116. Widening inequality & Korean film 'Parasite'

The Oscars were never viewed as an international film festival because they are very local. The jury has historically made conservative choices when awarding Oscars, with white filmmakers often focusing on stories about white characters. 

But in 2020, the Oscars became truly representative of world cinema, although an ulterior motive could not be ruled out, as the Miss World selectors had suddenly become brown-skin lovers two decades ago to capture Asia's largest middle-class population. 

Bong Joon Ho's Parasite is a genre-defying film about class struggle that won the Academy Award for best picture and best director in 2020. This was the first foreign-language film to win the top Oscar. 

Parasite also won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe for best foreign film. The film illustrates how the growing divide between the rich and the poor in advanced capitalist societies leads to blind hatred and crime.

The film has a universal appeal. That was the reason why, as soon as Parasite hit the screens, it resonated with South Koreans. 

The director has used a masterful blend of comedy, satire, and violence to depict one of the country's most pressing social and political issues: widening income inequality. 

The story highlights the despair caused by income inequality, making the film accessible in any language. 

In fact, audiences don't need words to understand the scene. People worldwide can relate to the polarization it portrays. 

The film addresses many of the struggles a poor family must face anywhere in the world. 

It even depicts exorbitant housing prices the poor encounter in the country's congested capital, Seoul — a story common in most major cities worldwide. 

In the movie, a poor family living in a cramped semi-basement uses deception to get jobs from and exploit a wealthy family in Seoul. In a sense, the family is living like parasites. 

Again, many families live in the major cities worldwide like this. 

Parasite shows that a story about the struggles of ordinary South Koreans can resonate globally because of the inequalities affecting numerous societies.

There is a deepening sense of fatalism among the have-nots about their inability to climb the social ladder, which shows itself in rising crime. A current simmering in the country fuels this response.

Around the same time, the gap between the haves and have-nots was discussed across all platforms in Seoul. 

It was a hot topic because it involved a minister-not just any minister, but the justice minister, a man who was at a very high pedestal before the news broke out. 

He was also the presidential secretary and a favorite to succeed Mr. Moon. The scandal was known as Gold Spoon and Dirt Spoon. 

The minister was accused of using his influence to help his children gain admission to prestigious colleges. 

The public uproar was so high-pitched that the minister Cho Kuk had to resign. Before becoming minister, Cho was paraded by the media as a leading advocate of equal opportunities.

At the center of the controversy was a medical research paper published in the Korean Journal of Pathology in 2009, authored by a team of university researchers and led by Cho Min, the daughter of Cho Kuk. 

This paper later helped Cho Min gain admission to the prestigious Korea University in Seoul in 2010. 

A newspaper reported that the daughter's accomplishment came after only a two-week internship with the team while she was still in high school.

Like in India, "gold spoon" children of the elite always glide to get whatever they wish, leaving their "dirt spoon" peers to struggle. 

Similarly, in South Korea, salaries and job titles are directly connected to the university one has attended. 

As a result, powerful and influential families often resort to dubious tactics to get their children into the best universities.

The film reminds us that the powers that may be should not forget that Millennials, anywhere in the world, consider fairness the most important value. 

Parasite had attracted huge audiences by fictionalizing the divide between the gold-spoon children and their dirt-spoon peers.

Watch it if you get a chance.