A Look Back at 'Parasite's Painful Ending (SPOILERS)

If you simply checked out 'Parasite', you'll have some questions. Let's take a look at the film's ending and why Mr. Kim killed Mr. Park.

Warning: spoilers forward for the Parasite's ending. 

Bong Joon-ho's runaway hit, Parasite, become a hit for 2 causes: it used to be relatable and it was once terrifying how relatable it used to be. Which was precisely Bong's purpose. The film as a whole has a lot to unpack, which is why many say it requires more than one viewings simply to soak up all of the main points and nuances. Even then, it's simple to omit sure portions or just be left with somewhat a few questions.

The greatest questions? What exactly came about after all and why did Mr. Kim kill Mr. Park? Let's take a deep dive into Bong's possible choices for the film's ending and unpack what went down. 

Why did Kim Ki Taek kill Park Dong Ik in 'Parasite'?

Throughout Parasite, a painfully unsustainable wealth gap way the variation between privilege and dehumanization. Though the Kim family rejects those who they feel are beneath them, the third act of the film demonstrates that they are under as neatly, though they didn't remember the fact that. Although they serve the Park circle of relatives, they are in the Parks' house because they are running to be there. They don't feel that they're leeching off of the Parks they usually condemn those that are.

Though they're mindful that they are below the Parks, because the rich family points out things like their unpleasant and unclean smell, the Kims still determine a hierarchy. When the Parks' ex-maid (Lee Jung Eun) informs them that she had been hiding her husband (Park Myeong Hoon) within the Parks' basement and begs the Kims to allow her husband to stay within the basement, they shun her.

They don't see their eventualities as equal: one is parasitic, leeching without permission, and the opposite is operating to stay within the Parks' home. That's why the top is so life-altering for the Kim family patriarch, Ki Taek (Song Kang Ho).

After being instructed that they have been not to take a weekend off and as a substitute be running for the Parks' son, Da Song's (Jung Hyeon Jun) birthday party, the party turns to chaos. The guy hiding within the basement emerges, in need of vengeance at the circle of relatives that would not settle for that they had been "neighbors in need". He problems a blow to the top of Ki Woo (Choi Woo Shik), the Kims' son, and stabs Ki Jung (Park So Dam), their daughter. 

The guy is taken down, however Ki Taek is left being commanded by the Parks to take their son to the sanatorium after he fainted from the drama, whilst his personal daughter is bleeding to death. While that might be sufficient to make Ki Taek need to kill his employer, Bong took it a step further. Dong Ik (Lee Sun Kyun) couldn't face up to commenting at the housekeeper's husband's odor, even after the person was once lifeless in entrance of him.

It was in that moment that Ki Taek discovered, in Dong Ik's eyes and in the rest of the Parks' family's eyes, Ki Taek and his family are not any better than the housekeeper and her husband. They live at the whim of the Parks, constrained by way of servitude, constantly trying to climb up out of the outlet society has kept them in, most effective to be stomped back down time and again. The Kims would never be the Parks and they'd never be capable to prevent living underneath them, controlled by means of them. It's in that second that Mr. Kim stabs Mr. Park.

The true parasite in 'Parasite' isn't a particular person. It's hope.

Parasite ends pretty bleakley. We watch as Ki Taek takes where of the housekeeper's husband in the basement, this time hiding out from the police. The Parks go away the house and another family moves in however the tale stays the similar. A rich family on most sensible, a poor circle of relatives serving them, and the poorer nonetheless left scavenging for scraps.

Though we really feel an oz. of hope when Ki Woo guarantees to work arduous sufficient to shop for the house at some point himself, liberating his father, the delusion scene we see finally cuts back to Ki Woo in a part basement, caught within the shadows. The target market is aware of he'll never purchase that area.

According to Bong, he had supposed to finish the movie with a "surefire kill". The filmmaking methodology means that you fireplace an extra shot to verify any individual is truly useless. Like if you end up watching an motion movie and someone shoots an antagonist after which fires a final shot at him while he stands over him, although the audience can guess that the nature was useless earlier than that. 

Bong advised Vulture, "Maybe if the movie ended where they hug and fades out, the audience can imagine, ‘Oh, it’s impossible to buy that house,’ but the camera goes down to that half-basement. It’s quite cruel and sad, but I thought it was being real and honest with the audience. You know and I know — we all know that this kid isn’t going to be able to buy that house. I just felt that frankness was right for the film, even though it’s sad.”

Cruelty is a common theme throughout the movie but it's felt most strongly at the end, and it's a big part of what compels Ki Taek to kill. In an interview with GQ, Bong said that, more than anything else, Dong Ik's cruelty towards the housekeeper's husband in regards his smell is Ki Taek's big trigger to kill Mr. Park.

"Because of the smell of this man, Mr. Park holds his nostril, and I consider telling the actors to look at the man like he’s this stinky bag of food trash, and that is the reason very cruel," Bong said. "And Mr. Park's reaction must be that intense for it to behave as a cause for Ki Taek."

Parasite is streaming now on Hulu.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfrLW6ecOim2alomK4qrmMpKClpF2iv268wKuiZqGeYr2ivsCsoK2d