Visual Techniques and Symbolism in Bong Joon-ho's Parasite (2019)

may contain spoilers

South Korean dark comedy thriller Parasite (2019) tells the story of a poor family who pretends to be highly educated, unfamiliar people to get employed by a rich family. The main theme of the film is class inequality. The director Bong Joon-ho draws the viewer's attention to the difference between the upper and lower class with the help of various visual techniques and symbolism. These techniques play the role of visual storytelling and help to deepen the meaning of the film and the director's intention.

Throughout the film, we can observe people, houses, and the interior. Thanks to the fact that Bong uses various visual techniques, we can make different connotations and find a special, hidden meaning. In the following paragraphs, I will describe what techniques the director uses and how it affects our perception of two families.

Light

One of the non-verbal signs that the director uses to illustrate the class inequality is the light. The following images show the light contrast between the house of the rich and the space of the poor. In the first image, the hero from lower class family moves from darkness to light, rises to wealth and well-being, bypassing social ladder. For the first time we see the house of the rich family flooded with sunlight and looking like paradise. This effect is reinforced by the low camera angle. Bong uses light to illustrate the better life of the upper class. They’re higher up in society, higher up physically, and therefore, closer to the sun. While in the second image, where the poor family returns to their home, there is no any light. They return home in the darkness of the night, and even the light of the lanterns looks dim, which shows how low and distant from the upper class they are.

The use of light in Parasite (2019)

The difference between classes is also shown vertically. When you go to the rich family’s house, you need to constantly climb up, whereas going to a poor family’s house you are constantly going down the stairs. When the poor family returns home, we can truly see the distance between houses and feel the sheer amount of separation between classes.

Scenes from Parasite (2019)

High and Low camera angles

Another technique to show the class inequality is high and low camera angles, that are most commonly used to show power or inferiority (Wolfcrow, n.d.). Bong exposes the rich family as stronger and more dominant, and therefore they are shot from a low angle for most of the time. This makes viewers look at them from below, which makes them bigger and higher in our eyes. As for the poor family, they are in a subordinate position and therefore most of the film were shot from a high camera angle. Shooting from a high angle has the opposite effect: we look down on them, they seem smaller to us and therefore inferior.

High and Low camera angles in Parasite (2019)

Color

The use of color also plays an important role in the representation of differences between wealthy and poor families. The space of the rich family’s home is decorated with shades of orange and yellow. In Korean culture, they symbolize well-being, authority, luck, and imperial power (National Folk Museum of Korea, n.d.). The appearance of these colors in the frame indicates belonging to a privileged class. While purple, blue, green and their shades are an indicator of the space of the poor, exploited people. They point to the hopeless and helpless position of the heroes. The slums of the poor are painted blue, and the home of the rich is yellow. Blue and yellow are contrasting colors, that work here as an opposition, that represents the class inequality and difference between them.

The use of color in Parasite (2019)

The landscape stone

At the beginning of the movie, a rich friend of the poor family’s son, brings them a landscape stone. “That rock is assigned this very unique position. It’s a kind of obsession for the young son," said Bong Joon-ho in his interview for The Atlantic (Sims, 2019). "Throught the film, he’s trying to imitate Min, his rich friend who initiated him into this world. Min disappears in this film after giving him the rock, but the rock is sort of the remnant of his character”. Thus, this landscape stone is a metaphorical symbol, that can represent the poor guy’s dream of a rich life, which is exactly what his rich friend has.

The landscape stone from Parasite (2019)

This stone appears throughout the whole movie and repeatedly brings the viewers’ attention to it. After Ki-woo, poor family's son, receives the stone he starts taking actions. By fraud, he gets a job from a rich family for him and for his family. So, he begins to pursue his desire for wealth and status.

However, the next time we see the rock, Ki-woo’s aspirations for rich life are in danger. The way he holds onto the stone may mean how desperately he fights for his dream of wealth and status.

As the story builds to its climax, we can see Ki-woo very close to attaining his goal. Then, the viewing stone returns, as Ki-woo grabs it to use as a weapon, but gets injured by it instead. This shows how poor people, regardless of their dreams, often do not have the power to join the upper class. Also, the fact that the stone has been returned to other stones may signify that everyone should know their place.

Scenes from Parasite (2019)

Conclusion

Parasite is a great example of how to use symbols to create a story, and specifically in this case to create a witty satire on modern society. Visual techniques perfectly express the contrast between the worlds of the poor and the rich. High and low camera angles, warm yellow and cold blue colors: all this works to depict a hierarchical gap, contrasting the gloomy world of the poor and the well-being of the world of the rich. Relying only on the visual component, we can say a lot about the film and the author's idea.

Reference

Bong, J. (Director). (2019). Parasite. [Film]. Barunson E&A.

Wolfcrow. (n.d.). How filmmakers manipulate our emotions using camera angles and movement. Wolfcrow. https://wolfcrow.com/how-filmmakers-manipulate-our-emotions-using-camera-angles-and-movement/

National Folk Museum of Korea. (n.d.). THE COLORS IN KOREAN LIFE AND CULTURE. Google Arts & Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-colors-in-korean-life-and-culture-national-folk-museum-of-korea/vgXBoDKJVZn0LA?hl=en

Sims, D. (2019, October 15). How Bong Joon Ho Invented the Weird World of Parasite. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/10/bong-joon-ho-parasite-interview/600007/