[HanCinema's News] "Parasite" Dry Sex Scene Inspiring Controversy Given Film's 15 Age Rating

Following another strong weekend where "Parasite" cracked the seven million viewer mark "Parasite" has come under controversy for its favorable age limit rating of fifteen. This is in spite of a scene that involves dry humping, which is commented on in-film as being inappropriate for a child to watch.

The scene in question is quite short, and only briefly seen, though editing makes it clear that other characters clandestinely present in the room suffer through it for far longer than the viewer does. The sexual content has until now mostly gone uncommented upon in the first place because it is technically a plot twist, and in the second place because the scene is not particularly erotic and substantially less graphic than the film's more violent moments.

Indeed, director Bong Joon-ho is famous enough for violent movie scenes that it's easy enough to forget about other possible violations in terms of ratings, and the violence in "Parasite" is not particularly graphic compared to other Bong Joon-ho joints. Bong Joon-ho's reputation as an artistic director has also smoothed over possible criticism that would be more likely in a similar scene in a more mainstream movie.

However, "Parasite"'s continued domestic mainstream success has blurred boundaries as to what moral standards the film should be bound to. The film may yet break ten million viewers in spite of its offbeat content.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Parasite" is directed by Bong Joon-ho, and features Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Wooshik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun. Release date in Korea: 2019/05/30.