March 21, 2026 • 43 mins
The movie K-Pop Demon Hunter has taken the world by storm, as has the music. In this classic, Anney and Samantha talk about why, and why it matters.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I don't know from
stuff I never told your production. iHeartRadio, and today we
are bringing back a recent episode as a classic, but
one that is important relevant right now, and it's the
(00:26):
one we did on k Pop Demon Hunter.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yes, and excuse my squeaky voice, but I'm very excited
because obviously they had a great award season, including when
an oscars. I mean, come on, who knew that k
pop and Korean culture would be celebrated in such a way.
I was also excited to see that performance. Anny, did
you watch that performance? No, so it opens up not
(00:52):
just because of you know, the song, like everybody has
opinions about the song, but at the beginning they had pensori,
which is like an old school Korean folk singing, and
they really brought in the women with the humbucks doing
performances and doing traditional dances along with like traditional Korean
folk songs at the middle of an Oscar and I
(01:14):
teared up. So being able to see this in this
type of representation when for so long, like I was
grasping at things, it felt timely, we needed it, and
I felt like, yes, we need to talk about this again.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, absolutely well, please enjoy this classic episode.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I'm welcome to stuff. I never told your proflection, have
I heard you?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And we decided as this month has become kind of
crunch time in our years, there's so many things extra happening,
including yeah Stewey duty, Yeah that's the curse and I
got it, and I got it, it got me. But
with that also dragon cons coming up, so we got
so many things. We've got so many things happening, we
decided we would add a spoiled Saturday episode. But it
(02:12):
fits pretty perfectly with our childhood memories theme that we've
been doing this month. So for today's episode, we are
featuring K Pop Demon Hunter, which is on Netflix. Not
a sponsor. Uh, if you want to take a moment
and go watch it, you should before we talk about it.
If you don't and you just won't hear what it's about,
that's fine too. I wouldn't need that as well. But obviously,
(02:34):
since it was just released, spoilers spoilers all around, So
if you don't, yes, so if you don't want to
be spoiled, I would not listen to this all right,
So some background why this has made its mark in
entertainment thus far. It is a Sony production, so the
same people as Spider Verse that any absolutely loves. Uh.
(02:55):
This is the first movie written and directed by Korean
Canadian Maggie Kung with Chris Applehan's so they co directed it.
But this is a story that Maggie has been working
on for quite some time, so she wanted to combine
her heritage with the legends and history of South Korea.
She is a seasoned storyteller, working previously with DreamWorks on
(03:17):
animations like Kung Fu, Panda, Shrek, and Mini Mini Moore.
She told geek Out that this about k pop Demon Hunter.
I've always wanted to see an animated film set in
Korean culture as a Korean person who was born in
Korea but grew up in North America. It's been surreal
but also incredible to see our culture just become so cool.
It's cheesy, but I think it's true. Growing up, everyone
(03:40):
knew Chinese and Japanese culture well, but Koreans were not
even on the map. Now that we are, I feel
so much pride, and I just wanted to express this
pride through a film that celebrated our culture. All aspects
of it. So my biggest inspiration for this film is
my culture, so gotta love that. And yes, this animation
has made Netflix history, or so they say. This is
(04:01):
what they wrote on Twitter. It is the first Netflix
film ever to reach a new viewing peak in its
fifth week of release. Yeah, and this isn't the only
record so on Netflix in itself. They were talking about
how they have hit the number one spot later, so
it kind of grew into hype and it got bigger
and bigger and bigger as more and more people watched it. Again,
it isn't the only record they broke. In fact, this
(04:23):
is this fake group Hunterricks, which is centered around has
actually become the highest charting K pop girl group in
the US Spotify list charts, beating the likes of Black
Pink and others along with the Sajo Boys. Again, a
fake group who became the highest charting K pop boy
band in US Spotify history, beating even BTS. So apparently
(04:47):
BTS only hit number three or I think three with
Dynamite a few years ago. But yeah, they it has
outstripped that once again, a fake K pop group as
made that kind of history. They've been charting on things
like the billboard charts and so much more so, they're
doing a thing. They're doing a thing. The significance of
(05:09):
this movie has reignited the love and popularity of K
pop as it is slowly. It's still pretty popular, but
it's slowly been waning as of late. I see, I think,
and yes, the cosplay, the costplay is made amazing and
my my FYP for TikTok has been flooding of people
doing the costplay and I love every bit of it
(05:30):
because it looks so good. There is a scene Annie,
I know, you know, in which they have one of
the members of Huntres dressing up as a sleeping in
the sleeping bag for the met gala, and people are like, oh, yeah,
I finally found the perfect costume.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I gotta get that comfortable one.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I love it so much so, but again it also
has We also get a glimpse of some Korean lore
and history, including the costuming. The legends of the Saja
which means lion. Also, uh, there's Saja is kind of
like a grim reapern which I'm gonna get into a
little bit. More women who are shamans and moudane who
(06:10):
protect and heal the lands even the weapons that we
see the Hundreds use are historic Korean warrior weapons, including
the four tiger sword or the sun coom used by Rumi,
the car curved sword or the Koktou used by Mirah,
and the spirit knife the Shinkar, which also carries the
Nori gay, which is connected to feminine spiritual power and traditions.
(06:30):
They are then nodded with like strings and gems that
you will often see on hymn books. I actually have
one about one, but they are very gorgeous and they
it is kind of a representation of the spiritual and
femininity of it all, so it has a lot. They
incorporate quite a bit of the lore. So let's get
(06:51):
into the plot. The world is in need of protection
and has been for all of eternity, and those who
have been called are the Hunters, typically a group of
three women with beautiful voices that can call on the
hun Moon, which is not an actual historical lord. They
made this up for specifically the movie, just so you know,
And as a writer from the kidnim draws dot Com explains,
(07:13):
it makes up of two words they think, which is Johan,
which is the word for soul and spirit, and Moon
which is commonly the word for door. I think maybe
it can also be used for gait so spirits door.
This is a shield that covers and protects the earth
from the entrances of demons who come to feed on
the soul of humans. The leader of the world and
(07:35):
the demons is the great and evil Gwimma, And throughout
the lifetime, different women have been called to protect and
become Hunters of the world. For this timeline, specifically, we
have Hunterrecks, a made up of three women. Rumi a
nepo baby. She's a baby, but she is a part
of the lineage, the daughter of a previous hunter and
leader of the group, and she is the leader of
huntres Then we have Mirah, an outcast and the lead dancer.
(07:58):
She's kind of like dark and you know emo ish
got the attitude. And then we have Zoe, who is
the adorable writer and rapper from Bourbank, California who's representing
with them. They have been trained and led by previous
Hunter Selene, who was in the girl group with Rumy's mother,
who has this motto, we are Hunters voices strong, your
(08:20):
falts and fears must never be seen, and they carry
that to the core to their detriment. Hint Hint Hunters
has become a huge popsis star success. They've been using
their music to chill the world and they're really good
at it. However, we soon find out that Rumy has
a secret. Her father was a demon, making her part
demon with the patterns that play the demons, so we
(08:41):
will see that they all have little patterns that mark
them as demons. Selene teaching Rumy that she must hide
the patterns from the group and others, and that the
only solution is to be rid of those patterns, which
can only be done once the demons are vanquished by
the Golden han Moon, which is very hard to bring about. Obviously,
with the release of their newest song, Golden, the hon
(09:03):
Moon seems to actually start turning gold, which is great,
and they push the hype of the song in time
for their upcoming award show, IDOL Awards, which is one
of the best times to strengthen the han Moon. However,
the demon in the demon world we seek Weema working
to try to destroy the Hunters as well as get
all those souls, and here we're introduced to Genu, who
(09:25):
comes up with a brilliant plan a demon boy band
the Saja Boys, and with their introduction, they are a hit,
and the timing couldn't be worse as Rumy's voice is
only getting worse as she tries to hide her secret.
