This summer, “K-pop Demon Hunters” became a breakout hit and the most-watched film in Netflix history with 236 million views and counting. Even if you didn’t see the movie, you can’t help but hear the music as it became the first movie soundtrack to place four of its songs on the Billboard Hot 100’s top ten. While the story contains fantasy elements from Korean folklore and presents a do-it-yourself recipe for the problems of life, it deals with some important biblical truths that are worth reflecting on.
1. Evil spiritual forces come dressed in beauty and charm
For too long, popular culture has pictured Satan and his demons as hideous, red beasts with pitchforks and horns. As a result, people have dismissed the idea of a spiritual realm or assumed that anything supernatural must automatically be from God.
K-pop Demon Hunters sees demons as having an impact on our world, but their influence doesn’t come through a devil sitting on your shoulder. The demons instead disguise themselves as an irresistible boy band who look as good as they sing.
The Bible warns that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” and adds that “his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Jesus, similarly, warned of those who “come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). The message is that evil spiritual power is communicated with charm, beauty, and appeal. We should be on guard and show discernment toward the words expressed by the people selling out stadiums, topping best seller lists, winning elections, and bringing home gold medals. Even a K-pop boy band could be used to lure people with a demonic message. Don’t be taken in by pretty packaging.
2. Shame is a tool used by demons to keep people in darkness
The character Gwi-Ma—whose name means “Ghost Spirit” in Korean—is the movie’s Satan figure, the lord of the underworld. He exerts his control primarily through shame. One demon explains, “It’s all demons do. Feel. Feel our shame. Our misery. It’s how Gwi-Ma controls us. Do you not hear him in your ear?”
In a sense, the plot is all about striving to break free from shame. Linking that shame, and in particular the debilitating voices of shame in your ear, with Satan is a refreshing topic to be addressed by a popular movie, and all the more surprising to see in an animated one.
One of the names that’s used for the devil in the Bible is Satan, originally a Hebrew word meaning “accuser” or “adversary.” In Job 1:9, he attacks the motivations for Job’s devotion. In Zechariah 3:1, he stands accusing the high priest before God. In Revelation 12:10, he’s called “the accuser of our brothers and sisters,” and it says that he “accuses them before our God day and night.”
The ironic nature of Satan’s working in the Bible is that he is the one who both tempts us to sin as well as the one who condemns us for giving into sin once we’ve done what he proposed. If K-pop Demon Hunters helps people question the voices of shame they hear rather than simply accepting them, it offers a positive message.
3. There’s power in confronting your shame and gathering to sing songs of deliverance
In the movie, the music of the K-pop girl group Huntr/x and the enthusiastic response of their fans provide a spiritual barrier against demonic influence. But the group’s lead singer, Rumi, must confront her own “demons”—feelings of shame over things her family taught her to hide. When she fails to do this, it affects her singing, her relationships, and her own well-being.
In the song “Free,” Rumi and Jinu sing, “We can’t fix it if we never face it. What if we find a way to escape it? We could be free, free!” Burying your shame ensures that you never escape it. Unfortunately, K-pop Demon Hunters does a better job of pointing to the problem than it does of addressing the solution.
Dealing with feelings of shame is important, but calling everything about ourselves or our past “good” doesn’t make it so. We don’t just need to accept ourselves—we need the acceptance of God. And that comes through the Saviour who took the guilt of our sins upon Himself at the cross. As we confess our sins and turn to Jesus in faith, God declares us accepted and forgiven and dismisses all condemnation against us. As it says in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” and in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
While K-pop Demon Hunters misses the mark on the nature of the song, one of the reasons that Christians gather to sing songs of Jesus’ deliverance is that they remind us of His grace and drown out the false accusations and judgment in our heads. Sometimes the voices are so loud, we struggle to sing on our own, but as we gather with others in worship, the chorus overpowers any accusations Satan might level against us (Hebrews 10:24-25). As it says in Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.”
K-pop Demon Hunters is an imperfect movie, but our culture needs reminding of the spiritual world around us and of the voices of shame that only the forgiveness of Jesus Christ can silence.
In awe of Him,
Paul
