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A Marxist Analysis of Class Consciousness in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite

Abstract

The very term ‘class’ has been a key element in the establishment of society. By the turn of nineteenth century, the philosophical treatises of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels went on to shape the psyche of the age, an age where a division rested on two broad spectrum of polar opposition: the capitalist class and the working class. The capitalist (dominant) class controlled and exerted their power of hegemony on the working (submissive) class to reap the profits and benefits sown by them. Such a notion can be seen in the play of power and exploitation in the film Parasite. The film, Parasite (2019) by Bong Joon-ho is structured around a contrast between two families, the Parks who represent the capitalists, surviving on the labour carried out by the Kim family who are indicative of the working class, and this working class rises up to challenge such established convictions by infiltrating into their homes and disguising their identities.

The film is a stark satire on the inequality and abuse of power that remains etched in the fabric of society. By employing Marxist theory of class consciousness, the paper tries to focus on the disparities that lie between the capitalist and the working class as aptly seen in the Parasite.

Shatabdi Mishra*

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