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Parasite and the Myth of Meritocracy.

Note: This article discusses important plot points of the film, so consider this a spoiler warning.

Introduction : Why Parasite disturbed me

Parasite is a film that did not leave me with rage or sadness. Its a film that left me utterly hopeless. What I thought was a film about the rich vs the poor became something a lot more complicated than that. My whole life I have been told that if I work hard and never stop trying, I will achieve success. I will reach a higher status. This is something we hear everywhere since childhood, a message preached by figures above us. But the truth is, that we are not on the same playing field and this “motto” being told to us is simply incompatible with the system that currently prevails. The worst part? People still believe in this motto.

This is why Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, a South Korean film released in 2019, affected me so deeply. It’s a film about an abjectly poor family, the Kims, who struggle to make ends meet. When their son runs into the opportunity of tutoring the daughter of an elite rich family the Parks, the poverty - stricken family starts a ploy to deceive their way into serving the wealthy family to escape their miserable economic situation. Whether this con works out or not, is the basic premise of the film.

Parasite critiques a society that is consumed by struggle for mobility, economic inequality and at it’s core, class conflict. Personally, what stuck with me the most, and why the film unnerves me is what Parasite has to say about Meritocracy. The ideology that those who deserve a seat at the table of economic goods and political power, are those who work the hardest and put in the most effort a.k.a merit.

We are told that any single one of us no matter which background they come from, can go up the social ladder into higher roles in society. You’re just in need of a lot of hard work, proper determination and the right investment decisions to join the elites and have a seat at the table of prosperity. Its the justification of the class dynamics of today, the most popular example being the American dream.

I questioned the danger of this belief. How can something that we preach on such a large scale, promoted by leaders and entrepreneurs all over the world, be a lie? Is it not a good thing to measure success in terms of merit and not one’s social class or upbringing, especially when throughout centuries, it has always been the opposite? However, once you observe more closely, the system is more sinister than you think and Parasite doesn’t oppose it with outright rebellion but rather with a relaxed awareness, knowing they can’t change the situation because…

Best 27 Parasite Quotes — Movies — NSF News

Persistence and the Limits of Social Mobility

Parasite wastes no time in showing the audience the gap between the Kims and the Parks. The story itself is a tale of two houses. There is the downtrodden semi basement of the Kims with narrow spaces, insects crawling about and always being disturbed by the surrounding neighbours. They are so underground that their class of people feel unnoticeable which is the condition and narrative our society prefers to maintain.

In direct contrast, the hilltop mansion of the Parks have closely guarded walls, wide spaces and access to the best infrastructure. The parents of the Kims have both recently lost their jobs and their kids cannot afford lessons. Meanwhile the dad of the Park family, Nathan Park is a wealthy businessman and their family has the luxury of hiring and going through several tutors for their children. Even in the city’s literal architecture, the interaction between the two classes is minimal and the odds of The Kims climbing up to the Parks’ level seems next to impossible.

However, why does this social climb seem so impossible in not just South Korea but anywhere? Why isn’t our merit alone enough to make it happen? Well, the answer lies in Persistence. Persistence in sociological terms refers to the endurance of social groups i.e families in terms of how much their advantanges and disadvantages are passed down throughout generations despite the changes in the members of the family or its structure.

It’s relevance in terms of talking about class is undeniable. This can be measured across metrics like health, education and so on but what most people focus on is the intergenerational earning elasticity (IGE). Essentially the whole point of this is figuring out how similar the children’s earnings is to their parents.

The statistics measured through the Great Gatsby Graph (GGC), shows countries with higher levels of persistence have higher inequality rates and cause lower social mobility, they have the highest scores on the graph such as Brazil, UK, Italy, India and the United states.

In South Korea where the film is based, the percentage of people who achieved economic mobility was just 17.6% as of 2023 marking a record low with it already having a high economic inequality percentage according to the GGC graph.

