In 2019, Parasite became the first non-English movie to win the Academy Award for best picture. This was always a movie I have enjoyed so I was eager to watch it again as I have not seen it in quite some time. I watched on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/movie/parasite-2fd691a0-f66b-467f-8635-00d7f151f3d4.

I didn’t notice any huge differences that stuck out in setting. It felt as if there was no difference than any other major city. The weather was consistently grey, and even had a storm take place. I feel as though that helped drive the plot and set the tone. At first, the characters struck me as not much different than anyone else, but as the plot continued, I found out I was wildly incorrect. The plot takes a very interesting turn as different character conflicts are revealed.

Some cultural differences I noticed at first were the food and the money. Obviously, when taking place in a different country, that country’s form of currency is going to be used. The food and brands used are typical of Korean culture: rice, kimchi, etc.

There were also some similarities as well. The movie portrays different social classes and how they interact with each other. The upper class family seems no different than any other upper class family. They hire people to help around the house and help the family. The lower class family also comes across as a typical lower class family: minimum wage jobs, trying to make ends meet, etc. If it weren’t for the dramatic plot with its twists and turns, I’d say this movie is very similar to that of other cultures.