Film as cultural diplomacy: South Korea’s nation branding through Parasite (2019)

This study examines the nation branding of South Korea through the Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019) to understand the South Korean government’s approach toward cultural diplomacy, and its outcomes. Despite growing depoliticalization and decentralization, South Korea’s cultural diplomacy policy remains unilateral in embracing Parasite’s success for nation branding while drawing on expanding private-sector resources to produce and market the film. To explicate South Korea’s nation brand vis-à-vis Parasite, a Leximancer analysis of 8808 texts investigated concepts that are associated with the film as a complex bundle of images, meanings, associations, and experiences in the minds of international audiences. The texts associate Parasite with the national entity of South Korea and the country’s most significant cultural content export, the Korean Wave. Sentiment analyses through Leximancer also show positive attitudes, thus helping to reinforce the nation branding of Parasite and its successes as a tangible South Korean national resource, consistent with a soft power approach.