In a country with high persistent levels, the rich will have easier access to income and top class facilities showing the capacity they have to ensure their kids get the best, whereas the poor is deprived of such access especially educational facilties resulting in the child’s low rate of success in eventually residing under a better class. All of your opportunities are decided by your birth, something you have no control over.

Ironically this system of persistence restricts any chances in improving one’s life. If there’s already a preference towards those with more money in their pocket, how can one assume that equal opportunity exists for an individual’s merit being the key to success?

Now, the opportunity of tutoring the daughter of the Parks comes like a twist of fate allowing the families paths to intertwine. Slowly as the family tricks their way through false claims, forgery and blatant lies hidden behind their seemingly innocent nature, the Kims finally find their place into the Parks home. It sounds like an absolute miracle of upward mobility. However that dream comes crashing down, as the Kims face the bitter truth that they have not beat the system yet, in fact they might never even come close to it.

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Social Mobility; a red herring

Midway through the film, the twist is revealed that there is someone living in a hidden bunker under the Park’s mansion, who is the husband of the ex- maid of the Parks who got fired as a result of the Kim’s schemes. A new social class has been revealed. You’d expect the two to logically work together and even resent the Parks. Rather they look at each other as competition, degrading the Parks’ honor and mansion while ruining their access to it.

The wealthy is assumed as greater as through a meritocratic lens, where they are is a result of their smart choices and proper effort when in reality, there is no explanation as to how the Parks are wealthy yet the poor families idolise them. It’s a mindset we all share as a result of this lens. They maintain their subordination and in it’s essence the conflict between the two stems from who can be the least poor. The desperation is such that they can’t afford to care for others, just to ensure their survival.

The third family obviously serves as a hurdle to The Kims, but that is not the reason for their downfall. It is the frustration that starts to grow that the Kims will never fit in with the Parks nor earn their respect. One of the ways it is shown is through the literal physical manifestation of their smell, which is reinforced throughout the film. At first it seems as if something that could expose the Kims but it is the representation of their class identity.

“The jobs that these characters take — tutoring, housekeeping, and driving — feature a rare moment where the rich and poor are together in a very private space and so close to one another that they can smell each other. What the Parks want is to draw a line over their sophisticated world and they don’t let anyone cross it. They’re not interested in the outside world, the subway and people who might perhaps smell. They want to push everyone outside of that line and they want to remain safe behind it.’’ — An interview of Bong Joon Ho by GQ.

For the Kims to get rid of their stench, they have to literally move out of their semi basement home causing that smell. Something easier said than done. The factors are so outside of one’s control becuase of what they are born into that despite the Kims being resourceful, witty and honestly capable people who maneuver their way into the system through a detailed plan, they can never be a part of it as a result of fate. It’s the very barrier that seperates the Kims from being one of the Parks.

The thing about Parasite that leaves you uncomfortable is the lack of a villain. Every character is morally complex. The poor are not always people to sympathise with and the rich are not always people to resent in the film. Each character is shown as a product of their environment. An environment that grants privileges to one side while the other has to fend for themselves and can’t afford to care for others.

Then who is at fault of all the suffering in the film? We need a villain that gives us clarity and closure, something this film won’t give because there is a much bigger system at fault that we wish not to blame as we are all a product of that system… And that is Neoliberalism. Something we will never understand if Meritocracy is in the way.

Neoliberalism is the policy model that promotes private enterprises, free trade and the reduction of government intervention in economic activities, therefore serving as a more extreme form of capitalism. It causes the phenomenon of free market capitalism, where the market exists with barely any social or goverment interference. They own the means of production i.e land, factories, resources etc. Anything relating to the market should be in the sole control of those who own it.

By placing all control in those who own the market, these people were the only ones to recieve all the benefits, by creating a system of maximising profit over basic social welfare. Those below the market system suffer due to them not being provided essential services for survival as it is something these enterprises refuse to compensate on. This further divides the rich and the poor creating a system of exploitation and is one of the major institutions contributing to inequality in today’s world.

