Similarities between Seo Ji Hye’s drama “Red Balloon” and the Oscar-winning film “Parasite”
There are details in “Red Balloon” that are very similar to “Parasite”.
The drama Red Balloon, which marks Seojihye’s return to a villain role, has garnered a lot of attention lately. Remarkably, the story of “Red Balloon” is similar to that of “Parasite,” the hit 2019 film that won Best Picture at the Oscars.
Life changing plan for the whole family
“Parasite” shows the reality of discrimination between rich and poor in modern society. The film focuses on Kim Ki Taek (Song Kang Ho), a poor family living in a small, cramped house in the basement of an old apartment complex.
The turning point for the Kim family came when the eldest son, Ki Woo (Choi Woo Sik), was hired as an English teacher for the Park family’s daughter. Mr. Park (Lee Sun Kyun) is the CEO of a famous technology company. His wife (Cho Yeo Jeong) is a carefree person. Seeing this as an opportunity, Ki Woo began to figure out a way to help his entire family “infiltrate” the wealthy family.
Ki Woo brought in his sister to be Park’s son’s art teacher. Her father was hired as a driver and her mother began working as a maid. Thus, the entire Kim family “lived” comfortably in the luxury house of the upper class.
“Red Balloon” is also about life in a dead end and the contrast between people with different statuses. Leading actress Jo Eun Kang (Seo Ji Hye) comes from a poor background and always has the ambition to change her life one day. Eun Kang has a close relationship with Go Cha Won (Lee Sang Woo) and Han Ba Da (Hong Soo Hyun) – the son and daughter-in-law of a wealthy family – and enjoys a lot of trust.
She works as Ba Da’s close assistant and helps her best friend take care of her mother and daughter. Eun Kang also manages to help her sister get hired as an accountant at a wealthy company and sends the spinster away so her mother can work for the wealthy family. “Red Balloon” Eun Kang’s journey to infiltrate the Elite is quite similar to that of Ki Woo in “Parasite”.
“Parasite” has a scene where the family “borrows” Kim Park’s house to enjoy a rich life as they go camping and celebrate their son’s birthday.
Unfortunately, due to the stormy weather, the parks suddenly came back earlier than expected, so their trip was cancelled. And so the Kim family had to find a way to hide inside the house so they wouldn’t get caught. Only when Parks was asleep were they able to sneak out.
Another scene from Red Balloon that is very reminiscent of Parasite is where the poor family is having fun in the rich family’s house. In particular, when the family went skiing, Eun Kang’s mother invited her husband to visit her and enjoy the luxury they could only dream of.
However, the husband later decided to leave before being spotted, resulting in his whining wife. The Go family came home at that exact moment, so Eun Kang’s parents had no choice but to hide and sneak out. There are slight differences between the two scenes, but the overall atmosphere and writing are very similar.
While it’s impossible to say whether this similar scene is intentional, the social gap between rich and poor was visibly reflected in both Red Balloon and Parasite.
Of course, “Parasite” has a shorter running time, which is why we didn’t go into detail about this glaring question. Meanwhile, as a series, “Red Balloon” dealt with the differences between finances and desires, as well as many other topics.
Source: dienah