Soon as the battles continue and the Saja Boys are
gaining popularity, we see the enemy to lovers trope between
Rumy and Genu, also the deepening mistrust between the girls,
(09:46):
and an awesome disc track I'm kidding, It's not awesome,
but it's fun. It's a banger. During the award show,
Roomy's secret is a revealed, the hon Moon seems to
have been destroyed, and the Saja Boys open up the
hell gates, but we have a heartwarming volume moment with
Roomy and the girls which go into an epic battle
and a new song where Genu sacrifices himself, realizing that
(10:07):
he needs his soul back and wants to fix things,
and the hon Moon turns golden and the demons are
driven out as well as Guima Tada. So that is
essentially the plot for this movie. So there are obviously
themes you ready. First, before we get into that, Annie,
what did you think about this this movie?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was beautifully animated,
which is funny to be because I always know you
don't like animation. I know that was one of the
things that he took out to me, that it was
beautifully animated, really interesting in the animation choices. And of
course a nice good friendship story.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
You love love.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
A good friendship story is so good, it's so bad,
all right.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So one of the biggest themes, obviously is the good
versus evil trope. We have the saja or also known
against as a chosun saja, which is a grid ripper.
So there's play all words ha ha ha, who are
entering here because they realize if song can build a shield,
(11:21):
what if a song can also break the shield? And
if you go in and listen to their last song,
be your idol. Yeah. People have had mixed reactions in that.
I think if I had tried to watch this as
a kid, if my parents understood what this was, they
wouldn't let me watch it because of the demon factor
(11:43):
because they're like singing Latin. They're singing some chants and
it's pretty much a curse over the people.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah. Yeah, And and Guma is like a big devil
mouth with that thing. Yeah yeah, but I do think
that's interesting because you see that before and a lot
of you know, using the song to ask the spell.
And I know we've been talking about fandom and K
pop recently, but I thought that sort of like switch
(12:12):
from we love Hunterricks to we love the Sajay like
people are literally like tearing off their shirts. Now I'm
their fan now. I thought that was a very I
liked that take on like the fandom and also just
intertwining that with lore of Korean history, but also this
idea of like casting that spell.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yes, and the fact that that they earned the trust
so easily by being good looking boy band.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah right.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
And then also if you notice, I liked how like
at the beginning the Saja boys were really parky, happy,
respectful in pink like they were definitely playing and to
like see you we're good people, which is kind of
how you have to build up a lot of K
pop bands or groups is to be like in almost
innocent and fantilizing to this point in order for that success.
(13:04):
Like they literally have a character called Baby Saja who
throughout the times is just sucking on a bottle. You're like, okay,
that's a little much in it, a little much, but
there you go. Yeah, it definitely works. But we do
have that level of like who's good who's bad, and
the blurring of those lines. What is evil? Is everyone
(13:26):
just inherently evil? Obviously demons would you would assume or
be would be the evil ones. But here we have
Ginu who gives a backstory about the fact that they'd
be all being punished because of whatever deeds that were.
I was a little confused because some of these demons
I don't think were they all humans that once upon
a time that get taken by demons or they just
marked and born that way because we see like Roomy
(13:48):
her father, So what is what is the chicken or
the egg situation here? But it does bring to the
point of like canned demons change who are inherently evil
and so we should want them to die. But it's
not so black and right.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Listen. I try not to do this all the time,
but it reminds me of Star Wars. Oh okay, well,
just the idea of like there's a difference between from
Star Wars people out there. There's a difference between a
Sith who enjoyed, who chose that, and then someone who
does evil because they were tortured and created to do that.
(14:25):
So I think that's like I felt that they were
similar shades. I would imagine there are similar shades of
people who kind of chose this thing, people who through
various reasons maybe fell into it or chose it now
regret it and to change, and then people who were
born with it but are fighting against it, Like this
(14:47):
is those shades or gradations.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Gradations yes, yes, which also brings me to the story,
like what is the backstory of Rumy's parents? I feel
like this might be saved for later. I don't know,
I will save like megge Kong no longer is with Sony,
and some of that had to deal with the issues
of Sony. So we don't know. But we also know
that corporations are greedy, and we'll be like, yeah, we
(15:10):
can do it without you. Look at Crazy Rich Asian,
in which they took a very Asian story written by
an Asian person and booted out the Asian screenwriter because
they didn't want to pay enough, but paid a lot
of money for the white dude. Yeah anyway, but sorry
not to bring in too many downers. I don't have
a lot of downers. But all of that to say,
you know, what is the story? Well, how did a
(15:32):
demon and a demon hunter get together in the first
place to create this demon hunter mix? Roumy who has
a lot of feels and a lot of talent but
can't hear the voices?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Oh my goodness, I am so proud of you used
the enemy's silver tag so easily. I feel like it
would be something like that. I feel like it would
be a similar.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
To be fair. That is a k drama tag as well.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh I'm sure. Oh, it's been around forever. It's a choice.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, just in general. So, and then we
have the kind of the shaman's historically being women or
mudang who are being historically all mostly women, not all women,
mostly women are They're very feminine in a lot of
the representations, but also in Korean culture, you also know
they're also good and bad shamans as well. There's a
(16:21):
lot of depth to that. So who is what?
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Am I right? Also wanted to point out the dirty
tiger and the magpie, which have deep cultural ties, especially
in Asian culture in itself. We know that the tiger
in itself has a huge connotation, but in this narrative,
the tiger representation is kind of that idea about corrupt
authority figures, and well that's why they're dirty and just
(16:46):
like in it for one thing, and very focused or
really dirty looking and knocking over pots constantly and having
a battle with bins apparently containers. And the magpie is
the distinguished right commoners. They're the common people who coming
in making the city. They're the ones that know the
right and wrong type of conversation. This is a part
(17:08):
of a lot of the Korean folk paintings that we'll see,
and they brought that in and they did it to
that level, like they made sure to make them distinct.
It wasn't just an animated as you said the word
disneyfied in our famous movie on the World type of look.
It was specific to keep in tradition with Korean folklore
(17:28):
and Asian folklore. And I really appreciated that. And people
love love those two things. They love the tiger more
than the bagpie. And I'm like, why do you keep
leaving out the magpie? That's important.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I'm more for the magpie.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I might I mean, as you should be, yes, you should.
It doesn't have too many eyes maybe it's all seeing anyway.
Of course, another part of the themes is friendship. You
absolutely see the beauty among the three girls who came
in and was formed together, but really protect and love
each other and are supposed to be understanding each other
(18:06):
like that is a part of the growth is knowing
that even as close as they were, they still have
all of their insecurities which eat away at them and
none of them want to admit it. And that was
part of because of the Saline's bad take, hide the
fears and fault yeah, slue no no, and they really
had to undo that to realize this wasn't as healthy
(18:26):
as they thought, and that meant that trusting each other
was a big part of their friendship and they had
to really go through it.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, and having that this does kind of remind me, Wow,
so many of these things are connecting to many recent
episodes because in the recent book club we did, we
talked about that of having the moment where you realize
that there are secrets in the group, or you weren't
(18:57):
as close as you thought, or maybe what was this
what I even realized what I thought it was and
having that moment and then coming back together stronger for
having that moment.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Right, admitting, like the song, the final song, we're talking
about everything is broken. Were liars, but that doesn't mean
we can't come back and build better. As well as
like Mira's line, I really just like I don't deserve family.
I was like, oh, yeah, you do haunt me. Let
me picture yeah family. Then we have the like the
Genu Roomy, they never really kissed, but they do have
(19:32):
that Korean drama touching of the hands. We kind of love,
a good drama moment. But they are slowly coming together
and she talks about having to wanting to save him
as to that, and he's like, you did. Will we
see him back? I don't know. Will there be another one?
I can't imagine Sony's gonna let this one ride as
successful or Netflix as successful as it was. So but
(19:54):
who knows? Who knows? Ginu does not have any friends
except for the Magpie, and the Tiger also becomes Roomy's friends.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
That's a little rough, you know, that's hurtful. I mean,
you do want your friends to become friends, but there's
also a part of you that's like, you're my friend,
You're my only friend.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Don't be that way another part again his family, and
we talk about the Chosen family obviously just talking about it.
But then we have Selene who takes on the motherly
figure adopting Roomy because of the death of the mother,
which we don't know how the childbirth, when she was born,
she died, So what happened here? Was it the the
(20:36):
demon part that like, oh, we don't know, we don't
know that law yet. But Selene doing what she thinks
she's supposed to and protecting being really Korean in trying
to protect everybody's reputation and trying society doing her duty
versus not being very maternal to uh Rumy. So there's
a lot of questions about that. And then also you
(20:58):
have to ask because I've seen a few articles pop
up being like, see Selene was a real villain a
damn okay. We jumped there real quick, okay, And then
g knew his selfish decision to leave his family behind
so he didn't have to starve to death and die
with them. It was rough.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
That was a that was a rough revelation you got
later in the movie, and I was like, oh, okay, oh.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
And which when the Waima says you've never done anything
that wasn't for selfish reasons.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah. Yeah, because it's been presented earlier. It is like
he was forcefully taken away. Yeah, and then you get
the truth of it and it's like, oh, oh no, okay,
he's like, oh.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
B no, it's pretty heartbreaking.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
And then we have in general K pop all throughout
obviously celebrating that culture, celebrating the music. I think it's
interesting in this portrayal because it really doesn't romanticize pop.
