Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards

by Bong Joon-ho

So metaphorical: the Palme d'Or and Golden Globe Award®-winning, Oscar®-nominated film as a graphic novel drawn by Director Bong Joon Ho himself.

In hundreds of mesmerizing illustrations, PARASITE: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards is a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the making of one of the best films in years and a brand-new way to experience a global phenomenon.
As part of his unique process, Director Bong Joon Ho storyboarded each shot of PARASITE prior to the filming of every scene. Accompanied by the film's dialog, the storyboards he drew capture the story in its entirety. Director Bong has also written a foreword and provided early concept drawings and photos from the set which take the reader even deeper into the vision that gave rise to this stunning cinematic achievement.
Director Bong's illustrations share the same illuminating power of his writing and directing. The result is a gorgeous, riveting read and a fresh look at the vertiginous delights and surprises of Bong Joon Ho's deeply affecting, genre-defying story.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Film, Art, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comics Manga

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 19, 2020

About the author

Bong Joon-ho (Korean: 봉준호; per Korean naming conventions, the surname Bong appears first) is a South Korean film maker and screenwriter who won the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for Parasite. For his 2013 film Snowpiercer, he was given Best Director awards by the Baeksang Arts Awards, Blue Dragon Film Awards, Director's Cut Awards, Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, and the Asia-Pacific Film Festival, in addition to Best Screenplay by Busan Film Critics Awards.

Reviews

[aqilahreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

a graphic novel in storyboards????? YES PLS JUST WHAT I NEED!!!!!!! honestly this is my first time coming across a very detailed movie storyboarding in a book.

i learnt the importance of storyboarding in animation years ago so this was definitely something familiar for me to come across and so glad to know that legendary parasite's director, bong joon ho, uses so as part of his directing process; storyboarding every shot of the scenes before he starts filming it. parasite is a 2019 south korean black comedy thriller movie directed by him and not every director is so extensive with storyboarding so this book is honestly such a gem and obviously you can see how dedicated/passionate he is in what he does. :')

i watched the movie 2 years ago so honestly couldnt remember certain points/spot any difference as i was reading so i decided to spend some time rewatching the movie. so glad that i did bc found myself enjoying + appreciate this book more!!!

its really interesting to read how everything came about - i didnt know one of the main character's name - jessica - was actually inspired by jessica from SNSD girls generation omgggg. and there was also an extended version of jessica jingle!! certain scenes like shoplifting a neighbourhood store was also shown in the storyboards as well, which was not shown in the movie.

i really love both the movie & its graphic novel; if i were to choose one, i wouldnt be able to as both are equally good in their own ways. bong joon ho is truly such an inspiration and i really really admire his works. not too long ago, i also picked up "okja: the art and making of film" - another movie directed by him, which i truly enjoy too. highly recommend everything that was mentioned, anytime when youre ready to dive into a masterpiece.

[Adriana Scarpin]

Não li, só queria apontar algumas coisinhas.

Precisamos falar sobre suicídio oriundo de violência psicológica institucional.
Todo mundo é cheio de dedos quanto a falar sobre suicídio, mas realmente precisamos debater o assunto sob o ponto de vista da violência institucional que é um tipo de suicídio facilmente evitável se as instituições levassem em conta as subjetividades dos indivíduos.
O ator sul-coreano Lee Sun-kyun que ficou mundialmente famoso pelo filme Parasita de Bong Joon-Ho cometeu suicídio por estar sofrendo violência institucional corroborada pelo Estado, as leis anti drogas na Coreia do Sul são das mais nefastas do mundo, como Estado unitário ele se diferencia um tanto do que temos no Brasil, mas o Executivo, Legislativo e Judiciário promovem o mesmo tipo de violência institucional que qualquer lugar onde colocam leis acima do bem estar subjetivo dos indivíduos. Desde outubro Lee Sun-kyun vinha sofrendo assédio da polícia por supostos usos de drogas, algo que as leis do país coibem ferozmente, mas que viram um circo quando se trata de pessoas famosas, isso é violência psicológica institucional pura e simples e um gatilho muito grande para suicídio.
A violência institucional pode ser oriunda das variações dos três poderes(legislador, policial, promotores, juízes, assistentes sociais e até psicólogos que estão sob a orientação do Estado), familiar (famílias com alto grau de toxicidade e narcisismo tendem a negativar o afeto que seus membros precisam para uma subjetivação saudável) e corporativa (viver sob a égide do neoliberalismo passa a ser apenas sobreviver).
Estou falando tudo isso porque realmente precisamos falar sobre, há um ano venho sofrendo violência institucional do judiciário e familiar e sei o quanto é difícil passar por isso, por isso temos que levar em consideração também o tipo de suicídio político que Lee Sun-kyun cometeu, porque seus motivos são de ordem política. Pensem no suicídio do grande Stefan Zweig, claro que o que o motivou foi sua grande desesperança quanto ao mundo fascista que se vivia nos anos 40, mas essa desesperança era justamente política, foram violências institucionais corroboradas pelos Estados fascistas que o levaram ao suicídio e é assim ainda hoje.

