Parasite: 10 Reasons To Watch This Genre-Bending Dark Comedy Thriller
1. The Message About Economic Disparity
The message about extreme economic disparity is at the heart of this film. Despite not saying it in any obvious or ham-fisted way, the rising tension of the film is tied as much to the difference in the lives of the impoverished and the obscenely wealthy as it is to the main plot.
The resentment of the Kims, especially that of their patriarch, as well as the careless disregard the Parks have for the lives of those lower on the economic ladder, carries the film throughout, despite the overt pleasantness of the Parks and the amused, almost easygoing personalities of the Kims.
Put into this context, and the micro-aggressions the rich family are guilty of - especially the parents, who speak of the pleasantness of a rain that destroyed the lives of many or the smell clinging to the Kims because of where they live - Kim patriarch Ki-taek's actions in the film's climax are all the more understandable.
It's also this disparity that causes many of the more harrowing and horrible problems that take place within the film. Money and its uneven distribution is the cause of many instances of violence in life, and this film portrays that perfectly.