Parasite (Spoilers)
Watched this over the weekend. Really enjoyed it but definitely think I missed some of the social commentary. My biggest question though was the loose plot line with the Morse code. We see the kid cracking it but then nothing happens with it. It was like Chekhov’s Morse code. But the payoff actually came with the dad. I wonder if this was just something they scrapped or if there was another point in showing the kid.
Also we’re there any “good guys” in this? I don’t think so. The rich family were probably the nicest but even then it’s clear they are pretty shit too.
Comments
Copying what I said in another thread:
-------
The ending is great. It's a coda that I think is not real, as per him waking up in a coma and laughing about how unreal the doctor and detective were. Also per him literally writing a scene for his father elsewhere in the movie. I don't think the Morse code conversation happened. Regardless, it's there to analyze.
The genius part is the question of him wanting to save his father. The movie shows the father being saved, and hugged, then it goes back in time to the point where the son is writing the letter, leaving this event pointedly as a question and possibility. Is it possible for a boy to win vindication for his father's sins? Is it possible to do better than our parents? Well, that all depends on if you believe a person in poverty can achieve the basic thing of affording a fucking house after years of trying. The less we, as a society, allow for this condition, the more we've doomed ourselves to tragic endings.
Even if all of these characters were what our society considers moral, what would happen? Two deaths would be prevented. But the main family would be out of work with their home flooded just the same. The rich family would be the same. So is this a victory, the reward of moral citizens, to prevent untimely death? Society should do better.
However, I do like the idea that the children of the rich are more pure and willing to listen to the plight of the poor. So they have their secret language. And the pure rich eventually become jaded when poor people vent their frustration in impolite ways? There's stuff there with that kid, for sure. His love of American Indians. American Indians were a race destroyed by colonialist parasites.
things that stood out to me.
Peaches in Korea are believed to have the power to banish evil, used against the first housekeeper to banish her.
the whole basement thing is clearly symbolic of rich vs poor. or the rich hiding the poor problem.
the sister gets cut cleaning the broken glass but nothing happens with it. seemed like it was leading to her blood being found.
the rich dad with his weird fetish proving hes just as weird as anyone else so far.
this may not even be the real ending but the mom and son getting off way too easy in my eyes.
the flooding and the dad ignoring his neighbors plea for help to save their own stuff and then the shitter exploding while Jessica tries to sit on it.
ill have to watch it again as im sure there are alot of things to catch.
The rich despise the poor and yet they're the ones who created the problem.
Okja, on Netflix, is worth watching if you like really fucking well done characters. I thought the story itself was boring, but dear gaaaaawd the characters. The character writing was a thing of beauty indeed. (Also I didn't think it was about the evils of eating meat at all; more about the difficulty of being moral in our society, but I suppose that's just the different layers.)
It's one of my favorite films (along with Mr and Mrs Iyer, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, and Chungking Express).