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Film Focus: “Parasite” (Online)
January 30, 2022 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Don’t miss Film Focus at Ethical, a new monthly series exploring ethical themes in classic and contemporary cinema. Watch the film on your own beforehand, then join our guest presenter for an in-depth discussion. At this inaugural session, Greg Berger will lead an examination of the award winning Korean film Parasite.
Parasite is currently available for streaming and/or rental on Hulu, Apple Movies/iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, and more.
About this session
For over a century, cinema has been an effective means to communicate pressing ethical and social dilemmas to mass audiences. Perhaps no contemporary film has been as effective at portraying social inequality as South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” (2019), winner of the 2020 Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. The film’s social message, however, extends far beyond its storyline. In Parasite, Director Bong meticulously deploys visual metaphors within nearly every frame of his 132 minute film to characterize the dysfunctional relationship of the globe’s social classes. In images sometimes subtle and sometimes so transparent as to seem in-your-face, Bong masterfully and beautifully communicates the toxic elements of global capitalism to his viewers. In this session, we will review some of the political and cinematic traditions which have shaped the work of Bong Joon Ho, and examine how he pointedly employs audiovisual language to drive home his social observations.
Dr. Gregory Berger is a filmmaker, comedian, Mexican television personality, and Professor in the School of Humanities and Education at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Cuernavaca campus, and a Research Fellow at the UAEM University in the Mexican State of Morelos. In Mexico he is known for his popular comedy journalism project “El Joe T. Hodo Show” which has been a fixture on social media since 2013. Since 2019 he has been a correspondent for the nationally broadcast comedy journalism television shows “El Almohadazo” and “Capital por Cual.” He has also produced comics for “El Chamuco,” known as the “MAD Magazine of Mexico.” Berger’s academic research, focusing on the intimate relationship between social movements and cinema, has been published in numerous academic anthologies from Routledge Press and Peter Lang. His films have been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art and El Museo del Barrio in New York City, and Los Angeles’ Getty Center among other venues.
Click here to join at start time | Zoom ID 814 7073 5630 | Passcode 158119
If you would like to lead a discussion, please contact jrose@nysec.org
