When it is time for arts to overcome its own limitation: reading the function of movies for humanity criticizing capitalism in The White Tiger and Parasite

On 23rd January, Netflix released a new movie called The White Tiger, an Indian movie inspired from a novel written by Aravind Adiga directed by Ramin Bahrani. This movie has teared my perception towards Indian movies with fabulous dresses, laughter, and ecstasy dance at the end of the movies apart. It apparently is reflective because it reveals how pathetic the society, the caste system, the capitalism is and how the underclass has to strive in order to survive. It is going to make you uncomfortable seeing the protagonist smile knowing well that no one would smile, if he or she faced the exactly same situation. This is because the smile, which is widely believed that reflects happiness and joy, does not work the way it is functioned. The protagonist's smile in the movie somehow reveals his internal bitter discomfort. Every time he gets bullied or hit by this master's family, he smiles for few seconds and suddenly turns his face without smiles but anger inside him. The White Tiger, in my opinion, is impressive in term of shooting, especially the setting which goes along with the concept of poverty. 

The White Tiger is a story about Balram Halwai, the protagonist, a man from a poor background, who successfully pushes himself from a lowly servant to a businessman. Since his childhood, Balram is a smart student who is called a white tiger, a rare creature which is born once in many generations. However, his financial status forces him to quit his education and starts working at a tea shop in a village where he meets his master, Ashok. Balram serves Ashok’s family as a chauffeur and learns to corrupt little by little from his master. The climax takes place when Balram lets Ashok’s wife drive a car bas she is drunk and unintentionally hits an unidentified person and forces Balram to take the blame. 

This movie reminds me of a movie released in 2019, named Parasite, a Korean movie directed by Bong Joon Ho who is well known as an activist director. Parasite has been set as the milestone of social inequality issues after it was released since it apparently presents the huge gap between the rich and the poor. The movie begins with the Kim, representing the poor, trying to penetrate themselves to work in the Park’s house, representing the rich. The poor is presented as the cheaters since they have to steal their neighbor’s stray wifi, leave their windows open for free bug gas killing, and lie to the Park so they can get a job. Similarly to Balram, The Kim is actually talented yet never gets a chance of getting a job and being accepted. Mr. Kim can drive perfectly though he has never driven Benz before, Mrs. Kim performs her maid role flawlessly, Kevin is a tutor knowing that he does not attend college, and Jessica is talented at her arts. 

One of the very unique notices from both movies is that the characters from The White Tiger and Parasite seem to fall into unfitting circumstances; the poor who is the rich surrounding. After listing out the mutual concepts between these two movies, I surprisingly find out that there are so many messages in common such as an attempt to climb the social ladder, a social obstruction, including how the plots are portrayed. The White Tiger and Parasite raise the idea of being good as being rich since Balram tells a garage man that his master is a good man but the garage man interrupts that Ashok is a rich man. Similarly to Parasite, Mrs. Kim says she would be a good person if she is rich just like the Park. It seems like these two movies try to convey the message of the stereotype that being the rich and being good at the same time while the poor will always be assumed as the bad. Both movies portray that the poor have some particular characteristics which are hardly found in the rich. Mr. Park complains about mr. Kim radish smell, a subway’s smell where only the poor use it. Moreover, Balram always chews Paan behind his master’s back because Paan is dirty in the eyes of his master.  

The way these movies represent the gap between the rich and the poor can be considered as extreme. They switch from the rich life to the poor life so quickly that the class gap is intensified. Bong Chong Ho shows many dishes on the Park’s dinner table and innutritious menu on the Kim’s. The director also points out that the Park’s residence located highly on the hill while the Kim’s is even lower than the street where any drunken man can pee in front of it. In The White Tiger, Ramin Bahrani shows that the rich in The White Tiger walk out from a club and find the homeless on streets. We can see Ashoke sleep comfortably in a king size bed while Balram sleeps in a garage with cockroaches on his net. Balram and the Kim try so hard to climb their social ladder. Kevin plans to get married with Dahye so that he can own her property after the marriage and become a rich man. In The White Tiger, Balram wishes to be a servant and learn how to run a business from the rich. This emphasizes the class gap between the rich and the poor that the underclass wants to escape from their condition. 