How did they ensure people still stayed in the system? By the constant reminder that “We individuals are the makers of our own destiny, and that if you struggle to make it, it is your personal fault, as anyone can. Anyone can pick themselves up by the bootstraps if they really wanted to”. While throughout the film, the cracks in the supposed “social mobility” is shown, the ending is what shatters any hope in these promises the system sells.

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The Ending: Breaking the illusion

By the end, the Kims have suffered a true defeat. Nathan Park was murdered by the dad of the Kims, a moment brought out of rage on realising how even at a moment of absolute chaos, he still instinctively reacts in disgust to the smell caused. A reminder that his smell will always make him who he is and how he’s viewed by those above him causing him to reach to his breaking point and finally snap.

The Kims even lose their daughter as a result of the chaos. As the surviving members of the Kims are let out on probation, the son of the Kims discovers his dad is still hiding in the bunker under the hilltop mansion. So in a moment of hope and determination, he pledges that through actual effort, he will earn a huge amount of money to ensure he can buy the house so as to reunite with his father. The film shows this sequence in action and there is a slight sliver of hope that perhaps, the son actually pulled it off. However the final shot shows, it’s still a plan existing in thought, not in reality.

The director confirms that the son’s plan might actually never come to fruition, claiming the moment was to ensure that whatever hope the audience have would diminish after the last shot. A “surefire kill”. It was also revealed that the song playing in the end credits was originally titled “564 years” a cruel estimation of the amount of time it will take for the son to save enough money to buy the house. While it seems to be for dramatic effect, there is a truth behind the statement.

Moving up the ladder from lower income to the average income, the number of years are measured in terms of generations. Massively populated, urban countries have upto 5 or 6 generations for low income families to acheive the mean income.

Even in the nordic countries with high chances of economic mobility, where even if 30% is inherited throughout the generations, it would still take a 100 years to reach the average income from a low income position. In a country like South Korea that takes 5 generations, which is above the average OECD level, 564 years really doesn’t sound that off.

Moving up the income ladder takes generations. How many depends on where you live | World Economic Forum

Parasite really hammers this down, as even when someone from the Kims status lets go of all the schemes, they still won’t come close to achieving that status. The idea of having no plan which was told to the son, serves as a harsh reminder of how one cannot expect to have aspirations or dreams due to the fact it realistically won’t pan out as you think it would. It sounds pathetic to not have a plan but it’s oddly comforting to not naively believe in hope that will give you nothing.

What first seems like a warning or an eccentric statement, becomes a reality for the Kim family. That maybe they would have been better off with no plan.

parasite (2019)

Conclusion: Can we ever truly change the system?

The class system in Parasite truly feels like gravity. An overimposing structure that does not negotiate. It truly makes you question, can we really ever change? Why is it we are so resigned with the way things are? The issue is the system is so deeply ingrained in us, our belief in merit allows inequality to thrive. Despite the Great Gatsby curve showing the more unequal a country the less meritocratic it actually is, reality shows people believe more in meritocracy in countries with higher rates of inequality.

Our society sells the idea of success stories of people who went from rags to riches, but is it really something we can apply to majority of individuals? What is being denied to the people is not the right to luxury, but the lack of opportunities to an improved livelihood for yourself and those around you. A world of merit should exist, but considering factors beyond even economic class like gender pay gap and racial injustice still exist to such a large level, can we really expect that to hold true in today’s world?

Parasite is a film that breaks the illusion and brings the audience closer to a reality we need to transform. That those in poverty regardless of their dreams can’t join the affluent class. It is more than just cinema, it’s a warning. The film chooses to show it’s tragedy not by ending in violence and chaos where it is at the height of emotion but in a dream that won’t come true. A dream we all still believe in. All I hope is we look beyond the subtitles into actually changing a system.