Parasite and Bong Joon-ho's Cinematic Language: A Video Essay

An auteur is a filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production give a film its personal and unique stamp. Auteur Theory argues that films directed by a given filmmaker will have recognizable, recurring themes showing a consistent artistic identity. Filmmakers use foreshadowing to leave clues of future scenes, and they always rescue protagonists at the last minute. The Bible, written by God, is filled with foreshadowing and prophecies. God is the auteur, the Bible is His script, and we are the protagonists. Prophecies were not from human interpretation but from God speaking through the Holy Spirit.

Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that identifies directors as the primary creative authors of their films. The theory holds that a good director develops a distinct aesthetic style throughout their career, and this consistent body of work reveals deeper meanings about human existence or the greater purpose of cinema. An auteur is described as an artist who cannot help being themselves, expressing a unique philosophical perspective through their films.

The production had no animation director initially, with summer heat forcing animation postponement. Nakura became animation director, described as ideal: always working, eating at Oshii's desk, with perfect posture. He focused on character acting and dramatic movement. High standards caused animators to leave, including Hideaki Anno. The film isn't always consistent because complex hair strands were hard to animate. Angel's Egg is often attributed to Oshii's auteurism, but visually Amano and Kobayashi's art direction were core. Amano did hundreds of drawings to create the world. This challenges the notion that the director is the sole artistic genius.

Auteur theory emerged as a response to Hollywood's industrial nature, advocating for directors with distinctive personal styles that make their films recognizable. Critics like Truffaut recognized directors like Hitchcock had unique signatures. In auteur cinema, the director has complete responsibility for the final edit, with the director's opinion being final. This differs from television where the showrunner (main producer) has more authority than the director. The showrunner oversees the entire production, attends all script meetings, and maintains consistency across episodes. Directors in TV are typically hired per episode and may change frequently, while the showrunner provides continuity.

The Korean New Wave emerged in 1999 with 'Shiri,' a big-budget action film that achieved unprecedented domestic success. Screen quota support enabled Korean films to outperform international blockbusters like Titanic and The Matrix. International festivals recognized Korean cinema: 'Oasis' won Venice (2002); Bong Joon-ho won Venice Golden Lion (2012); Lee Chang-dong won Cannes for 'Burning' (2018). 'Parasite' (2019) achieved historic success by winning Palme d'Or and four Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture. Yun Yu-jong became the first Korean actress to win an Oscar for 'Minari' (2021). Korean directors like Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook gained Hollywood recognition, while K-dramas expanded globally through streaming platforms.

Korean New Wave (1980s-1990s) emerged as a transformative movement led by directors like Park Kwang-su, introducing fresh problem consciousness and aesthetics distinct from traditional Korean cinema. Key characteristics include: (1) Focus on marginalized social issues—urban laborers, miners, political refugees; (2) Realistic storytelling grounded in historical and contemporary social realities; (3) Innovative production approaches combining underground film movements with mainstream industry resources. Park Kwang-su's debut film 'Chilsu and Mansu' (1988) symbolized this transition, merging underground filmmakers with established Chongmu-ro professionals to legitimize independent cinema within Korea's film ecosystem.

The history of Korean cinema is marked by censorship, going back to the years when it first arrived under Japanese occupation. The regime of Park Chung-hee created the Motion Picture Promotion Corporation in 1973, implementing heavy government oversight with restrictive import quotas ensuring imported films would take up a third of total film circulation. Film subjects were heavily censored to promote traditional Korean values and only show the positive side of South Korean life. This censorship worsened after Park's assassination in 1979 and the coup d'état of military strongman Chun Doo-hwan. As a young man, Bong Joon-ho took part in multiple pro-democracy protests. It wasn't until after Chun's resignation and the first free election in 1988 that censorship laws relaxed, film imports became deregulated, and South Korean cinema once again began to blossom. The New Korean Cinema that flourished post-dictatorship was able to directly interrogate dominant ideologies and find humanity within them.

Korean New Wave cinema emerged simultaneously with the Taiwanese movement, featuring directors like Park Kwang-su, Jang Sun-woo, Hong Sang-soo, and Byun Hae-joo. Unlike the Taiwanese movement which was more artistic, Korean New Wave had a more commercial approach. The movement included both documentary filmmakers like Kim Ki-duk and commercial directors, creating a diverse landscape that transformed Korean cinema.