[Jenin · Rating 5 out of 5]

the fact that bong joon ho could make my heartbeat race from storyboards? his POWER. but all jokes aside, since I saw this movie around this time last year, I had been talking it up so much I thought maybe I was hyping it up in my head? but reading this just showed me how much I loved it and how I need to rewatch it. near the end I was tearing up and emotional. a great book and I think when I have money to spare (lmao) I will be purchasing my own copy.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't actually like Parasite as a movie, but they put this out with the words "graphic novel" on the cover, and I felt compelled to check it out from the library.

Well, first up, it's not really a graphic novel by my definition. The full script of the movie is typeset and wraps around or weaves through a bunch of roughly sketched little storyboard rectangles stacked over each other down the side or middle of each page.

The weird thing is that I liked the story better this way. All the characters are still quite off-putting as in the film -- an unlikable, impoverished family cons their way into working as servants for an odd rich family, an allegorical infestation of roaches in their sterile mansion -- but the soft-focus of the sketches made me hate them all a little less.

It was interesting to follow along with the book while streaming the film for a little while. But the movie quickly started to bug me again, so I stopped that.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always wanted to get my hands on Bong's self-drawn storyboards, and this did not disappoint. Beyond just appreciating his precise, detailed vision, and excellent cartooning skills, there is lot to be learned about filmmaking here. I also enjoyed seeing the few lines/shots/scenes that were scrapped, changed, or modified during the shoot or the edit. This is a must for any filmmaking fan or any Bong fan. I wish similar books existed for his entire body of work.

Really my only criticism is that title -- this is in no way a graphic novel, it's a bound collection of storyboards, which other than also being sequential art, are a very different thing with a very different purpose. If anyone comes to it thinking it is literally a graphic novel adaptation of Parasite they will likely be disappointed. I get that it's just a marketing thing, but it bugs me none-the-less.

[Daisy Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confirmed that Bong Joon-Ho is a legend. It’s crazy to see how well he captured the details from the storyboard.

(Shout out to Kai for the wonderful & thoughtful gift!!)

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly calling this a graphic novel is a stretch because storyboards are not comic panels! As a graphic novel this sucks— but it’s not, it’s a showcase of the films rough storyboards and production. And in that regard it’s pretty cool.
I liked seeing how things were planned and then comparing it to my memory of the film as well as being able to read all the dialogue in a few sittings to really take in the narrative. What a well constructed, haunting story- I want to rewatch it now. I feel the medium of film really did add a lot to it. The visuals give such a haunting tone that don’t come through in the script.

[Rach · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a firm believer in thumbnail sketching and storyboarding for graphic design projects that I work on, it was especially interesting to see Bong Joon Ho do the same thing but for the movie screen. The way he sketches and draws the characters emotions builds tension so expertly and is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. This book is a gift to all visual thinkers, artists, and Parasite film fans alike. It is astounding how close the final masterpiece is to the initial, but genius, sketches.

[Orissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool. I loved Parasite, and rewatched with this book. I loved seeing the subtleties, the camera work, and all the details hidden in plain sight. I forget how much camera movement and placement impacts tone!

