Is the Parasite TV show a good idea?
HBO is moving forward with a six-hour spin-off miniseries of Bong Joon-ho’s award-winning thriller. But should it?
A TV SHOW COULD NEVER BEAT THE FILM’S MYSTERY ELLA KEMP
A film as unanimously loved as Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite comes along very rarely. Its legacy, then, is precious, and also vulnerable to spoilage. If we learned anything last decade, it’s that if someone made something good, someone else would start thinking up a remake as soon as possible.
Bong Joon-ho has said the film’s two-hour runtime is a necessity more than a choice, holding back hours of already existing backstory and detail to enhance the onscreen world he’s built. While this could be true, and he’s certainly the person to trust on the matter, the challenge with any kind of serialisation is to feed fans enough satisfying content to keep awe and acclaim up, fatigue and frustration at an all-time low.
The problem of adaptation in Parasite’s case comes from its power: so much of the film’s wicked thrill lies in the immense mystery and constant surprise. You always feel like Bong knows more, that there’s something else lurking between the floorboards. We think we want answers. But could the reward ever be as thrilling as the chase?
THERE’S MORE STORY TO TELL JOHN NUGENT
It’s totally understandable to feel protective of a property as preposterously perfect as Parasite. If it ain’t broke — and in fact is the very opposite of broke, as this film is — why try to fix it? The key question for any reboot or spin-off should be: what’s the motivation? Is it to make a quick buck, or are there genuine narrative reasons for this extra story to be told? There’s no reason to think it’s anything but the latter.
“My goal is to create a high-quality expanded version of Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho told Variety, comparing the project to the fivehour TV version of Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny & Alexander. A lofty comparison, perhaps. But it’s clear there’s more story waiting to be told here. There’s a history to the Park family house, and its previous owner, that could easily fill a film. There are details on the margins of the film (the mysterious bruises on the face of housekeeper Mun Gwang, played by Lee Jung Eun; the ultimate fate of Ki-taek, played by Song Kang-ho) that remain unexplored. It could serve as prequel, sequel, a ‘sidequel’ that plays alongside the original, or even a completely new take on the story.
Of course there are jitters. But we can take comfort in the talent involved: as well as Bong himself, there’s executive producer Adam Mckay (who steered Succession to such success). And then there’s HBO itself, which, with the likes of previous adaptations like Watchmen and Westworld, has turned cynics to believers. To quote Ki-taek’s son Ki-woo: this is so metaphorical.