Oscar novelty! For the first time ever a foreign-language film won the Best Picture and became a hot topic in the film industry. “Parasite” celebrated victory after victory with four Oscar wins in six nominations. New York magazine called the Parasite  “a nerve-wracking masterpiece”. 

In one of the most unexpected moments in the film, there was a quote that was said by dad when they had to spend a night in the school gym because of the flood. 

“You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan at all. No plan. You know why? If you make a plan, life never works out that way.” 

What is “Parasite”? 

“Parasite” is the film that took home the most awards at the Oscars 2020. 

The film is about class discrimination and mysterious conjuncture. The Park family represents an aspirational wealthy family and the Kim family represents a lower-class family, which is common for South Korea. Be it by chance or fate,  these families change each other’s lives.  

“The main point or meaning of this movie was to point out the differences of life through the eyes of a family of low social class and privilege and to show how much money can affect someone’s actions and life as a whole. I believe this movie became such a staple piece in the film industry because no film is like it. Movies that push boundaries and aren’t afraid to dive into sensitive topics in such away. Bong Joon Ho did call attention to themselves on their own. Also, the fact that it was a true South Korean film with no English touch gives it a different perspective on how different cultures view certain topics, that is also powerful,” junior Audrey Burrows said.

“In my opinion, the best part of the movie is when it shows the son buying the house in the future and meeting his dad but it ended up just being him imagining it. I like that it didn’t have a happy ending because it makes it more interesting,” senior Hannah Hansen said. 

Why “Parasite”? 

Initially, Bong Joon Ho, director of “Parasite”, was working on this production as a play. Furthermore, he used his own life experience as he tutored for a rich family.  His idea of infiltration came when he thought “how fun it would be if I could get all my friends to infiltrate the house one by one,” Bong said. 

“I watched Parasite because of how much praise it received after hearing how groundbreaking it was, it was hard to ignore it. I maybe would watch it one more time, but I didn’t enjoy it well enough to watch it religiously. Furthermore, I have watched other best picture nominees such as Jojo Rabbit and Joker. Parasite is an amazing film but for me, Jojo or Joker deserved the best picture,” Burrows said.

“Not only is it a foreign film, but it is a film with so much hidden meaning that the audience has to pay attention to understand. This film deserves an Oscar for sure. It represents how differently poor people are treated/seen in the eyes of the rich. All of this done with not just storytelling but symbolism too,” Hansen said.

“The ending was unexpected and shocking! I totally didn’t expect basically everyone to get killed. But it was a satisfying ending that left many unanswered questions that I needed to answer myself, and unlike others, I appreciate when films do that,” Audrey says. 

Both Audrey and Hannah think that the son was a key character. 

“Throughout the whole movie he was the driving force behind everything and if it wasn’t for him, nothing would have turned out the way it did,” Burrows said. 

Without the son (specifically his old friend) the Kim family couldn’t start this fraud.

“He was the first to start scamming the family and was able to devise the plan to allow his whole family to join, and somehow did it without making mistakes,” Hansen said.  

The film influenced people in different ways, but shock and unexpected twist are in common of most people. 

“We really enjoyed the film for showing a huge new perspective of reality not only in South Korea but in many different countries. That’s great that the film makes you think a lot and it’s very different from the others,” Emma and Ashley Brouqua said.