Has anybody heard about this movie Parasite? It’s a scathing indictment of capitalism and the corrupting power of wealth in general, as well as a helpful reminder to check the weather reports before deciding to take your family camping (you never know what’ll be happening at your house while you’re away). Also, it just won Best Picture at the Oscars last night, making it the first international film to ever do that in the ceremony’s 92-year history. Earlier this month, we learned that HBO was developing some kind of Parasite TV show with Adam McKay and director (make that Best Director) Bong Joon Ho.
Now, with a potential Parasite TV show looking like an even better deal for HBO, Collider is reporting that “multiple sources” say the premium cabler wants Mark Ruffalo to play one of the leads in the show. Collider is very careful to say that it’s not a done deal with Ruffalo, but it seems very confident that he is at least being strongly considered. This also ties in with the fact that we don’t really know much about the Parasite TV show, with Bong Joon Ho only teasing that it would give him a chance to tell some stories he didn’t have room for in the movie—which is to say, it’s not necessarily a straight adaptation. If Ruffalo really ends up being in the show, he might not end up playing a direct analog to one of the characters in the movie (even though he does have powerful Mr. Kim energy, which is not a reference to any “old radish” smell that Ruffalo may or may not have).
We also know that the Parasite TV show, if it happens (which seems much more likely now), is a long ways off. By the time it gets made, maybe Mark Ruffalo will have a distinct old radish smell, and maybe the wealth-obsessed culture that the movie was criticizing will have been completely dismantled.
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I’m definitely not getting a Mr. Park vibe from him. Not the guy in the bunker either.
He’s obviously going to be depicting the untold story of the drunk who pees on their window every night.
You just made me wonder if Smart Hulk’s piss is green. That’s in my head now. All your fault.
“That’s my secret, Cap. I’m always pissing.”
That’s ridiculous and not realistic. It’s obvious he will be the toilet that goes crazy during the flood sequence.
I think he could work as a Mr. Park – his character has a very feckless, pathetic energy to him despite the pretense of Big Business Man he projects. I can hear Ruffalo whining about drivers not respecting boundaries while barely paying attention to his own conversation. Him looking and being kind of permanently out of it would work with one of the themes, that hard work rarely pays off and sometimes it’s just blind luck that one guy is rich and the other has to contend with dudes pissing at his own.Still, I hope the series isn’t a retelling of the film, so I shouldn’t be arguing for this.
I don’t know. He projected a confidence and smoothness (despite being a garbage person) that Ruffalo’s characters often don’t.
He will play the house.
Another example of Domicileface in Hollywood.
1: Good odds that the show mixes things up a fair bit. The man in the cellar might have an entirely different role.2: But yeah, if I was going to do a straight-up “Parasite but cast with white people” thing, Ruffalo would be the father of the Kim family. An excellent, experienced actor that looks like the world has run over him a few dozen times, that’s perfect for him.
It’s a scathing indictment of capitalism and the corrupting power of wealth in generalI did not come away with this as a take away.
Did you miss the part where the Kims elevate themselves at the expense of another family? It was like 2/3 of the movie.
Isn’t that just…shitty people being shitty?I got the impressions that while Ki-woo seemed like a possibly nice enough guy, the others in the Kim family very well might have gotten what they deserve out of life, being bottom feeding con artists.Moon-gwang and Geun-sae similarly seem to be living out the consequences of some equally bad choices. The culture around them that created them as characters might be worthy of criticism, but the movie doesn’t seem interested in making that point.For instance, while Mr. Park is a *bit* of a jerk on screen, manifestly the Park family comes off as innocent victims in the narrative.
I got the impressions that while Ki-woo seemed like a possibly nice enough guy, the others in the Kim family very well might have gotten what they deserve out of life, being bottom feeding con artists.The Kim family are obviously talented people who are driven to being con artists. Their con works specifically because they are good at all those jobs they take on – the tragedy lies in the fact that they couldn’t apply for these jobs legitimately, because the very fact they are poor to begin with would keep them in the same loop. Also it’s curious that you pick Ki-woo out of all of them as a “possibly nice enough guy”, given he manipulates a minor into a relationship.They are obviously bad people because they resort to elaborate crimes and it all goes tragic because they are too paranoid to cut a deal with Moon-gwang, but that paranoia ends up being entirely justified – a random event fucks them out of their way of life completely. They are rats because they are out of options, there is no mythical amount of work they can put in to dig themselves out of it and because they can’t afford to be decent. In contrast, the Parks are largely rich idiots who can afford to be decent and yet still aren’t, not even to their own children – one of the greater myths of capitalism that libertarian yuppies will love to tell you about is the idea of “trickling down” and how wealth naturally leads to healthy altruism. Parasite argues that wealth will either corrupt you or not if you’re a good person to begin with, but it’s never going to elevate you into anything.
