(C) F Newsmagine
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For the Fans [1]

['Please Enter Your Name Here']

Date: 2025-08-25 19:49:52+00:00

Western ears are no stranger to the beautiful sounds of South Korean pop (K-pop for short), with bands like BTS and Blackpink appearing on many of our top 100 lists. That’s why it’s no surprise that Netflix’s newly animated film “K-pop Demon Hunters” is being received so well with over 80 million views in only 4 weeks of debut, surpassing previously mentioned high-charting bands like BTS and Blackpink.

In the film, we follow the Huntrix girls — Rumi, Mira, and Zoey — as they defend the human realm from the soul-eating Saja Boys, who are demons in disguise. Despite its simple premise, the film explores an important part of K-pop culture: fan interaction. K-pop fans are known for their fierce devotion towards their favorite idols; brandishing their logos, buying merchandise, learning the lyrics and dance moves to songs, and so on. In “K-pop Demon Hunters,” the fans who support Huntrix are a major aspect of the plot. Their love for the music and individual bandmates is what powers the Honmoon, an invisible forcefield that protects the human realm from the demon realm. This use of fan interaction plays a major part in the story and allows the film to showcase different sides of K-pop culture.

This is exemplified by the way “K-pop Demon Hunters” portrays the sense of community created by K-pop. When Huntrix releases and performs their single “Golden,” we see how diverse their audience is — young girls, older women, and grown men all come together to watch. This highlights how K-pop fans can grow a community beyond geographical boundaries — through memes, inside jokes, and the love of their bias (their favorite idol), they’ve formed a strong bond that’s gone global.

But this intense love can often be a double edged sword when fans become too devoted and form extreme parasocial relationships. This introspection can be seen in the final villain song, “Your Idol,” sung by the Saja Boys. Its overt meaning is how they’re feeding off of the fans’ souls, but metaphorically, it’s about using K-pop idols as a means to escape from a reality you don’t want to face, with lyrics like “Anytime it hurts, play another verse; I can be your sanctuary” or “I’m thе only one who’ll love your sins”. These lyrics encourage the audience to use the boy band as their only source of comfort, as they’re the only ones in the entire world that will accept or have the ability to soothe them. This parallels the habits of real life fans who may use Kpop music and the idols themselves in order to self-soothe emotionally, becoming dependent and even obsessed with the idols.

This is what we call an extreme ‘Parasocial relationship’, where a relationship is one-sided and non-reciporical with a public individual. These types of relationships have real-life consequences as many fans feel entitled to the lives of their idols becoming upset if they’re in a romantic relationship, speculating over plastic surgery, accusing people of being bullies or a “pick-mes” (a femme-presenting idol would be called this if they seem to be asking for male validation). All of which ruins their reputation, risking their connection with their agencies and their livelihoods. This has happened to Singer and rapper, Shin Ji-min of AOA, who was falsely accused of being a bully in 2020. Even when the accusations were proven false, the backlash was swift and powerful and she had already been let go by her group and agency.

There’s good and bad sides to everything, especially something as big as K-pop. But “K-pop Demon Hunters” handles these issues with grace and humor. The movie doesn’t shy away from showcasing how fans can be odd, and even intimidating. Be it tattooing the band on their skin or mobs of fans violentingly shoving to get into a show, the film does admit that this intensity is off-putting. By seeing the humor in these situations, they can acknowledge while not shaming. Thus shining the same positivity and understanding that K-pop fans hope for in their music.

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[1] Url: https://fnewsmagazine.com/2025/08/for-the-fans/

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