posted on June 26, 2020 02:18 AM by
u/psychothumbs
104
u/jaherafi86 pointsat 1593138275.000000
It’s incredibly ironic, and telling, how many rich people or
libertarians have watched Parasite and either not noticed it’s about
them or, if they have a little more introspection than that, sat
confused for a while, pondered, and ended up at “Oh, I get it! It’s a
movie about poor people being ungrateful!”
Or they could just be doing the [strawman has a point](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StrawmanHasAPoint) shtick to provoke you.
Not everyone who disagrees with a thing doesn't understand the thing.
i think it's more that *Parasite* didn't make straw characters, every character is sympathetic and flawed. It's like instead of hammering you over the head with a brick of a message (like *Snowpiercer*), it just holds a mirror to the world and people see what they already see. that's my take anyway
Elysium is one of the most effective anti-immigration movies ever
made.
What…
E: unrelated to this post, but slightly related to just not getting
it. Here
is scott sliding from not understanding basic social just concepts
into conspiracy theories. How can you, after years of talking about it,
still not get that ‘race science concept of race’ != ‘social construct
of race’. I didnt expect him to go, ‘gotcha, so you think race science
isnt real? Well that proves discrimination doesnt exist’. I dont get how
he can even say this, we just had the issue of Hsu and people not
trusting him to be non biassed, i really hope scott isnt in a position
to evaluate work of minorities in cs. Nice
relevant cartoon (Ps i edited this after i got all the upvotes,
sorry about that, but already have too many posts in this sub, and I
didn’t want to push capitaladequacy post down.)
“I’ve never seen a Bong Joon-Ho movie before and only barely saw this
one.”
And if his films weren’t obvious, it’s public record that Joon-Ho
used to be a member of the socialist New Progressive Party, which has
since dissolved. While more soft left than hard, his lefty credentials
are undeniable.
Snowpiercer was about how some moron proles ruined the greatest train ever created. Moral of the lesson was to [be a shoe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGnmjc_sfqY) and eat your protein bars.
>[Yes, I too was puzzled by the progressive response, but know that the director has made statements largely endorsing the progressive interpretation. It’s possible that it is an intentionally subversive act. Snowpiercer also was superficially about class exploitation but a more Randian reading matches the facts presented.](https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/the-gaslighting-of-parasite.html#blog-comment-160107246)
> The left wing ideology of the film wants to ignore the fact that the lowest person in the tail compartments is still better off than the 7 billion dead outside the train.
Wilford was an /r/neoliberal poster.
God *damn* lmao
Telling how a totalitarian fascist society whos upper management is completely bonkers, and where the castes literally don't care who you are -> randian
Now I want to make a trollish post arguing that to 'progressives' Sauron should be the good guy of lord of the rings. (Also neoreactionaries have already noticed in the past, lord of the rings does have a weird ubermensch/monarchist undertones, with Aragorn literally being 90 years old, ruling for 120 years after the books, and with his divine right to rule).
I can recommend *The Last Ringbearer*
>The shining tower of the Barad-dûr citadel rose over the plains of Mordor almost as high as Orodruin like a monument to Man – free Man who had politely but firmly declined the guardianship of the Dwellers on High and started living by his own reason. It was a challenge to the bone-headed aggressive West, which was still picking lice in its log ‘castles’ to the monotonous chanting of scalds extolling the wonders of never-existing Númenor.
[Wait... you didn't just make that up...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer) wow. And of course no english translation due to copyright bs.
Maybe no official english translation... but I'm pretty sure I've found an english translation before... Tv Tropes comes through, found a link to a translation: https://ymarkov.livejournal.com/280578.html
To be honest the first time I read it, I was disappointed because I was expecting a fanfic that kept most of the details of the setting but reinterpreted a few details. Instead, it's more like the Last Ringbearer reworks the entire setting by treating The Lord of the Rings as a myth invented after the fact (with the Last Ringbearer as a story from the actual events). In light of posters on themotte complaining about the founding myth of our nation being destroyed by statues being torn down and the death of civic religion, I think I appreciate The Last Ringbearer a lot more.
