The Korean film 'Parasite' explores how people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds resort to fraud to enter wealthy households and repeatedly assume false identities for survival. Most viewers notice the class issues of "the wealthy are kind" and "money can smooth everything over," but what I see is the subtle yet painful suffering of psychotic patients and how the social environment causes them to "lose control."
(The following contains personal thoughts and major spoilers—please be aware)
Children's Drawings as Metaphor: Basement Symbolizes Psychosis
First, let's understand the symptoms of psychotic patients. According to psychiatrists at National Taiwan University Hospital, when brain neurochemistry becomes imbalanced, "a person's thoughts and feelings can become abnormal, giving rise to strange ideas or unusual sensations." Symptoms include "delusions," "auditory hallucinations," "seeing others converse and believing they're talking about you," "blunted affect," and "social withdrawal." Beyond genetics, psychological resilience and social-environmental factors play crucial roles in onset—such as "experiencing major stressful events" or "lacking family or social support," which may increase vulnerability to the disease.
In this film, the key scene first mentioning psychosis appears when Jessica visits the mansion for the first time. After tutoring the young son Da-song, she walks to the kitchen with a drawing and converses with Mrs. Park. "Look at the strange dark shape in the lower right corner of the picture—that's a manifestation of psychosis," says Jessica, introducing the topic and pointing out the "lower right corner" as the critical location.
Those who've seen the film know that the real parasites aren't just the Kim family on the surface, but rather the caretaker's spouse living deep in the basement. Having failed at business and fleeing debt, he was brought to the basement by his wife the housekeeper. His living space has no sunlight—just a bed and desk. Crucially, around the light switch, he's taped up photos of Mr. Park, repeatedly muttering "Thank you for taking care of me" and "I respect you"—behaviors that seem quite strange to outsiders.
He is one of the film's representative psychotic patients, displaying several symptoms identified by psychiatrists:
- Experience major stressful events and lack social support: Failed business investment and debt
- Social withdrawal: Frightened by seeing the Kims; his wife constantly reassures him, emphasizing the Parks are good people
- Hallucinations: Muttering to photographs of Mr. Park, fantasizing he's a great benefactor
Class is Relative; There's Always Someone Worse Off Than You
This basement dweller is ultimately the first to lose emotional control, wielding a knife in a killing spree. Emerging from the basement into the bright society, his first victim is protagonist Kim Ki-woo, exhibiting violent behavior. He then charges into the upper-class social gathering with the knife, but he doesn't kill the refined, glamorous wealthy—instead, he kills Kim Ki-jeong, the Kim daughter who bullied them. This demonstrates that "accumulated resentment isn't absolute."
What I want to convey here is that "class is relative." Our understanding and empathy toward others is often what we overlook, which is why in many situations, anyone can become "above" while ignoring those "below." In this segment, the basement dweller is below, and the Kims are above—even though the Kims themselves occupy the social bottom. But what audiences likely find most shocking is that it's ultimately Kim Ki-taek who seizes the knife and slashes Mr. Park, with news outlets framing the incident as a "random murder."
What really happened? Have you wondered why he reached this point?
Most people's first instinct is probably the "crossing of odor boundaries." Late at night in the living room, as Mr. Park and his wife lie on the sofa, they carelessly speak their true thoughts—Kim Ki-taek, hidden under the table, overhears the humiliation about the smell on his body; accompanying Mrs. Park out, he notices her pinching her nose in the back seat upon return; or at a critical moment when Mr. Park retrieves car keys without prioritizing safety, he pinches his nose again. These repeated acts of discrimination deeply wound Ki-taek.
Is it really that simple? I don't think so.
I believe the film subtly suggests that Ki-taek also develops psychosis later on. Let's recall the psychiatrist's described symptoms of patients: "seeing others converse and believing they're talking about you," "experiencing major stressful events," "lacking social support," "constantly suspecting others are targeting you," and "blunted affect."
