20 Things You Didn't Know About Parasite

Near Parasite’s beginning, Ki-woo’s friend Min-hyuk gives the Kim family a scholar’s rock (known as Suseok in Korea) in the hopes that its presence would give the family financial good tidings. The good luck charm’ has palpable symbolic value in South Korea and its presence in the film is connected to Boon’s own history with the stone (his father collected them when the director was younger).

Although the stone’s true role in the movie was never confirmed, Ki-woo’s actor Choi Woo-shik suggested that the stone represents the family’s ill-fated desires and attempts to climb up the socio-economic ladder.

Interestingly enough, the stone was a fake. This explains why it floated during the third-act flood as well as why Ki-Woo was able to survive being bludgeoned by it. Furthermore, the artificial nature of the artefact represents the inherent falsehood sometimes found in upward social mobility.