And if you've heard our episodes previously, you know this
is not the case. You know, there's a lot of damage.
We know there's a lot of death by suicide, eating disorders,
psychological disorders, money paid backs, surgery, all these things. There's
(22:11):
a lot of things that happen, a lot of discourse,
a lot of canceling, not not canceling. However, in this industry,
and it's pretty fast, Like people go in and there's
such an inundation of K pop groups that you don't
see who is successful. Like people don't succeed when they
think you should succeed. Like there are so many levels
(22:33):
to that. A lot of them are put together, they
are constructed and not organically brought together as in like
they meet together and form a group. I mean they
do say that in the beginning of the movie that
they came they were put together for root me Like,
they're like, you know, like this, but they just meshed well,
which isn't always what happens. There's a conversation about what's
(22:54):
happening in the black Pink like they say that none
of them are getting along. Of them want to be
a part of this capop industry anymore, but they're obligated
to do so because they've been as successful as they are.
They have their own individual careers and are seemingly more
invested in that. So there's a lot in that that
you see that you're like, like the whole mcbong at
(23:16):
the beginning where they're all carbo loading, I'm like, that's
not typical to the point that you hear stories about
other people feeding them rice, like sneaking in rice because
they hadn't eaten that day. I will say, though, and
I've mentioned Mama and Move before. My partner has worked
at production for shows in Atlanta. They came through. He
worked the show and there was a large request for
(23:37):
bull Duck Ramyan. Yeah, because they were like, these Korean
artists were like, no, that's what we need. So they
had to make a special trip to h Mark to
bring out all of these spicy ramyans. So not too
far off then, I guess, because they are a girl
group that's pretty big in South Carlin in here, not
as big as some others, but like it was fascinating, like, okay,
they really do. As for the rum, I thought that
(24:00):
was just a snack poppy food that became culturally popular
in the US more so than No No. They apparently
was like no, I need it, I miss it. There's
that again. I think I don't want to stray too
far from the pot, but it is good to know
that it does romanticize this industry a little, to the
point that it's like there are groups that do write
(24:23):
their own songs, that create their own stuff, and they're amazing,
and we want to give credit to that. That isn't
cool as hell. But a lot of them, again, are manufactured,
and a lot of them still a lot of music
I think I've seen this specific movie has at least
two of the bigger K pop songwriters that are Western,
(24:46):
I want to say, from the US or Canada. And
they've been based out of here for a long time
and they don't get paid as much as you I
would expect as big as some of these songs are.
The person who sang for Roomy, EJ, is a big
K pop industry singer and producer and writer. From what
(25:06):
I understand, she is not in any group, but she
is a part of SM Entertainment, which is one of
the top four that we've talked about previously. And the
others that sing on these songs are also either trainees,
had been trainees, or writers and producers, so it seems
so it is an interesting mix. People are getting good
(25:26):
and EJ can hit those notes down like chilling notes. Anyway,
moving on, so obviously, another big part of this movie,
as Kong has actually said herself, is the culture of
South Korea and in the heritage. The mix between southern
South Korean history that we were talking about with all
the weapons, with all the costumes, with all of the
(25:49):
locations even really mixes well with the modern day Hollywood
in what we see in dancing and the rapping some
of the Brahmin once again, which was really funny to me,
the costuming, the lights, the shows there are Idol shows
that they happen every week, that whoever chart like tops
(26:09):
the charts goes and performs and does it weekly, which
I'm like, huh that used to be our MTV.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Oh yeah, well you know they still do that.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I was like, Oh, that's really interesting, but that does exist.
I've seen the countdowns and different things that they do.
It's really interesting to see and how they celebrate it
and who does what. And then of course this whole
(26:43):
cultural thing with uh, you and I talked about it.
You had said that because I said that I think
you're going to see a lot of these costumes at
Dragon Con, which I'm very excited about and want to see,
and you were talking about that people have already talked
about being respectful and the costs. What were you telling
me exactly?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
So I'm going to clarify. I heard this through a
friend who's much more online than I am. She told
me that there had already been an online conversation about
I think it was specifically the boy band and their
costuming and being respectful about it and being aware of
(27:23):
like the history behind it and just not being offensive. Right,
That's what she said. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
From what I can gather like things like like no
regae that is very specific culturally, but I don't like
unless you take it and make it like a panties
or like chastity bail some or so you know, like
something really obscure, I don't see it being super offensive,
(27:49):
like even humbucks. Like I know a lot of times
when people go to South Korea, you can go to
the stores and that's like period costumes like any of those,
and visit the old historical places and all of these things,
and it's actually encouraged. It is something that is beautiful.
We love to see what we don't want to see,
what any no one wants to see of any other culture.
(28:10):
Is taking whatever it may be ceremonial or traditional, misconstruing
it to be something you created with these ideals and
then renaming things that is like even to the point
that we see i want to say Filipino level of ube,
which has been huge and trending, and then people taking
it being like we needed to be like a sugary,
(28:32):
I'm a white person who's going to do it this way,
and you're like, what is happening or along the lines
of like macha, which is obviously very very big, and
then white people taking in marketing and be like I
went to Japan one time and I loved it. So
I'm creating my own and this is mine and I'm
up charged. Like stuff like that is absolutely disrespectful loving
(28:52):
a culture, especially when it's as seemingly ignored as South
Korean culture and oftentimes the mean or sidelined for like
China Chinese culture, which by the way, Chinese is a
huge country, so having one ideal of even that culture
is almost offensive and ignorant in itself. So like so
(29:13):
many things said that. But with the Saja Boys, I
know they are grim Reapers. I don't know if it's ceremonial,
don't know if it's a funeral where that that might
be the problem. Of course, if you're wearing something that
is supposed to be for funerals, is that in your
par partying in it? That that's disrespectful because like death
(29:34):
rituals and like ancestry ristrals very very sacred, very very
much so, so stuff like that, Yes, I think you
need to understand what these are. Again, the Saja Boys
are a play on grim Reapers, so look into that. Yeah,
we would look into that. But I don't think in
general like hmbucks and the hats are in general are
not necessari or the gut are not necessarily disrespectful. If
(29:56):
you're doing something where that, if you're painting obscene things
on it, don't do that. Don't do that, don't to
I would tell you not to pretend to be a
shaman in any way. Koreans are real can be real
superstitious on that, and I am too. Not why I'm
a little so perstigious. I don't want to curse myself
in general, I think things like that have to be
looked at as well. Again, like, there's so much to this.
(30:17):
And I say this as not an expert, as someone
who has ignored this culture for so long, who's been
afraid of this culture, who felt like if I even
pretended I like or who we have even like interests,
that I was pretending. There's so much to this And
I want to note like watching this movie, getting ready
to talk about this, talking about why I love it
as much as I do, because this has become something
(30:39):
that I've grown to love, Like I've watched this too
many times, and I was really really hesitant in even
starting to watch this because it felt kitchy. Also, there's
still that childhood part of me that really wants to
be white, because I was brought into white culture, was
told white is the savior of all and that this
is the fixer and the best thing to be is white,
(31:01):
and even Korean culture kind of holds to that standard
as well, and so so part of me feeling like
seeing this celebrating a culture seemed foreign and almost the
anti of who I was growing up, I guess. And
so to find something like this culturally impacting, celebrating, loving,
(31:26):
not any caricaturish characters like it is, but it is.
It isn't making fun of a culture. It isn't making
fun of an accent, It isn't making fun of a saying.
It isn't making fun of a food. It is like
all these things which I see way too often, that
happens way too often, that has to be addressed way
too often, and being told that I'm being too sensitive,
And then if I can't joke like that, then what
(31:47):
am I doing with? Like why am I being so sensitive?
