hankyoreh

Tourists snap a photo of Doejissal (“Pig Rice”), one of the shooting locations of the film “Parasite,” in Seoul on Feb. 11. (Baek So-ah, staff photographer)

Exhibit A: On Feb. 13, the Seoul metropolitan government and the Seoul Tourism Organization announced a plan to create a tourism program based on shooting locations in the Oscar-winning film “Parasite.” The idea is for film experts to organize a tour of four of the main locations in the movie. Visitors would be taken to sites including Doejissal [Pig Rice] Supermarket (which appeared as “Woori [Our] Supermarket “ in the film) and the neighborhood stairs, both in the Ahyeon neighborhood of Mapo District; the stairs by Jahamun Gate (also known as Changuimun), in the Buam neighborhood of Jongno District; and Sky Pizza, in the Dongjak District. These locations were depicted as being in the neighborhood of the semi-basement apartment where Gi-taek (played by Song Kang-ho) and his family live in the film.

“The main shooting locations in ‘Parasite’ are the essence of Hallyu [Korean Wave] tourism: they’ve become a pilgrimage destination for foreign fans,” a city spokesperson said in a press release.

Exhibit B: The Mapo District of Seoul is also planning to set up a tour of “Parasite” shooting locations. The main stop on the tour, once again, is Doejissal Supermarket, at 32 Songijeong Street. That’s where Gi-u (played by Choe Woo-shik) is offered the tutoring gig by his friend over drinks. Mapo is planning to set up a photo zone in the vicinity of the supermarket. It’s also working on a tour of side streets in the neighborhood that will focus on locations where “Parasite” was filmed.

Exhibit C: Goyang, a city in Gyeonggi Province, announced on Feb. 12 that it’s planning to restore the set where “Parasite” was shot at the Aqua Special Filming Studio, in the Ogeum neighborhood of Deokyang District. Following restoration, the set will be used to host “experiential tourism.” This studio is where Bong Joon-ho, director of “Parasite,” meticulously constructed Gi-taek’s semi-basement apartment and the adjacent alley and filmed scenes such as the flash flood in the neighborhood.

A scene from the film “Parasite,” which focuses on a poor family that lives in a semi-basement apartment

After winning four Academy Awards, “Parasite” has become a veritable sensation, and local governments are racing to market themselves accordingly by setting up local tours and recreating the set of the semi-basement. But critics say that this type of marketing is devolving into “poverty porn” and thus degrading the message of the film.

That’s the view of a 27-year-old individual identified as “K” who lived in a semi-basement as a child. “It’s just poverty porn,” K told the Hankyoreh in a telephone interview. “One person’s memories of a poverty they don’t want to revisit are turned into a product for someone else. I don’t understand why local governments are actively trying to commercialize that.”

“The current situation is as ironic as the film,” someone posted on Twitter. “[In the film,] poor people are scrambling to get by each day, while the wealthy hold an elegant party after a thunderstorm. In the same way, that kind of life is reality for some people, and only something to be put on display for others, which I find sad.”

“Is this sort of pointless performance the only thing these local governments are capable of? Why are they forcing this on the locals, who hate this kind of ‘image consumption’?” someone else wrote on Twitter.

The Justice Party released a statement about the tours on Feb. 12. “The popularity of ‘Parasite’ was sparked by global interest in the film’s main theme of inequality. Developing the shooting locations of ‘Paradise’ into tourist attractions this way can only be described as commercializing the landscape of poverty and turning it into a spectacle.”

Others counter that the tours only amount to ordinary marketing: “There are tours of American slums like Harlem, and there hasn’t been a big outcry from society.” “People are just going to those locations because they like the movie; they’re probably not getting any joy out of seeing the gap between the rich and poor.” “They’re just making the most of a good opportunity.”

According to this viewpoint, the argument that these tours are poverty porn is an overreaction.

By Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]