Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 South Korean film Parasite is an extraordinary cinematic excoriation on social inequality, class border conflict, and the self-destructive ramifications of economic disuniformity. Set against the backdrop of contemporary capitalist society, the film’s narrative is about the wealthy Park family and the disadvantaged Kim family, who occupy two totally different worlds. Parasite successfully shows us how economic differences are the underlying cause of social problems, splitting the world into utopias on one end and dystopias on the other, with rich and the poor.

The disparity here echoes findings from Oxfam’s annual studies of inequality, in which the severing concentration of wealth among a few and its impact on social stability has been regularly underscored

The disparity here echoes findings from Oxfam’s annual studies of inequality, in which the severing concentration of wealth among a few and its impact on social stability has been regularly underscored. The film contrasts two families, rich Park and poor Kim. Lavishly housed, modern luxuries and the symbol of not being a part of the real life of the lower working class, the Parks live in the former. In sharp contrast, the Kims live in a semi-basement apartment, flooding and squalor that symbolize the poverty of ordinary citizens still on the margins of the economy. The disparity reflects the global inequality shown in Oxfam’s reports.

Since the start of the pandemic, two-thirds of new wealth went to the wealthiest 1 per cent of the worldwide population, while billions of people are stuck working while wages stagnate and living costs rise

Since the start of the pandemic, two-thirds of new wealth went to the wealthiest 1 per cent of the worldwide population, while billions of people are stuck working while wages stagnate and living costs rise, according to the 2023 Oxfam report. In the same vein, Parasite entails how structural inequalities enable a vicious circle in which the rich monopolize opportunities and the underprivileged are left pulling desperate stunts to make ends meet. Parasite shows exactly how economic inequality is the root of conflict. But it also shows how the Kim family has plotted their way into the Park home and their great wrath against the rich, filtered through the same systemic injustices that they have chronicled. Although their actions are morally ambiguous, their desperation, fostered by the extreme poverty and the yearning to rise, drives their actions.

Interpersonal tensions flare when the Kims find another destitute family living in the Parks’ basement and learn the real reason the Parks sold their mansion to them. They symbolize those who have been utterly left out of the economic ladder in literal and figurative darkness, a hidden family surviving in the dark. The tragic irony of oppressed classes uniting to fight injustice instead of pitting one class against the other in the violent altercation is in store between these two classes of underprivileged people.

Intense competition over scarce resources creates violence in areas of implausible inequality when the bottom strata of a socioeconomic pyramid scrambles to survive

The dynamic is played out in the global world, where scarcity and economic disparity commonly embitter those on the lowest rungs of the social hierarchy against one another. Intense competition over scarce resources creates violence in areas of implausible inequality when the bottom strata of a socioeconomic pyramid scrambles to survive.

An eruption of violence at what should be a celebratory moment is the climax of the film itself, but also an allegory for the civil underbelly that class disparity can create; the privilege of the Parks is an embodiment of the insouciance at the top of the pyramid about institutional inequity. It is the image of polite and condescending workers that the company can afford to replace. Many employees make sacrifices themselves so that the company can have an extra expensive dinner, but the company takes it for granted.

The World Inequality Report finds that the nations and individuals that are the richest are disproportionately spewing out global emissions

This is consistent absolutely with findings from the global inequality literature requiring no explanation other than for rich people and wealthy corporations who then buttress systems that extract the productive capacity of poor people while cocooning and shielding themselves from the ensuing conditions that generate profit for themselves. The World Inequality Report finds that the nations and individuals that are the richest are disproportionately spewing out global emissions. At the same time, the world’s poorest end up shouldering the burden of climate-related disasters.

Parasite gets this reality exactly right through its look at the plight of the Kims. Parasite does shed other layers in its exploration of the psychological hit of poverty. While the Kims’ actions at times are reprehensible, they do so in the context of being incredibly poor. It reflects the desperation in systemic exclusion, but it’s also the tale of their moral compromises on deceit to outright sabotage. This moral complexity prompts the audience to ask who the real architects of inequality are: people trying to scrape by in a broken system or the system itself.

The bias that perpetuates inequality lies in how deeply ingrained these biases are in polite society, in how they manifest themselves

Such disparities beget social turbulence, though, as we’ve seen with movements ranging from the Arab Spring to Chilean protests that have booted over capital. The bias that perpetuates inequality lies in how deeply ingrained these biases are in polite society, in how they manifest themselves in Mr. and Mrs. Kim as internalized shame and Mrs. Parks as condescension. Parasite calls attention to these problems in line with the work of Oxfam and other institutions, which points to the critical importance of tackling inequality on a systemic basis. Without such efforts, these fictional scenes may increasingly mirror reality, and tensions of the sort that could very well raise the stability of societies around the globe.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.