Also it’s curious that you pick Ki-woo out of all of them as a “possibly nice enough guy”, given he manipulates a minor into a relationship.It was his speech about printing the diploma in advance that started me down this thinking (I had no fucking clue what was coming, I knew nothing about this movie when I started it, so hindsight had to play hard catch up) and the ambiguity on if he had feelings or not, leaning towards he did – he made a speech about intending to marry her (although it was a copy of Mins speech, so either he had feelings or is STONE COLD)Parasite argues[…]…does it? I mean these are all very solid inferences and derivations, but the movie seems content to be a WHAT THE FUCK thriller and does very little explicitly to support the idea it makes an argument.the Parks are largely rich idiotsMr. Park does nothing to deserve this. Mrs. Park has some problems, sure, but even rich mentally ill people deserve a little kinder summation than this.
Mr Park is an arsehole. He summarily fires his chauffeur on the suspicion he might be sleeping around, but refuses to actually take responsibility and talk to the man about it. Then he gets off with his wife by fantasising about being in that very position, while she roleplays wanting him to buy her drugs. He contemplates firing Mr Kim just because he doesn’t like the way the guy smells, and is affronted at any time his chauffeur talks to him like a human being because that’s crossing a line.
Woah let’s unpack that.Park has hard evidence (though fraudulent) of gross misconduct. In any employment scenario that permits severance without compensation (or, heck, with) it really isn’t an fair expectation of the employer to explain themselves. The Parks acted reasonably here.I don’t see any critique of the sexual fantasy as valid. I’m not entirely sure why you object to it, but most objections that are possible just feel like kink- and slut-shaming.And, in a mirror of the first point, Park actually *explains* the expectations to Mr. Kim. I mean, it *is* pretty oblique but seems to derive from a shared social expectation.And the smell. That is one of the most biting points of the entire film. Smell is so primal, so visceral, and its so easy to get used to your own smell. And I would expect many of us have been exposed to people who smell differently for a variety of reasons. Now, Director Bong (as I have learned he goes by) really muddies the waters on this intentionally as in the conclusion I bet that entire family stank like shit, to lesser or greater degrees. Even when a smell exists for a class-derived reason, smelling bad is smelling bad. It’s hard to object to what Mr. Park does with this fact, and the ways he is vulgar about it are done in private, where its kind of fair for him to be vulgar. Right?
I don’t think you’re supposed to take the smell thing literally. The Kims didn’t go from wading in sewage straight to the Parks’ house, they obviously showered and changed and put on clean clothes. When the Parks say the Kims smell, what they’re smelling is poverty, not any actual BO. It’s their disdain for the lower classes made manifest.
That’s the things that struck me; they’re not scamming because they’re incompetent, they’re doing it because the rich mother (and people like her) only hire people they feel fit in with them. There’s a system of recommendations the Kims need before they can work their way into the upper class, but once they’re in the Parks stop even thinking about whether they belong or not. They have a level of invisibility similar to what they have when they’re in their basement, it’s just a more privileged level.Also, I think the film makes it quite clear what trickles down to the poor, and it ain’t money.
Yeah, and I forget the exact line from Ms. Kim, but she even said something like, “The Parks are nice, but it’s easy to be nice when you’re rich. If I were rich, I’d be nice too.” The clear implication is that when you struggling to keep your head above water (literally as the case may be), you don’t the luxury of trying to make sure that you aren’t hurting people’s feelings or using them in a way that we usually think of as morally unacceptable. That doesn’t necessarily excuse the Kims’ behavior, but it makes them more sympathetic.
Parasite argues that wealth will either corrupt you or not if you’re a good person to begin with, but it’s never going to elevate you into anything.I’ve said this elsewhere just now, but I’m struggling with accepting that the movie argues this. Its certainly there, but its assumed, not argued. The world of the movie exposes something worthy of discussion. The movie is not making a point about it though.By this I mean it’s not part of the text – its subtext. Thats – to me – very different from making a criticism or arguing a point.
I don’t see why the Park family has to be villains for the movie to criticize capitalism.
I wonder if is kind of a semantics thing.The plot of the movie is not interested in making a criticism.The world of the movie exposes a problem.Is this like critique vs criticism?When we say “criticism” I feel puzzled as I expect a criticism to be in text, not subtext.
No.What?Sure.No.OK.
I’m not sure where I went wrong, but I apologize for wasting your time.
The thing about Parasite that’s important to remember is that there’s really no villains.Yes, the Kims are con artists… because they kinda have to be. They’re so out of work that the only way they have to make money is folding pizza boxes for scraps of money, even though all of them seem explicitly qualified for the jobs that they end up scamming their way into.The son is a good tutor. The daughter has clear artistic skills and enough insight into the Parks’ boy to recognize that he’s dealing with some trauma without being told about it. The father is a good driver by every indication, and the mother (who is implied to have been an olympic-level athlete in her youth) seems to be more than up to the task of being the Parks’ housekeeper.And no, the Parks aren’t bad people. That’s one of the best parts of the film, that it dodges the “rich people are evil” trope, because… well, few people want to be evil. They’re just generally nice people. Their big crime is obliviousness, really, the same obliviousness to everything that… well, frankly, that most of us have.Those at the top can afford to be nice and generous. Those at the bottom have to fight and claw and scrap their way to any bit of wealth they can, even if that means hurting other people. That’s the great crime of capitalism, not “super rich assholes hunting kittens for sport because they can”.