The emergence of a new Korean Wave represents a fundamental transformation in global entertainment driven by technological disruption and structural adaptation. OTT platforms broke age restrictions, enabling genre-diverse content like 'Kingdom' and 'Squid Game' to reach global audiences. Korean entertainment companies accumulated production excellence over 30-40 years, developing globally accessible content despite having a smaller domestic market than Japan or China. International investment followed in the late 2000s, providing capital and creative freedom. The convergence of accumulated production excellence, OTT platform capabilities, and global streaming investments created conditions for explosive international growth, transforming Korean content from regional exports into global phenomena.

Films use visual components to tell stories beyond dialogue. The seven core visual components allow filmmakers to control visual conflicts and parallel visual stories with narrative stories. Color schemes serve as powerful storytelling tools—The Godfather's orange and black palette, and oranges specifically foreshadowing death, demonstrates how visual elements convey meaning. Similarly, The Departed uses X marks as subliminal death foreshadowing. Subtext must be organic to the story, serving the text rather than being random symbolism. The undefined is more powerful than the defined—audiences engage more deeply when invited to interpret rather than given explicit answers. Semiology studies signs and symbols, with images working both consciously and subconsciously. Michelangelo's Creation of Adam demonstrates this—his anatomical brain cross-section in God's place could mean divine intellect or human creation of God. There is no invalid interpretation. Once released, films belong to the audience, not the filmmaker. Good filmmakers borrow and great filmmakers steal—Spielberg's success stems from learning from Ford, Truffaut, Lean, and Capra. According to Coppola, you cannot steal—you can only take others' work and interpret it your own way. Originality is non-existent, but authenticity is invaluable. Films without subtext are meaningless and paper-thin. Filmmakers should not worry about interpretation—they simply make films meaningful to themselves, hoping audiences will engage.

Effective visual storytelling requires establishing context through establishing shots and utilizing subtext. The director explains that since audiences don't know where scenes are filmed, filmmakers must create walkthroughs to orient viewers. Subtext is everything communicated without being explicitly stated, allowing audiences to infer meaning from visual cues. When audiences see romantic songs with one person, they assume the other is a romantic partner, demonstrating how audiences fill narrative gaps. Hand positioning and body language convey insecurity and avoidance without dialogue. The key principle is that visual storytelling relies on audience interpretation of implicit cues rather than explicit narration.

Visual storytelling operates through three levels: text (the explicit visual elements), subtext (the implied meaning), and context (the surrounding circumstances). Text refers to what is directly visible, subtext refers to what is implied but not shown, and context refers to the broader circumstances that shape meaning. Understanding these three levels allows filmmakers to create richer, more nuanced visual narratives.

Subtext operates through visual composition, symbolism, and physical objects in film. In 'Challengers,' a churro scene carries sexual tension through phallic symbolism. In 'The Godfather,' Michael's physical positioning above his brother conveys dominance, while the closing door symbolizes emotional exclusion. Color palettes convey emotional states—blue for depression, yellow for joy. In 'Anora,' progressive desaturation represents reality intruding on dreams. In 'The Shape of Water,' covering a woman's mouth reveals subtext about silencing women and power dynamics. In 'Parasite,' recurring smell motifs symbolize insurmountable class barriers. In 'Mickey 17,' a bizarre surface story serves as meta-commentary on viewer engagement. Subtext enables communication of experiential qualities that cannot be directly demonstrated, making it essential across visual storytelling, advertising, and meta-narrative contexts.

Subtext represents what is actually happening in a story and is tied to its meaning and premise, serving as the foundation for everything else. Storytelling is what the audience directly engages with through dialogue, description, and action. Effective tools provide visual interfaces displaying subtext underneath and storytelling on top simultaneously. Characters' motivations represent the subtext that drives their actions and separates them from other characters. Writers can transform abstract subtext into specific storytelling by selecting players and using transformation functions, generating concrete narrative illustrations from thematic ideas. This process works across all four throughlines: main character, influence character, relationship story, and objective story.