Putting both films into literary movement, both The white Tiger and Parasite can be considered as realism arts reflecting  how the underclass have to struggle in the capitalistic context. Both movies show that capitalism can justifiably widen the gap between the rich and the poor further. Capitalism is always considered as free, but, of course, this free system does not mean to be fair with everyone. It sometimes leaves the poor behind since the poor have to strive and struggle a lot in the capitalist society yet still cannot approach some fundamental needs. As we can see that Ashok studies abroad while Balram does not even get education, yet despite their different backgrounds, deep down we know that they are only separated by capital. Money runs everything in a capitalist society, not skill. Moreover, a single unfortunate event can be a disaster to the poor while the rich can still romanticize it. Mrs. Park is thankful for the rain from the previous night since the weather is clear in the following day so she can throw a party for her son. On the other hand, it is a horrible nightmare for the Kim since they lose their entire house. This shows that no matter what occurs, the poor will always carry the worst circumstances at all cost. This reminds me of a famous Thai writer named Win Lyovarin, who wrote on his Facebook status that he was thankful for Covid-19 and tried to think of it as a joke. As the matter of fact, Covid-19 is a serious issue that takes people’s lives and not many people accept it as a kind of joke. While the upper class might romanticize Covid-19 being thankful for it that they can finally work from home and spend their time with family, many laborers are about to lose their job, their house, and their chance to survive for another day. 

The concept of the metaphor “Parasite” is very interesting since it is questionable who is the real parasite in the society. Some might think that the poor are definitely the parasite in this context since they are dependent towards the rich waiting for the rich to offer some help. However, instead of calling which class is a parasite, it is better to state that the collective underclass is a host due to the fact that they have been exploited and taken for granted. The relationship between a parasite and a host is very obvious in The White Tiger. We can see not only the tremendous gap between the class is but also some dirty agendas behind Ashok's money. Ashok's family is a landlord of a village where Balram grows up. It is stated in the movie that the landlord takes a third of everything villagers earn which is so much that there is nothing left to feed themselves. Moreover, a parasite cannot exist without a host, yet the position of the host is never stated outwardly in both films.  

 These two movies have successfully manifested how the underclass strives in this cruel community. In my opinion, their attempts to criticize social inequality should be applauded but not celebrated, as the criticisms are not polemical enough. The movies, to my knowledge, are supposed to stand for the underclass side since both of them are defined as the anti-capitalism movies; therefore, the portrayal of the underclass should be pitiful and moralistic so that they deserve empathy from the audience. However, the movies portray the underclass characters as a cheater, a liar, and a murderer. The Kim’s strategy to get a job in the Park's house is to lie and create situations that force the previous workers to quit their job. This means in order for the Kim to get a job, somebody needs to lose their job and income. Balram, instead of compromising the first driver who is muslim to continue working since he might understand the consequences of losing a job in India as a working  lass, he reveals the truth to his master and this muslim driver needs to quit the job. Moreover, the climax takes place when Balram stabs Ashok to death with a broken bottle glass and runs away with Ashok’s money. Unquestionably, the underclass characters in these two movies are ethnically ambitious. 

 As mentioned that the movies can be considered as realism movies for humanity since they speak up for the underclass. It is believed that arts are supposed to entertain, to criticize, and to reflect society, and of course, The White Tiger and Parasite seem to achieve the standard. However, it is uncertain if these two movies are practically influential towards society. Both directors might drive the audience to at least start questioning about capitalism and equality towards the society they are living in which can be counted as a success of the arts criteria. It is also significant to note that the directors might be able to point these issues out but they, at the same time, are as powerless as the audience. This is  because after the movies end the very first question that one might consider is “What’s next?” The movies successfully present the pathetic truth about how rotten capitalism is and how the underclass is taken for granted. However, in the reality, it does not change the fact that the underclass still has to wake up in the morning knowing that they must work hard and strive in the society.

The directors might think of themselves as the rebels who comment on capitalism or this realistic cruelty, yet their products will always have to be consumed through the art market where not every class can approach at the end of the day. As the matter of fact, I am amazed to realize that the movies which can be considered as “The Anti Capitalism” are available to watch on the capitalist online movie platform known as Netflix. 

          In conclusion, I surprisingly find out that The White Tiger and Parasite have many messages in common such an attempt to climb the social ladder, a social obstruction, including how the plots are portrayed. Both directors strikingly criticize capitalism and their films seem to drive audiences to start questioning about how in-equal and rotten capitalism is. While their criticism is powerful enough to criticize capitalism, it, at the same time, is powerless since it does not change the fact that the underclass still have to work hard and the capitalistic society still goes on.