Parasite (2019): Capitalism and Class in Korean Cinema
This paper examines Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019) as a lens through which to explore Korean cinema history, government subsidy policy, and the politics of cultural diplomacy. The paper traces the development of South Korea's film industry from a state-controlled cottage industry to an internationally celebrated cinema competing with Hollywood, situating Parasite within that transformation. It argues that the film highlights the theme of capitalism through dark comedy, exposing deep social class divisions embedded in Korean history. Key evidence includes the film's visual symbolism, dialogue, and narrative structure, as well as real-world data on South Korean housing inequality and the country's use of cinema as soft-power nation branding.
- Introduction: Film research purpose and paper overview
- Historical Approach: Korean Cinema and Subsidy Policy: Korean film industry history, subsidies, and quotas
- Political and Cultural Context: Political influences and capitalism reflected in Parasite
- Nation Branding and Soft Power: South Korea's cultural diplomacy through cinema
- Thesis and Central Argument: Capitalism and class embedded in Korean history
- Capitalism and Class in Parasite: Scenes, symbols, and dialogue as class evidence
- Conclusion: Stairs symbolism and capitalist ideology summarized
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds the film analysis in concrete historical context, linking Korean government subsidy policy and screen quotas directly to Parasite's production circumstances.
- Uses specific dialogue excerpts from the film as primary textual evidence to support claims about class ideology and dark comedy.
- Connects cinematic symbolism — the stairs, the basement, the Wi-Fi window scene — to broader arguments about capitalism and social stratification, giving the analysis both macro and micro dimensions.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates contextual film analysis: rather than treating the film as an isolated text, it embeds it within layers of historical, political, and economic context. By moving from subsidy policy to nation branding to textual evidence, the paper shows how a single film can serve as a site of intersection between industry history, government policy, and cultural meaning-making.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a broad introduction to film research methodology, then devotes its largest section to the historical development of Korean cinema and subsidy policy. It proceeds to political and cultural context, then nation branding, before formally stating its thesis. The final analytical section applies the thesis by reading specific scenes, symbols, and dialogues in Parasite as evidence of capitalism and class conflict. The bibliography follows Chicago footnote style throughout.
Introduction
Research is essential in any field since it provides important knowledge relevant to the subject or study area. Film research is particularly necessary for understanding a film's fictional, non-fictional, or documentary narratives. Storytelling is an art best interpreted through the careful analysis of a selected film. This paper presents film research focused on a contemporary-era movie: the Oscar-winning Korean drama and thriller Parasite (2019). The historical context, production background, and cultural critique of this film will be explored in the sections that follow.
Historical Approach: Korean Cinema and Subsidy Policy
The Korean film industry has become a formidable competitor to Hollywood, with its filmmaking and direction acclaimed worldwide. Government funding in the form of subsidies has been crucial to strengthening the industry. The prosperity of the Korean film industry has depended significantly on intensive subsidy policy.1 The importance of subsidies has been debated for two primary reasons: the competitive advantage it provides against the highly powerful Hollywood industry, and the capacity of Korean filmmaking to authentically represent the country's culture. Cultural diversity and economies of scale have both featured in arguments made in favor of film subsidies.
In Korea, the government established an import quota that was misused by businesses after 1966, even being applied to foreign films.2 The historical contest between the United States and Korea intensified when US pressure led to the abolition of the import quota in 1986. Screen quotas nonetheless continue to exist in Korea, imposing binding requirements that the market must reflect. Although the subsidy amounts were initially modest for Korean productions, they have grown considerably in recent years as Korean cinema has expanded its global audience. The government must balance quota allocations carefully, since excessive quotas could lead either to an overproduction of low-quality films or to a drive for higher-quality productions aimed at larger audiences — a trend that became visible after the 2000s.3
The director of Parasite was one of approximately nine thousand writers who were initially restricted from receiving state subsidies. With recent developments in Korea's subsidy policy, however, he was ultimately able to produce a critically acclaimed Oscar-winning film.4 The Korean government subsequently announced that, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Parasite and various other Korean films would be supported with funding so that Korean cultural achievements could continue to be shared globally — building on the success already achieved through K-pop and Korean television dramas.
The film's style reflects political influences at several points. For example, when the Kim family flees the Park household, they pass through Ahyeon-dong in Seoul, where a redevelopment project is underway but residents remain impoverished.5 Although the community was under redevelopment during Chun Doo-hwan's presidency, it continues to be criticized for unfulfilled promises and for the poor living conditions of its residents — a clear illustration of the uneven distribution of resources within Korean society.
