Parasite: what does it say about South Korea?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2020

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

South Korean film Parasite has been named best picture at this year's Oscars, becoming the first non-English language film to take the top prize. It won four awards in total, including best director for Bong Joon-ho. The film is a vicious social satire about two families from different classes in Seoul - one who live in poverty in a semi-basement, and another rich family residing in a large home. We speak to the BBC’s Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker about how South Koreans have reacted to the film’s success. We also hear from Jean Lee – director of the Korea programme at the Woodrow Wilson Center – about how the country is stepping into the limelight as a pop culture powerhouse. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:05.0	Hello, I'm Matthew Price.
0:08.0	This is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4.
0:10.0	Every day we ask one big question about one big story.
0:14.0	Today, what does parasite say about South Korea? It has never been done before before. A foreign language film has won the biggest award in global film has won the biggest award in global cinema.
0:42.5	My Twitter timeline went through the roof.
0:47.0	Best picture at the Oscars.
0:50.8	A miracle has happened, said one. The award goes to parasite.
0:56.0	Somebody else was tweeting me saying,
0:58.0	Can't believe it, can't believe it, can't breathe.
1:00.0	Now this isn't a film review if you haven't seen it and I haven't but I
1:06.0	definitely want to now we're not going to spoil it for you so you can keep
1:09.2	listening what we wanted to do is find out what parasites win means for South Korea, a country with such
1:16.4	a difficult past. And the first thing that we did was call Laura Bicker, our correspondent
1:21.6	in South Korea.
1:23.4	It was almost like this country held its collective breath.
1:26.9	We already had film critics tweeting me going,
1:29.2	oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I'm overwhelmed, I'm in tears.
1:32.6	And then the next moment it was like South Korea exploded
1:35.9	into this massive crescendo of wild congratulatory joy.
1:40.4	Most people just did not believe their ears for a few moments and then obviously
1:48.5	the cast of Parasite took to the stage.
	...

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