Being constantly being misconstrued as Chinese? And now for the
first time, everybody's saying, are you Korean? Which is also
a fear of mine that I'm like, no, but we
don't want to make that a better thing either or
more recognizable thing either. We need to understand is a
vast It's a vast area, and that to be able
to acknowledge all of all of the different areas and
(32:08):
appreciate all of the different areas is something that needs
to happen. But as someone who has ignored and run
from it for so long, has feared it, has not
felt good enough for it, has not understood it, has
felt like acknowledging this culture meant I was disrespecting the
people who brought like who took me in. I'm putting
(32:29):
that in quotes. So many of that conversation pops too,
And I'm wishing, like, had I had something like this
that celebrated Korean culture like this, what I have been
less ashamed or less likely to turn away from it,
or been less hesitant in learning more about it, because
I feel like I'm so far behind in learning something
(32:52):
that it should be so important to me, like having
a part of that is my identity feels so again
too late. And I've kind of had that conversation about
being too old for some of these things, Whether it's
connecting with family, connecting with culture, connecting with ideas. There's
a lot to this, and also having that guilt and
knowing that some of Korean culture, a lot of k
(33:14):
pop culture, perpetuates racist ideals and stereotypes within things that
are being oppressed here in the US. There's like this
bigger picture of this. I have the celebrations, I have
the desire. I'm so excited to hear this music and
song and hear Korean and see the hamdbox and see
the folklore. But at the same time, I feel like
(33:37):
I am overwhelmed with guilt and ignorance when in trying
to love and like these things. There's so much to
this in that level, but also the bigger part of
me which begged for representation and so clung to things
like Brandy, who I love and I'm so glad I
(33:58):
loved her music because she was not white and she
was she was cast into love. To have a romance
with an Asian man like that was enough for me
to love things like Mulan and have to dress up
like that because I was the only Asian Ish representation
that I saw as a good thing and as a
(34:20):
strong thing instead of being a caricature like pretty and
pink or breakfast at Tiffany's, which mock Asian people in
general or fetishizes Asian people in general, And so seeing
that and wishing that I had such a representation and
what would that have made for me, embracing my you know,
being so young, like being that person and being loving
(34:43):
the food that I love that brings so much memories
triggers as well. There was so much in this context
that seeing them be the center of the story phenomenal. Again,
when we talked about just as long as we're together,
aspiration to see any lightness of me was so strong
(35:04):
because I always felt like a side character, the sidekick,
and not wanting to be first time centered in something
is beautiful. And again back to the other Happy Hour
episode when it was like, but it feels like it's
too late, I'm too old for this point of being.
But there's so so many things that pop through my
(35:24):
head as I'm watching this, Like it actually has me
tearing up when I watched this cartoon animation, because there
is something that you can be proud of, like my
skin tone, my eye shape, my speech even isn't foreign,
isn't weird? Isn't unusual as where in you know, North
(35:46):
Georgia Mountains, University of Georgia, unless you're a part of
that click, and there's a click when it comes to
the Asian community. You are the odd one. You are
the one that's singled out when growing up being stared
at in an all white town because I'm with this
Asian person walking in and people like who is that?
What is that? And then my mom trying to be
cute and being like no, because you're so cute, and
I'm like, that's not why. Let's talk about the elephant
(36:09):
in the room here, like thank you and all, but
that's a lie and I don't want we need to
talk about this. So there's so many levels in this
movie that hit me as an adult Korean woman that
felt embraced but also conflicted. This this has made an impact.
(36:34):
I will forever think about this as something, especially because
it balanced Western Koreans with a South Korean's Eastern born
Eastern Asian people who are like, wow, okay, this feels familiar,
as opposed to watching k jamas, where it feels still
(36:54):
foreign or a dream state, like things look familiar but
as if I jumped them versus this being like, okay,
it is today and now that I'm more familiar with
with a mix of Western depiction, I guess is the
best way to say it without being whitewashed, which is
the other part to that. And with that, I think
when we talk about these types of shows, I also
(37:16):
have this fear that this could be a whitewashing of
Asian characters when you have voices that supposed to be
Asian and it's not Asian. That is the biggest disappointment
m h that I can ever think of. I'm like,
why would they do this when you had characters that's
supposed to be Asian. They're like, we're gonna make it white.
They look, they have a little bit of slant in
their eyes. They think it possibly mixed scarlet let. Johansen
(37:38):
is not Asian. I will fight you the day we die,
you know, But that level like of that whitewashing. There's
this conversation of the Newest Broadway musical and which was
written for uh in Korean standard and has half white people,
which is what it is, but then they're talking about
it being cast fully white. Now and the argument which
(38:00):
I've had argue to me about how well you know,
Koreans take white shows and make it Korean. Why can't
we do that here? But like, but Korean Americans exist,
this is not there's no more like the differentiation is huge,
and to be fair, I also think it's funny when
I see k dramas like depicting white people as all
Americans and you can tovily tell their accent is like
(38:23):
Russian or German and you're like that they are absolutely
not from the US, but good try. I like that
there are moments like that when you have like an understanding,
like you don't understand well it means to have representation
because you've always had it and you never had to
think about whether or not it wouldn't be it wouldn't
be there. And then with that all by the way
(38:43):
they did have I love that they mixed the casts
so it was both Korean Americans, Korean Western Korean people
who maybe in from Canada whatever whatnot to also having
Korean actors South Korean actors. So we had ardent Cho
who was she was done dirty on couple of c
W shows and I'm glad to see her make it
into this. We have Daniel da Kim who is an
(39:06):
icon and heart throb and hello, how are you? My
name is Smantha, come see me? Who got to be
a small minor role. And then we have Kim Jong
we all know who he is. He is a comedian
who is the doctor who's he exists? Then we have
the Korean stars lie Byong Huin, who is one of
the ones I was talking about. He has a sketchy past,
really sad because he is huge in both Squid Games
(39:28):
and this, but they are very easily dismissive of sexual
harassment allegations and charges. We have Anho soap, which I've
talked about him before because he was one of my
first like interactions with K drama. They're like, I like
the oh, who is this guy who is Canadian? Actually
he was born in Canada but has been in South
Korea and has made a huge name for himself as
(39:50):
a South Korean K drama actor. So he has a
bit of an accent, which I think is kind of
funny to me to see is Canadian, but because I guess,
I guess he's been in South Korea so long that
it sounds like it like English is a second language,
which I don't believe it is but he who plays
Genu is also was a training and then decided to
(40:10):
act in model. They didn't use his voice though for
most of the songs it was a different Andrew Troy
I believe is his name is the one who ends
up singing for him, and he was a writer in
Traineese well, but having him in there in one of
my FAVORITEK drama's business proposal. I've talked about this one
before and they actually have that little name like theme
(40:31):
song cop in this is an easter egg when he
walks in. When you introduce to Genu as human four
is like that, and I'm like, I love a good
throw it like little secrets that we know one of them.
But yeah, so I loved everything about that. Having actual
celebrities or stars or actors who are in that world,
(40:51):
who have been dismissed for so long to be able
to be a part of that success. I love every
bit of that. And representation that we've been begging for.
That I've been begging for that. People who want to
see more of their ethnicity, their community being represented. That's
what we're begging for, the more of that. Please. It
(41:13):
doesn't take much and it's a huge success. A huge success. Also,
we had a small moment with Selene singing, So the
actress who played that did not sing. It was Leah Salanga,
the Filipino icon and queen of Broadway that I've spoken
previously when we talked about BBS and Ley Miz and
again me clinging to any type of representation as a child,
(41:34):
she had a little minor row and I hope if
they do have a backstory, that we get to have
a longer edition of her musical talents because we need those,
we need that in our lives. Yeah, thank you for
going on this journey with me. There's so much to this.
I want to talk more about this. I want to
see more things like this. I hope that there is
(41:55):
a sequel that Kang is a part of, and if any,
because I feel like we've talked about how we think
that some of the studios may be listening to us
and taking our ideas or suggestions. If you are listening
and counting is not on there, we're going to be upset.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yes, Okay, we'll talk about it. Correct, that's right, you
watch out, big studio. Yes, I'm sure we'll come back
and talk about this more. I will definitely report after
Dragon Con. Yes, well, I see some pictures, I will
(42:33):
I'll try to do better. I'm not great at taking
pictures that i will do. If I see them, I'll
think of you and I'm be.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Like, Okay.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
But I know that people are loving this and I'm
sure many of you have plenty of thoughts about it,
So please right in if you would like to, we
would love to hear from you. You can email us
at Hello at Stephanever Told You dot com. You can
find us on Blue skyp Mobster podcast or on Instagram
and TikTok at stuff I Never Told You or also
on YouTube, and we have a book you can get
wherever you get your books. Thanks always to our super
(43:00):
producer was Senior executive Brus my aunt our contutter Joey.
