'Parasite' director Bong Joon-ho encourages filmmakers to call out hate and racism in their work

By Megan Stone

"Parasite" director Bong Joon-ho is urging his fellow filmmakers to help stamp out hate and racism.

Bong, who recently served as a masterclass guess lecturer for Chapman University's Dodge College in Orange, California, opened up about his thoughts regarding America's current racial turmoil and discussed what the film industry can do to help.

"I'm far away in Korea and I have to see everything in the news from an outsider's perspective, but as someone who is a part of mankind, as a person, it's quite fearful to watch the hate crimes against Asian Americans and the BLM movement," said the three-time Oscar winner, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

He then shared what he feels those working in the film industry can do. "Creating a film takes a lot of time and a lot of money; it's a big unit that can't really respond quickly to issues that are currently happening in society," he said. "But ironically, because of that, creators and filmmakers can be bolder with dealing with issues and they shouldn't be afraid to confront them."

The Korean director used Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" as an example, saying that while the movie wasn't made to predict the future, it relied on insight to "portray the issues that are currently boiling underneath the surface of society that can explode later on."

During his lecture, Bong Joon-ho said he tried to do the same with his film "Parasite," which famously became the first non-English movie to win best picture at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020.

The South Korean film also won the Oscar for best international feature film, best original screenplay and best director.

He noted that the film "talks about the haves and have-nots of our current society. It began with a question of 'what does it mean to be poor or rich in our current times?'"

A year ago it began... #Parasite pic.twitter.com/CuZUVHgxb1

— NEON (@neonrated) May 14, 2020

"As creators and artists, you sort of have to see through the essence and the central questions in our society through the days that you live through and send a reply to those questions through your work," he said.