I’m aware that these film response posts stopped about two months ago. I’ve been writing them, but they haven’t made it here. Anyway, as one of my readers recently commented: “Please don’t quote me, Steve. Your responses are not what people seek these days, and I myself am completely made up.”

Last week, though, was our class’s chance to watch Parasite, the Academy Award-winning film from director Bong Joon-ho. If you haven’t seen it, please stop reading now. You are welcome to return after seeing it.

Here’s a quick premise to what’s included. My classmates and I were asked to look at reviews of the film since anything super scholarly was likely not out there yet, given the limited time that has passed since its worldwide release. I read a lot of very positive stuff from the standard places (The New York Times, The LA Times, The Guardian, imdb.com, etc.) but was really struck by one negative review I found here. Read his first for context (but again, watch the film first!)

Below is my response to his response. Here is the Google Doc version of my response-to-a-response that has some David Foster Wallace-style footnotes.