But then again the Kims turned pretty shitty and cutthroat once they were caught and showed they’d do anything to stay where they are.
Yup. Part of the point, if they lost those jobs, they’d be back to being utterly destitute again, so they’re incentivized to do everything they can to hold onto them.The Kims aren’t poor and con-artists. They’re con-artists because they’re poor, just as the Parks are nice because they’re rich.
LOL! He’s trolling you. No one who can understand the statement by the author is THAT dense.
I agree.
Elaborate then?Parasite is very nuanced, but it isn’t (and should not or does not have to be) subtle in its indictements of capitalism, particularly when it comes to the myth of “social climbing” and that hard work naturally pays off.
Yeah I just didn’t see that. Some people were poor and some were rich but…it really didn’t seem to say much about that one way or another. Im actually just now listening to Mark Kermodes review from BBC Radio 5, and it seems the criticisms of social inequality is kind of a theme for Bong Joon-ho. Perhaps this comes across more clearly if you have that background on the director.
Um…how did you not? The family literally walked to the bottom of the socio-economic ladder in a rainstorm.
Where they literally found a pool of shit!I completely see the metaphor. I’m suggesting the movie didn’t really seem to say anything about that topic. I mean, in general, at the end everyone in the movie EXCEPT the rich people kind of got what they deserved?
Everyone except the rich people saw any consequences for their exploitation. Also there’s commentary about how capitalism ends up pitting poor people against each other, the way the family attacks the maid and her husband living in the basement.
Well.. Mr Parks was stabbed to death. That certainly feels like a consequence.
He’s fucking with you. He knows the plot. No one who sits, watches a international picture with subtitles, is that dense.
A great many white middle class people who are socialists only in that they are not as rich as they feel entitled to be and would drop socialism like a hot potato as soon as they got rich miss the fact that no one in South Korea wants to live in North Korea and that South Korea has many generous social programs. This makes the movie far more nihilistic because to most Koreans, it isn’t indicting capitalism so much as human nature itself.
Oh that is an interesting take.But lamenting the nature of humanity is not equivalent to nihilism. I found that a bit of a reach.
Since the movie found no hope in humanity and offered no solutions, just criticism, I thought it was pretty nihilistic.
That is the difference, though. The movie isn’t “lamenting the nature of humanity.” It’s lamenting “humanity under these conditions.” The Kims are savvy, competent, fun, seriously flawed, normal people. In order to survive in this system, they have to knock off (figuratively, literally) people like them. The movie makes us wonder why the equally normal Mrs. Park gets to live in luxury while they drown in shit.
No one in the movie comes out and gives a speech about any of this, so there’s no overt “argument.” But the plot does lead us to certain conclusions — another way of making an argument.
Ok I agree with you.I just think since the movie doesn’t investigate or interrogate this concept, it’s just kind of strange to articulate this film as a criticism of capitalism.I work in a metropolitan downtown area, the same question is equally on my mind every time I look out my office window or walk down the street past the homeless. I drive past some shady parts of town too and from, the same applies.
That is where my original comment comes from.
It’s a criticism of capitalism, but it’s a lot more nuanced than people say. It’s not a “rah rah eat the rich” sort of manifesto, but rather a complex critique of the class struggle that spares neither the rich nor the poor.
So, he’s playing the overflowing toilet?
I was hoping for Shia LaBeouf for that.
“Why is our toilet stammering?”
Dammit. I made this joke elsewhere thinking I was original and cool. I am not.
Well, as for the radishes, I could see him being big on vegetables including the greens.
I feel like radishes (particularly pickled radishes) are much more prevalent in asian cuisine, so. I would assume they’d pick a different vulgar smell for an American version. Old french fries? Sauerkraut?
Oh, I see what’s going on here.
As a friend of mine put it, if there’s one thing to be learned from Dark Waters, it’s that if you need a guy in your movie to yell, ‘They knew! They knew all along!’, then Mark Ruffalo is your man.
Funnily enough, I was thinking just yesterday that fi you were doing a straight American remake of ‘Parasite’, you could cast Chris Evans as Mr Park. He’s worked with Joon-Ho before, and as the MCU and ‘Knives Out’ have shown, he can play both a likable guy and a rich arsehole.
I finally saw the film last week, and I’m not sure how a show would work. They could milk the “destitute family conning their way into jobs with a wealthy family” thing for quite a while, but I don’t see how they can include the stuff after and including the “twist.” It feels like it would be hard/impossible to sustain that vibe for more than an episode or two. Things had to come a head between the Kims and the basement couple, which in turn made it so that things had to come to a head between the Kims and the Parks.
I honestly feel like we get this kind of material on tv all the time, and this is a natural fit, though I’m failing to come up with any actual examples.
I’ve heard Parasite compared to Breaking Bad in terms of how the plot progresses, as the characters get into more and more trouble over time, and I can see something like that for TV. Or slow burn it like Better Call Saul. Basically Vince Gilligan should make this is what I’m saying
So, they’re deliberately looking for this show to fail.
The only TV Ruffalo should be doing is a Columbo reboot.