Thank you and thanks to you for listening. Stefan Never
Told You is projected by heart Radio. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, you can check out the heart
Radio app Apple Podcasts wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I don't know from
stuff I never told your production. iHeartRadio, and today we
are bringing back a recent episode as a classic, but
one that is important relevant right now, and it's the
(00:26):
one we did on k Pop Demon Hunter.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yes, and excuse my squeaky voice, but I'm very excited
because obviously they had a great award season, including when
an oscars. I mean, come on, who knew that k
pop and Korean culture would be celebrated in such a way.
I was also excited to see that performance. Anny, did
you watch that performance? No, so it opens up not
(00:52):
just because of you know, the song, like everybody has
opinions about the song, but at the beginning they had pensori,
which is like an old school Korean folk singing, and
they really brought in the women with the humbucks doing
performances and doing traditional dances along with like traditional Korean
folk songs at the middle of an Oscar and I
(01:14):
teared up. So being able to see this in this
type of representation when for so long, like I was
grasping at things, it felt timely, we needed it, and
I felt like, yes, we need to talk about this again.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, absolutely well, please enjoy this classic episode.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I'm welcome to stuff. I never told your proflection, have
I heard you?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And we decided as this month has become kind of
crunch time in our years, there's so many things extra happening,
including yeah Stewey duty, Yeah that's the curse and I
got it, and I got it, it got me. But
with that also dragon cons coming up, so we got
so many things. We've got so many things happening, we
decided we would add a spoiled Saturday episode. But it
(02:12):
fits pretty perfectly with our childhood memories theme that we've
been doing this month. So for today's episode, we are
featuring K Pop Demon Hunter, which is on Netflix. Not
a sponsor. Uh, if you want to take a moment
and go watch it, you should before we talk about it.
If you don't and you just won't hear what it's about,
that's fine too. I wouldn't need that as well. But obviously,
(02:34):
since it was just released, spoilers spoilers all around, So
if you don't, yes, so if you don't want to
be spoiled, I would not listen to this all right,
So some background why this has made its mark in
entertainment thus far. It is a Sony production, so the
same people as Spider Verse that any absolutely loves. Uh.
(02:55):
This is the first movie written and directed by Korean
Canadian Maggie Kung with Chris Applehan's so they co directed it.
But this is a story that Maggie has been working
on for quite some time, so she wanted to combine
her heritage with the legends and history of South Korea.
She is a seasoned storyteller, working previously with DreamWorks on
(03:17):
animations like Kung Fu, Panda, Shrek, and Mini Mini Moore.
She told geek Out that this about k pop Demon Hunter.
I've always wanted to see an animated film set in
Korean culture as a Korean person who was born in
Korea but grew up in North America. It's been surreal
but also incredible to see our culture just become so cool.
It's cheesy, but I think it's true. Growing up, everyone
(03:40):
knew Chinese and Japanese culture well, but Koreans were not
even on the map. Now that we are, I feel
so much pride, and I just wanted to express this
pride through a film that celebrated our culture. All aspects
of it. So my biggest inspiration for this film is
my culture, so gotta love that. And yes, this animation
has made Netflix history, or so they say. This is
(04:01):
what they wrote on Twitter. It is the first Netflix
film ever to reach a new viewing peak in its
fifth week of release. Yeah, and this isn't the only
record so on Netflix in itself. They were talking about
how they have hit the number one spot later, so
it kind of grew into hype and it got bigger
and bigger and bigger as more and more people watched it. Again,
it isn't the only record they broke. In fact, this
(04:23):
is this fake group Hunterricks, which is centered around has
actually become the highest charting K pop girl group in
the US Spotify list charts, beating the likes of Black
Pink and others along with the Sajo Boys. Again, a
fake group who became the highest charting K pop boy
band in US Spotify history, beating even BTS. So apparently
(04:47):
BTS only hit number three or I think three with
Dynamite a few years ago. But yeah, they it has
outstripped that once again, a fake K pop group as
made that kind of history. They've been charting on things
like the billboard charts and so much more so, they're
doing a thing. They're doing a thing. The significance of
(05:09):
this movie has reignited the love and popularity of K
pop as it is slowly. It's still pretty popular, but
it's slowly been waning as of late. I see, I think,
and yes, the cosplay, the costplay is made amazing and
my my FYP for TikTok has been flooding of people
doing the costplay and I love every bit of it
(05:30):
because it looks so good. There is a scene Annie,
I know, you know, in which they have one of
the members of Huntres dressing up as a sleeping in
the sleeping bag for the met gala, and people are like, oh, yeah,
I finally found the perfect costume.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I gotta get that comfortable one.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I love it so much so, but again it also
has We also get a glimpse of some Korean lore
and history, including the costuming. The legends of the Saja
which means lion. Also, uh, there's Saja is kind of
like a grim reapern which I'm gonna get into a
little bit. More women who are shamans and moudane who
(06:10):
protect and heal the lands even the weapons that we
see the Hundreds use are historic Korean warrior weapons, including
the four tiger sword or the sun coom used by Rumi,
the car curved sword or the Koktou used by Mirah,
and the spirit knife the Shinkar, which also carries the
Nori gay, which is connected to feminine spiritual power and traditions.
(06:30):
They are then nodded with like strings and gems that
you will often see on hymn books. I actually have
one about one, but they are very gorgeous and they
it is kind of a representation of the spiritual and
femininity of it all, so it has a lot. They
incorporate quite a bit of the lore. So let's get
(06:51):
into the plot. The world is in need of protection
and has been for all of eternity, and those who
have been called are the Hunters, typically a group of
three women with beautiful voices that can call on the
hun Moon, which is not an actual historical lord. They
made this up for specifically the movie, just so you know,
And as a writer from the kidnim draws dot Com explains,
(07:13):
it makes up of two words they think, which is Johan,
which is the word for soul and spirit, and Moon
which is commonly the word for door. I think maybe
it can also be used for gait so spirits door.
This is a shield that covers and protects the earth
from the entrances of demons who come to feed on
the soul of humans. The leader of the world and
(07:35):
the demons is the great and evil Gwimma, And throughout
the lifetime, different women have been called to protect and
become Hunters of the world. For this timeline, specifically, we
have Hunterrecks, a made up of three women. Rumi a
nepo baby. She's a baby, but she is a part
of the lineage, the daughter of a previous hunter and
leader of the group, and she is the leader of
huntres Then we have Mirah, an outcast and the lead dancer.
(07:58):
She's kind of like dark and you know emo ish
got the attitude. And then we have Zoe, who is
the adorable writer and rapper from Bourbank, California who's representing
with them. They have been trained and led by previous
Hunter Selene, who was in the girl group with Rumy's mother,
who has this motto, we are Hunters voices strong, your
(08:20):
falts and fears must never be seen, and they carry
that to the core to their detriment. Hint Hint Hunters
has become a huge popsis star success. They've been using
their music to chill the world and they're really good
at it. However, we soon find out that Rumy has
a secret. Her father was a demon, making her part
demon with the patterns that play the demons, so we
(08:41):
will see that they all have little patterns that mark
them as demons. Selene teaching Rumy that she must hide
the patterns from the group and others, and that the
only solution is to be rid of those patterns, which
can only be done once the demons are vanquished by
the Golden han Moon, which is very hard to bring about. Obviously,
with the release of their newest song, Golden, the hon
(09:03):
Moon seems to actually start turning gold, which is great,
and they push the hype of the song in time
for their upcoming award show, IDOL Awards, which is one
of the best times to strengthen the han Moon. However,
the demon in the demon world we seek Weema working
to try to destroy the Hunters as well as get
all those souls, and here we're introduced to Genu, who
(09:25):
comes up with a brilliant plan a demon boy band
the Saja Boys, and with their introduction, they are a hit,
and the timing couldn't be worse as Rumy's voice is
only getting worse as she tries to hide her secret.
Soon as the battles continue and the Saja Boys are
gaining popularity, we see the enemy to lovers trope between
Rumy and Genu, also the deepening mistrust between the girls,
(09:46):
and an awesome disc track I'm kidding, It's not awesome,
but it's fun. It's a banger. During the award show,
Roomy's secret is a revealed, the hon Moon seems to
have been destroyed, and the Saja Boys open up the
hell gates, but we have a heartwarming volume moment with
Roomy and the girls which go into an epic battle
and a new song where Genu sacrifices himself, realizing that
(10:07):
he needs his soul back and wants to fix things,
and the hon Moon turns golden and the demons are
driven out as well as Guima Tada. So that is
essentially the plot for this movie. So there are obviously
themes you ready. First, before we get into that, Annie,
what did you think about this this movie?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was beautifully animated,
which is funny to be because I always know you
don't like animation. I know that was one of the
things that he took out to me, that it was
beautifully animated, really interesting in the animation choices. And of
course a nice good friendship story.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
You love love.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
A good friendship story is so good, it's so bad,
all right.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So one of the biggest themes, obviously is the good
versus evil trope. We have the saja or also known
against as a chosun saja, which is a grid ripper.
