"It All Gets Ironed Out. Money is an Iron:" A Marxism Study in Parasite

“This is so metaphorical!” Parasite is one of those films, where English majors tend to think of this line throughout the film (Bong). The film, directed by Bong Joon-ho, revolves around the Kim family and their endeavors to help their family rise out of the economic class that they were forced into. It instantly became a global success, winning several awards from several award shows. The most important award the film won was “Best Picture” at the 92nd Academy Awards, which made history since it was the first foreign film to win this category. When Bong Joon-ho was asked about how he felt about the film’s global success he said “When I made Parasite, it was like trying to witness our world through a microscope. The film talks about two opposing families, about the rich versus the poor, and that is a universal theme, because we all live in the same country now: that of capitalism.” (Mintzer). The film appealed to people all over the world because it showed the realities of what it is like living in a capitalistic society, especially for those who live in a lower social class.

The film starts in the Kims’ basement apartments, which is located at the lowest level of Seoul, and gives a glimpse of what the family is like. It starts with the family struggling to find free Wi-Fi in their house since their neighbor put a password on their Wi-Fi. They can’t even use their phone data, since they could not afford to pay for the phone bill that month. They eventually find some free Wi-Fi and use it to get information on a job they need, folding pizza boxes for a pizza company. This gives audiences an idea of how this family is doing financially and sort of sets up the reasoning for why the family does what they do throughout the film. While folding the pizza boxes, the family sees that the street is being fumigated. They were going to close their window to the street, but the father, Ki-taek, says to leave it open. This way the apartment will get free fumigation. The family listens to Ki-taek but end up coughing and unable to breathe because of the gas. Yet, Ki-taek ignores the gas and keeps working, since he knows they have no other choice but to keep working. This scene is powerful because even when Ki-taek can die from this poisonous gas, he knows he must keep working to help his family. During a time of a global pandemic, this scene symbolizes the need to work for some people even if there is a threat of getting sick or dying while working. The Kim family is just a prime example of how a lot of people struggle to just make the bare minimum and how they cannot afford to not work.

Lucky for the Kim family (or unlucky if you saw the film), Ki-woo, the son, had a friend, Min-hyuk, who had a job opportunity for Ki-woo. The job was to work for a rich family and be an English tutor for the daughter of the family, Da-hye. However, there was a slight problem with the job opportunity, Ki-woo would need a college degree. When Ki-woo brings up this slight problem with the plan, Min-hyuk responds with “just fake it” (Bong). “Ki-woo, think about it. For years including your military service, you took the university entrance exam 4 times. Grammar, vocabulary, composition, conversation… when it comes to English, you can teach 10 times better than those drunken college pricks,” this was what Min-hyuk said in order to encourage Ki-woo to take the job, since he knows that Ki-woo is qualified, he just has to fake it in order to get through the door (Bong). So, Ki-woo has his sister, Ki-jung, forge him a letter from a university to help him through the door. Even though forgery is illegal and considered a crime, Ki-woo doesn’t think that he is doing a bad thing, he thinks of it as a promise that he will go to university and make his lie into a truth. If Ki-woo gets the job, he will be able to save up money for university and get the degree, the degree that proves he is qualified. This represents the idea that a person needs a degree to be seen as worthy in this society or else they will continue to be glanced over, even when they are already worthy. That is why Ki-woo is ready to accept this lie and see it as an opportunity, an opportunity that works out for him.

Ki-woo gets the job as the English tutor and uses his position to help recruit his family, all under different aliases, to get them high paying jobs for the Parks’ family. Ki-woo gets Ki-jung a job as an art therapist, named Jessica, for the young son, Da-song. Then, Ki-jung frames Mr. Park’s chauffeur for having sex in the car, which allows her to recommend Ki-taek as the new chauffeur. Lastly, they collaborate to get the family’s housekeeper, Moon-gwang, fired by making it seem like she has tuberculosis. Mrs. Park is portrayed to be a major germaphobe, so when she learns that her housekeeper, who has been with them since the family bought their house, jumps at the chance to get rid of Moon-gwang. Thus, allowing Chung-sook the chance to take over as housekeeper and ensuring that everyone in the Kim family had a well-paying job. Although what the Parks did was unethical, especially to those who lost their jobs, but they did it to ensure their family would be provided for. Even though the Kim family lied to get these jobs, they are still shown to be able to do their jobs very well. Again, this shows the idea that if the Kims’ were given the same opportunities as those who are in the upper social classes, they would be able to thrive just as well. However, it is shown that the current system is designed to ignore the Kims’ family since they do not have the proper “tools” to get these proper, high paying jobs. The Kim family represents all lower income families, who wish to rise and get jobs they deserve yet are kept down because of the system itself. Therefore, families like the Kims’ (even though the Kims’ family is an extreme example) feel that they need to lie to get anywhere. The Kims’ lies allowed them to get fancy jobs at a rich house that came with a lot of perks at first.

