Four time academy award winning movie Parasite provides not only a critical look into South Korea’s economical and societal cultures, but also a comparison to the same issues prevalent in the United States. Parasite is available on Hulu. Below is a trailer for the movie. *Spoilers Ahead :)*

The movies plot begins with the Kim family in their semi-basement home. A friend, Min, offers a tutoring position to Ki-woo for Da-hye, a high school student belonging to a wealthy family. Throughout the movie multiple scenes depicting the poverty the Kim family faced are followed by scenes showing the wealth of the Park family.

One cultural aspect that can be seen throughout the movie is the Korean cultural ideals of respect. Min yells at a drunk man in front of the Kim family’s home using disrespectful language despite the drunk man being Min’s elder. This is also seen when the characters bow to say thank you or upon meeting someone. When Ki-woo is talking with the boss of the pizzeria they both speak to each other using formal language. He uses formal language to show respect to the boss, while she uses formal language towards Ki-woo because he is older than her. Later, Moon-Gwang called the mother, Chung-sook “unni” meaning sister. Chung-sook finds this disrespectful as her and Moon-Gwang do not know each other very well. In the United States there are no particular rules to respect. Though you should refer to superiors as Ma’am or Mrs. or Sir or Mr. Respectfullness plays a much more vital role in South Korean culture than in American culture.

Though my family does not allow shoes in our own house, this is based in Asian culture and many American families do not follow this. This is seen when Min walks into the Kim family household and leaves his shoes by the door as well as when Ki-woo visits the Park house. In the Park house you can even see they have specific slippers they wear around the house waiting at the front door for them to change into.

In the beginning of the movie they are concerned about no longer having WiFi signal. Chung-sook is especially worried about not having access to a messaging app. The subtitles translated this to WhatsApp so that it would be more familiar to non-South Korean audiences, however, the app she actually refers to is called Kakao Talk. Kakao talk is the South Korean equivalent to WhatsApp. In the United States, while many know about WhatsApp it is not as vital of a messaging source. However, for many people who have family that live outside of the U.S., WhatsApp is a very important messaging tool.

Even their drinks and food show the poverty disparity between both families. The Kim family is shown drinking FiLite beer while the Park family has various bottles of expensive liquor. As for food, they eat Ram-don which is a combination of Ramen and Udon, kimchi, rice and egg, pizza with hot sauce, and braised ribs. The Kim family tends to eat cheaper foods, like in the beginning of the movie when the father is eating plain sliced white bread. Whereas the Park family asks Chung-sook to make Ram-don with steak for them, which Chung-sook has never even heard of.

Later in the movie they discover a bunker under the house. They explain that many houses in South Korea have these underground bunkers in case of attack from North Korea. This reminded me of the bunkers some American’s had during the Cold War, in fear of nuclear attack from the Soviet Union.

There are also references to air pollution, specifically in the birthday planning scene where Mrs. Park is on the phone. She mentions the air pollution not being too bad and the sky being clear the day after a rain storm. South Koreas air quality tends to be poor due to pollutants being carried over by winds from China and other polluted areas. Mrs. Park mentions the rain being a blessing. Meanwhile, the Kim family saw this storm as a tragedy. With their semi-basement house, comaprable to underground apartments in New York City and other U.S. cities, this storm destroyed their home. Similar to the flooding in New York which destroyed many of these apartments during storms in recent years even causing multiple fatalities. After the flooding in the movie, Mrs. Park is seen picking an outfit for the party from her massive and filled walk-in closet. The next scene shows the Kim family in a storm shelter having to wait in line to pick clothes out of a pile.

Parasite displays a social and economic commentary on the current state and politics of South Korea. Many comparisons can be drawn between South Korean culture as portrayed through the movie Parasite and culture in the United States.

Thank you for reading!

Samantha Pollina