SPOILERS are ahead for Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, now streaming with a Netflix subscription. Seriously, watch it before you read any further.
I’ll never forget the first time I watched Parasite. Upon hearing all the award buzz about it, prior to it making history as the 2020 Best Picture winner, I caught a screening at a small movie theater. I had no idea I was about to watch one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. But, not unlike the movie’s iconic house having many floors to discover, there are a lot of details to look for during rewatches, and when I recently went back to it, I noticed something new I want to talk about.
I Noticed The Symbolism Of The Scholar’s Rock A Lot More When I Rewatched Parasite This Time
The movie joined 2025 Netflix releases earlier this year, but after it made the top of NY Times’ greatest films of the 21st century, I finally made time to revisit it. This time my eyes inherently gravitated a lot to deciphering the meaning behind the gigantic Scholar’s Rock the Kim’s get at the beginning of the movie.
While I definitely caught on that the rock was a symbol for the status of wealth the Kim’s wish to obtain, I had missed some more subtle hints and deeper meanings before. This time I noticed that when the flood happens in the Kim home, Ki-woo discovers the Scholar’s Rock. I can’t believe I didn’t think about it before, but if the rock was a genuine article, it would have sunk right to the bottom. The Scholar’s Rock represents the Kims as a family, and while they may try to fool the Parks with their masterful plan of becoming their replacement staff, they ultimately cannot deny their composition as people of a much lower socioeconomic class than the Parks.
Now I realize the rock directly connects with the line where Mr. Kim is saying rich people have “no creases on them." It characteristically has rough edges. Plus, the end of the movie, when Ki-woo places the rock in a body of water while sharing his wishes to make money and rescue his father from the basement of the Park home, where he ultimately ends up, holds a whole new meaning to me. Rocks can get smoothed out through weathering over time. So, the rock going in the water follows the journey of Ki-woo trying to smooth out his own family's legacy, rather than remain rough and grasping tight to it for dear life.
Then, I Did A Dive Into Bong Joon-Ho's Intentions With The Rock As Well
Of course, I had to look into the actual intentions behind the rock in Parasite. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bong Joon-ho said the following:
I saw it as representing all the heavy pressure Ki-woo was feeling to take care of his family and find a way to get ahead, [but as production began] I started to think maybe it represented the family’s desire for a shortcut, because they start using fraud to try to jump up to a higher [socioeconomic] level.
It is interesting that Ki-woo holds it throughout the movie, and I can definitely see how it symbolizes the weight he feels to keep his family afloat through carrying a literal rock. He also said this:
Essentially, I think it represents this desire in the heart of Ki-woo not to give up on the idea that he can become the kind of guy who can find a way to give his family a better life… All it ends up doing for Ki-woo is bashing his skull in.
That brings up another element of the rock I didn’t quite process the last couple of times. The only reason Ki-woo survived getting hit by the rock is because it’s the kind of rock that can float. I watch so many movies where characters survive impossible circumstances, this didn’t even dawn on me before, but I was proverbially bruised by this new layer of Parasite this time around. I can't wait to watch again in a few years, and catch whatever other details are in the movie I haven't noticed yet.
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