PARASITE: A Hero's Journey? (Screenplay Review)

hello everyone my name is Sheree welcome to my video review of the parasite screenplay parasite screenplay is 141 pages long while the actual runtime of the movie is 2 hours and 12 minutes set in South Korea parasite tells the story of a poor family that kant's their way into a wealthy family's life and the tragic aftermath of that con I will be analyzing the screenplay for parasite using the classic heroes journey structure for more information on the hero's journey I recommend the writers journey mythic structure for writers by Christopher Vogler the hero's journey contains 12 stages the ordinary world called to adventure refusal of the call meeting the mentor crossing the threshold tests allies and enemies approach to the innermost cave the ordeal reward the road back resurrection and return with the elixir although parasite is an ensemble piece in my analysis the hero will be ki-woo the son of the poor Kim family and apologies in advance for my horrid pronunciation of Korean names the story opens in the ordinary world of the Kim family a mother father daughter and son they are poor hungry working low-wage jobs living in a semi basement apartment and dreaming of a better life minhyeok a college student who is also key Wu's friend visits the Kim family early in act 1 kiwi looks up to minhyuk who drives a fancy foreign scooter and carries himself with confidence at one point in the story ki-woo asks what would minhyuk do minhyuk is the mentor character mentors usually present the hero with a gift that the hero puts to good use later on minhyuk has two gifts the first is a viewing stone which he presents to the entire family in Asian cultures viewing stones are meant to bring wealth they are also known as scholar stones the stone is introduced on page nine and makes a reappearance nine more times throughout the screenplay the second gift is also the call to adventure Minhyuk plans to leave on a study abroad program and ask ki-woo to take his place as park dehaze English tutor da hae is the teenage daughter of one of the city's wealthiest families the hero often has personal doubts or second thoughts about accepting the call to adventure and this results in a refusal of the call he was first response is that minhyuk's offer makes no sense he continues you have plenty of friends at school why do you want a high school grad to teach your prize to student and also you think the family would accept me I'm not even a college student so Minhyuk has to convince ki-woo to take the position he reminds ki-woo that he knows the college entrance exam having taken it four times grammar vocabulary composition speaking you're an English master far more qualified as a tutor than I am after his sister ki-jung creates a fake college certificate for him ki-woo begins his journey into the new world it is an upward journey he walks up up and up until he reaches the park family mansion there ki-woo literally crosses the threshold and enters the mansion for those of you familiar with save the cat this section is also referred to as the fun and game section this is where the hero gains allies and meets enemies and faces obstacles which he must overcome this is the stage where the heroes skills are tested allies chemos allies are his family his sister kitchen his mother Chun sook and his father key tech after successfully conning his way into the parks life as mr. Kevin the English tutor key word devises a plan to get each of his family members a different position in the park household first kiru recommends his sister who assumes the identity of Miss Jessica and art therapist to help the parks troubled young son next ki-jung frames the driver Yoon into getting fired so key tech posing as miss Jessica's uncle's driver can take his place and finally ki-woo uses his knowledge of housekeeper monk Wong's peach allergy to make it appear as if she has tuberculosis when Mun Quang is let go Jung sook takes over the position at the recommendation of their new driver mr. Kim enemies the first hint of trouble comes at page 58 when the parks the Sun da song notices that the new art teacher chauffeur and housekeeper all smell the same although mr. and mrs. Park don't seem like enemies initially the Kim's eventually hear them insulting key tech for his odor and ki-jong for her fashion choices moon Kwang the parks former housekeeper and her husband kun say are the Kim's most formidable opponents the rainstorm turns into an adversary as well and juni one of the park's three dogs nearly exposes ki-woo hiding under da haze bed tests the first test is when park youngkyu meets ki woo she insists that he needs to be as utterly outstanding as minhyuk and asked to sit in on the first lesson so she can judge his methods of course he passes with flying colors after this the fun and games kick into high gear as the Kim's invade the parks house there are more tests to come but not until the halfway mark the fun and games conclude with the Kim family drinking and lounging around the parks living room watching the rain fall outside while the parks are away on a camping trip in soup fields textbook screenplay the author describes a scripts midpoint an important scene in the middle of the script often a reversal of fortune or revelation that changes the direction of the story so what's the midpoint of parasite page 71 the doorbell rings loudly throughout the house the doorbell symbolizes an alarm warning that everything is about to change this is the midpoint reversal where the Kim family's plan starts to unravel and their world turns completely upside down who's ringing the doorbell that would be moon Kwang the former housekeeper she begs the new housekeeper to let her in so she can pick up something that she left behind although the innermost cave can be metaphorical in the hero's journey it is usually an actual location a dangerous place often deep underground after the rest of the Kim family hides Chung sook lets moon Kwang inside moon Guang flash is a creepy grin as she points to the stairs descending into the dark storage basement moon Kwang rules aside a cabinet stacked with glass jars revealing a dark still door hidden behind it Jung sook follows moon Kwang through the door and down a dark staircase they reached the sub-basement a secret underground bunker this is where Koontz a monk Wong's husband has been hiding for 4 years 3 months and 17 days and you thought this Cove in 19 shelter-in-place order was rough at this point the hero experiences a major obstacle the stakes increase after following the 2 women in order to eavesdrop the Kim family falls into the sub-basement