01PlutchikInterpretiveSample on Parasite (2019)
Emotional Rhythm Strip
Example analysis of Parasite (2019), screenplay by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won. Shown for demonstration and commentary. It reads a finished film to show the format, so anything it flags may well be deliberate; on your own draft, treat each flag as a question.
Also on: Nope (2022)
Tension leads 63 of 158 scenes
The arc: rise, plunge, fall. The emotional line opens on amusement and empathy for the struggling Kim family, which sets the darkly comic tone. Tension climbs as their scheme unfolds, with moments of triumph and anxiety along the way, then drops into dread and grief at the violent climax. After it, the film settles into sadness and hopelessness, and stays there.
Across the whole script
- Tension
- Anxiety
- Dread
- Amusement
- Sadness
- Hope
- Surprise
- Fear
- OtherNine more emotions, which lead the other 22 scenes: warmth, relief, empathy, grief, joy, disgust, longing, triumph and wonder.
Audience emotion, scene by scene
How to read this
Each row is one of the eight emotions felt most across the script, and each column is a scene. The taller the bar, the more strongly the audience is expected to feel that emotion there. When a scene is led by an emotion without a row of its own, the last row, Other, draws that lead. The line underneath is the scene's overall intensity.
Select a scene to read it below. With a mouse, drag across the strip to zoom into a range; in a full report, the other scene charts follow. On a phone, tap or drag along the line. From the keyboard, focus the strip and step through scenes with the arrow keys.
A small triangle over a scene marks genre drift: the scene plays a different emotion from the one the genre leads an audience to expect.
Each emotion, scene by scene
Tension
Anxiety
Dread
Amusement
Sadness
Hope
Surprise
Fear
Other
Line: overall intensityGenre drift
Scene 1 selectedINT. SEMI-BASEMENT - DAY
Amusement leads, at moderate intensity and a medium pace.
The Kim family desperately searches for a Wi-Fi signal in their semi-basement apartment.
NO. Not you too 'iptime.'
BOOYAH!
Get up closer.
- Amusement: moderate
- Empathy: moderate
- Tension: weak
The script mixes dark comedy with suspense, and by the time the tone turns to horror and tragedy the audience is already complicit in the Kims' schemes.
Scenes 69 to 100 are the busiest stretch: amusement, tension, dread and disgust all arrive at once. The peak comes later, in scene 131, the most intense single scene. Sc. 69–100, 131
The Kims' triumphant infiltration runs straight into their violent downfall, and the fall hurts because the climb was so much fun.
Scenes 132 to 158 stay in a quiet sadness and hopelessness, and in hindsight the whole film reads as a tragedy. Sc. 132–158
Dramatic irony drives most of the anxiety. The audience knows more than the Parks and keeps waiting for the Kims to be found out.
Plays as thriller and drama, and partly as comedy and horror
Darkly comedic social thriller with tragic drama elements.
ThrillerStrong fit
- High-stakes deception plot with constant risk of exposure
- Sustained suspense sequences (e.g., the family hiding under the table, the flood escape)
- Violent, shocking climax with multiple deaths
- Use of dramatic irony to create audience anxiety
- The long comic sequence with the family under the table (scene 93) leans into farce, and the thriller tension softens for a while.
DramaStrong fit
- Class conflict and social inequality, explored at length
- Complex, flawed family dynamics
- Tragic character arcs and a sombre, reflective ending
- Focus on character-driven storytelling
- The graphic violence and sustained suspense are more intense than a typical drama.
ComedyPartial fit
- Darkly comedic situations (e.g., the 'Jessica' persona, the peach fuzz scheme)
- Satirical portrayal of the wealthy Park family
- Witty, sharp dialogue
- Farcical elements in the home invasion sequence
- The humour is often undercut by the dread underneath it and by the tragic ending.
HorrorPartial fit
- The discovery of the secret bunker and its inhabitant is a classic horror reveal
- Graphic, shocking violence (the garden party massacre)
- A pervasive sense of dread and claustrophobia in the second half
- The 'ghost' story and the blinking lights create an eerie atmosphere
- Nothing here is supernatural: the horror is psychological and social, and the pacing is more deliberate than a typical horror film.
Two scenes bring amusement where the genre expects tension
- Sc. 69
The family's drunken celebration has tension underneath, but it plays mainly as broad comedy, and the thriller's pressure lets up for a moment.
- Sc. 93
The Parks' intimate sofa scene, overheard by the Kims from under the table, plays as cringe comedy and briefly defuses the suspense.
For the next draft
- With the Kims under the table in scene 93, the Parks' banter plays as comedy on top of the dread built in the scenes before it, and every extra line of it lets a little more tension out. Where in that banter does the audience need to remember the Kims are inches away?
- The closing fantasy (scenes 154–157) plays Ki-Woo's hope as sincere warmth, though the audience knows it is out of reach. The warmth consoles, which leaves scene 158, where he admits the plan is impossible, to carry the irony alone. Should one detail in the fantasy stop the audience settling into it?
- Only once, in her outburst in scene 69, does Ki-Jung's guard fully drop, and the script never goes back to that vulnerability before her death in scene 131. Do you want the moment to stand alone?
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