Top Billed Cast: Kang-Ho Song, Sun-Kyun Lee, Yeo-Jeong Cho
The genre of Parasite is Drama, Drama's do not have many obvious convention they have to follow however they do have to be dramatic and be very moving in one form or another; The opening is certainly monumental since we are introduced to a poor family's situation where they live below the street which contains no wifi and do not receive reception for phones and can only receive it it in a very small corner of the house, this is captured in shots with a slow duration which creates a dark and depressing atmosphere which almost guides us to believe all hope is lost for the family. It seems to be set in the present day, based off the fact that the family have modern smartphones and the location in South Korea based on the language.
The tone of the opening scene is starkly realistic, which is presented through the diegetic dialogue of 'stink bugs' by the young man which shows us their dire situation of poverty and unsanitary living space. The sparse non-diegetic soundtrack emphasises the focus on the characters and how they deal with their situation, such as folding pizza bases or making plans. However there is also light heartedness interjected throughout. such as when a drunk man makes his way to outside their home and starts to wee, the family react with phrases such as 'you should have put up a no urinating sign!' which is funny to maybe to us but to them its a reality of something small and silly that needs to be done.
The audience is engaged by that the son having aspirations to help out his family to get a better life, specially when he is given the opportunity by his college friend to tutor a child from a rich family. Shot composition is used very effectively when the son is thinking about whether he should take the job and is talking to his friend but when a bus drives bast in the background of the shot it almost acts as the point at which the son makes up his mind and says that will do the job, it ads dynamism to the scene and makes this moment special and monumental.
The character of the son is presented as the families hope and pathway into a better future since he is the one leading the way into getting a new job to financially support his family, him and sister seem quite close since when they are in the same camera frame together they are usually placed close to one another. The sister seems slightly quieter then the other members of the family but she is also very smart since her and her brother manage to convince a piazza worker to fire a worker so one of them can take their place for slightly less wages but at the end of the day still receiving a new job, this is all symmetrically framed when the brother and sister are standing either side of the pizza worker and persuading her.
I think the narrative will follow the Son's new job and how this will affect the family but also make look into the employers family and how they will treat poor citizens since they are rich themselves, the dynamic between the almost two worlds could be very interesting. It will be interesting to see how the family will viwews the sons new work and how it will make them feel since a child may be bringing in the family's money. i think this opening scene was a very successful scene by not showing us to much information and keeping us wanting more, but they managed to capture the family dynamics well which is very important because it will most likely effect the outcome of the rest of the film.
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