Parasite ending explained: Who are the parasites in the story?

In the evolution of modern cinema, few movies have enthralled the audience the way Parasite has. One of the most critically acclaimed films to come from South Korea, Bong Joon-Ho's critique of the social class as he builds on a plot that explores the class divide and the desire for luxury at another individual's expense, fits perfectly with the socioeconomic state of the world today. It has continued to be a fan favorite with its commentary, realistic depiction, and an ending that brings you full circle.

With its four coveted Oscars for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best International Feature Film, and Best Original Screenplay, the South Korean dark comedy has created history. Parasite was the first Korean film to receive an Academy Award, which was a huge accomplishment for South Korean filmmaking. The 2019 Bong Joon-Ho-directed movie struck a chord with viewers everywhere, and its popularity cut across linguistic boundaries.

One of the best parts about the film is its mind-blowing ending that is subtle and yet keeps you second-guessing till the last beat. Here's what the ending of Parasite means.

What is Parasite about?

Still from Parasite (Image via YouTube/NEON)

In the very beginning of the film, we are introduced to the Kim family, who are suffocating in their small, underground apartment and dealing with a financial crisis. When their son Ki-Woo is hired by the wealthy Park family one day, they hope to lead a better life, as it means the financial situation is about to improve.

The Park family's unfathomable wealth makes this more than just an opportunity; it appears to be the Kim family's only chance to escape poverty. All of the Kim family members quickly figure out ways to get jobs at the Park family. They remove every obstacle through debatable, unethical ways, wear a new identity mask, and find jobs at the rich family's house. They get the people who held jobs with the family fired, to fill the positions themselves.

From here, it takes an eerie turn. When the Park family leaves for a camping trip, the Kim family enjoys a rare taste of luxury in their absence. But what begins as a harmless indulgence spirals into chaos when they discover a secret hidden deep within the Parks’ basement- a man, the former housekeeper’s husband, has been living there in hiding. This moment shifts the film from a sharp social satire to a chilling thriller, peeling back the facade of both families to reveal how desperation and survival instincts can drive people to extremes.

How Parasite ends

Everything begins to spiral on the night of the Parks’ impromptu camping trip. When they leave their luxurious home behind, the Kim family—who’ve all secretly secured jobs with the Parks—use the opportunity to enjoy a rare evening in the house. For once, they aren’t pretending. They drink, laugh, and stretch out on the plush furniture.

But that warmth quickly fades when the former housekeeper returns, desperate and shaking. She reveals that her husband has been secretly living in the basement all along, hidden from the family upstairs.

This discovery cracks the illusion wide open. The Kims aren’t alone in struggling, and their presence in the house becomes dangerous, complicated, and volatile.

The next day, the Parks cut their camping trip short due to rain, which, to them, is a minor inconvenience. But for the Kims, it’s catastrophic. Their own home, a cramped semi-basement, floods with sewage and stormwater. They spend the night in a gymnasium among hundreds of other displaced families. This contrast is brutal: what’s a cozy night to the Parks is complete devastation for the Kims.

At the Parks' son’s birthday party the next day, the pressure explodes. A chain of violent events unfolds, ending with Ki-Taek- the patriarch of the family, pushed to his limit by humiliation and despair- stabbing Mr. Park and vanishing.

From there, the story quiets down, but the emotional impact only grows. Ki-woo survives the chaos and later learns that his father is hiding in the same secret basement where the housekeeper’s husband once lived. He imagines a way out—vowing to become wealthy, buy the house, and rescue his father. We see this dream play out visually: the family reunited, the weight lifted.

But then the scene shifts. We’re back in the same dim basement apartment, Ki-woo still poor, still dreaming.

That’s the tragedy at the heart of Parasite. The dream of upward mobility- the idea that you can work hard and climb the ladder- is just that: a dream. The camping trip, the rain, the secret basement... they all symbolize the brutal divide between the classes. What ruins one family barely registers for the other. And even after everything falls apart, Ki-woo’s only hope is a fantasy that may never come true.

But wait...who are the parasites in the film?

At first glance, you would think the parasites are, of course, the Kim family. Wanting to live off others while not working hard to get themselves out of poverty. But a close look will make you realise that both families are parasites.

The Kims are living off the Parks' wealth while the latter, in their luxury and richness, are living off exploiting the poor. The Park family is dependent on the Kim family for every job in the world (which is highlighted through a scene where the Kim family's daughter gets hurt and is bleeding and the Park family's patriarch asks her father to attend to the Park family instead- even as he sees that she's bleeding).

For the Parks, empathy has no currency and, hence, has no space in their lives. In conclusion, both families are the parasites the title talks about, as they feed off other people in starkly different ways.

The guilt lies with both parties. On both sides, there are fatal flaws. But there's no denying that the people who are suffering here are the lower class.

As demonstrated by Bong Joon-Ho, lower-class people are ready to throw hands at each other to be a part of the 1% of wealthy people at the top. When realistically, they outnumbered the Park family pretty easily and could have just teamed up against the latter and taken action.

The film shows the suffering of the lower class in the great class divide in society. In the end, Parasite doesn’t just expose the cracks in the system—it forces us to question who built the system in the first place.