Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had been raised in Korea. While watching Parasite, I felt fortunate to be born in America. The film starkly depicts the class divide between the rich and the poor, often by literally placing them on different floors of a house. The result is bleak.
Perhaps that is why many of our parents immigrated from their home countries. They wanted to escape the cycle of poverty and rigid class systems that made it almost impossible to have a better life. They heard of the beautiful land —미국, 美國, America — a place where dreams became a reality.
But life in America was just as hard, or perhaps even harder in some ways. Many first-generation immigrants took blue-collar jobs because of the language barrier or their overseas degrees and licenses were not good enough. We all have family or family friends who suffered bankruptcies, divorces, and even untimely death. But some of them reasoned, “It will be worth it because the next generation will climb the social ladder and become successful.”
And yet, we children of immigrants know that isn’t true either. Although we might not be trapped in rigid hierarchies, we still see plenty that limit us from having a level playing field in our homeland. We hear stories of the “bamboo ceiling” in the corporate world. Comedians continue to make racist comments about Asians (see: Louis C.K. and Shane Gillis).
After the election in 2016, many of us felt acutely that we were not from here, with cries of “go back to your country” ringing in our ears. We are keenly aware that some rooms are not made for us Asian Americans, that there are some hallways and stairwells that seem off-limits. Even though the world of Parasite is distant, the feeling of familiarity permeates.
Parasite offers no solution to this problem of social divide. There is no hero nor a deus ex machina that saves the day. In fact, there is no god at all. The only mention of religion is in an early scene in which the poor Kim family is assembling pizza boxes for megachurch’s order. (The pizza boxes end up being poorly made and even smell because they were covered in fumigation chemicals.)
Not only is the church absent from the lives of both the rich and the poor, there seems to be no morals or goodness at all. Even offers of help are actually cons in disguise. People scramble to survive and are willing to push others down to hold onto what little they have.
But we understand the motivations of everyone in this film — both the rich and the poor. We too want to be successful and enter the upper echelons, or at least fight to preserve what little we have gained. We grow calloused to the needs of those around us, taking what we need (or think we deserve) and leaving none for others. Perhaps we are all parasites, scurrying about in darkness, fighting one another for scraps, pushing one another down to protect our advantages. We become Darwinian because outsmarting one another to survive is the only thing that makes sense when everyone else is doing it too.
Because who would want to be poor? Who would want the smell of mildew, poverty, and failure to follow them wherever they go?
And yet, is that not what the Savior did for us? Jesus saw us in our wretched, debased state, covered in the rot and stink of our sins. And instead of pinching his nose and keeping us at arm’s length, he stepped down from the heights of heaven and lived among us basement-dwellers.
What is more, Jesus does not simply give us clean clothes and walk away, having done his moral good deed. He exchanges his white robes for our filthy rags. He gave us his favored status so that we might be called sons and daughters of God. He chose to be cast out of God’s presence so that we might ascend into the highest heaven, to the place of ultimate privilege.
It is a sacrifice that doesn’t make sense. In fact, in the world’s view, it’s utterly foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18). “You’ll be duped,” they cry. “You’ll be taken advantage of, or never see any gratefulness.” And yet, Jesus did this.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
For those of us who have received this miraculous adoption and incomprehensible inheritance, Christ offers a new paradigm in which we can escape these hierarchies and the desire for more. Instead of fighting for a place in the vertical structure of Parasite, Jesus invites us to imitate him and have a place in His upside-down kingdom. We are called to love God, to love one another, to forgive, to be humble, to seek holiness, and to follow him.
For those who have seen our own wretchedness, tasted His goodness, and claim Jesus as King, are we still trapped in the hamster wheel of chasing success? Do we seek families, houses, and jobs more than we seek His Kingdom?
Are we leeching off God’s grace? Or are we using the gifts, blessings, and privilege that he has given to help others?
Are we sacrificial in loving others, knowing that God has given us eternal life? Or are we hoarders, building storehouses here on earth, wanting our own time, our own lives, our own money to spend and use as we wish?
Director Bong Joon-Ho adeptly shows the flaws in these two families, shining light into the dark places of their hearts. The Gospel does the same for us. We see the sin, the greed, and the covetousness in ours — when there should be nothing on this earth for us to desire. As the song goes, “There is no more for heaven now to give.” We have Jesus.
No matter where we live, whether it is in the countries our parents are from or the place we live now, there will always be temptations to climb that social ladder. It is easy to be obsessed with the rat race of work and keeping up with the Jones’ or the Park’s. But let us not be parasites, fighting and consuming and destroying. Let us be like the lamb, who sacrificed himself for the world, knowing we are fully accepted in our heavenly home.