Clergy: State College pastor reflects on ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ — and the Gospel?
In case you missed the most streamed movie on Netflix last year — or in case animated movies about Korean pop-music girl bands who are secretly demon hunters chasing down their archrival boy band made up of demons in disguise are just not your genre of film, then let me tell you a little about “KPop Demon Hunters.” Don’t worry, no spoilers.
It is a fun film whose target demographic is probably middle schoolers. The music is pretty awesome (and I say that as someone who is not a K-pop fan). Its big song, “Golden,” has been nominated for a Grammy for Best Song of the Year, and it has already won the Golden Globe. As the title implies, the heroes of the movie hunt demons. The demons in the movie, at least some of them, did not start out as demons. They started out as people like you and me. What caused them to become demons and to be slaves of Gwi-Ma, the king of the demons who wants to take over the human world, are their own decisions in life. Their guilt and shame have reduced them to this semi-existence. Gwi-Ma controls them by being the voice in their heads that reminds them that they are not worthy of good things, that they are awful and selfish, that others are out to get them, and they need to strike first. It is a spiral of negativity that traps them in self-loathing, paranoia, and resentment, making them vulnerable to his control.
Those demons are in darkness, imprisoned by their own sins. To be clear, “KPop Demon Hunters” is not a Christian movie; I assume it draws from Korean mythology or folklore. But it does set up a classic battle between good and evil — and lots of singing and dancing. The girl band who hunts demons takes them on in mega-action fight scenes, flipping around, kicking and hitting. It’s like a demonic dance fight. They have mystical weapons they seem to conjure from the air, and with one swipe or stab the demons are killed, disappearing in a poof.
For the final battle between the demon hunters and the boy band from hell, the stakes are extremely high. The demons are close to their goal to take over the human world, and the demon hunters have to win this battle. What happens is a surprise. I don’t want to give it all away, but it hinges on this wonderful line that the lead demon boy band singer says to the lead girl band singer. The two of them have gotten to know one another, and the boy band singer admits that he wants to overthrow Gwi-Ma, the king of the demons. As they discuss a strategy, he tells her, “If hate could defeat Gwi-Ma, I would have done it a long time ago.”
Hate only makes Gwi-Ma stronger. It is not the way to defeat him. It is not the way to release those prisoners from their dark dungeons.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King wrote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” In the end, this is the lesson of “KPop Demon Hunters.” I would put it this way. When we give in to the temptation to hate, even when we do so in full opposition to injustice or evil, we disfigure the image of God in which we are all created. When we allow ourselves to dehumanize another, we dehumanize ourselves. Oppose the injustice, yes. Oppose the evil. But watch your own heart in the process. Jesus taught us to love our enemies for a reason. Not because he was weak, but because it is the only way to break the cycle of violence. I wish all the problems of the world could be solved in a couple of hours by singing the right K-pop song and hitting the right high note. The demonic forces we encounter in this world, the powers and principalities, are complex, and their song of hate can be so seductive. Jesus refused to be trapped by hate and he overcame evil with good. He invites us to follow in his way, the way of love.
The Rev. Jeffrey A. Packard is the rector at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in State College.