Parasite...flipperoo film

analysis
#1

On a recent airplane flight I watched a Korean film Parasite. What a mind-trip! I didn’t realize till just now, revisiting the topic of the “Asian two-act structure” I had asked before, that maybe what they did was this Two-act flipperoo.

The first act was a comedy of errors. The second/final act was a slasher film. Such an unexpected flip. Has anyone seen it?

It was traumatic because it changed genres truly unexpectedly. Startling. It won all sorts of awards, too. I’m wondering how that works with screenwriting to a storyform.

updated to include this analysis: Parasite (2019) - Analysis? - #14 by didomachiatto

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#2

I don’t think there is an inherent problem with switching genre, but I also think this particular movie has no storyform.

#3

I posted my suggestion for a storyform–which seemed to fit (see link), if you grant that the MC changed. What about the movie makes you think there was no storyform?

#4

I couldn’t find an MC perspective.

#5

it’s very possible parasite fits the model of a “propaganda” story, in that case. this would explain why it seems to resonate and stick within so many peoples’ minds and still not be a full GAS (though, not everything need be a fully formed GAS to stick with someone. obviously, fairy tales have a lot of staying power and are, well, tales!) in the section on story reception in the theory book (also easily found on dramatica’s website for free!), it discusses the concept of propaganda as a storytelling method and one way to do that is to cut out an entire throughline:

What part of your audience’s world-view do you wish to influence?

  • View of the world around them — objective reality" (Overall Story)
  • View of relationships (Relationship Story)
  • View of themselves (Main Character)
  • View of others (Influence Character)

by flitting around through various characters’ viewpoints, but not ever fully inhabiting one main character, it may cause the audience to question how they themselves would act in the events of the objective story.

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#6

You may be right, but I don’t have a good enough handle on propaganda to assess it.

I think it’s more in the reception arena: we are all witnessing what happens after median wages stagnate for five decades, a small percentage gets extremely wealthy, and the minimum wage is far below any sort of standard of living. It just taps right into that.

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