[Sophie Ligaya dela Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

read my review of the film parasite here on my blog, Sophie and Their Stories!!

I love this movie a thousand times more!! and it was so cool to see the deleted scenes and little changes that were translated beautifully from page to screen. reading this graphic novel got me just as excited and shocked as I was watching the film.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was in high school I used to draw storyboard-like dark comedy comics during study hall to show my friends in French class...imagine if I never stopped drawing like that, maybe I'd be storyboarding feature films...really makes you think.

Anyway, comic-adjacent formats are pretty much my favorite form of story telling because I feel like you can do so much in just a few panels but this is probably one of the first times I felt like I needed more!!! I went into this expecting something adjacent to ONE or Toriyama (two masters of paneling) so maybe that is my fault, but it really was just a questionably organized storyboard (not confused bc the drawings weren't understandable, but just like...not a great layout.) I feel like this would have been better if the images were larger and it kept the typical screenplay format (and font...) like more horizontal than parallel to each other. That way the images would be larger and the text wouldn't be smushed to the side.

Actually, initially I attempted to read along to this while rewatching Parasite but I was getting annoyed by the conflicting subtitles fhdjsk I just love this movie SFM. I love Bong Joon-ho's approach to filmmaking and just wish I could have more of these but formatted better? Also there is an entire section where the korean hangul is not translated at all...what's up with that? In the end, I don't regret buying this at all but I hope someone does this again with more movies but uses better formatting.

[Gonza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hoy a la mañana volví a ver parasite con mi viejo y me encantó. De chico le tenía mucho de cariño (y envidia) por lo bien que articulaba muchas de las ideas que hasta ese momento no lograba poner en palabras. Desde el 2015 que intentaba escribir algo similar a esto. El plot de lo quería hacer era distinto -era sobre un pibe de bajos recursos que reemplazaba a otro en una familia de clase alta-, pero los temas y el mensaje eran en esencia los mismos. Quería mostrar cómo dos polos opuestos de personas interactuaban, sin realmente antagonizar a ninguno de los dos. Quería resaltar lo injusto que era ese mundo, como para que la única forma genuina de ascender fuera empeorando las cosas para los demás. Quería mostrar cómo cada uno de ellos justificaba sus acciones y el funcionamiento del mundo. En fin, de chiquito tenía muchas ideas pero me faltaban las facultades como para hacerlas realidad. Todos mis borradores o se iban por las ramas, o eran aburridos o se cagaban por completo en el mensaje que quería dejar. Es por eso que cuando fui a ver esta película, salí del cine con sentimientos encontrados. Por un lado, era medio humillante ver como Bong Joon-Ho agarraba la idea que había tenido y hacía algo mucho mejor a lo que podría haber imaginado. Pero por el otro lado, era aliviante. Era como ver la respuesta a un puzzle que me venía rompiendo la cabeza. Pero bueno, a pesar de la envidia que me pueda dar, es un peliculón, y el storyboard lo refleja. Es fascinante leer las descripciones que hace y las pequeñas formas en las que difiere de la película. Si les gustó parasite, les va a gustar este libro. Muy recomendado.

Me acabo de dar cuenta que hice una review más extensa acá que en letterboxd, terrible (en letterboxd escribí dos oraciones)

Bueno, me da paja seguir intentando escribir oraciones coherentes. Dejo acá las notas que hice mientras leía el libro y listo.

1.
-it's a chimpanzee, right?
-a self-portrait.

2. Me encanta que cada escena tiene un nombre. Se nota que todo es deliberado.

3. Cada 3 páginas cambia por completo el estilo de los dibujos. Parecen hasta hechos por personas diferentes. Las únicas cosas que se mantienen son los ojos y las narices. Es interesante.

4. Sacaron una banda de escenas de la película. Es como que estoy leyendo el extended cut

5. - wow, this is so metaphorical.