All three occur in Ki-taek. When the family hurriedly leaves the mansion in disarray, heavy rains flood the Kim basement apartment. They sleep one night in a gymnasium. From packing belongings to waking the next day when Mrs. Park calls, Ki-taek shows no expression whatsoever. Tracing back further, actually from the moment his boss criticizes his poor pizza box folding, he's already shown no expression and harbored resentment in his heart.
Blank eyes—they actually appear whenever someone experiences unfair treatment
The second obvious wooden expression comes the day after the heavy rain, when Mrs. Park calls Ki-taek to go shopping. While on the phone, she mentions "Thank goodness yesterday's rain stopped—now we can have a proper party today." For Ki-taek, this is sheer injury: his home was flooded and uninhabitable, his clothes picked randomly from storage, and now Mrs. Park adds insult by pinching her nose. He feels profoundly discriminated against.
Constant job-hopping for survival, having been cheated of wages, combined with issues of odor, flooding, and unequal social treatment—when Mr. Park finally pinches his nose to block the smell, Ki-taek deepens his conviction that "everyone is targeting him." In that instant, his eyes transform, he loses control, seizes a knife and kills. All these signs indicate Ki-taek has developed psychosis.
The light above the wife's head extends downward to where the Morse code is transmitted—relative to the position looking inward from the courtyard, it's in the lower right corner.
Regarding the basement's significance: the basement dweller bumps his head against a button, causing a light to flash out Morse code. Tracing the wiring upward and comparing it to the interior layout, then looking inward from the courtyard, the basement sits in the lower right corner of the entire house—matching the film's hint about psychotic patients' hidden signs, the "dark area in the lower right corner of the drawing." The dweller living there is indeed a psychotic patient.
Then, why don't they seek help?
Desperate for Understanding! The Overlooked Distress Calls of Psychotic Patients
Actually, the Morse code the basement dwellers transmit is a cry for help, yet they receive different treatment depending on who receives the signal. In the film, there are three types of people:
-
Understanding but unable to help – Da-song
"Da-song is a Boy Scout; he must be able to understand my signal," the dweller hopes. Indeed, when Da-song pitches a tent in the courtyard, he does decode the "distress signal," but being too young, he doesn't know how to help. This represents reality: knowing someone might need assistance but still failing to extend a hand. -
Receiving the signal but not understanding it – Mrs. Park
When the light flashes repeatedly, Mrs. Park simply says "That light is strange—it flashes by itself." This represents those who miss detecting abnormalities and understanding them more deeply. -
Willing to understand and help – Ki-woo
By the film's end, Ki-woo recovers. On a snowy day, he climbs a mountain with binoculars to observe the house, discovering the light flashing and writing it down, later decoding it on the subway. "I believe if I send it every day, someday you'll know," expressing the patient's longing for others' understanding—sending small signals daily as cries for help. Ki-woo discovers his father hiding in the basement and vows that if he becomes wealthy, he'll buy the house so his father can come up. Such people are those in society willing to understand patients and willing to help.
Psychotic patients deeply wish to be "normal people." Thus when no one understands the signals, the basement dweller keeps bumping his head until it bleeds. By story's end, when Ki-taek hides in the basement—that actually confirms the theory that the basement represents the psychotic patient's emotional refuge. Ki-taek is indeed ill and doesn't know what to do.
"She really is a good person; she just kicked me once…"
These are the last words the housekeeper speaks before death to the basement dweller, and they drive him to madness—he begins headbanging against walls. Yes, if we were genuinely good to the end, not suddenly withdrawing or leaving, perhaps society would gradually progress and develop more empathy.
From the drawing, the basement, to Morse code, 'Parasite' can be interpreted as more than just a film examining class. Behind it lies a message for society: psychotic patients exist in an environment of unjust treatment where no one understands them—issues as subtle and unnoticed as in the film itself. If we choose to confront the problem and offer care and support, might the random murders in our society decrease, preventing such tragedies from recurring?
