Many people say that this is the victory of the genre film. In fact, getting Palme d'Or is precisely its non-genre part. It accurately expresses the paradox of civilization, dictatorship, and nihilism in the world today.
Civilization paradox
Many people compare "Parasite" with Li Cangdong's "Burning". It is true that they have an intertextual relationship and also have a "class" melody. However, compared with the obscure and literary nature of "Burning", the theme of "Parasite" More ambitious and more characteristic of the human motif, it directly points to the paradox of civilization in the context of today's globalization-the upper class must be contrasted with the lower class, civilization must coexist with barbarism, and does civilization really have natural justice?
One is a basement family, the other is a luxury home; the other is musty in the dark room, and the other is high taste; the other is superior and ignorant kindness, and the other is the malice forced to survive. These antagonisms have transcended the category of "class" and have become a coordinate of civilized introspection.
In this coordinate system, President Park’s family has a prominent position and is wealthy enough to buy the whole time of the Ki Ze’s family. It is only used to take care of his family’s food and drink. However, President Park’s family also despises the Ki Ze’s family. Low-grade, the class boundary he drawn in his mind is more terrifying than 38 degrees north latitude.
This is also a characteristic of the upper class in today's world under the banner of civilization, which makes people can't help thinking about this question: Is the "civilizationalism" we advocate, after all, a "civilizational hegemony"?
The ghost of dictatorship
Bong Joon-ho said in Cannes that he was actually worried that the film was too geographical, too Korean, and worried that Europeans would not understand it.
His deep meaning is that after the division of South Korea and North Korea, the people of the two countries did not actually become spiritually and culturally independent. All South Korean cities and villas have designed basements. They worry that North Korea will counterattack and bomb at any time. The terrible destructive power of dictatorship does not lie in what the dictatorship itself has done, but that its existence is a kind of endlessness to people. Torture is a dark cloud of history that never goes away, shrouded in the daily life of South Koreans, forcing South Koreans to self-censor and guard themselves from time to time.
The trauma of history is as long as history itself. One generation has done evil, and generations have suffered. The family in the basement is more like the dwelling place of historical ghosts. Everyone who has experienced dictatorship has such a spiritual darkroom.
Nihilism
President Du's family mansion, as an important spatial field in the film, symbolizes a glorious historical stage, staged various parties and disputes, but in the end, when people go to the empty space, they will not leave any traces.
On this stage, no matter what human tragedies have happened, in the end, people are forgetful and dying. Daydreams and the urge to use money to reach the upper class will reappear on the stage in disguise. The problems that should be written and faced were re-entered into the basement, and history continued to loop indefinitely.
All history is contemporary history. All human tragedies are replays. This kind of historical nihilism does not require us to give any answers, but we must face it and think.
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