6. Hay algunas escenas que haría más cortas pero no quiero sonar como que esta película tiene problemas

7. Los diálogos son espectacularesss

8. Ahora quisiera ver el guion. Pasan tantas cosas a la vez que no sé cómo hicieron para escribirlo.

9. No tiene mucho sentido la escena del celu en cámara lenta pero no importa (me rompe mucho los huevos)

10. Es muy loco lo bien hechas que están las peleas. A pesar de ser caóticas se entiende todo.

11. La imagen de ki-jung fumando en el baño es espectacularr. Estoy considerando imprimir un poster de eso.

12. Mierda. Cuando vi la película con mi viejo no me había parecido tan devastador el final. Leerlo acá me dejó con los ojos llorosos. Ahora entiendo porque a mi viejo no le gustó nada.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all fans of Parasite, and that's everyone that's seen it. If you haven't yet do yourself a favour.
Further proof as to why Bong Joon-Ho won best picture for this.

[Nusfaq Mahmood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time reading a storyboard and enjoyed every bit of it. It was magnificent. Loved all the metaphors. Bong Joon Ho, you genius!!

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good book i think

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to amplify Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite experience? Read the storyboard in chunks and watch that film chunk immediately afterwards, pause the film, read another chunk, repeat. Getting into Bong Joon-ho’s mind via his drawn storyboard is to understand the mechanism of how Parasite came to be, shot by shot, the panning, angles, dialogues, details, etc. It’s so rare that storyboards to a masterful film like this is accessible in this format.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Script book accompanied with the entire storyboard sketches from Bong Joon Ho himself. A bit clustered and messy with the scene to scene movement, but not everything has to be clean and concise when you(the creator) understands what you want done with the scene. Towards the end there’s more sketches and a good bit of photos from the film. Definitely enjoyed seeing the ideas behind the films creation.

[DonJohn80 · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only complaint is that they translated everything with the localizations. I wish they had left WhatsApp as Kakao Talk and things like that so I could try and spot the changes.

[Doyeon Ahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

봉준호 감독님이 영화 기생충 제작 과정에서 만든 스토리 보드들을 엮어 놓은 그래픽 노블 (형식의 책). 굉장히 인상 깊게 본 영화이기에 스토리 보드를 읽는 재미 또한 쏠쏠. 감독님의 그림 실력에 한번 놀랐고 화면을 구성하는 디테일에 두번 놀랐다. 또 흥미로웠던 점은 이 책의 서문, 봉준호 감독님이 스토리보드를 준비하는 이유를 설명하는 부분:

“I only feel safe when I have all the shots of the day storyboarded and in my palm. Whenever I go to set without storyboards, I feel like I’m standing in the middle of Grand Central Terminal wearing only my underwear. … The finished film never deviates far from the stroyboards, and this allows the crew to trust the process. … The storyboards not only assuage my own fears but the crew’s as well.”

이 스토리 보드에는 한 분야의 정점에 다다른 개인이 본인의 일에 임하는 마음 가짐, 흔들리는 마음을 다잡기 위한 루틴, 그리고 함께 일하는 동료들을 위하는 마음까지 깃들어 있다. 이 얼마나 멋진 그림들인가!

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was super comprehensive and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the film. Storyboards aren't really my thing as much as scripts are, but it's interesting to see how planned this was and how it compares to the movie.

[Books and Bookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing more exhilarating than having little knowledge of a film before experiencing it, and emerging with a plethora of theories, questions, and philosophies after going in for the ride.

When Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite made whirlwind news around film twitter after its Palm d’Or win, I knew I had to add it to my folder of critically-acclaimed films while I wait for the right time and mood to watch it. However, at that time, its growing publicity and surrounding hype in Twitter pushed it to the top of my list, to the point where I went in cold, without watching the trailer or reading any detailed reviews of it --- a decision that I have no regrets with.

Its fluidity to move across genres, the incredible pacing and storytelling, the ambiguity of its title, and the film’s multiple layers and depths of social class disparity, were all so flawlessly woven to deliver a modern, tragicomedy masterpiece that eats your cinematic soul. It’s even more impressive when you dive into Bong Joon Ho’s galaxy brain through his storyboards and screenplay.

To experience another film like this again might take another decade or probably another film from the same director, but overall, my remarkable experience of watching Parasite makes what movie-going such a joy, and something that I actually miss, most especially in this time.

