The inverse of "Trading Places"

Rating: 8/10 (16 March 2020)

What, an Eddie Murphy comedy from 1982 compared to the Palme D'Or winning "Parasite"? Yes, because both are excellent class-distinction films but mirrors of each other.
Trading Places has likable characters that, faced with Fate (the evil Duke brothers), team up to defeat the bad guys at their own game. Even the homeless black con-man Billy Ray Valentine--who is a completely decent man--can work with privileged, out of touch white Ivy Leaguer Winthorp--who is a completely decent man--and respect each other, to beat the Dukes. An American movie: an optimistic, improbably fairy tale of the American Dream.
Parasite, on the other hand, has unlikable characters who have no way out of their predicament. The poor Kim family actually *aspire* to be like Billy Ray Valentine, because they have no choice in a culture like Korea's. And the Parks--basically Winthorp--cannot once consider the Kims to be human beings worthy of respect. So instead of everyone ending up on a beach eating cracked crab, we have a bloody murder scene in the back yard.