Mr. Kim takes over Geung-sae’s position as the home’s parasite, living in the bunker. A new family moves in. And everything is as it was, just with a new cast of characters. Does the system ever really change or improve? It seems the system is entirely untouched. It’s only the people who suffer. There will always be more Parks and more Kims, those at the top and those at the bottom. The names will be different. But the results will probably be the same. It’s implied at the end that despite Ki-woo’s capacity and big dreams, he’ll never achieve anything of substance. Meaning he’ll probably also have a family that needs to struggle in the shadow of those who have more. 

The failure of plans

After the storm, the Kims spend the night with countless others in the emergency center. This is the conversation Ki-woo and Mr. Kim have. 

• Kw: Dad?
• MK: Yeah?
• Kw: What was your plan?
• MK: What are you talking about?
• Kw: Before, you said you had a plan. What will you do about the basement?
• MK: Ki-woo, you know what kind of plan never fails? No plan at all. No plan. You know why? If you make a plan, life never works out that way. Look around us. Did these people think, “Let’s all spend the night in a gym?” But look now. Everyone’s sleeping on the floor, us included. That’s why people shouldn’t make plans. With no plan, nothing can go wrong. And if something spins out of control, it doesn’t matter. Whether you kill someone, or betray your country. None of it f***ing matters. Got it?
• Kw: Dad. I’m sorry.
• MK: For what?
• Kw: Everything. All of it. I’ll take care of everything. 
• MK: What are you talking about? Why are you hugging that stone? 
• Kw: This? It keeps clinging to me. 
• MK: I think you need some sleep. 
• Kw: I’m serious. It keeps following me. 

It’s a very bleak conversation that reflects how near his breaking point Mr. Kim is. But it’s also Bong Joon-ho’s in-road for the audience in terms of a major thematic point. Whatever plan you try and make, whatever system you try and create: it will break. It will go wrong in ways you could never predict. And Ki-woo becomes the embodiment of that. 

Ki-woo’s first foray into the failure of plans happens the next day after the conversation with his dad. He goes to the Park house for Da-song’s birthday party and brings the stone his dad asked him about. It’s the symbolic wealth rock that Ki-woo’s friend, Min, had given him at the start of the film. Because it immediately preceded Min’s introduction of Ki-woo to the Parks, Ki-woo seriously buys into the energy of the rock. It’s a naive moment. But Ki-woo wants to give the stone to Moon-gwang and Geun-sae as a way to mend fences. It seems he believes that by giving them the stone, he’s creating an opportunity for them elsewhere where they can go and be happy. 

Except when he opens the basement door, Geun-sae appears and batters Ki-woo. Then throws the stone into Ki-woo’s head, causing serious injury. This then allows Geun-sae to mortally wound Ki-jung and leads to Mr. Kim seizing the opportunity to knife Mr. Park. In terms of plans going wrong, it’s pretty much the definition of epic failure. 

After this, Ki-woo discovers that Mr. Kim’s living in the bunker at the house. We get that final scene where Ki-woo writes a letter he hopes to somehow give to his father. In the letter, he describes his new plan of working hard, getting rich, then eventually buying that very house so Mr. Kim can just walk up from the basement and rejoin the family. We even see how this would all play out. For a second, we may even believe that this is a flash forward, not fantasy. But then we cut back to Ki-woo in that sad basement apartment. It’s winter outside. It’s dark and gloomy inside. Despite Ki-woo’s ambition, Mr. Kim’s words resonate. “If you make a plan, life never works out that way.” It’s crushing.

What are your thoughts?

Are there more themes you think should be part of the Colossus Movie Guide for Parasite? Leave your comments below and we’ll consider updating the guide.