While the Parks are out of town celebrating Da-song’s birthday, the Kims’ hangout in the Parks house and takes advantage of all the perks in the house. While enjoying the riches of the house, they start to talk about the Park family, mainly focusing on Mrs. Park. Ki-taek says that Mrs. Park is “so naive and nice, she’s rich and nice. She’s rich, but still nice,” while Chung-sook disagrees with Ki-taek (Bong). “Not ‘rich, but still nice.’ ‘Nice because she’s rich.’ You know? Hell, if I had all this money. I’d be nice too!” Chung-sook thinks that money is the reason why people can afford to be nice. This takes on the idea that if someone has money, they do not have to fight to stay alive, since they never have to worry about what happens to them. This is the ideal life that everyone wants, to be nice and not have to worry about not making ends meet. The Kims’ cannot afford to be nice. If they were nice, they would not be able to get the jobs they have at the Parks. “Rich people are naïve. No resentments. No creases on them.” Ki-taek stated and Chung-sook responded with “It all gets ironed out. Money is an iron. Those creases all get smoothed out,” these quotes show that money changes people and gives them all a fresh start (Bong). That is the dream that everyone like the Kims’ have, to have a fresh start and live a life the Parks have. While the Kims’ live in the lowest level of the city, in a terrible apartment, the Parks get to live on the highest level close to the sun, which is what the Kims’ are trying to climb towards. After talking about the Parks, things start to get crazy when the former housekeeper, Moon-gwang, appears at the Parks house when the Kims are there.

This is when it is revealed that the Parks’ had a secret underground bunker inside their house. The bunker was unknown to the Park family, it was only known by Moon-gwang and the previous homeowner/architect, so discovering it was a shock to the Kims and the audience. Moon-gwang was using the bunker to hide her husband, Geun-sae, from loan sharks that have been after him for a long time. When Moon-gwang and Geun-sae find out that the Kims are all related they threaten to blackmail them about lying to the Parks family with a video they took of the Kims, so the Kims are unable to do anything at first. Moon-gwang and Geun-sae enjoy the Parks house while keeping the Kims in a corner, they reminisce of the times they had in this house before the Parks moved in. “When the sun was nice, we’d basked in the sunbeams, right?” Geun-sae asked his wife this as they thought back to when the house was only theirs for a brief time (Bong). Just like for the Kims, this house represents a better life for Moon-gwang and Geun-sae, a life where they do not have to hide from the sun but live in it. The Parks house, the house on the hill that is closest to the sun, is the dream that society promises to people like the Kims, Moon-gwang, and Geun-sae. If one works hard enough, they too can live on the hill and bask in the sun, just like the Parks. It’s one of the reasons why things escalate from there when the Kims try to take the phone back from Moon-gwang and Geun-sae. The Kims end up getting the upper hand and are able to overpower the couple, when they discover that the Parks are coming home early due to their camping trip being ruined by rain.

It becomes a race against time to clean up the house, bring the couple into the underground bunker, and disappear before the Parks come home. They were able to clean up the house and get the couple into the bunker (while fatally hurting Moon-gwang accidentally) but had to hide out in the house until the Parks went to sleep. Once they fall asleep, Ki-taek, Ki-woo, and Ki-jung run out of the house and head back to their own home. Once they head home, they discover that their neighborhood was flooded with sewer water because of how much rain the city got. They saved a few valuables and then had to stay in the local school gym for the night. As they sleep in the gym, Ki-woo asks his father about his plan for what they were going to do, and Ki-taek responds with:

Ki-taek’s response shows the hopelessness that he has become accustomed to from living in this society, a society that has never worked for him. So, he’s given up on ever trying to rise or do anything that would help him get ahead in life, which is why he cannot bring himself to care anymore. Ki-taek represents all who have been through the ringer because of society, first people start out optimistic about where they are going to be in life, but eventually their spirit gets crushed because of all that life throws at them.

Even though the family has lost pretty much everything, they still must work for the Parks family the next day, since the Parks are having a party for Da-song’s birthday. While helping prepare for the party, Mrs. Park makes a comment over the phone about the rain that happened the night before, not knowing about the Kims’ situation. Mrs. Parks states that “that rain was such a blessing!” which truly shows the difference between the Kims and the Parks family (Bong). At first, the rain was just an inconvenience to the Parks because their camping trip was ruined, but they turned the situation into something better, while the rain for the Kims caused them to lose pretty much everything. This comment shows just how truly different the Parks and Kims’ situations are, a little bit of rain cannot hurt the Parks, but can devestately hurt the Kims. This is symbolism about how money can change people’s perspective about certain situations, for example COVID-19 quarantine. The quarantine affects everyone differently. People in lower social classes are wondering if they will have enough money to pay their rent, pay for food, and other essentials while not working, while people in higher social classes just feel that the quarantine is either a slight inconvenience or a mini vacation away from work. Money truly changes how people see things.

