The Real Neighborhoods of Oscar-Winning Film 'Parasite'

South Korea's Oscar-winning movie "Parasite¹" tells the story of class struggle through the sights and smells of Seoul.

"Parasite" made history this week when it became the first non-English language movie to win the Oscar for best picture. People all over South Korean social media celebrated².

The film is a story of two South Korean families - the wealthy Parks and the poor Kims. It shows the deepening³ inequalities in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The story has been embraced by people around the world.

Visual signals in the film resonated with many South Koreans who call themselves "dirt spoons" -- those born to low-earning families. Many of these families have stopped trying to buy a home or gain better economic and social positioning.

On the opposite side, "gold spoons" are people born into wealthy families.

Much of "Parasite" was filmed on movie sets. But the idea for the Parks' home and the Kims' sub-basement apartment came from real neighborhoods in Seoul. A sub-basement apartment is a usually small, dark apartment built partly underground.

POVERTY DOWNTOWN

Ahyeon-dong is one of the last of the poor areas near downtown Seoul. It is where the Kims are said to live in the film. The neighborhood made several appearances in the film.

Sitting on a hill near the main train station, Ahyeon-dong has steep, narrow streets. Many of them end in long staircases⁵ that people climb to reach their homes.

"Watching the film made me feel like they put my life right in there," Lee Jeong-sik told Reuters news agency. He is the 77-year-old co-owner of Pig Rice Supermarket, which appears in the film. He and his 73-year-old wife, Kim Kyung-soon, have operated the store for 45 years. Pig Rice is open from around 8:30 in the morning until midnight each day.

The store used to open even earlier, at 5, for mothers who would come to buy things for their children's school meals. But now the neighborhood is mostly older people, with few young couples or children, Kim said.

Local people said rents for sub-basement apartments in Ahyeon-dong have risen to around $340 each month. The rental⁶ costs there have more than doubled in the past 10 years.

SEOUL'S ‘BEVERLY HILLS'

Across town is the area of Seongbuk-dong. That is where the wealthy Parks' home is set in "Parasite." The area is home to many business families and diplomats⁷. It is known as South Korea's version of Beverly Hills – an extremely wealthy community in Southern California.

Unlike in Ahyeon-dong, the streets in Seongbuk-dong are clear of waste. They are also very quiet, with most homes hidden behind high walls, fences and security cameras.

Chung Han-sool heads a company called Peace Estate Agents, which sells houses. He said most of the houses in Seongbuk-dong have basements for home bars or small theaters.

Homes in the neighborhood usually cost around $6 million. Those rented to foreign diplomats are offered for $8,500 to $12,725 each month.

Chung said there are 48 ambassadors⁸ living in the neighborhood. A separate group of police officers protects them.

Even in Seongbuk-dong, signs of inequality can be seen at the "drivers' diners" -- similar to one from "Parasite." Although anyone can go to one of these low-cost restaurants, they got their name by serving meals to drivers, including drivers carrying the area's wealthy residents.

"There are taxi, bus drivers and those who drive the CEOs who live around here," said Bae Sun-young, who runs one of the drivers' diners in Seongbuk-dong. He said the differences between the wealthy and the poor are extreme.

Words in This Story

embrace –v. to hold someone in an expression of friendship or love

resonate –v. to have meaning or importance to someone

apartment –n. a rented room or group of rooms in a building

steep –adj. rising or falling very sharply⁹

staircase⁴ –n. a set of stairs and its supporting structure

rent –n. money paid to the owner for use of a property

CEO (Chief Executive¹⁰ Officer) –n. an official who is responsible for supervising¹¹ a company or organization

resident –n. some on who lives in a place

1 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 deepening   

n. 加深, 深化 动词deepen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• With the deepening of the economic crisis, unemployment shot up. 经济危机加剧，失业人数激增。
• The sky, deepening to ochre, is broken by two or three seagulls. 两点三点白鸥划破了渐变为赭色的天空。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

4 staircase   

n.楼梯，楼梯间

参考例句：

• Footsteps on the staircase interrupted his train of thought.楼梯上传来脚步声，打断了他的思路。
• I crossed the staircase landing,and entered the room she indicated.我经过一个楼梯平台，走进她说的那个房间。

5 staircases   

n.楼梯( staircase的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We have fully functional smoke alarms on all staircases. 我们在各层楼梯都安装有完全可用的烟雾警报器。 来自辞典例句
• A slender superstructure was dictated with gently sloping approaches rather than staircases. 细长的上部结构，带有微缓斜坡接坡，比布置阶梯为优。 来自辞典例句

6 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

7 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 ambassadors   

大使( ambassador的名词复数 )； （派驻联合国等国际组织的）代表； 特使； [比喻]使者

参考例句：

• Kennedy, greatly admiring, rated him very high among his ambassadors. 肯尼迪十分赏识他，在所有大使中对他评价很高。
• Many countries were represented by their ambassadors at the Independence Day celebrations. 庆祝美国独立纪念日时，许多国家都派其大使代表参加。

9 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

10 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

11 supervising   

v.监督，管理( supervise的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She had something to do in the house, supervising that native. 她待在家里，究竟还有点儿事情可以做做，可以监视那个土人。 来自辞典例句
• In addition, nuisance law fails to provide a systematic mechanism for supervising emissions. 另外，妨害法不能提供一个监督排放的系统性机制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法