'KPop Demon Hunters' is really big

I’ve already written about the "KPop Demon Hunters" phenomenon, but it deserves more attention. From my point of view, it has recently crossed several thresholds, each an indicator of the power and influence of the phenomenon. Notice I call it a phenomenon, not a movie or a music soundtrack. It is a movie — a very successful one. And it is a collection of music — also very successful. But beyond that, it is truly a phenomenon.

What makes me want to write more about "KPop Demon Hunters" is the fact that it has crashed into my life in several new ways. I think of it as having crossed more thresholds. Let me name them.

I’ve received several emails from friends and messages on my YouTube channel that I need to prepare a video on the subject. That was the first threshold.

Perhaps the most shocking one happened to me came in church on a recent Sunday — once as I was coming into the chapel, and once as I was leaving. Friends came up to me to ask me what I thought of the movie, and if I could answer some questions about it. That was a new threshold being crossed.

The next threshold I noticed was when I was looking up music on YouTube. I noticed not one, but several symphonic renditions of the movie's songs. The first one I saw I thought was noteworthy, but then I saw several others — many, many others. It’s a thing: orchestral demon hunters.

The next thing to pop up while surfing the internet was Halloween costumes of both the movie's fictional girl group, Huntrix, and the movie's boy band, Saja Boys. Several of my friends, including my own grandchildren, are planning to dress up as "KPop Demon Hunters" characters for Halloween this year. That is a remarkable threshold to cross. It’s always the trendiest thing each year that everybody has to dress up for on Halloween.

But the next threshold really surprised me. It was a YouTube video of an aerobic exercise class dancing to the music of “Golden.” It was very effective because the meter of the song has a fast section and a slow section and then another fast section, which fit the aerobic dance exercise perfectly. The movie has crossed the exercise class threshold!

One of my friends called me to ask about the cultural background of the movie. He cited other movies that had cultural items from another place, such as "Mulan," about a Chinese story, and "Moana," about Polynesian myths, and "Coco," based on Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). As with several other movies, the native culture was shown, but not fully explained. Sometimes, in such movies, as with "KPop Demon Hunters," some of the cultural items are explained, but some are not — the viewer is left to wonder exactly what some of the cultural items mean. And that’s a healthy curiosity which often leads to research or looking up the cultural items and learning about them.

My friend had several questions. The “honmun” seemed interesting. I explained that it was a unique item to this movie. However, it was easy to decipher: “Hon” means spirit, and “moon” means gate, making it a spirit gate. The heroines were trying to keep the gate closed, to keep the spirits out.

My friend cited a movie some years ago that used a New Zealand myth, but it was offensive to some New Zealand sensibilities. He asked if anything in the movie, any use of Korean culture, seemed inappropriately used or could come across as offensive. I responded that I didn’t see any issue that was problematic, but that Koreans would most likely take glory in the popular spread of their culture to the world.

My friend asked about the nature of the demons, who didn’t seem too menacing. I responded that there are a class of demons in Korean called “dokkaebi” or “gwisin," but they weren’t so much harmful or life-threatening as much as they were troublesome or menacing. Demons in the Korean context can be placated, mollified or even bribed. Indeed, the heart of shamanism is the business of making them happier, particularly where there has been a flare-up or rupture in spiritual harmony. And the heart of Confucianism is to make offerings to the deceased spirits, not so much to prevent trouble, but just to make sure that everyone on the “other side” is content. Confucians don’t go so far as to describe what would happen if one is not attentive — they leave that to shamanism.

I have been waiting for an American film producer to capture one of the Korean cultural heroes for a full-length animation film. I had hoped to see Hong Gildong, the Robin Hood figure that steals from the rich and gives to the poor, or a similar character. Korea has lots of heroic tales. This K-pop inspired story of dokkaebi is not the thing I would have predicted. But it’s here — and it has hit the big time. Congratulations, Korea! I hope it continues to have a good ride.

Mark Peterson (frogoutsidethewell@gmail.com) is a professor emeritus of Korean studies at Brigham Young University in Utah. The views expressed here are his own.