The Ending of Parasite Profit-based Capitalism

Ki-taek lays lifelessly on ground, staring into the sky as his eyes glaze over. His home, his belongings, his entire identity has drowned in a sea of sewage that has overtaken the grimy, dank alleyways where he and his small family reside in their South Korean city.

Hopeful for a solution that will solve all their problems, Ki-taek’s son Ki-woo asks if his father has a plan. Ki-woo, do you know what kind of plan never fails? Ki-taek asks. No plan at all. If you make a plan, life will never work out that way.

Ki-woo and his father are crammed close together in a local gym with other low-income families who have also lost their homes—yet, it feels like these two couldn’t be further apart.

The young Ki-woo clutches onto his scholar’s rock, which he believes will bring him and his family great fortune in the future. While Ki-taek stews in his misfortune, hopeless that he’ll ever be able to break his family out of such a debilitating lifestyle.

In terms of characters development, here we see a son and a father; an optimist and a cynic; a dreamer and a failure. But in terms of Parasite’s larger metaphor, here we can see the promise of capitalism…and the seeming defeat of it.

Because also the Kim family is eye-level with the streets, their view is shrouded in grey, in concrete, in man-made structures.

They look up from dinner and only see the other busybodies trying to make end’s meet. For the Kims, anything outside their own four walls is a dead end.

Meanwhile, up on top of that hill, the Parks look up from their couch and see the spacious blue sky, the beautiful towering trees, the impossibly green grass. For them, life is inviting and full of possibilities.

While the Parks have full access to a yard that belongs to them, the Kims share their alleyway with the likes of an ever-drunk man who constantly pisses outside their window.

Once again, this symbolically marks the two ends of capitalism: the beautiful view you can earn if you work hard enough, and the ugly view you’re stuck with if you fail.

During one particularly somber day, Ki-woo’s friend Min-hyuk stumbles down the dirty back-alley streets that lead to the Kim household.

Min-hyuk is a university student, someone who has set himself on a path for greatness. While Ki-woo is someone who contemplated college, who even aced the entrance exams…but never followed through.

A key thing to remember here is that Min-hyuk doesn’t knock on the Kims’ door. He simply strolls in and hands a big, jagged rock to Ki-woo. Ki-woo wants to talk outside, but Min-hyuk insists on presenting the entire Kim family with that symbolic rock.

Traditionally appreciated by Chinese intellectuals, scholar’s rocks—aka Gongshi—are fantastically-shaped rocks that have inspired Chinese poets and painters for centuries.

These artists would typically not venture out into the wilderness or mountains for their artwork, but instead remain in studio and use these rocks as their guides.

Ki-woo believes that when becoming part of a capitalistic structure, having the proper education is only a small part of it. More than that, you have to want this opportunity more than anybody else.

In this sense, Ki-woo isn’t necessarily stepping in as himself, but instead coming in as a Min-hyuk replacement.

In fact, he’s better than Min-hyuk! Ki-woo is going to pursue the Park daughter Da-hye like Min-hyuk pursued Da-hye; Ki-woo is going to inherit the promising future Min-hyuk has worked so hard for.

We’ll continue to see the Kim family employ these tactics. Father Ki-taek, mother Chung-sook and daughter Ki-jeong aren’t exactly fit for their positions as driver, as caretaker, as art therapist—they just know to fit the mold.

They know how to give off the perception that they’re capable and talented.

The Park family isn’t really that concerned about prerequisites. They’d rather feel comfortable that the Kim family members have the right attitude. The Park family wants to feel at ease with their hardworking, motivated employees.

With all of those pieces in place, the end of Parasite starts to come together. After the Kim family has been exposed and Ki-taek has murdered Mr. Park, the final sequence of the movie finds Ki-taek hiding away in the bunker underneath the Park home.

The show ends with Ki-woo discovering this and then setting a plan in motion to buy the house and free his father.

In Ki-taek’s mind, the Park lifestyle was never going to be a reality, and instead just an enticing painting that kept Ki-taek and his family on a leash.

Ki-taek was never meant to take Mr. Park’s place—he was simply another cog in the machine. And for that, he revolted.

Ki-woo might make it…but like Ki-taek, he might fail. In this sense, Parasite then becomes an accurate reflection of capitalism. Perhaps the system does drive everybody to try their hardest. But it also leaves so many people in the dust.

No matter how hard you try, you’re just part of the pyramid. For capitalism to truly work, there always needs to be somebody standing up at the top—and then the people who want to be up there as well.

Forbes / ABC Flash Point News 2024.