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

A filmmaker's paradise, literally. Not only does this book contain the storyboards for Parasite, you essentially get the whole script alongside it as well as key floor plans and location breakdowns - and that's before you get to the concept drawings and stills at the back. While it doesn't have a whole lot of explanation for how these things work or the process behind them, non-filmmakers can still understand and enjoy the way the story unfolds with Bong-ssi's meticulous ability to articulate with an image - most of the shots are near identical to those captured in the final film. I'm also happy to say that this book includes some of the deleted scenes I became aware of from reading the script, so plenty of new things for lovers of the film.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bound collection of Parasite's storyboards, rather than a graphic novel. I don't think someone who did not watch the film would get as much out of this than if it was a graphic novel.

I absolutely loved Parasite, and this book is great. It has some cut scenes and scenes that ultimately ended up slightly different in the film, which was fun to spot. The only downside is that all the annotations on the storyboards are not translated from Korean (which I don't know), while there are some descriptions in English beside the storyboards I would have really liked to be able to read what all the little notes were.

Regardless of that my love of the film and the story told in this book is still 5 stars.

[nicole ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely a book for film buffs, which I'm not. I love Parasite. I think it's one of the most intelligent movies I've watched. That being said, this doesn't necessarily work as a graphic novel, and I wish it hadn't been labeled as one. It's great for people who want to understand films from behind the scenes, or from the conception of the scenes. It's a great resource for that, but a graphic novel, it is not. It's uncomfortable to read because of how unnatural the storyboard's and script's placements are. Graphic novels integrate both elements into each other. I understand why it wouldn't be structured like that, but it /is/ labeled as a graphic novel. It was definitely interesting, though, and I appreciated that I got to see the vision that came before the actual filming.

[DMPGOOB · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book It’s basically the entire film in storyboard form so you get to see how Bong Joon ho originally pictured each scene before it was shot and It felt like being inside his mind while he was creating it you can really see how much detail went into planning the angles and shots also how everything was carefully planned and nothing in the movie happened by chance makes you appreciate the movie even more. It’s not something you read like a normal graphic novel more like walking through the blueprint of the film. I would like more directors and movies to make something like this

[Matthew Cholodewitsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

You get exactly what’s advertised. A very short forward written by Bong Joon Ho. Some stills from the movie and Early concept art pad out the back end. The meat of the book is a storyboard of the whole movie. Very interesting to see how Bong had 99% of the movie figured out exactly. There’s a few extra lines and scenes (and a few lines missing) that make the whole reading worth it. Really interesting to think about what their presence/absence adds.

[liliyawna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've ever bought as a film student.
It's incredible, to bee able to look into the head of Bong Joon-Ho like that, and see how the absolute fucking masterpiece that is the film "Parasite" was conceived to be shot.
When I watched the living room fight between the Kims, Moon-gwang and Geun-sae and following the storyboards, I think I had an out of body experience.
I sure do fucking love cinema.

[Maria M.M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parásitos es una de mis películas favoritas.
Me parece un gran regalo de parte de Bong Joon-Ho el hecho de tener un libro con los storyboards, ya que hay escenas no incluidas en la película y puedes ver como las ideas del director fueron llevadas a la pantalla grande (casi igual a las que hay en papel).
un gran regalo para cualquier cinéfilo, en especial para los que se quieren dedicar al cine (como es mi caso).

[Ming · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource with lots of insight into how the film was made in Bong's head. However, I do wish that all of the annotations on the diagrams could've been translated into English as well, because it's sometimes confusing trying to figure them out. And ideally, we'd be able to see the actual shots from the finished film side by side, but that's a huge ask (and probably more than double the book price and size).

[mica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't watched this film since the year it came out, essentially, but I saw some images of the storyboards online, and as an artist I just really loved them. There's an incredible energy to art that is meant to live in a liminal space, where it was created, but usually not shared.
The drawings here are obviously meant to be very basic, but I really loved the way they looked, and while I got this book from my library, it's definitely going on my "to buy" list.