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| Choi Woo-sik, Song Kang-ho, Jang Hye-jin, and Park So-dam in Parasite |
Comedy that turns violent seldom works. I'm thinking in particular of my recent viewing of Peter Medak's The Ruling Class (1972), which goes abruptly from a giddy satire of upperclass manners into a dark tale about homicidal mania, losing the audience's assent to its original vision. So why does Parasite, which takes a similar turn, work so well that it won over international audiences and walked off with three of the most prestigious Oscars, for picture, director, and screenplay? It's a story of how the Kim family, eking out a living in a sub-basement, conned their way into the household of the wealthy Park family, who live in a classy house designed by a famous architect, but are then undone by a secret built into the house itself. I think it works because Bong Joon-ho's vision is dark from the start, but his touch is light, making us appreciate what drives the Kims -- poverty and class resentment -- and what makes the Parks so vulnerable -- snobbery and vanity. Both families need a comeuppance, the Kims for their lack of scruples, the Parks for their sense of entitlement. Maybe the comeuppance is overkill, but Bong has kept his characters at a slight distance throughout the film, so that we don't feel the shock of loss when they meet their fates. The ambivalence we may feel about them is summed up in the title: Parasite could refer to either family, the Kims who exploit the Parks, the Parks who ride the crest of societal privilege unaware that their good fortune is built on the misery of others.
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