SPOILERS are forward for Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, now streaming with a Netflix subscription. Critically, watch it earlier than you learn any additional.
I’ll always remember the primary time I watched Parasite. Upon listening to all of the award buzz about it, previous to it making historical past as the 2020 Greatest Image winner, I caught a screening at a small movie show. I had no thought I used to be about to observe probably the greatest films I’ve ever seen. However, not not like the film’s iconic home having many flooring to find, there are a number of particulars to search for throughout rewatches, and once I not too long ago went again to it, I seen one thing new I wish to speak about.
I Observed The Symbolism Of The Scholar’s Rock A Lot Extra After I Rewatched Parasite This Time
The film joined 2025 Netflix releases earlier this yr, however after it made the highest of NY Instances’ best movies of the twenty first century, I lastly made time to revisit it. This time my eyes inherently gravitated loads to deciphering the that means behind the big Scholar’s Rock the Kim’s get at first of the film.
Whereas I undoubtedly caught on that the rock was a logo for the standing of wealth the Kim’s want to get hold of, I had missed some extra refined hints and deeper meanings earlier than. This time I seen that when the flood occurs within the Kim residence, Ki-woo discovers the Scholar’s Rock. I can’t consider I didn’t give it some thought earlier than, but when the rock was a real article, it might have sunk proper to the underside. The Scholar’s Rock represents the Kims as a household, and whereas they could attempt to idiot the Parks with their masterful plan of changing into their alternative workers, they in the end can’t deny their composition as folks of a a lot decrease socioeconomic class than the Parks.
Now I notice the rock straight connects with the road the place Mr. Kim is saying wealthy folks have “no creases on them.” It characteristically has tough edges. Plus, the top of the film, when Ki-woo locations the rock in a physique of water whereas sharing his needs to make cash and rescue his father from the basement of the Park residence, the place he in the end finally ends up, holds a complete new that means to me. Rocks can get smoothed out by weathering over time. So, the rock going within the water follows the journey of Ki-woo attempting to easy out his family’s legacy, reasonably than stay tough and greedy tight to it for pricey life.
Then, I Did A Dive Into Bong Joon-Ho’s Intentions With The Rock As Effectively
In fact, I needed to look into the precise intentions behind the rock in Parasite. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bong Joon-ho stated the next:
I noticed it as representing all of the heavy stress Ki-woo was feeling to handle his household and discover a strategy to get forward, [but as production began] I began to suppose possibly it represented the household’s want for a shortcut, as a result of they begin utilizing fraud to attempt to bounce as much as a better [socioeconomic] degree.
It’s fascinating that Ki-woo holds it all through the film, and I can undoubtedly see the way it symbolizes the burden he feels to maintain his household afloat by carrying a literal rock. He additionally stated this:
Primarily, I feel it represents this want within the coronary heart of Ki-woo not to surrender on the concept that he can grow to be the form of man who can discover a strategy to give his household a greater life… All it finally ends up doing for Ki-woo is bashing his cranium in.
That brings up one other ingredient of the rock I didn’t fairly course of the final couple of instances. The one cause Ki-woo survived getting hit by the rock is as a result of it’s the form of rock that may float. I watch so many films the place characters survive unattainable circumstances, this didn’t even daybreak on me earlier than, however I used to be proverbially bruised by this new layer of Parasite this time round. I am unable to wait to observe once more in a couple of years, and catch no matter different particulars are within the film I have not seen but.