So there's play all words ha ha ha, who are
entering here because they realize if song can build a shield,
(11:21):
what if a song can also break the shield? And
if you go in and listen to their last song,
be your idol. Yeah. People have had mixed reactions in that.
I think if I had tried to watch this as
a kid, if my parents understood what this was, they
wouldn't let me watch it because of the demon factor
(11:43):
because they're like singing Latin. They're singing some chants and
it's pretty much a curse over the people.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah. Yeah, And and Guma is like a big devil
mouth with that thing. Yeah yeah, but I do think
that's interesting because you see that before and a lot
of you know, using the song to ask the spell.
And I know we've been talking about fandom and K
pop recently, but I thought that sort of like switch
(12:12):
from we love Hunterricks to we love the Sajay like
people are literally like tearing off their shirts. Now I'm
their fan now. I thought that was a very I
liked that take on like the fandom and also just
intertwining that with lore of Korean history, but also this
idea of like casting that spell.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yes, and the fact that that they earned the trust
so easily by being good looking boy band.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah right.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
And then also if you notice, I liked how like
at the beginning the Saja boys were really parky, happy,
respectful in pink like they were definitely playing and to
like see you we're good people, which is kind of
how you have to build up a lot of K
pop bands or groups is to be like in almost
innocent and fantilizing to this point in order for that success.
(13:04):
Like they literally have a character called Baby Saja who
throughout the times is just sucking on a bottle. You're like, okay,
that's a little much in it, a little much, but
there you go. Yeah, it definitely works. But we do
have that level of like who's good who's bad, and
the blurring of those lines. What is evil? Is everyone
(13:26):
just inherently evil? Obviously demons would you would assume or
be would be the evil ones. But here we have
Ginu who gives a backstory about the fact that they'd
be all being punished because of whatever deeds that were.
I was a little confused because some of these demons
I don't think were they all humans that once upon
a time that get taken by demons or they just
marked and born that way because we see like Roomy
(13:48):
her father, So what is what is the chicken or
the egg situation here? But it does bring to the
point of like canned demons change who are inherently evil
and so we should want them to die. But it's
not so black and right.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Listen. I try not to do this all the time,
but it reminds me of Star Wars. Oh okay, well,
just the idea of like there's a difference between from
Star Wars people out there. There's a difference between a
Sith who enjoyed, who chose that, and then someone who
does evil because they were tortured and created to do that.
(14:25):
So I think that's like I felt that they were
similar shades. I would imagine there are similar shades of
people who kind of chose this thing, people who through
various reasons maybe fell into it or chose it now
regret it and to change, and then people who were
born with it but are fighting against it, Like this
(14:47):
is those shades or gradations.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Gradations yes, yes, which also brings me to the story,
like what is the backstory of Rumy's parents? I feel
like this might be saved for later. I don't know,
I will save like megge Kong no longer is with Sony,
and some of that had to deal with the issues
of Sony. So we don't know. But we also know
that corporations are greedy, and we'll be like, yeah, we
(15:10):
can do it without you. Look at Crazy Rich Asian,
in which they took a very Asian story written by
an Asian person and booted out the Asian screenwriter because
they didn't want to pay enough, but paid a lot
of money for the white dude. Yeah anyway, but sorry
not to bring in too many downers. I don't have
a lot of downers. But all of that to say,
you know, what is the story? Well, how did a
(15:32):
demon and a demon hunter get together in the first
place to create this demon hunter mix? Roumy who has
a lot of feels and a lot of talent but
can't hear the voices?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Oh my goodness, I am so proud of you used
the enemy's silver tag so easily. I feel like it
would be something like that. I feel like it would
be a similar.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
To be fair. That is a k drama tag as well.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh I'm sure. Oh, it's been around forever. It's a choice.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, just in general. So, and then we
have the kind of the shaman's historically being women or
mudang who are being historically all mostly women, not all women,
mostly women are They're very feminine in a lot of
the representations, but also in Korean culture, you also know
they're also good and bad shamans as well. There's a
(16:21):
lot of depth to that. So who is what?
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Am I right? Also wanted to point out the dirty
tiger and the magpie, which have deep cultural ties, especially
in Asian culture in itself. We know that the tiger
in itself has a huge connotation, but in this narrative,
the tiger representation is kind of that idea about corrupt
authority figures, and well that's why they're dirty and just
(16:46):
like in it for one thing, and very focused or
really dirty looking and knocking over pots constantly and having
a battle with bins apparently containers. And the magpie is
the distinguished right commoners. They're the common people who coming
in making the city. They're the ones that know the
right and wrong type of conversation. This is a part
(17:08):
of a lot of the Korean folk paintings that we'll see,
and they brought that in and they did it to
that level, like they made sure to make them distinct.
It wasn't just an animated as you said the word
disneyfied in our famous movie on the World type of look.
It was specific to keep in tradition with Korean folklore
(17:28):
and Asian folklore. And I really appreciated that. And people
love love those two things. They love the tiger more
than the bagpie. And I'm like, why do you keep
leaving out the magpie? That's important.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I'm more for the magpie.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I might I mean, as you should be, yes, you should.
It doesn't have too many eyes maybe it's all seeing anyway.
Of course, another part of the themes is friendship. You
absolutely see the beauty among the three girls who came
in and was formed together, but really protect and love
each other and are supposed to be understanding each other
(18:06):
like that is a part of the growth is knowing
that even as close as they were, they still have
all of their insecurities which eat away at them and
none of them want to admit it. And that was
part of because of the Saline's bad take, hide the
fears and fault yeah, slue no no, and they really
had to undo that to realize this wasn't as healthy
(18:26):
as they thought, and that meant that trusting each other
was a big part of their friendship and they had
to really go through it.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, and having that this does kind of remind me, Wow,
so many of these things are connecting to many recent
episodes because in the recent book club we did, we
talked about that of having the moment where you realize
that there are secrets in the group, or you weren't
(18:57):
as close as you thought, or maybe what was this
what I even realized what I thought it was and
having that moment and then coming back together stronger for
having that moment.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Right, admitting, like the song, the final song, we're talking
about everything is broken. Were liars, but that doesn't mean
we can't come back and build better. As well as
like Mira's line, I really just like I don't deserve family.
I was like, oh, yeah, you do haunt me. Let
me picture yeah family. Then we have the like the
Genu Roomy, they never really kissed, but they do have
(19:32):
that Korean drama touching of the hands. We kind of love,
a good drama moment. But they are slowly coming together
and she talks about having to wanting to save him
as to that, and he's like, you did. Will we
see him back? I don't know. Will there be another one?
I can't imagine Sony's gonna let this one ride as
successful or Netflix as successful as it was. So but
(19:54):
who knows? Who knows? Ginu does not have any friends
except for the Magpie, and the Tiger also becomes Roomy's friends.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
That's a little rough, you know, that's hurtful. I mean,
you do want your friends to become friends, but there's
also a part of you that's like, you're my friend,
You're my only friend.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Don't be that way another part again his family, and
we talk about the Chosen family obviously just talking about it.
But then we have Selene who takes on the motherly
figure adopting Roomy because of the death of the mother,
which we don't know how the childbirth, when she was born,
she died, So what happened here? Was it the the
(20:36):
demon part that like, oh, we don't know, we don't
know that law yet. But Selene doing what she thinks
she's supposed to and protecting being really Korean in trying
to protect everybody's reputation and trying society doing her duty
versus not being very maternal to uh Rumy. So there's
a lot of questions about that. And then also you
(20:58):
have to ask because I've seen a few articles pop
up being like, see Selene was a real villain a
damn okay. We jumped there real quick, okay, And then
g knew his selfish decision to leave his family behind
so he didn't have to starve to death and die
with them. It was rough.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
That was a that was a rough revelation you got
later in the movie, and I was like, oh, okay, oh.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
And which when the Waima says you've never done anything
that wasn't for selfish reasons.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah. Yeah, because it's been presented earlier. It is like
he was forcefully taken away. Yeah, and then you get
the truth of it and it's like, oh, oh no, okay,
he's like, oh.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
B no, it's pretty heartbreaking.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
And then we have in general K pop all throughout
obviously celebrating that culture, celebrating the music. I think it's
interesting in this portrayal because it really doesn't romanticize pop.