After helping set up the party, Geun-sae comes out from the bunker to get vengeance for Moon-gwang, who died from her injuries. Geun-sae causes a panic at the party by stabbing Ki-jung and attacking Chung-sook. Instead of helping Ki-jung and Chung-sook, the Parks try to make a run for it while also trying to get Ki-taek to help the Parks instead of his family. Chung-sook eventually takes down Geun-sae, but after that, in a fit of built-up anger, Ki-taek takes a knife and stabs Mr. Park. Ki-taek is so shocked at what he did he runs away, appearing to have vanished into thin air. After the party, Ki-woo, who suffered from a head injury caused by Geun-sae when he was leaving the bunker, and Chung-sook are convicted of fraud, while Ki-jung died from her injury, and Ki-taek is currently wanted for murder. The family is splitted up and broken, but Chung-sook and Ki-woo still have to work to pay the bills. At the end of the film, Ki-woo goes back to the Parks house, now belonging to a German family that moved to Korea, to spy on the house. While spying, Ki-woo realized that someone was writing a message in morse code using the lights in the house. Ki-woo finds out that it is Ki-taek, which means he was able to escape and hide in the underground bunker, and that he is writing a letter to Ki-woo. The letter tells Ki-woo that his father is alive and that he is scavenging from the new family’s fridge. It’s not a lot, but it gives Ki-woo a goal to work for. Ki-woo writes a letter back to his father, even though he has no way to give it to his father, the letter still works as a promise to himself. His letter states:

The film ends with Ki-woo making a promise to himself to make enough money to free his father from his prison. However, as the film has shown before, plans do not always work out. So, the audience can assume that it will not work out for Ki-woo and that his father will forever be trapped in the bunker. Ki-woo has taken up an impossible dream, a dream that he has been thinking of since the very start of the film.

Before even knowing about the tutoring job at the Parks, Min-hyuk gives the Kim family a scholar’s stone. Scholar stones (known as Suseok in Korea) are a symbol of good fortune, which is why the family appreciates the gesture of the gift. The one who seems to appreciate the gift the most is Ki-woo. Ki-woo says that the stone is “metaphorical” and seems to think it is the reason why they were able to get the jobs at the Parks in the first place. The stone promises to bring the family fortune, which it does, however, it does not last for long since the good luck was based around using others to only benefit themselves.The good fortune stops when the confrontation with Moon-gwang and her husband happens, and the Kims’ luck seem to go downhill from there. Even during the scene of the Kims’ house being flooded, the audience learns more about the stone. As the family are grabbing things from the house, the audience sees that the Scholar stone is floating, specifically floating towards Ki-woo. This scene implies that the stone was actually hollowed, making all the promises that the stone symbolizes to be hollowed. The stone has been a lie all along, yet Ki-woo keeps holding on to the stone throughout the end of the film.

Ki-woo has stated that it is like the stone was weighing on him and he could not let the stone go. Even though it has been proven that the stone is hollowed and filled with fake promises, Ki-woo still holds onto because its fake promise is still better than reality. He still believes that the stone can give them what they need, so he holds onto the fake promise that the stone has because it lets him still believe in the dream of better wealth. He even planned to use the stone to end Geun-sae, to keep the promise of wealth and a better life. However, the stone fails him again, by slipping out of his hands and allowing Geun-sae to grab it. Geun-sae used the stone to bash Ki-woo’s head in, causing his head injury. The stone almost caused the death of Ki-woo and could be said to be the cause of everything else that happened to the Kims’ family, yet he still hung onto it. Ki-woo did not get rid of the stone until after he found out that his father was still alive. He found that the stone would not help him in the end, only he can help himself reach the impossible dream to see his father again.

Without the stone, Ki-woo now clings to a new promise, the one he made for himself and for his father. His dream is to earn enough money to buy the Parks house for him and his mother, just so he can see his father again. However, at the beginning of the movie, Ki-woo was having trouble getting a high paying job and he did not even have a criminal record back then. At the end of the movie, he now has fraud on his record, which will make finding work almost impossible. The dream is already set for failure and the odds of being fulfilled is slim to none. Even if Ki-woo finds a way to earn the money and reunite with his father, Ki-taek will still be trapped in the house because of the fear of being caught and tried for his crime. This dream will never end happily for the Kims’ even if the dream is fulfilled, making it a hollowed dream, just like the Scholar Stone.

Towards the end of the film, Ki-woo asked Da-hye if he fits in with her family and the people at Da-song’s party. He needs to believe that he fits in with the higher social class because his dream is to one day join them and be just like all of them. However, as the film has shown, it is nearly impossible for people to climb up the social classes, especially if one is starting from the very bottom. In a way, the film portrays everyone in the film as parasites for completely different reasons. The poorer social classes are considered parasites because they live at the bottom of society and basically feed on table scraps to stay alive. While the wealthier social classes are parasites for taking advantage of a society that only lifts them up and does nothing for those that live below. Everyone is a parasite all because they are doing what they need to do to survive, or they are doing what they want to live comfortably. Either way, the film shows that society truly only helps keep certain people close to the sun, while the rest must fight in the dark to stay alive.

Work Cited

Bong, Joon-ho, director. Parasite. Neon, 2019.

Mintzer, Jordan. “Bong Joon-Ho Talks True Crime, Steve Buscemi, Unlikely Success of ‘Parasite’.” The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Oct. 2019, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bong-joon-ho-parasite-success-true-crime-steve-buscemi-1248655.