What do you think of the movie Parasite (2019)?

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Oh okay I think that's what I mean though. Are you saying that perhaps the negative press for Joker, cause the disconnect, while to connect to Parasite was more positive perhaps?



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I'm fine with purely cinematic critiques of one and not the other. It's reasonable to have different reactions to them as films. The contradiction occurs when the critique isn't artistic, but societal, and finds one to be a righteous symbol of underprivileged anger and the other a dangerous normalization of same.
A fair point. I guess it has to do with Parasite starting off like a light caper comedy where the family pulls a charmingly clever heist that doesn't call for physical violence (and the introduction of violence is merely the result of an unexpected twist to their perfect crime) while Joker has to examine the circumstances that produced a notoriously violent character like the Joker without favouring the Joker's side, which is definitely a tough needle to thread when the whole premise is built on the idea that he's just a well-meaning guy who got pushed too far.

Yeah I can see that. Could people be responding more negatively to Joker, cause Joker got a lot more negative press in comparison to Parasite?
Perhaps. The Joker as a concept has a lot of baggage that would affect the perception of Joker the film (to say nothing of other factors like the strong Scorsese influence leading to the film being seen as a rip-off) whereas Parasite is a singular entity that just came out of nowhere to universal acclaim and has less negative press by default.
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The fact that he's a preexisting character definitely muddies things a bit, yeah, especially given the degree to which he's historically been depicted as valuing chaos for its own sake.



@Yoda did you get to watch this one yet? I just finished it and really enjoyed it without all the baggage of socio-political metaphors being crammed into my eyes. I just watched a movie and it was good. I felt it was open aired enough to take away or project what you want. Though the son does say, a few times in the early scenes, "This is so metaphorical!" So there's that.
I saw this about a week ago, yeah. Very good. I liked the first 30-40 minutes more than the rest of the film, the setup/build-up is fantastic. I agree it was weird that the film kept highlighting its own metaphors. I'm not sure that meta commentary added anything.

The political stuff was not too heavy-handed, which doesn't surprise me. It's normal for people who hold or hate a belief to exaggerate its prominence and clarity in narrative works.

Very good film. I think it maybe falls a bit short of greatness, but I'll need more time to digest it and rewatch it in a year or two, probably, to have a firmer opinion. It's very good, though. I mentioned on the Oscar podcast that you could take little snippets of the film and present it was a comedy, drama, or horror film.



I, too saw the movie Parasite and thought it was good. Imho, it was kind of a thriller from the start.
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Finally saw it, and it was definitely worth the watch. Couple notes/questions:

-the part where the whole city is flooding including their apartment left me squirming in my seat...one of the most nightmarish scenarios to imagine myself in
-I haven't fully thought through how quickly and cleanly the family was able to pull itself together for a lot of these visits to the house...
WARNING: spoilers below
-still thinking about the end where the Mr. Kim stabs Mr. Park....I know he didn't make plans and such but this was such a brash decision despite all the disgust that had been brewing towards him



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Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Finally saw it, and it was definitely worth the watch. Couple notes/questions:

-the part where the whole city is flooding including their apartment left me squirming in my seat...one of the most nightmarish scenarios to imagine myself in
-I haven't fully thought through how quickly and cleanly the family was able to pull itself together for a lot of these visits to the house...
WARNING: spoilers below
-still thinking about the end where the Mr. Kim stabs Mr. Park....I know he didn't make plans and such but this was such a brash decision despite all the disgust that had been brewing towards him
It does seem like a really brash decision I thought. I mean it was implied because of how Mr. Park does not like the smell of 'poor people'. But the guy who smelled bad, hadn't showered in months or over a year if I remember correct, so what do you expect him to smell like. Even Mr. Kim probably thought the guy stank, or one would think.



The movie does tear at your feelings though, because are we supposed to feel bad for the family or not? I think we should to an extent, but they also brought all of this upon themselves by stepping over the line



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It does seem like a really brash decision I thought. I mean it was implied because of how Mr. Park does not like the smell of 'poor people'. But the guy who smelled bad, hadn't showered in months or over a year if I remember correct, so what do you expect him to smell like. Even Mr. Kim probably thought the guy stank, or one would think.
Some additional factors I noticed on rewatch:

WARNING: "Parasite" spoilers below
1. This is all taking place the day after the rainstorm that flooded the Kims' apartment with sewage and they (presumably) wouldn't have been able to get a proper shower or anything before having to go straight back to work (and there's even a scene where Mrs. Park complains about the smell while Mr. Kim is driving her around).
2. After the basement-dweller stabs Ki-jung, Mr. Park is still demanding the car keys from Mr. Kim even as Mr. Kim is clearly trying to stop Ki-jung from bleeding out so that really crystallises how Park sees his concerns as being above those of his workers even as they are dying in front of him.
3. The mansion's panic room has a functioning bathroom built into it so I would think that the the basement-dweller is at least able to maintain a relatively normal level of cleanliness, at least enough so that none of the Kims remark on how much worse he smells than them. Of course, it's all the same to the Parks.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Some additional factors I noticed on rewatch:

WARNING: "Parasite" spoilers below
1. This is all taking place the day after the rainstorm that flooded the Kims' apartment with sewage and they (presumably) wouldn't have been able to get a proper shower or anything before having to go straight back to work (and there's even a scene where Mrs. Park complains about the smell while Mr. Kim is driving her around).
2. After the basement-dweller stabs Ki-jung, Mr. Park is still demanding the car keys from Mr. Kim even as Mr. Kim is clearly trying to stop Ki-jung from bleeding out so that really crystallises how Park sees his concerns as being above those of his workers even as they are dying in front of him.
3. The mansion's panic room has a functioning bathroom built into it so I would think that the the basement-dweller is at least able to maintain a relatively normal level of cleanliness, at least enough so that none of the Kims remark on how much worse he smells than them. Of course, it's all the same to the Parks.
Oh okay, but I thought that Mr. Kim would agree that smelling like poop stinks, and not think how do you for thinking that poop stinks!, kind of attitude after a flood.

I totally agree on point number 2, just wasn't sure if this was still enough to push him that far over the edge.

As for point 3, when did they ever show a bathroom down there, I must have missed it?



The movie does tear at your feelings though, because are we supposed to feel bad for the family or not? I think we should to an extent, but they also brought all of this upon themselves by stepping over the line

Yeah it does. Like in Joker, Batman's dad = Rich = Bad (at least in Phoenix's mind), here its kinda turned on its head. The downtrodden ones are the ones scheming. Its like a tiny mistake of shoving the door too hard and it all snowballs out of control! Although the Kim's always thought the the Parks were sort of dispensable in their goal of making quick buck.



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There is one other question I have on the plot after thinking about. Instead of using Morse code to talk to his son, why didn't he just look for some stamps and envelopes in the house, and sneak out of house temporarily to a mail box, and just mail his son and wife a letter?



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Yeah it does. Like in Joker, Batman's dad = Rich = Bad (at least in Phoenix's mind), here its kinda turned on its head. The downtrodden ones are the ones scheming. Its like a tiny mistake of shoving the door too hard and it all snowballs out of control! Although the Kim's always thought the the Parks were sort of dispensable in their goal of making quick buck.
Well the movies do give the characters flaws such as Ki-Woo looking at Da-hye's diary, or Mr. Park hinting that he perhaps doesn't really love his wife, but they have some sort of arrangement, etc.

But I wonder, if they took away a lot more of these flaws, would the characters be more sympathetic then for the ending?



We need to refrain from passing moral judgement based off the number of "flaws" a person has. Afterall there are no good or bad guys but only winners and losers under capitalism. The rich do not sit around and consciously draw up a blueprint of how to keep the poor down. Similarly, the poor are often against each other not because of some inherent flaw in their character but are faced without any real choice. What we call "free will" is an ideology of neoliberalism - attributing endemic systemic issues at the feet of the individual subject. In a sense then, we can say that everyone is a tool of an impersonal economic system. There is a saying which goes "it is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism".



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There is one other question I have on the plot after thinking about. Instead of using Morse code to talk to his son, why didn't he just look for some stamps and envelopes in the house, and sneak out of house temporarily to a mail box, and just mail his son and wife a letter?
WARNING: "Parasite" spoilers below
Because if it's already so much of a risk just to sneak up to the kitchen for food, it's presumably so much more of a risk to sneak out of the house to where more people could spot him (and who knows how far away the nearest mailbox is anyway), plus there's also the risk not being able to sneak back in).



I haven't seen Parasite, but it's on my list. Looking at director Bong Joon Ho's filmography, Memories of Murder was an excellent movie, but I found The Host to be a little campy and didn't finish it. Okja looked weird, and along the same lines as The Host, so I wasn't interested. Snowpiercer also didn't peek my curiosity. So I have mixed feelings about him.



I'm one of the few who hated this film. After a certain point, I didn't relate or connect with the poor family; I related to the wealthy folks more, they seemed more like the victims to me. Without that connection I mentioned, I got bored and wanted the film to end.

I don't know if Bong's style is my thing, I've seen part of Okja, and I dunno if I could handle the whole thing. He seems to go for dark and uncomfortable stories, I dunno.

(Edit: I did finish the film on Oscar night, however I started watching the Oscars late because of that. I did take my time with the film until it ended.)



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Needed to edit ten minutes out of the middle of the film, really annoying.

Why wasn't there this much buzz for Shoplifters?