And if you've heard our episodes previously, you know this
is not the case. You know, there's a lot of damage.
We know there's a lot of death by suicide, eating disorders,
psychological disorders, money paid backs, surgery, all these things. There's
(22:11):
a lot of things that happen, a lot of discourse,
a lot of canceling, not not canceling. However, in this industry,
and it's pretty fast, Like people go in and there's
such an inundation of K pop groups that you don't
see who is successful. Like people don't succeed when they
think you should succeed. Like there are so many levels
(22:33):
to that. A lot of them are put together, they
are constructed and not organically brought together as in like
they meet together and form a group. I mean they
do say that in the beginning of the movie that
they came they were put together for root me Like,
they're like, you know, like this, but they just meshed well,
which isn't always what happens. There's a conversation about what's
(22:54):
happening in the black Pink like they say that none
of them are getting along. Of them want to be
a part of this capop industry anymore, but they're obligated
to do so because they've been as successful as they are.
They have their own individual careers and are seemingly more
invested in that. So there's a lot in that that
you see that you're like, like the whole mcbong at
(23:16):
the beginning where they're all carbo loading, I'm like, that's
not typical to the point that you hear stories about
other people feeding them rice, like sneaking in rice because
they hadn't eaten that day. I will say, though, and
I've mentioned Mama and Move before. My partner has worked
at production for shows in Atlanta. They came through. He
worked the show and there was a large request for
(23:37):
bull Duck Ramyan. Yeah, because they were like, these Korean
artists were like, no, that's what we need. So they
had to make a special trip to h Mark to
bring out all of these spicy ramyans. So not too
far off then, I guess, because they are a girl
group that's pretty big in South Carlin in here, not
as big as some others, but like it was fascinating, like, okay,
they really do. As for the rum, I thought that
(24:00):
was just a snack poppy food that became culturally popular
in the US more so than No No. They apparently
was like no, I need it, I miss it. There's
that again. I think I don't want to stray too
far from the pot, but it is good to know
that it does romanticize this industry a little, to the
point that it's like there are groups that do write
(24:23):
their own songs, that create their own stuff, and they're amazing,
and we want to give credit to that. That isn't
cool as hell. But a lot of them, again, are manufactured,
and a lot of them still a lot of music
I think I've seen this specific movie has at least
two of the bigger K pop songwriters that are Western,
(24:46):
I want to say, from the US or Canada. And
they've been based out of here for a long time
and they don't get paid as much as you I
would expect as big as some of these songs are.
The person who sang for Roomy, EJ, is a big
K pop industry singer and producer and writer. From what
(25:06):
I understand, she is not in any group, but she
is a part of SM Entertainment, which is one of
the top four that we've talked about previously. And the
others that sing on these songs are also either trainees,
had been trainees, or writers and producers, so it seems
so it is an interesting mix. People are getting good
(25:26):
and EJ can hit those notes down like chilling notes. Anyway,
moving on, so obviously, another big part of this movie,
as Kong has actually said herself, is the culture of
South Korea and in the heritage. The mix between southern
South Korean history that we were talking about with all
the weapons, with all the costumes, with all of the
(25:49):
locations even really mixes well with the modern day Hollywood
in what we see in dancing and the rapping some
of the Brahmin once again, which was really funny to me,
the costuming, the lights, the shows there are Idol shows
that they happen every week, that whoever chart like tops
(26:09):
the charts goes and performs and does it weekly, which
I'm like, huh that used to be our MTV.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Oh yeah, well you know they still do that.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I was like, Oh, that's really interesting, but that does exist.
I've seen the countdowns and different things that they do.
It's really interesting to see and how they celebrate it
and who does what. And then of course this whole
(26:43):
cultural thing with uh, you and I talked about it.
You had said that because I said that I think
you're going to see a lot of these costumes at
Dragon Con, which I'm very excited about and want to see,
and you were talking about that people have already talked
about being respectful and the costs. What were you telling
me exactly?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
So I'm going to clarify. I heard this through a
friend who's much more online than I am. She told
me that there had already been an online conversation about
I think it was specifically the boy band and their
costuming and being respectful about it and being aware of
(27:23):
like the history behind it and just not being offensive. Right,
That's what she said. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
From what I can gather like things like like no
regae that is very specific culturally, but I don't like
unless you take it and make it like a panties
or like chastity bail some or so you know, like
something really obscure, I don't see it being super offensive,
(27:49):
like even humbucks. Like I know a lot of times
when people go to South Korea, you can go to
the stores and that's like period costumes like any of those,
and visit the old historical places and all of these things,
and it's actually encouraged. It is something that is beautiful.
We love to see what we don't want to see,
what any no one wants to see of any other culture.
(28:10):
Is taking whatever it may be ceremonial or traditional, misconstruing
it to be something you created with these ideals and
then renaming things that is like even to the point
that we see i want to say Filipino level of ube,
which has been huge and trending, and then people taking
it being like we needed to be like a sugary,
(28:32):
I'm a white person who's going to do it this way,
and you're like, what is happening or along the lines
of like macha, which is obviously very very big, and
then white people taking in marketing and be like I
went to Japan one time and I loved it. So
I'm creating my own and this is mine and I'm
up charged. Like stuff like that is absolutely disrespectful loving
(28:52):
a culture, especially when it's as seemingly ignored as South
Korean culture and oftentimes the mean or sidelined for like
China Chinese culture, which by the way, Chinese is a
huge country, so having one ideal of even that culture
is almost offensive and ignorant in itself. So like so
(29:13):
many things said that. But with the Saja Boys, I
know they are grim Reapers. I don't know if it's ceremonial,
don't know if it's a funeral where that that might
be the problem. Of course, if you're wearing something that
is supposed to be for funerals, is that in your
par partying in it? That that's disrespectful because like death
(29:34):
rituals and like ancestry ristrals very very sacred, very very
much so, so stuff like that, Yes, I think you
need to understand what these are. Again, the Saja Boys
are a play on grim Reapers, so look into that. Yeah,
we would look into that. But I don't think in
general like hmbucks and the hats are in general are
not necessari or the gut are not necessarily disrespectful. If
(29:56):
you're doing something where that, if you're painting obscene things
on it, don't do that. Don't do that, don't to
I would tell you not to pretend to be a
shaman in any way. Koreans are real can be real
superstitious on that, and I am too. Not why I'm
a little so perstigious. I don't want to curse myself
in general, I think things like that have to be
looked at as well. Again, like, there's so much to this.
(30:17):
And I say this as not an expert, as someone
who has ignored this culture for so long, who's been
afraid of this culture, who felt like if I even
pretended I like or who we have even like interests,
that I was pretending. There's so much to this And
I want to note like watching this movie, getting ready
to talk about this, talking about why I love it
as much as I do, because this has become something
(30:39):
that I've grown to love, Like I've watched this too
many times, and I was really really hesitant in even
starting to watch this because it felt kitchy. Also, there's
still that childhood part of me that really wants to
be white, because I was brought into white culture, was
told white is the savior of all and that this
is the fixer and the best thing to be is white,
(31:01):
and even Korean culture kind of holds to that standard
as well, and so so part of me feeling like
seeing this celebrating a culture seemed foreign and almost the
anti of who I was growing up, I guess. And
so to find something like this culturally impacting, celebrating, loving,
(31:26):
not any caricaturish characters like it is, but it is.
It isn't making fun of a culture. It isn't making
fun of an accent, It isn't making fun of a saying.
It isn't making fun of a food. It is like
all these things which I see way too often, that
happens way too often, that has to be addressed way
too often, and being told that I'm being too sensitive,
And then if I can't joke like that, then what
(31:47):
am I doing with? Like why am I being so sensitive?
