DOUBLE FEATURE: ARCHITECTURE AS SOCIAL METAPHOR

PARASITE (2019) AND US (2019)

Okay, this pairing doesn’t make for the most relaxed of evenings, but despite their violence and brutal social commentary, both of these movies are still partly comedies (albeit dark, satirical ones).

The symbolism employed is very similar: a family finds their comfortable Modernist home infiltrated by a matching, but much more deprived, household of four.

In both films, the social themes are manifested architecturally, as a world of ‘above’ and ‘below’. An airy, light-filled house sits obliviously over an underworld of sewerage-flooded sub-basement apartments, hidden panic-room dungeons, or subterranean tunnels. While the inhabitants above enjoy their exposed beams and plate glass windows, and fret about boat purchases or hors d'oeuvres choices, they remain happily ignorant of the conditions within which those beneath them are trying to eke out an existence.

In both films the central argument is one that has enormous relevance to architecture: that in large part it is not who we are intrinsically, but rather the dignity or depravation of the circumstances/environment we find ourselves in, that can shape our behaviour, and even our character. (Poster by by Choi Ji-Su for the French steelbook release)

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film Parasite architecture us movie social commentary

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