The fictional members of imaginary KPop group Huntr/X, Zoey, Rumi and Mira, Netflix image.
“Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.”
Pierre de Beaumarchais, “The Barber of Seville”
As a retired media professor, I’ll disclose right up front that I am ignorant of music. I never took an intro to music class, never learned to play an instrument (beyond briefly ringing in a hand bell choir) and don’t have insight into music structure or history or much of anything else.
Yet, I have required students in the past to use music in a communication class—to pick a song of their choice that includes a video, and unpack what they see as the communication meanings or concepts portrayed in the work. I don’t doubt that Pierre had a point—“Baby Shark” is sung, after all. But even a musically ignorant person can understand that music, including pop songs, can be very expressive of ideas both verbally and non verbally.
And one of the points I was indirectly making to students is that communication is both data and feelings. So music, even pop music, can express our inner feelings. Music can have depth.
Which brings me to this year’s movie phenomenon, “KPop Demon Hunters.” As an old man, I freely admit I have zero experience with KPop. I’m aware of the term, but this Netflix movie served as my introduction to the genre.
And what an introduction. The movie follows three pop singers, Rumi, Zoey and Mira. The trio, a KPop group called Huntr/X, is also the chosen group, a mystical, generational set of super heroes who protect the world from demons through both their songs and their fighting prowess.
It’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets “Frozen.” Except it’s more than that. For one things, although I wish there was more character development, it’s got multiple characters who are complicated and surprising. Not just the trio, who each has their own distinct characteristics, but the demon boy band, the demon king, the band manager, the quack doctor—there are lots of interesting characters who are well written and well acted.
The story is fantastic, but works because it’s both animated, which gives it lots of license to be in its own imaginary reality, and internally cohesive. The characters believe in their universe and behave reasonably as a result.
And—those songs. This is an animated musical where each song works—they are catchy, well sung, lyrically interesting and advance the story. That it’s pop music doesn’t detract from its quality. Pretty much any of the videos of the songs would have worked in my class—there are characters and depth in each to dig into, communication ideas interestingly expressed.
True, I found the song about soda pop to be the musical equivalent of the food—there’s not a lot of depth there .But then again, in the context of the movie, these are demons attempting to snag fans, not anybody expressing truths about their life.
For me, the song that hit the most was the final one. I wish it had more set up—the quick resolution of the movie was, in my mind, one of its weaknesses—but I like both the sound and the lyrics of this song. “My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like?” Yeah, I have fallen in love with three cartoon girls by that point. There are lots of quotable lines in the song “What it Sounds Like,” but I really love one of its final verses:
“We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back
But now we're 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.”
It’s a message of truth and self-acceptance. I’m not a poet, but it seems like decent poetry to me, wrapped in a catchy pop sound.
There is a lot that I like about the movie. The cast, both signing and speaking, seems excellent. The look of the movie is bright, colorful and eye catching. There is a serious tone and message, but also a lot of silliness and levity.
I feel lucky that I didn’t see this movie on Netflix. They released a “sing along” movie theatre version, and a grandson wanted his grandparents to go with him and his mother to see it. Luckily, I saw it in Iowa, a Midwestern state where most movie audiences are too uptight to actually sing along, so no audience voices interfered with the songs.
It’s not a perfect movie. As noted earlier, to me the resolution was nice but too rushed and needed more setup. The demon king could have used a much more effective physical appearance, particularly for the climatic battle. I liked seeing girls portrayed as creatures who actually eat, but they were also razor thin, which cut against that message. The quick cuts and pace sometimes gave the movie a too frantic feel to me.
Still, it’s every good. It’s an animated film that can appeal to a grandson and his grandfather. It’s Golden.