ki-woo accidentally calls key tech dad and their secret is out when Kwang has recorded the entire family exchange on her cellphone and threatens to send the video to the parks she hurts them upstairs and holds them hostage when moon Kwang lets down her guard the Kim family attacks and ki-woo seizes the cellphone preventing the video from being seen by the parks at this point in the story some of the hero's journey steps are repeated yonkyo calls to say the park family is returning home because the campsite was rained out the eta is eight minutes the Kim spring into action ki-woo and his father dragged the housekeeper and her husband back to the hidden basement ki-jong cleans the mess from the living room floor chun sook focuses on cooking the meal requested by the parks and ki-woo returns da Hays secret Journal which he had been reading when the parks arrive home Chung sook sees moon Quan escaping from the basement Chun soo kicks her in the face causing her to fall back into the bunker and hit her head against the concrete ki-woo hides with his father and sister under the coffee table in the living room after many agonizing hours under the coffee table the kim's finally escaped from the mansion when the parts fall asleep the road back is a reverse echo of the call to adventure in which the hero had to cross the first threshold now he must return home key tech key Wu and ki-jung sneak out of the mansion into the pouring rain they make their way back to their apartment only to find everything completely flooded knee-deep water sewage back flows total pandemonium while packing some essentials into a bag ki-woo finds the viewing stone in the water it's like he just found a precious treasure over the image of the stone failed by the hazy undulating water dark music begins to play this is the climax in which the hero must have his final and most dangerous encounter with death it's where everything the hero holds dear is put on the line if he fails he will either die or life as he knows it will never be the same again the garden party mr. Kevin and Miss Jessica are invited to a surprise birthday party for da song mr. Kim and Jung sook are enlisted to help once the party is in full swing ki woo sneaks down to the bunker with the viewing stone there he finds monk Wong unconscious he raises the stone intent on killing her once and for all but stops he can't do it finally very late in the screenplay key Wu is a hero to root for but his penitence comes too late kun se sneaks up behind key Wu and wraps a noose around his neck they struggle and ki-woo barely escapes back up the stairs the cords still dangling from his neck kun say grabs the cord and ki-woo falls hard on the floor kun say slams the viewing stone into key Wu's head not once but twice he leaves ki-woo for dead turning his attention now to the garden party kun say takes a kitchen knife and stabs ki-jung da song recognises kun say as a ghost from his past and has a seizure kun say and Chun sook fight she stabs him with a metal barbecue skewer daanyik holds his nose at the smell of kun say triggering key tech key tech picks up a nearby axe and stabs daanyik in the neck only through some form of death can the hero be reborn this resurrection grant some greater power or insights so he can reach his journey's end one month after the ordeal ki-woo wakes up from a coma he and his mother avoid the charges of forgery home invasion and voluntary manslaughter receiving only probation that winter ki-woo climbs the hill and spies on the mansion with a telescope new residents have moved in a German family of four with a Filipino maid key who stays after sundown then notices the motion sensor lights in the entrance start blinking he recognizes it as Morse code and writes down the blinking patterns this is the final stage of the journey the hero returns home to his ordinary world a changed man kiru runs home with the translated letter from his still living father he writes a reply letter outlining a plan it's a long-term plan to go to college get a job get married and become rich enough to buy the mansion then when ki-woo moves in qtek can emerge from the secret bunker and father and son can be reunited the movie ends with Kiwis voiceover but I have a problem father I have no idea how to get this letter to you Kiwis knows his bright red from the cold his eyes brim with tears / black music plays bright but with an undertone of hopelessness parasite is a great script and deserves it's Oscar win for the Best Original Screenplay now the reason I had a question mark in the title of this video parasite a hero's journey in a standard hero's journey ultimately the hero will succeed he'll destroy his enemy and emerge from battle cleansed and reborn in this story our hero does not succeed yet but due to the way the story ends we don't expect the hero to succeed parasite is a tragedy you now I briefly want to revisit my original review of the movie where I said I don't know what the film is trying to say I don't know who the hero is and I don't think parasite will win the Oscar for Best Picture obviously that last one was incorrect but I'll tell you why I thought that but first I don't know what the film is trying to say people say it's about the haves and the have-nots you know the rich and the poor when you're writing a theme in screenwriting it's it's a complete idea a complete sentence it's not just words what bong joon-ho was trying to say was that the lower-class the poor people can't fight each other they have to work together to fight the injustice --is of the system because if they fight each other it's a losing battle and who is the hero in this analysis I did make it ki-woo but you know in general ki-woo who is a con artist he does learn at the end and he does try to make things better at the very end but why should we follow him on this journey the Kim's are all con artists the parks are all shallow and concerned with Western consumerism and ideals so yeah I that's still the question who's the hero and the reasons I didn't think it would win Best Picture are it was in a foreign language it was a tragedy it went in opposition to the idea of the American dream but those things didn't matter it did win Best Picture and honestly I'm really happy it did anyway I hope you enjoyed this video I will see you all in the next video

Channel: A Screenwriter's Journey

Views: 1,011

Keywords: Bong Joon-Ho, parasite, korean cinema, hero's journey, writers journey, screenplay, script, academy awards, oscars, best original screenplay, best picture

Id: 0GJc8QD2cV8

Length: 17min 50sec (1070 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 31 2020