Parasite Movie

Campus Event

On the 25th of November, a couple of friends and I went out to see the Korean movie Parasite. The movie revolved around a poor family in Korea. Though the Kim family had jobs, they were not bringing in enough money to make ends meet. Their luck turns around when the son’s (Ki-woo) friend, Min-hyuk, offers him a job to tutor the daughter of the rich Park family. Once he gets to this location, Ki-woo finds a way to manipulate Mrs. Park into firing her staff and hiring his family members in those same positions instead. However, the Park family does not realize that the Kim family is related because they think they are all strangers. Though the Kim’s lives initially seem to improve, the story takes a turn when the Park’s old housekeeper comes back in order to feed and care for her husband who lives in a secret bunker beneath the Park’s home. During this part of the story, the truth starts to come out, and the once harmless characters show the audience their dark side as they manipulate and hurt each other in an effort to survive. The events that happen in this sequence influence the lives of the characters towards the end of the movie and depict how class struggles and the drive to survive can bring out the bestial side of human beings.

The movie made an impact on me as an audience member because I was not able to distinguish the protagonists from the antagonists. In reality, I do not even think that these two categories existed in the movie. Each family, whether they were rich or poor, undertook the actions they did in order to better their families. Though it was easy to blame either the Kims or the Parks in various scenes, coming out of the movie made one think if one family was truly at fault because their different experiences with the class system influenced the way the acted throughout their lives. The fact that the situation that befell the Kims or the Parks could happen to anyone at anytime, made the movie as chilling and as authentic as it was.

The movie relates to us as International Affairs Scholars because it depicts the harsh reality of poverty and its impact on not only the poor, but on a community as a whole. Not only this, but it also shows that in real life, there is no one person that is right or wrong. The experiences of many people influence their actions, and in order to better understand the situations that occur in our world, it is essential that we understand all sides of a conflict in order to find a way to solve it.

Festival of Lights

Social Event

Hindu Y.U.V.A. and Hillel hosted an event called the Festival of Lights at the Curl Market on November 16th. The festival worked to bring together the Indian and Jewish communities in an effort to celebrate the holidays of Diwali and Hanukkah. The beautiful event consisted of various cultural performances, food, games, and even fireworks. The most amazing part of the festival though, was the fact that so many people outside the Indian and Jewish communities attended the event, portraying the strong sense of community that exists on the OSU campus. This event had a huge impact on me as I observed all the people communicating, laughing, singing, and dancing in harmony. I was able to see how so many diverse groups of people exist on campus, and how it was so easy to come together to celebrate and enjoy our time together. The Festival of Lights displayed how though there are so many differences in the world, humans can still come together in order to celebrate the differences and each other, rather than let these distinctions break us apart.

Attending this event made me realize how beautiful the diverse cultures of our world are, and as a person who has always been interested in religions, arts, and cuisines, I understood that in order to truly understand those around me, I should go out and travel and explore more. Attending this event helped me realize that I want to travel the world, and not for pleasure, but as a way to gain global awareness.