Being constantly being misconstrued as Chinese? And now for the
first time, everybody's saying, are you Korean? Which is also
a fear of mine that I'm like, no, but we
don't want to make that a better thing either or
more recognizable thing either. We need to understand is a
vast It's a vast area, and that to be able
to acknowledge all of all of the different areas and
(32:08):
appreciate all of the different areas is something that needs
to happen. But as someone who has ignored and run
from it for so long, has feared it, has not
felt good enough for it, has not understood it, has
felt like acknowledging this culture meant I was disrespecting the
people who brought like who took me in. I'm putting
(32:29):
that in quotes. So many of that conversation pops too,
And I'm wishing, like, had I had something like this
that celebrated Korean culture like this, what I have been
less ashamed or less likely to turn away from it,
or been less hesitant in learning more about it, because
I feel like I'm so far behind in learning something
(32:52):
that it should be so important to me, like having
a part of that is my identity feels so again
too late. And I've kind of had that conversation about
being too old for some of these things, Whether it's
connecting with family, connecting with culture, connecting with ideas. There's
a lot to this, and also having that guilt and
knowing that some of Korean culture, a lot of k
(33:14):
pop culture, perpetuates racist ideals and stereotypes within things that
are being oppressed here in the US. There's like this
bigger picture of this. I have the celebrations, I have
the desire. I'm so excited to hear this music and
song and hear Korean and see the hamdbox and see
the folklore. But at the same time, I feel like
(33:37):
I am overwhelmed with guilt and ignorance when in trying
to love and like these things. There's so much to
this in that level, but also the bigger part of
me which begged for representation and so clung to things
like Brandy, who I love and I'm so glad I
(33:58):
loved her music because she was not white and she
was she was cast into love. To have a romance
with an Asian man like that was enough for me
to love things like Mulan and have to dress up
like that because I was the only Asian Ish representation
that I saw as a good thing and as a
(34:20):
strong thing instead of being a caricature like pretty and
pink or breakfast at Tiffany's, which mock Asian people in
general or fetishizes Asian people in general, And so seeing
that and wishing that I had such a representation and
what would that have made for me, embracing my you know,
being so young, like being that person and being loving
(34:43):
the food that I love that brings so much memories
triggers as well. There was so much in this context
that seeing them be the center of the story phenomenal. Again,
when we talked about just as long as we're together,
aspiration to see any lightness of me was so strong
(35:04):
because I always felt like a side character, the sidekick,
and not wanting to be first time centered in something
is beautiful. And again back to the other Happy Hour
episode when it was like, but it feels like it's
too late, I'm too old for this point of being.
But there's so so many things that pop through my
(35:24):
head as I'm watching this, Like it actually has me
tearing up when I watched this cartoon animation, because there
is something that you can be proud of, like my
skin tone, my eye shape, my speech even isn't foreign,
isn't weird? Isn't unusual as where in you know, North
(35:46):
Georgia Mountains, University of Georgia, unless you're a part of
that click, and there's a click when it comes to
the Asian community. You are the odd one. You are
the one that's singled out when growing up being stared
at in an all white town because I'm with this
Asian person walking in and people like who is that?
What is that? And then my mom trying to be
cute and being like no, because you're so cute, and
I'm like, that's not why. Let's talk about the elephant
(36:09):
in the room here, like thank you and all, but
that's a lie and I don't want we need to
talk about this. So there's so many levels in this
movie that hit me as an adult Korean woman that
felt embraced but also conflicted. This this has made an impact.
(36:34):
I will forever think about this as something, especially because
it balanced Western Koreans with a South Korean's Eastern born
Eastern Asian people who are like, wow, okay, this feels familiar,
as opposed to watching k jamas, where it feels still
(36:54):
foreign or a dream state, like things look familiar but
as if I jumped them versus this being like, okay,
it is today and now that I'm more familiar with
with a mix of Western depiction, I guess is the
best way to say it without being whitewashed, which is
the other part to that. And with that, I think
when we talk about these types of shows, I also
(37:16):
have this fear that this could be a whitewashing of
Asian characters when you have voices that supposed to be
Asian and it's not Asian. That is the biggest disappointment
m h that I can ever think of. I'm like,
why would they do this when you had characters that's
supposed to be Asian. They're like, we're gonna make it white.
They look, they have a little bit of slant in
their eyes. They think it possibly mixed scarlet let. Johansen
(37:38):
is not Asian. I will fight you the day we die,
you know, But that level like of that whitewashing. There's
this conversation of the Newest Broadway musical and which was
written for uh in Korean standard and has half white people,
which is what it is, but then they're talking about
it being cast fully white. Now and the argument which
(38:00):
I've had argue to me about how well you know,
Koreans take white shows and make it Korean. Why can't
we do that here? But like, but Korean Americans exist,
this is not there's no more like the differentiation is huge,
and to be fair, I also think it's funny when
I see k dramas like depicting white people as all
Americans and you can tovily tell their accent is like
(38:23):
Russian or German and you're like that they are absolutely
not from the US, but good try. I like that
there are moments like that when you have like an understanding,
like you don't understand well it means to have representation
because you've always had it and you never had to
think about whether or not it wouldn't be it wouldn't
be there. And then with that all by the way
(38:43):
they did have I love that they mixed the casts
so it was both Korean Americans, Korean Western Korean people
who maybe in from Canada whatever whatnot to also having
Korean actors South Korean actors. So we had ardent Cho
who was she was done dirty on couple of c
W shows and I'm glad to see her make it
into this. We have Daniel da Kim who is an
(39:06):
icon and heart throb and hello, how are you? My
name is Smantha, come see me? Who got to be
a small minor role. And then we have Kim Jong
we all know who he is. He is a comedian
who is the doctor who's he exists? Then we have
the Korean stars lie Byong Huin, who is one of
the ones I was talking about. He has a sketchy past,
really sad because he is huge in both Squid Games
(39:28):
and this, but they are very easily dismissive of sexual
harassment allegations and charges. We have Anho soap, which I've
talked about him before because he was one of my
first like interactions with K drama. They're like, I like
the oh, who is this guy who is Canadian? Actually
he was born in Canada but has been in South
Korea and has made a huge name for himself as
(39:50):
a South Korean K drama actor. So he has a
bit of an accent, which I think is kind of
funny to me to see is Canadian, but because I guess,
I guess he's been in South Korea so long that
it sounds like it like English is a second language,
which I don't believe it is but he who plays
Genu is also was a training and then decided to
(40:10):
act in model. They didn't use his voice though for
most of the songs it was a different Andrew Troy
I believe is his name is the one who ends
up singing for him, and he was a writer in
Traineese well, but having him in there in one of
my FAVORITEK drama's business proposal. I've talked about this one
before and they actually have that little name like theme
(40:31):
song cop in this is an easter egg when he
walks in. When you introduce to Genu as human four
is like that, and I'm like, I love a good
throw it like little secrets that we know one of them.
But yeah, so I loved everything about that. Having actual
celebrities or stars or actors who are in that world,
(40:51):
who have been dismissed for so long to be able
to be a part of that success. I love every
bit of that. And representation that we've been begging for.
That I've been begging for that. People who want to
see more of their ethnicity, their community being represented. That's
what we're begging for, the more of that. Please. It
(41:13):
doesn't take much and it's a huge success. A huge success. Also,
we had a small moment with Selene singing, So the
actress who played that did not sing. It was Leah Salanga,
the Filipino icon and queen of Broadway that I've spoken
previously when we talked about BBS and Ley Miz and
again me clinging to any type of representation as a child,
(41:34):
she had a little minor row and I hope if
they do have a backstory, that we get to have
a longer edition of her musical talents because we need those,
we need that in our lives. Yeah, thank you for
going on this journey with me. There's so much to this.
I want to talk more about this. I want to
see more things like this. I hope that there is
(41:55):
a sequel that Kang is a part of, and if any,
because I feel like we've talked about how we think
that some of the studios may be listening to us
and taking our ideas or suggestions. If you are listening
and counting is not on there, we're going to be upset.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yes, Okay, we'll talk about it. Correct, that's right, you
watch out, big studio. Yes, I'm sure we'll come back
and talk about this more. I will definitely report after
Dragon Con. Yes, well, I see some pictures, I will
(42:33):
I'll try to do better. I'm not great at taking
pictures that i will do. If I see them, I'll
think of you and I'm be.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Like, Okay.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
But I know that people are loving this and I'm
sure many of you have plenty of thoughts about it,
So please right in if you would like to, we
would love to hear from you. You can email us
at Hello at Stephanever Told You dot com. You can
find us on Blue skyp Mobster podcast or on Instagram
and TikTok at stuff I Never Told You or also
on YouTube, and we have a book you can get
wherever you get your books. Thanks always to our super
(43:00):
producer was Senior executive Brus my aunt our contutter Joey.
Thank you and thanks to you for listening. Stefan Never
Told You is projected by heart Radio. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, you can check out the heart
Radio app Apple Podcasts wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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