Journal of Social Sciences
Publication Date
2021
Abstract
In this essay, my contention is two-fold. One, Bong Joon-ho’s f ilm Parasite (2019) is not simply about class inequality but more importantly addresses the question “what is (not) to be done?”.To appreciate this point, we have to investigate it alongside Bong’s previous f ilms, especially Snowpiercer (2013) and Okja (2017). Although these three f ilms possess vastly different storylines,they all wrestle with this burning political question from different angles: seizure of state power and revolution (Snowpiercer), “folk politics” (Okja), and neoliberal privatization of social problems (Parasite). They all implicitly demand for better or more concrete visions of systemic transformation. Two, class antagonism in Parasite appears more muted than in many anti-capitalist f licks. I claim that this helps to place in the foreground the ideological barriers to the development of the poor’s class consciousness and solidarity, thereby buttressing the status quo. Ideology not only fools us but also seduces us with enjoyment. As such, an intellectual critique of ideology is necessary but insuff icient and must be supplemented by an affective one. On the one hand, from the perspective of critical theory, the underclass acts against its own self-interest because it is duped or distracted by bourgeois tolerance and neoliberal entrepreneurial culture. On the other hand, from the perspective of psychoanalytic theory, the more obstinate problem seems to be their (capitalist) modes of enjoyment. Parasite’s distinctive contribution is in highlighting “enjoyment as a political factor”; that is, how capitalism also produces enjoyment to sustain itself.
DOI
10.61462/cujss.v51i2.677
First Page
1
Last Page
22
Recommended Citation
Jayanama, Soravis
(2021)
"Parasite and the Ideological Barriers to Emancipatory Politics,"
Journal of Social Sciences: Vol. 51:
Iss.
2, Article 1.
DOI: 10.61462/cujss.v51i2.677
Available at:
https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/cujss/vol51/iss2/1