For Korean cinema, detailed literature on production history is limited. It is worth noting, however, that Parasite was funded solely by Barunson Entertainment & Arts Corporation. The transformation of Korean national cinema from what was once described as an "antiquated cottage industry" into an internationally celebrated cinema that competes with Hollywood reflects a long and difficult struggle.6 The film industry developed along two tracks simultaneously: internally, through the removal of censorship and increased availability of subsidies, which opened up creative possibilities for both formal and narrative experimentation; and externally, as commercial filmmakers introduced new ideas that quickly attracted local, regional, and international audiences.
The complex history of class issues in Korea was evident long before the present era. In the mid-twentieth century, Korea was divided into two regions as a result of war.7 True democracy took shape alongside the introduction of a free market, and this newly found liberty expressed itself in a technology boom that fortified the economy. The newly emergent class system became unmistakable — and it is precisely this system that Parasite dramatizes, depicting characters who struggle against the financial hierarchies that society has imposed upon them. Korean cinema became a powerful vehicle for portraying societal pressures, stress, and the battle for identity.
In historical context, the question of representation and the struggle to capture an authentic self-identity — while playing a subordinate role within structures of social inequality — connects to a long history of capitalism in both Western and pre-modern Korean contexts. This includes the clash of American ideology during the First and Second World Wars settling along colonial lines, as well as the legacy of Japanese colonial settlement in Korea.8 Neoliberal globalization, patriarchal domination, and the interplay of capitalism together exemplify the long-term effects of American militarism and the emergence of new social classes in the aftermath of economic growth.
Political and Cultural Context
Discerning a clear alignment between the film's style and specific political movements in Korea is difficult, given that the country operates under a central democratic system in which citizens elect their leaders and data on political ideologies remains scarce. Nevertheless, capitalism and the social class system are evident in the systematic injustices depicted throughout the film. These are visible in numerous instances: the type of dwelling the Kim family inhabits, the scene in which family members crowd near the basement window to catch a Wi-Fi signal, and the contrast with the sleek and extravagant home of the Park family. The film's dialogue is delivered with a dark comedic tone that underscores these class differences, as in this exchange involving Ki-taek: "So we're all gathered here today to celebrate the reconnection of our phones and this bounteous Wi-Fi."
The star discourse of this particular period suits the film well. The director has successfully constructed a surface narrative while embedding multiple deeper themes — social class inequity, deception, capitalism — beneath it. These themes are artfully covered with dark comedy and thriller elements, creating a viewing experience in which audiences may find themselves laughing in one moment and shocked by an unanticipated turn in the next.
The narrative innovation of Parasite is linked to the director's talent for storytelling and his ability to bend multiple genres around a single theme. Though the film reflects contemporary modernity in its treatment of social class injustice, the capitalism through which both families operate has been woven seamlessly into a broader exploration of systematic injustice.
Conclusion
The stairs in Parasite symbolize the long historical deprivation of the lower social classes and the desperate attempts of impoverished families to climb the social order. The film as a whole uses dark comedy and thriller elements to expose the systematic injustices of capitalism and class stratification embedded in Korean history and society. Korean cinema's rapid growth, supported by evolving government subsidy policies and the country's ambitions for cultural diplomacy, has produced a body of work that speaks not only to Korean audiences but to the world. Parasite stands as the most prominent recent example of this achievement — a film that uses the particular to illuminate the universal, transforming the semi-basement apartments of Seoul into a global symbol of inequality.
Bibliography
BBC News. "Parasite: The Real People Living in Seoul's Basement Apartments." February 10, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51321661 (accessed December 2, 2021).
Hempel, Bryan. Class Issues and Identity in South Korean Cinema. October 3, 2020. https://hyperrealfilm.club/reviews/2020/10/1/class-issues-and-identity-in-south-korean-cinema (accessed December 2, 2021).
Kang, Inkoo. Parasite: Notes from the Underground. October 30, 2020. (accessed December 2, 2021).
Lee, Seow Ting. "Film as Cultural Diplomacy: South Korea's Nation Branding through Parasite (2019)." Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2021.
Messerlin, Patrick, and Jimmyn Parc. "The Real Impact of Subsidies on the Film Industry (1970s–Present): Lessons from France and Korea." Pacific Affairs 90, no. 1 (2019): 51–74.
Mirza, Aiden. Parasite and Democracy: A Case for Space. n.d. (accessed December 2, 2021).
Moon, Criss, and Julie Moon. "'Parasite' and the Plurality of Empire." June 23, 2020. (accessed December 2, 2021).
Shin, Hyonhee. 'Parasite' Reflects Deepening Social Divide in South Korea. February 10, 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-awards-oscars-southkorea-inequality-idUSKBN20414L (accessed December 2, 2021).
Yecies, Brian, and Ae-Gyung Shim. "Contemporary Korean Cinema: Challenges and the Transformation of 'Planet Hallyuwood.'" Acta Koreana, 2011: 1–15.
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