“Parasite”: Bong Joon-ho tells how he was inspired by his own life to create the film

“Parasite”, the film directed by South Korean Bong Joon-ho, won the Oscar for best film in 2020, telling the story of two families of very different social classes. Poor family members begin to infiltrate the rich family, focusing on the interactions between them and the consequences of this encounter.

Now, in an interview with The Hollywood reporter, Bong Joon-ho revealed a moment in his life that inspired the premise of the film. No, he didn’t live hiding in anyone’s house, nor did the reverse, but the moment is quite relevant to the story of the film.

Bong Joon-ho said that when he was 20, he got a job as a tutor for a boy from a wealthy family in Seoul, South Korea.

The boy lived in a mansion that bore many contrasts with Bong’s life at the time, whose family did not live in a comfortable situation. He got the job thanks to the recommendation of his girlfriend (who is now his wife), who worked as an English tutor for the same boy.

“They wanted another math teacher, so he introduced me as a trusted friend, even though I was really bad at math,” Bong Joon-ho explained to THR. “That’s how it works with these jobs. It’s not like they run a lot of ads looking for domestic help – you get introduced.

This passage in the director’s story will surely sound familiar to those who have seen “Parasite”. After all, that’s exactly how the lives of the two families in the story ended up colliding. Despite living in distant economic situations – and worlds – Kim Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik), a young man in his twenties, finds work as an English tutor for the daughter of a wealthy family.

From there, all of Kim’s family, one by one, enter the villa with different roles, but pretending not to know each other. “This idea of ​​a poor family infiltrating the life of a rich woman is where I dug deeper,” said Bong Joon-ho.

He added that while many critics have interpreted the film as a fierce critique of capitalism and income inequality, his intellectual ideas for the project came much later in his process. “It was more like putting these characters together in a very controlled environment and then watching the chemical reactions unfold,” explained the director.

“Parasite” was the first South Korean film to be nominated for an Oscar and also to win the award. The film won four statuettes at major film awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film.

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Source: Olhar Digital

Emily

Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.