Once Upon a Time in South Korea

3/26/20

Hello Blog,

  Today we will be discussing the results of the 2020 Oscar´s. More importantly, we will be discussing the outcome of the ¨Best Picture¨ category. Spoiler alert, this year's winner was Parasite directed by Bong Joon- ho. Joon-hoś Parasite tells the story of the poor Kim family infiltrating an upper class home in South Korea in order to make money. When Kevin Kim (Choi Woo-shik) is called to tutor for the wealthy Park family, he tricks them unknowingly into hiring his unqualified sister Jessica (Park So-dam) as an Art Therapist. They then create an elaborate plan to get the Park families driver and housekeeper fired to have their own parents take their place. After infiltrating the household the Kim family discovers that a man has been living below the house for many years without the Park family's knowledge. This movie was more than deserving of the win but there were others nominated for the category that gave Parasite a run for its money. 

One of those films is Quentin Tarantino´s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarentino takes the audience through the life of Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicaprio), a washed up 50´s Western Tv star and his best friend stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) coping with the new 1969 Hollywood that doesnt recognize or have any big work for them. At the same time, the newly famous film director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) and wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) move in next door. This shows Dalton and Booth are not only forgotten but not considered to be ¨Hollywood¨ any longer. It explores the issues of fame, mental health and social classes all while being an upbeat chaotic film. 

While the films plots are about very different things, both do a very good job at comparing the social classes of each time and setting. In Parasite, the extreme difference in social classes is shown through drivers and housekeepers working as hard as they can for the Parks, left underappreciated. They can be fired on a whim. It did not matter how long the housekeeper had worked there, Mrs.Park (Cho Yeo-jeong) still let her go after thinking she was sick rather than helping her to get medical attention. This movie goes further to show the selfishness of the upper class when Jessica is stabbed at the party and the Park family only cares about getting their son to the hospital for non life threatening injuries. This is a good representation of life in South Korea today and Joon-ho really gives the lower classes some recognition and something almost like a voice by exploiting their struggles to the world going even further to make this movie better.

In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, there are similar issues shown. While Cliff Booth is Rick Dalton's stunt double and best friend, he still works underneath him. Quenten does a very good job showing contrast between Rick´s Hollywood Hills mansion and luxurious car, and Cliffs dirt parked trailer and run down loud car. However, even Rick´s mansion is still inferior to his new neighbour Roman Polanski´s gated household. Quenten makes it a priority to emphasize that Rick, while still relatively famous, is starting to become washed up. It goes to show that there is always someone new and above you in the fast changing Hollywood, while in South Korea, the rich stay rich and the poor are stuck under them for life. Bong Joon Ho and Quenten Tarentino made it important to emphasize that the poor live under the rich and once you are at the bottom it is hard to rise up. However, Parasite depicts it better and stronger by showing a more accurate situation. 

While in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood´s Sharon Tate has it all from her hollywood hills mansion to her million dollar husband, she still understands the struggles of those living in social classes below her. For example, she decides to give a homeless hippie girl she doesn't even know a ride and is happy to do so while being polite at the same time. Sharon is more connected to the society around her and doesnt cringe at the sight of Los Angeles´ dirty homeless population. She shows an understanding that poor people are still people which works for the film but is a slightly less accurate way of depicting real life. Parasites Mrs.Park shows a more realistic gap between the social classes making the movie more important in a political way and more engaging to a wide array of audiences. Instead of helping out those below her, she has Mr.Kim her chauffeur drive her around for low pay and has the audacity to complain about him smelling. She has everyone else do the dirty work for her as she doesn´t lift a finger. Even the way the Kims struggle to get food is shown better. Cliff may be wealthy, but still has the kindness of Dalton to offer him food and drinks. The kims are shown no kindness from the Parks and scrounge to feed themselves and buy beer.

It also has a plot that is both suspenseful and interesting. Joon-ho keeps the audience engaged constantly with no dull moments unlike Once. Tarentino has an engaging plot but it is all over the place. The movie is quite difficult for younger viewers not familiar with 60´s culture and the Manson Murders to follow along and comprehend. Throughout Parasite, there is an engaging mysterious tone regarding all characters while as in Once, the most mysterious tone may be whether or not Cliff killed his wife. However, Once has a wow factor that is the excitement and rush of the 60's culture that Parasite lacks. One of the most interesting things seen throughout the movie is that Quenten uses the live radio station in cars and elsewhere to represent the passing of time and that these characters were live, living in the moment. The soundtrack for Once was definitely superior and more exciting to that of Parasite. However, Parasite's suspenseful bland soundtrack worked well to move the story along keeping a mysterious tone for the viewers.  

All in all, Parasite was the superior film and deserved to win. This film not only addressed important social and political issues, but kept an engaging and entertaining plot beginning to end. Personally, I loved the dark, bland lighting throughout the film contributing very well to the overall feel of the movie. Joon-ho did a tremendously good job directing this film and giving representation to the poor people of South Korea.