Last summer, as Morris Hills students got ready for a long awaited summer vacation, KPop fans had another reason for looking forward to June. On June 20th, Netflix released the movie
KPop Demon Hunters, quickly gaining popularity and spreading their fan base across the world. By the end of August, the movie suppressed 236 million views on Netflix, making it the most watched film ever on the platform.
The film followed the KPop group Huntrex, with members Rumi, Zoey, and Mira. However, these girls aren’t any normal girl group; they double as demon hunters. Their job is to protect the world from demons by sealing the Honmoon, a magical barrier between the human and demonic world. The stronger the connection between the group, the more the “soul gate” is strengthened between the two worlds. However, Rumi’s own personal struggles and internal conflicts threaten to break the Honmoon and the only life she has ever known. At their most vulnerable moment, the group is faced with an extra challenge: a rival boy band. They must find a way to strengthen their bond and heal the Honmoon before the two worlds collide.
Throughout the movie, the girls discover the power of friendship and realize that letting others into their past isn’t damaging but rather a healing process. These lessons of self acceptance and finding one’s unique identity relate to many young children today. Mrs. Dalton, a teacher at Morris Hills, touches on this point in relation to her own daughters, “…I realized the film actually sparked some meaningful conversations between my older daughter and me. It brought up important topics that helped us talk about deeper issues in a way that was fun and engaging for her.” Specifically, Mrs. Dalton found that the movie touched on powerful topics such as “…generational trauma, women’s empowerment, not judging others by appearances, and the power of embracing your authentic self.”
These impactful messages were fully displayed through the musical selections of the film. For example, Golden, a song in the film about the struggles Rumi, Mira, and Zoey had to face before reaching fame, truly showcased how the girls were able to be themselves and move forward despite the pressure and criticism of the world around them. In addition, the song What It Sounds Like truly sums up the girls’ realization that they can rely on one another, no longer having to lie about the parts of them others were ashamed of. Junior Isabel Hoffman references this song as her favorite from the entire movie, “I loved the rhythm, the vocals, and how it fit perfectly with the emotions of the scene. It felt powerful and uplifting, and it really showed what the characters were going through. It’s one of those songs that gets stuck in your head in the best way.” Just like this song, many others also were memorable including Soda Pop, Takedown, Your Idol, and Free. The album was even awarded Platinum status on October 8th, meaning that 1 million units of the soundtrack had been sold.
Although the movie has received so much praise, it holds some criticism for the ideas it attempted to promote. In Mrs. Dalton’s case, despite her eventually falling into enjoying the movie, she felt the start of the movie could have excluded some of the content revolving around the rival KPop band, The Saja Boys. She reflected on her decision to not let her daughters see the movie when it first came out: “At first, I didn’t allow them to see it since I didn’t like how much the movie focused on the boy band’s looks and how the girls were swooning over them.” She instead wished the movie stayed focused on its more meaningful material revolving around the characters personal growth internally. Sophomore Tarini Daita also felt the characters were “very contradicting in personality” with the overall movie “lacking uniqueness.” She felt the girl group had a very similar storyline to many other previous movies, promoting similar themes and ideals.
Despite the movie not relating to certain audience members, this movie has created an exciting and inspirational journey for many viewers, including Morris Hills student Isabel Hoffman. The current junior reflects on her impression of the film:“I think the movie was really well done overall. The animation was colorful and detailed, and the music added so much emotion and energy.” Her only criticism was that the movie wasn’t longer as “she didn’t want the adventure to end!”
On this sentiment, Netflix is planning to release a sequel to the movie in the future, with fans getting a contention to the unforgettable stories that make up KPop Demon Hunters. As the Huntrix girls say, “Let’s do it, for the fans!”