You and u/WT_Dore might like this https://tentoinfinity.com/2014/08/08/senator-bilbo-by-andy-duncan/ in a weird coincidence Arthur Chu brought this up.
"What if Bilbo Baggins had been the ancestor of the U.S. Senator Theodore Bilbo, segregationist and member of the Ku Klux Klan?"
*The Host* depicts Antifa violence via molotov cocktails against chemo-industrial biodiversity, a searing critique of eco-fascism and a justification of US military waste management. Fuck, that was hard to bullshit.
damn the daughter is hot must not be so bad, eh?
and now that I think about it, kang-ho song is zaddy, a total hot dime piece, this family is practically rolling in it.
and they're supposed to be "destitute"
> Are the poor family destitute? Not really. The son is handsome, he knows English well and he has an exceptional psychological sense which he uses to teach his student and his father; the daughter is gorgeous and skilled with computers. The mother was a champion athlete, the father is intelligent enough. It’s obvious that this family has everything needed for success. Moreover, the family isn’t discriminated against–they aren’t African-American in the 1950s south, they aren’t Dalits, they aren’t even North Koreans. So why aren’t they successful? One reason is because they aren’t willing to do an honest days work for an honest day’s pay. They fail utterly at folding pizza boxes–not because they are stressed or because the job is difficult–but because they are lazy and don’t give a damn. The film also shows that it is other hard-working, honest-people who are harmed by their laziness (not some evil pizza corporation). The fact that the kids are gorgeous, by the way, is important. The director Bong Joon-ho (and writer Han Jin-won) are telling us to look below the superficial. Note that everything the poor family gets they get by lying and stealing–they are grifters. The son even steals his best friend’s girlfriend–whom he doesn’t even especially like. To exploit her further, he steals her diary.
> The son even steals his best friend’s girlfriend–
calling her a girlfriend seems a bit dodgy lol
because as I recall the best friend didn't actually want to date her until he got back from going abroad and she actually got to college, aaand she's in highschool
It continues to surprise me how often "A Christmas Carol" comes to mind with respect to my views on the relation between the individual and society. Every Christmastime, I end up quoting it in someway. Mankind was my business!
But mostly I lean into an ironic Malthusian miser because it's fun and ridiculous.
“Indeed, in the entire film the rich family does nothing wrong
whatsoever. This is not my judgement it is what the film tells us. The
rich family pay their employees generously (the film goes out of its way
to note that they pay overtime), the work is not especially hard
(English tutor, art therapist, chauffeur, cook and cleaner), and the
employees are treated with respect.”
did this guy just read the Wikipedia summary or something
> This is not my judgement it is what the film tells us.
when these bros try to lay out their method of "objective" film criticism is crunches my nuts so hard
These dang leftists, projecting their stupid obsession with class
conflict onto this pristine canvas from Korea, where no such silly thing
could have ever taken place. Am I right fellas? Can someone check with
them Koreans if I’m right? I’m pretty sure I’m right.
I will say that a lot of the reception in America to Parasite was
reductive, but if you’re going to be so sure that your reading is the
correct and authorially intended one you might want to read what the
director has said about it.
What a terrible surface level reading. Part of what makes the movie
good in my opinion is how the poor family isn’t “good” but still deserve
better. This person is just perpetuating the attitude that poor people
are all morally righteous, while the movie demonstrates that no, poverty
creates desperatation and can even corrupt. The rich family, on the
other hand, do not behave in some evil way, but they are still clearly
the villains by the immorality of their wealth.
exactly, if they'd made the rich family cartoon villians and the poor family saints, it would have been a worse movie as well as lessening the message (because they you could just say, but clearly not all poor people are saints and vice versa). A fair price to pay for utter boneheads like this wilfully misinterpreting it
I think the point of the polar bear was to say that the world was healing in some way. If there are polar bears, there's a whole food chain/ecosystem sustaining it. The point was that it was becoming livable.
