Korean pop culture spreads through K-Pop Demon Hunters

illustration by Ashleigh Ward

“K-Pop Demon Hunters” released June 20 and made waves in media and culture with its unique animation, storytelling, deep character development and themes. According to Forbes, Sony, the film’s studio, has made about 20 million dollars, contrary to a 100 million dollar budget, due to the underestimated amount of hype the movie would generate. However, the film’s soundtrack has been topping the charts for the past three months, and the film has been growing an energetic fanbase since.

K-Pop as a genre is influencing our culture, and “K-Pop Demon Hunters” is just one example of this fast growing obsession. Many teens and young adults are now listening to K-Pop groups such as BTS and Stray Kids. These groups are influencing music, media, fashion, food and linguistic interest. The genre is also spreading to other parts of the music industry, with more collaborations crossing over into the mainstream, such as “APT” by Bruno Mars featuring Rosé, a member of BLACKPINK, another popular K-Pop group.

“K-Pop has influenced our culture because it has become more prevalent in society,” said junior Hannah Haynes. “There are more [Korean TV Shows and movies], and Golden has been the #1 song since the movie came out, and it is broadening our view of South Korean culture because it is an easily consumed form of media.” 

The lead characters in “K-Pop Demon Hunters” are Rumi, Mira and Zoey, who make up the group, Huntrix. Rumi, the leader of the group, has stripe-like patterns that symbolize shame, patterns that only demons have. However, when she meets Jinu, the leader of the demon boy band known as Saja Boys, she begins to grow a relationship with him because he understands her shame. 

Although Rumi saw demons as adversity in the past, she now believes that maybe there is some good in the demons, which is part of the demon’s strategy. It is also seen that the Saja Boys group is deceptive, and their music opens up demonic pathways that allow for a listener’s soul to be consumed to strengthen Gwi’ma, the demon king.

“When Rumi says ‘I am embracing my patterns,’ you can take it as ‘This is my sin, and I'm proud of it, and it is who I am. It's not something I need to change’ versus that the patterns can represent something that [you know it's wrong], but you learn to forgive yourself,” said junior Ella Jackson.