Fighting for Scraps: Class Relations and Murder in 'Parasite'
It was the recipient of the Best Picture Prize at the 2019 Academy Awards and the first non-English foreign film to win said award. It is no surprise, therefore, that there have been plenty of “hot takes” on Bong Joon Ho’s masterful direction of Parasite (2019). A prevalent element reoccurring amongst critical responses, aside from its minimalist production design and phenomenal performances, is the film’s incisive commentary on class divisions. These explorations focus on how class manifests itself within all sorts of concepts, actions, and symbols, including food culture. (The wealthy Parks, for example, casually incorporate expensive Hanwoo beef into Jjapaguri, a low cost instant noodle dish.) Critics also write about the role of cinematography and production design in class commentary (the Park and Kim households are framed and constructed within their homes in relation to their class) and examine how ingrained poverty is silently signalled within society (most clearly through the inescapability of the Kims’ “poor” smell). Rather than take up a theme or motif, this piece focuses on one of the film’s murder scenes to discuss how homicide is a critique of the violence inherent in capitalist systems.
The sequence of interest occurs midway through the film, squarely in the third act of Parasite’s five-act structure. It ends when the former housekeeper of the Park household, Gook Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun), is left for dead. Before Gook Moon-gwang dies, the Kims struggle with her for a phone. They emerge victorious, only to have their moment cut short by the impending return of the Park family. In the ensuing scenes, the Kims rush to conceal their presence while their patriarch, Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho), struggles to detain Moon-gwang and her husband, Oh Geun-su (Park Myung-hoon). Ki-taek succeeds in securing Geun-su but fails to subdue Moong-gwang. She runs up the basement stairs only to be kicked back down by Bak Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), the Kim family’s matriarch. Like all other sequences in Parasite, this one is precise in its pacing, resulting in a build-up of tension and the culmination of a harrowing closing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-GA8-E_Xko
Watch this scene here
The beginning of this sequence leaves the audience unsuspecting of any serious outcomes from the violence. As Chung-sook tackles Moon-gwang off the sofa, a phone—which contains evidence of them trespassing the Parks’ home—flies into the air. In line with the comedic tone of the film’s earlier acts, the slow motion in this scene exaggerates the characters’ movements and facial expressions as the tonally-dissonant Italian love song Gianni Morandi’s “In ginocchio da te” plays in the background. This over-dramatization leads the audience members to believe that any violence thereafter is a low-stakes affair, something to laugh at. In this vein, they come to understand that this altercation is secondary to achieving a more important outcome: obtaining the phone, which serves as a proxy for the security of their employment. This scene foreshadows this sequence’s “argument”: that the characters value economics over human life and wellbeing.
Soon after, the scene abandons its comedic tone and starts to build tension. A montage of rapidly-cut shots depicts the Kims scrambling to hide after receiving a warning of the Parks’ return. The precise nature of the cuts (masterfully constructed by editor Yang Jin-mo) and the high-energy camera movements generate an urgency, thereby heightening the audience’s need to understand the immediacy of the Kims’ responses. In his decision to restrain Moon-gwang and Geun-Sae at any cost (which results in a ferocious wrestling bout), Kim Ki-taek demonstrates his priorities—he favors monetary security over wellbeing. He would rather be beaten and bitten than have his family lose the jobs that they have so painstakingly obtained. Similarly, when the camera cuts to his daughter Kim Ki-Jung (Park So-dam), she exhibits the same priorities: when she is tasked with clearing the trash, including several shards of glass, she sweeps these pieces under the large living room table before also hiding herself under the very same table. In doing so, she demonstrates an alignment with her father’s decision-making process, reiterating the Kims’ decision to harm themselves over losing their new source of income. As such, the audience’s empathetic tendencies begin to shift, aligning themselves with the Kims’ priorities; in other words, the audience also begins to worry about the Kims’ cash flow more than their safety. When Chung-sook makes a pivotal decision to preserve her family’s employment by kicking Moon-gwang back into the basement, viewers are mostly relieved, at least until they notice the consequence of this decision.
Suddenly, there is yet another shift in the scene’s rhythm. Instead of bird’s-eye shots, there is a slow tracking medium shot of a barren monocolor staircase, obvious in its mise en scène and coated in silence. It forces the audience to clearly see, hear, and feel the impact every time Moon-gwang’s body hits the staircase. In contrast with Morandi’s singing and the crescendo of strings and woodwinds supporting the montage, the audience hears three heavy thuds followed by a grotesque, hollow splat. The camera swivels right to reveal a horrified Kim Ki-taek. He lets out a hoarse gasp as he sees the body, then raises his hand to cover his mouth. But as he looks up the stairs, it becomes clear that his concern for financial wellbeing surpasses his ability to empathize. Likewise, when the film cuts back to Chung-sook, it is clear she is nonchalant about her actions—she is more worried about Moon-gwang’s ability to run up the stairs than whether or not the fall may have hurt her. The Kims only see other people as a threat and no longer recognize humanity. When Ki-taek carries the dying Moon-gwang into the bunker, his small show of remorse for the woman is cut short by his detection of another potential threat: her husband. As he hears Geun-su slam his head against the light switch button to send up morse code signals, Ki-taek leaves Moon-gwang on the floor and ties up Geun-su. Ki-taek demonstrates empathy as he checks if Moon-gwang is still breathing, but this moment is fleeting, for he soon ties her up and then gags her.
Despite the film’s moments that emphasize violence and death, the audience, especially first-time viewers, will still care more about whether or not the Kims successfully avoid detection and escape with their jobs intact. The audience has seen the condition of the Kims’ semi-basement home, they have seen the Kims get fired from their previous job of folding pizza boxes, and they have seen how much the family has gained from their new employment opportunities. They have also seen the efforts the family has made to secure their employment; as a result, when the Kims’ future is contingent upon kicking a woman down the stairs and leaving her to die, the audience will understand the Kims’ motivation even if they wouldn’t condone their actions. To achieve this reaction, the film uses its humorous tone to communicate the supposed non-importance of violence, only to then subvert that understanding of violence. The film’s pacing conveys the impulsivity and urgency of the Kims actions, and the murder of Gook Moon-gwang and its position in the middle of the plot exploits the audience’s empathy and contextual knowledge. Parasite depicts Moon-gwang’s demise from the perspective of the Kims, thus enabling the audience to understand what the combination of desperation and ambition can do to a person. The film reveals how this combination can change the behavior of a family who can otherwise still be considered moral or at least relatable; after all, they are still the protagonists of the story. Moreover, as viewers empathize with the Kims and prioritize their futures over Moon-gwang’s wellbeing, they are led to reflect on a system so restrictive that an all-too-rare escape from poverty cannot be wasted. By the end of Chung-sook’s murder, the audience becomes all too cognizant of how this broken capitalist system forces its most disenfranchised members to take drastic actions—including murder—to ensure their rise to a new status: parasite.