Parasite
This is a very intelligent summary of the Korean Oscar
winning movie Parasite. Some aspects of the story become a lot clearer after
watching this video.
Class distinction is not a product of modernity. Sadly this
battle of haves and have nots is very old. One just fails to realise how deep
rooted some of our biases are. Also we are totally ignorant about what we don't
know. This total lack of understanding further deepens this class divide.
Speaking about Mumbai and our suburb in particular, we
always marvel about the disparity between Mahim-Matunga and Dharavi - the
biggest slum in India. How does one explain this? Though our suburb may not be
really affluent, it is full of promise and good facilities. We only get to see
squalor and despair in Dharavi.
Also, available opportunities are lopsided heavily in favour
of the elite. It is one thing to say that to succeed in life hard work is the
key. But what is success? Is it just climbing up the stairs as Bong surmises in
the end?
How does a poor family break the shackles? How does one
remain hopeful against all adversity? Kevin harbours the dream of eventually
marrying his teenage student. He perhaps mistakes lust for love. But he surely has the right to dream. Don't we
all have outlandish dreams and fantasies?
Bong shows his characters as normal and human as possible.
We do not really think bad of the Kim's appalingly untruthful behaviour. At the
back of our mind we actually root for them. It is perhaps human nature to
support the underdog. We also feel sorry for the previous housekeeper who had hidden
her husband in the secret subterranean room.
The entire Kim family is representative of most poor
families across the world. The story is universal so it appeals in spite of the
obvious language barrier.
The poor have no chance of rising up as they are compelled
to live in the subterranean room as shown in this movie. On India we call them झोपडी.
Parasite lingers on for a long time as we realise that all
of us are parasites in one way or the other. We just aren't aware of it.
Bong Joon-Ho very dryly commented in his Oscar acceptance
speech that such awards are now getting more and more ‘local’. He made good use
of the platform made available to him by virtue of his victory. He spoke in
Korean in spite of being familiar with English.
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