THE THEME THAT TIES ‘US’ TO ‘PARASITE’

In the span of just a little under one year, two significant and powerful films hit the big screen and shattered the already-high expectations from their respective visionaries. 

“Us,” written and directed by acclaimed “Get Out” crafter Jordan Peele, and “Parasite,” co-written and directed by accomplished South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho, each delivered their respective thriller-mysteries with an intricate eye for subtext and symbolism.

But these works’ similarities run even deeper together, meeting at the very core of their central ideas.

It is no secret that both films comment on the broader idea of class – how the lines are divided between people, what consequences are felt between these separated people, etc. And, indeed, both movies do so eloquently.

It would be a mistake to leave the analysis there.

Us, unlike its spiritual predecessor, Get Out, doesn’t focus so intently on the idea of racial class alone. Though it is, of course, a theme, racial tension doesn’t dictate the central conflict of the narrative. For that matter, economic class doesn’t necessarily specifically dictate it, either, though this is a common interpretation. The strife endured by its characters (both antagonists and protagonists) is one that was imposed by a careless line drawn in the sand: The creation of an identical set of people forced to quietly live below the surface, cursed to imitate those above ground as best they can should they remain underneath – the closest thing to happiness they can hope to achieve. And an idea applicable to all identifiable class struggles, not just one or two.

Parasite uses this metaphorical concept of ascending and descending and continues it even further on another path. Just as in Us, it represents this notion directly in the lower-leveled living spaces of the impoverished and the higher-leveled abodes of the wealthy. The primary family through which we experience the story must literally rise to meet their much more well-off employers, while knowing they will have to return back downward to their basement-apartment at the end of the work day. 

And just like Us, Parasite reminds us that the secrets that hide in the lowest levels of the fortunates’ domain can prove to be the most frightening of them all. Both films feature class warfare as a key storytelling element, and emphasize it as just one of the eventual possible repercussions sure to arise when the oppressed grow far too frustrated to be ignored any further.

However, a key difference between the films should be obvious by now: While Us attempts to be more universal in its symbolism, Parasite does the opposite, choosing to instead focus in on, and delve deeply into, the consequences of economic class in particular.

But the two works’ distinctions only serve to highlight each as its own, unique analysis born from a uniting observation of the era in which we currently exist. And the class struggles felt throughout history.