An analysis on the effect of music and generational curses on an individual’s soul in
the Movie K-Pop Demon Hunters.
The art of music can be a bridge between one’s mind and the realm of the supernatural. In K-Pop Demon Hunters, Rumi, Zoe, and Mira, a K-pop group known as Huntrix, use music to protect the human realm from demons, while Jinu a demon who starts his own boy band aims to corrupt and steal souls with his music. The movie explores generational curses and self doubt through character symbolism, the human-supernatural divide and barrier between worlds (The Honmoon), and metaphors for Rumi and Jinu’s self condemnation, showing how music can profoundly impact one’s heart posture.
The Protagonist Rumi, condemns herself for the generational curse passed down to her from her parents as her father was a demon and her mother was a former K-Pop hunter. After her mother’s untimely death, Rumi was taken in and raised by another member of her mother’s band of demon hunters. She trained Rumi to fight demons and hide her true identity from the world and her friends with the motto, “our faults and fears must never be seen” drilled into her. Because of this Rumi cannot accept her identity and tries in her own strength to resist her true nature. Rumi finds that she is not able to take on all of this responsibility on her own and she temporarily begins to lose her ability to write music and sing. This is a result of her half demon side consuming her as she is allowing her shame to control her life. Biblically, God does not desire for his people to be consumed by shame but
instead offers forgiveness and redemption (1 John 1:9 - “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”). Rumi later finds that when she finally is truthful with her friends and stops trying to only rely on herself that she is able to find her voice again and finish the lyrics to the song that is supposed to unite her fans.
To continue, Jinu’s self condemnation makes him vulnerable to Gwi-Ma’s (This movies depiction of satan) influence, echoing the ideas that a wrong heart posture opens one to temptation. His quote about Gwi-Ma’s fading power, “can’t get at the souls, now his flame grows cold, just like a whisper in the dark”, suggests the devil’s deception in claiming souls, which actually belong to God. Jinu’s deal with Gwi-Ma to satisfy his desires, instead of repenting deepens his plight. Once a musician wanting to help his family, Jinu’s voice becomes a tool for evil. Rumi’s presence in his path could be interpreted as divine intervention, guiding him from darkness. Jinu’s transformation from cruel to compassionate highlights the possibility of forgiveness through repentance, mirroring his honesty at the movie’s end.
Additionally, the song “Free” sung by both Jinu and Rumi highlights a moment where they are honest about their mistakes and how they can move past them and do better. Towards the end of the song Jinu claims “I don’t hear him anymore”, referring to Gwi-Ma’s voice. This illustrates the hold music can have on us as a shift in the type of musical message Jinu was singing and listening to, allowed him to step out of the “devil’s” grasp. However, just like when one takes a step back from the devil and his temptations, and the devil tries 10 times harder to pull you back, Jinu was physically dragged back to hell after Rumi left him. This was a metaphor for how when someone stops listening to the right things and leaves themselves open for temptation, it is easy to fall back into bad habits. Jinu is then convinced into believing he is hopeless and that Gwi-Ma already has his hands on him for good which leads him to carrying out Gwi-Ma’s plans. This reflects how the devil can influence one’s mind into believing that their sin is too great to be forgiven, leading to condemnation that prevents an individual from repenting, trapping them in a cycle of perpetual sin.
The song “Idol” sung by Jinu and his band “The Saja Boys” is a accurate representation of how people don’t pay attention to the lyrics of songs as long as their is a good beat, the dance moves look cool and the singers/dancers are attractive. Even according to real fans of the movie after watching countless
videos of people reviewing the movie they stated that their souls would’ve been gone if they were in the movie themselves. The song “Idol” clearly verses problematic lyrics such as “Play me on repeat,” “Anytime it hurts play another verse, I can be your sanctuary.” This quote highlights how when an individual has self doubt or is hurting, typically in the real world one will continuously play a song with a hurtful message keeping them in that miserable state. This song in the movie was influencing the crowd to cave into their pain and the crowd just stood their mindlessly singings and dancing along as their were obviously demons directly in front of them. This also alludes to how demons can be behind anything in the natural world influencing people however people only focus on the surface level things. Another example from this song is “Don’t let it show, keep it all inside, the pain and the shame, keep it outta sight, your obsessions feeds our connection.” The diction “the pain and the shame, keep it outta site” directly
connects to Rumi as she hid her identity for so long. Rumi’s shame about who she was is what allowed her demon to take control of her. However, in the end of the movie Rumi finally stops lying about who she is and seeks unity with her friends and her fans through the final song “This is What it Sounds Like”. Through the lyrics I tried to fix it, I tried to fight it, my head was twisted, my heart divided” Rumi opens up about how she tried to take matters into her own hands however it did not go as planned and that was not the solution. The movie ends with the three girls Rumi, Zoey, and Mira floating above the crowd in white and gold costumes that were previously black and gold in the last song. Although they won their current fight against the demons they still did not fulfill their goal to eliminate the demons for good by turning the Honmoon golden. This can allude to how when
one lacks God in their life they can never fully achieve their goals or desires without facing temptation.
In Conclusion, the one thing this movie lacks is the presence of God. However, it is an accurate representation of the power of music and how it can influence one’s mind into either falling into temptation or pulling away from it. Overall, stay cautious when listening to music as you can never know the true message that is hidden between the lines used to lure in listeners.