There's Gold In All Of Us — But It Takes Work To Make It Shine
K-Pop Demon Hunters' missed opportunity — Monday Dispatch 2025/08/04
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This week, a few thoughts on the message behind Netflix and Sony Animations’ movie K-Pop Demon Hunter.
My daughter is currently obsessed with K-Pop Demon Hunters. She’s singing the songs and doing the moves. The soundtrack plays on our car trips and the movie is a companion for pizza night on the couch.
So, I’ve had plenty of time to look at the movie from different angles. There’s something not quite right about the story — and it’s not the band jumping off a plane and landing without a parachute!
The movie is good fun. I love curling up on the couch and watching it together.
What doesn’t sit well with me is the assumption underlying the characters’ journey — or lack thereof.
Their final victory is unearned.
There’s no training, no mentoring, and no trying and failing. There’s no real growth, it’s mostly “believe in yourself”.
The protagonist, Rumi, and her friends Zoey and Mira are a K-Pop trio beloved by fans and dominating the charts. The girls double as demon hunters, killing off those demons that make it into our world hungry for human souls. Through their music and the emotions it creates in their fans’ hearts, they are about to seal a barrier that will keep demons off our world once and for all.
But Rumi has a secret. She is part demon herself. She’s been hiding this from everyone, including Zoey and Mira.
Rumi hopes that their new song, Golden, will seal the barrier, removing her demon marks and letting her finally share her whole self with her friends. But five demons form a boy band and hijack the fans beat by beat.
With this premise, it could have been an inspiring growth story.
As the evil demon boy band took over, Rumi’s resentment could have unleashed her inner demon — with tragic consequences. After this setback, her friends could have come together to tell her that they don’t care whether she’s demon or human. Help her understand that it’s her actions that define who she is, not the marks on her skin. By harnessing her demon powers, Rumi could have led the team in an epic battle against the villain, showing that people’s differences can be put to work in synergy. They could have finally sealed the barrier with a song celebrating collaboration and acceptance.
Instead we got:
[Rumy] I was a ghost, I was alone
Eoduwojin apgilsoge (Hah)
Given the throne, I didn’t know how to believe (Hah)
I was the queen that I’m meant to be (Ah)
[Zoey] I lived two lives, tried to play both sides
But I couldn’t find my own place (Oh, oh)
[Mira] Called a problem child, 'cause I got too wild
But now that’s how I’m getting paid, kkeuteopsi on stage[All] I’m done hidin’, now I’m shinin’ Like I’m born to be
The message: I’m perfect already. I don’t need to change. Watch me shine.
That might be okay as a starting point. Sure, we’re all inherently valuable. But that alone isn’t enough.
We also need to work on ourselves. We need to improve, train, seek mastery.
Take Rumi’s friend Mira who was not accepted because “too wild,” but now earns a living off that untamed personality. That’s not how it works!
The talents and oddities that make us unique are only raw clay. To become valuable, they need to be worked. It takes countless rotations on the pottery wheel to transform a lump of clay into a beautiful vase.
But the movie doesn’t show any of this crucial work.
After Rumi’s secret is revealed, the evil demon boy band performs in a concert and begins to steal the souls of the audience, including Rumi’s friends. Rumi shows up and sings “I broke into a million pieces, and I can’t go back. But now I’m seeing all the beauty in the broken glass. The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony. My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like.” This awakens Zoey and Mira, and together they save the day. Done.
Granted, they do sing a song about working together and accepting each other — “We listened to the demons, we let them get between us. But none of us are out here on our own. […] Dive in the fire, and I’ll be right here by your side.”
But that little growth was not earned. It just happened. There was no real effort involved.
Now, compare Rumi with Disney’s 1997 Hercules.
Hercules, too, is born with an incredible power and struggles to keep it hidden.
He eventually embraces it, but to do so needs to go on a journey, train hard under Philoctetes.
And, cherry on top of the cake, in the end Hercules realizes that what makes him special is not his power, but his compassion and ability to sacrifice himself for others. That’s what makes him a hero.
Same starting point. Same happy ending. Very different journey.
As I said at the start, maybe I’ve just seen K-Pop Demon Hunters too many times and needed something to fixate on. Or maybe it’s just that I grew up on Goku and Krillin training with Master Roshi, whose maxim was “Work hard, study well, and eat and sleep plenty!” But I just can’t get past the fact that the movie doesn’t really show the girls struggling to surpass their obstacles.
As a kid, watching Dragonball and Hercules showed me the value of working hard for what you want to achieve.
As a parent, I worry K-Pop Demon Hunters will show my kids that they can expect things to work out for them as long as they’re their true selves.
But let’s be real. There was plenty of TV that could have sent the wrong message when I was growing up, too. Like Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh, who kept drawing the right card at the right time by believing in “the Heart of the Cards.”
In the end, it’s up to us parents to share – by showing, not telling – good values with our kids.
If we take part in what they are interested in and share it together, then a movie like K-Pop Demon Hunters goes beyond being an enjoyable flick and becomes an opportunity to talk about what it takes to fight our own demons.