Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” has won the Palme d ‘Or at the Cannes film festival, since then, the film Parasite has become the focus of intense discussion. The film points out the problem of the solidification of Korean social class in black humour, however, different from the other similar films, Parasite does not present the idea of social class solidification in the form of critiquing or condemning. Instead, characters and their behaviours are not defined rigidly. Such vague feeling makes the film closer to life and leaves the spectators space for subjective interpretation.

I would like to talk about Parasite in relation to psychoanalysis, affective and tactile theory. I will include some film theory from Christian Mez, to know more you can visit https://literariness.org/2018/03/20/key-theories-of-christian-metz/

   In Metz’s psychoanalysis, he mainly discusses the idea of mirror effect, identification, voyeurism, fetish and disavows. Spectators will experience the process of identifying themselves in the first stage and identifying with the camera and characters in the second stage. We are unconsciously aware that the film is not the substitution of reality but a signifier, however, it is the disavow of knowledge that helps us immersed in the film. Voyeurism is also one of the significant elements that contribute on creating pleasure in spectatorship. Marks promotes the ideology of affective analysis and tactile epistemology, which she promotes a thinking process that is initially triggered by affects and perceptions and theories are ultimately shaped upon the foundation of affects and perceptions. She also reinforces the benefit of tactile visuality in cinema, that tactile visuality realizes the transformation of sensation from visual to tactile and hence enhance the viewing experience.

The first selected scene reveals the first conflict climax between the Kim family and Moon-gwang couple. After the Park family went on camping, the Kim family became the master of the luxury house. By the arrival of Moon-gwang, the Kim family accidentally found Moon-gwang’s husband secretly living in the basement of the house for years. After Kim fell off from the stair, Moon-gwang suddenly identifies their identity and switched her attitude from humble and praying to threaten the Kim family, a fierce confrontation ensued.

    A long shot of the house view stands out from the entire scene because it gives an overview of the fight between two families. In Metz’s psychoanalysis, he might see this scene as a typical example of voyeurism. Such a point of view could be the view of a neighbour or a person who passes by the house, seeing the two families fighting through the window. The distance between the house and the camera point of view creates a sense of “peeking”, that Metz might find it pleasurable identifying himself as the neighbour or the third party who is hiding in the bushes outside the house. Speaking of frame composition, the house is composed in the center of the darkness which reinforces the sense of voyeurism in terms of Baudry’s ideology of film apparatus. At the moment of seeing this scene, the unconscious behaviour such as squinting eyes, feeling cold in the backs, clenching fists are categorized as the possibility of scopophilia. However, the idea of voyeurism has not yet defined, but the effect and percept of it.

   Following on is the intense fight scene for Metz, the sense of intense might be eased by melodious background music, in which Baudry and Metz’s ideology, film apparatus has a considerable impact on the spectator’s response to the image on the screen.

   In the following shot, Ki-Jung ran towards the fridge and grab a bag of peach. Metz might argue that as Ki-Jung turns back and begun running towards the fridge, the spectators are endowed with an all perceiving point of view because we know that she is going to attack the Moon-gwang with the peach since we know Moon-gwang is allergic to peach. Metz’s feeling of tension appears as he identifies himself with any of the characters who are fighting the Parks family’s house. At the moment, the six people in the house are in great fear of being discovered by Ms. Park when the phone ring.

   The second selected scene reveals the climax of the entire film. Because of the rain yesterday, the Park family’s camping was cancelled. Ms. Park then decided to hold a birthday party for Da-song at home today. Comparatively, the Kim family is the victim of the rain that they spent the night in a gym because their basement house was soaked in sewage. They had to take cloth from the relief supply in order to attend the birthday party. Mr. Kim was then asked to drive Ms. Park to the grocery store. In the car, Ms. Park unconsciously covered her nose because of the smell of Mr. Kim. In this specific shot of Mr. Park covering her nose, Metz might regard the smell as a signifier in film, that the smell from Mr. Kim is not necessarily representing only the sensational smell but implicating the smell of poverty. Such behavior can be interpreted as the sarcasm of the rich against the poor. However, Marks will find a sensational resonance with Ms. Park as she covers her nose, such visuality will stimulate the sense of smell, that Marks might start to imagine the smell of Mr. Kim. Following on, she will refer to the memory of various kinds of smell and define the smell with that objective memory.

   The next intensive shot is the fighting between Ki-woo and Moon-gwang’s husband. Ki-woo took the rock and intended to kill Moon-gwang’s husband because he believed it is the only way that can extend their parasitic life. After an intensive fight, Ki-woo is almost hit to death by Moon-gwang’s husband with the rock. In this shot, Metz would see the rock as a signifier of the desire to come across the poor social class. Throughout the film, Ki-woo regards the rock as a lucky rock that can bring fortune and change the fate of the Kim family, he was even holding the rock as he had to take refuge in the gym. For Marks, such a brutal scene might be a strong affective shock to Marks at the first moment. However, Marks might later find out that such affect was arisen by the critique of the poor killing each other and the ironic contrast with the comfortable lives of the rich.

  Moon-gwang’s husband walked out of the basement with a bloody face, took a knife from the kitchen and walked toward the crowd outside. People didn’t notice him at first, but he quickened his pace and rushed into the middle of the crowd and stabbed Ki-jung in the heart. In this shot, Metz might find himself lost in identifying himself in the film and have a risk of losing his immersion in film. It is challenging to identify himself with Moon-gwang’s husband firstly because there is a lack of words from Moon-gwang’s husband as to comprehend the inner activity of Moon-gwang’s husband, instead, he is showing a state of mental disorder through his eyes and behaviors. Secondly, it is difficult to psychologically resonant with a person who lives in a parasitic life for years in a basement. Marks might find herself sympathizing both Ki-woo and Moon-gwang that both of them are the poor who struggle to live in the bottom of the society, but choose to abandon their dignity and killing each other for a parasitic life in a rich family.

    Mr. Kim kneeled down on the ground pressing the wound for Ki-jung, Ms. Kim was fighting with Moon-gwang, the other guests were in chaos. The entire scene is represented in slow motion. Such slow motion might give Marks a sense of chocking, which is possibly caused by her identification with Ki-jung. In the chaos, Mr. Park asked Mr. Kim to drive Da-song to the hospital in an almost commanding manner, Mr. Kim threw the car key to him but the key accidentally slipped under the body of Moon-gwang’s husband. Again, Mr. Park unconsciously frowned and covered his nose as he approached Moon-gwang’s husband to get the keys. At this moment, Metz and Marks meet their consensus that both of them successfully identify themselves with Mr. Kim by recognizing the act of covering the nose as the signifier and the smell that has been mentioned throughout the film. By identifying themselves with Mr. Kim, they understand that the loss of dignity ultimately provokes Mr. Kim and leads him to kill Mr. Park.