Fair. I mean, you'd think if there were any doubts which way that movie was trying to lean, the engineer integrating children into the workings of the engine would have cleared it up. But I imagine there's a decent number of people who were just like "job creation, nice."
slightly old post but i'm just struck how we both independently decided on the word 'bonehead' for this guy, despite how i basically never use it normally. Clearly the appropiate choice
Awww spoiled rich boy and his friends laughing at poor people cuz he
got all the latest Iphones, sports cars, mansions, luxury cars, Gucci,
golden toilet papers and all that expensive useless shit that poor
people don’t. You’re nothing without your rich parents and you won’t
have the shit you have today. Bro why not get your rich, lazy ass back
to your golden basement and go cry to your rich father or mother and
tell them to pay the police to arrest us cuz we make fun of you. You’re
poor without your rich bodyguards too. 😂😂😂😂
It’s incredibly ironic, and telling, how many rich people or libertarians have watched Parasite and either not noticed it’s about them or, if they have a little more introspection than that, sat confused for a while, pondered, and ended up at “Oh, I get it! It’s a movie about poor people being ungrateful!”
From the comments
What…
E: unrelated to this post, but slightly related to just not getting it. Here is scott sliding from not understanding basic social just concepts into conspiracy theories. How can you, after years of talking about it, still not get that ‘race science concept of race’ != ‘social construct of race’. I didnt expect him to go, ‘gotcha, so you think race science isnt real? Well that proves discrimination doesnt exist’. I dont get how he can even say this, we just had the issue of Hsu and people not trusting him to be non biassed, i really hope scott isnt in a position to evaluate work of minorities in cs. Nice relevant cartoon (Ps i edited this after i got all the upvotes, sorry about that, but already have too many posts in this sub, and I didn’t want to push capitaladequacy post down.)
“I’ve never seen a Bong Joon-Ho movie before and only barely saw this one.”
And if his films weren’t obvious, it’s public record that Joon-Ho used to be a member of the socialist New Progressive Party, which has since dissolved. While more soft left than hard, his lefty credentials are undeniable.
Just the certainty with which he declares film analysis as right or wrong must be the most “rationalist” thing I’ve ever read.
edit: spelling
“please help, my family is starving”
“mmmm, idk, you’re kinda a hottie, so you can’t be doing that bad?”
Best take since “Scrooge was the good guy.”
“Indeed, in the entire film the rich family does nothing wrong whatsoever. This is not my judgement it is what the film tells us. The rich family pay their employees generously (the film goes out of its way to note that they pay overtime), the work is not especially hard (English tutor, art therapist, chauffeur, cook and cleaner), and the employees are treated with respect.”
did this guy just read the Wikipedia summary or something
These dang leftists, projecting their stupid obsession with class conflict onto this pristine canvas from Korea, where no such silly thing could have ever taken place. Am I right fellas? Can someone check with them Koreans if I’m right? I’m pretty sure I’m right.
I wonder how many starry-eyed libertarian teens assumed the fantasy sequence at the end was real
I will say that a lot of the reception in America to Parasite was reductive, but if you’re going to be so sure that your reading is the correct and authorially intended one you might want to read what the director has said about it.
It is amazing how you can write an entire review of intent behind the movie without once checking Bong Joon-Ho’s Wikipedia page
Oh god, he was so terribly convinced in every sentence that I really questioned my memory od the movie for a second.
What a terrible surface level reading. Part of what makes the movie good in my opinion is how the poor family isn’t “good” but still deserve better. This person is just perpetuating the attitude that poor people are all morally righteous, while the movie demonstrates that no, poverty creates desperatation and can even corrupt. The rich family, on the other hand, do not behave in some evil way, but they are still clearly the villains by the immorality of their wealth.
Also Snowpiercer was about how you gotta keep the poors under control, otherwise they’ll crash society and we’ll all get eaten by polar bears.
[deleted]
Awww spoiled rich boy and his friends laughing at poor people cuz he got all the latest Iphones, sports cars, mansions, luxury cars, Gucci, golden toilet papers and all that expensive useless shit that poor people don’t. You’re nothing without your rich parents and you won’t have the shit you have today. Bro why not get your rich, lazy ass back to your golden basement and go cry to your rich father or mother and tell them to pay the police to arrest us cuz we make fun of you. You’re poor without your rich bodyguards too. 😂😂😂😂
if film is art, then it is open to interpretation.