From Parasite to Us, modern cinema is exposing the scam of the American Dream

In their blinkered depictions of class, films such as ‘Working Girl’ and ‘Pretty Woman’ fortify a national delusion of an even playing field, writes Annabel Nugent. But ‘Parasite’ is changing things

(Curzon)

Class is not cool, says writer and activist bell hooks. While race and gender are now fashionable to talk about, class is the paste-eating boy in the class whom everyone awkwardly ignores. And nowhere is its second-rate status in popular culture more observable than in modern cinema.

Film is addicted to fantasy, and the American Dream is one of its favourites. The only thing standing between you and Bill Gates levels of success? Desire and hard work. If you’re not rich, that’s on you. Of course, this notion of easy social mobility is as elusive as its name suggests – yet script after script has regurgitated this make-believe vision, often to spectacular box-office effect.

And then came Parasite. The thriller by Bong Joon-ho just made history as the first South Korean film to receive an Oscar nod for Best Picture. But perhaps even more seminal is the film’s radical approach to class. In a cinematic era otherwise defined by rags-to-riches tales and individualistic narratives, Parasite offers the unflinching reality of class difference. Its director recognises that perpetuating the alternative fantasy is dangerous.