Parasite: A Philosophical Exploration

Parasite is a philosophically interesting film because it presents the ethico-biological problem of parasitism in a metaphorical and artistic fashion. Michel Serres, in his book called The Parasite, holds that parasites are not in fact useless, but that they establish communications between different spheres and are thus able to transform large-scale organisms. Parasites import coincidences, activate defence systems, and establish new links with the host. In this book, philosophers explore the film from various angles: using the ancient satirist Lucian’s De Parasito, Nietzsche’s concept of the vengeance of the weak, Dostoyevsky’s underground, Marxism, and many more.