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| KPop Demon Hunters, Netflix's Most Viewed Film Ever |
You know together,
We're glowing.
We're gonna be golden.
+ KPop Demon Hunters
"Golden"
This post is in honor of those who (Expectantly? Surprisingly?) enjoyed KPop Demon Hunters as much as I did.
The blockbuster hit movie of the summer, and now Netflix's most watched film ever, not only made me smile throughout due to Sony Animation's now reign as the most creative studio on blast (Pixar, where are you?), but also reminded me of a thoughtful book I read a few years ago, Never Cast Out: How the Gospel Puts an End to the Story of Shame by Jasmine Holmes.
KPop Demon Hunters has a ludicrously fun plot featuring a new trio of Hunters (Rumi, Mira, and Zoey) who, while being friends and warriors, also craft ear worm pop songs that captivate listeners and forge faithful communities of followers. This community formed in love also forms a shield, called the Honmoon, around where they live and sing from demonic hordes. But the leader of the demons, Gwi-Ma, is committed to breaking through the Honmoon with his own boy band's songs to torment people he wants nothing more than to be enslaved to shame.
The animation is KPop is electric, the characters are endearing, and the action-packed plot has moments of humor, horror, and hope. And in the mix of a fusion of various spiritualities at play, a golden message shines through.
How? Let's get back to Never Cast Out and its relation to shame alongside KPop Demon Hunters, author Jasmine Holmes writes about how we try to deal with our shame (ex. trying to hide it and cover it up like Rumi) along with how Jesus takes care of us and takes on our shame.
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| Never Cast Out by Jasmine Holmes |
Along with KPop Demon Hunters, which showcases how shame causes us to hide and put on a mask instead of vulnerably revealing our mistakes and masquerades, Jasmine expands on even more temptations that tell us how to deal with our shame on our own instead of going to the ultimate Helper and Demon Hunter. When we settle to be our own function saviors, Jasmine unveils how we resort to dealing with shame by trying:
+ Shake It Off
Shame is something
that we should ignore,
or throw off of us
any time we feel bad feelings.
Shame is something
that we should ignore,
or throw off of us
any time we feel bad feelings.
+ Work It Off
Shame is something
that we can off-load
by working harder.
+ Pass It Off
Shame is something
that we can off-load
by blaming it on someone else.
KPop Demon Hunters tells the tale of how we all have our own markings of shame for things we regret feeling, saying, doing, or not doing. We may try to shake it off, work it off, or pass it off, but it's not cutting it. And then we, like the demons, tend to have no mercy for ourselves or others when we live in a world of creeping shame and darkness. We need a different song to turn us from idolatry of perfection and from idolatry of self to receive the mercy we could never earn.
In KPop, the way to escape shame is to expose the flaws or failures a person has been hiding in order to find true friends who are willing to walk alongside us and help us take steps forward towards healing, hope, and wholeness.
In the Gospel, we find that we are invited to exposes our markings of shame to the Friend who took on all our markings of shame. "Greater love has no one than one who lays down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). In fact, Jesus carries the markings of all who call Him friend so we know He not only understands our shame, but He also takes it from us and puts it to death by His death. In the good news of redemption Jesus provides for all the shameful, He takes all our insecure shame on the cross and gives us security in Him, so when shame comes knocking, we can repent and instead do this with our shame:
+ Cast It On Jesus
When we cast our lot
with (and on) Jesus ...
We are always in,
because the payment for our sin
has been fully paid, the shame fully borne.
God's "Honmoon" is always covering us,
keeping the lies of the demons at bay
as we listen to the golden song
of the Gospel.
And one day His Honmoon
will fill the earth
as the waters cover the sea.
In one moment of sacrificial love (spoiler!), we see a glimpse of the cross as Jinu reflects a Christ-like love for Rumi. He fully sees her with all her markings of shame, and chooses to lay down his life for her so that she can rise again with faith and trust in others. Then she becomes who she was born to be in the face of the lies of Gwi-Ma. Rumi begins to believe she will never be cast out.
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| Zoey, Mira, and Rumi fighting demons in KPop Demon Hunters |
Rumi
(whose name means "beauty")
sees through Mira
(whose name means "behold")
and Zoey
(whose name means "life eternal")
that she can come forward into the light
and not be cast aside,
which sounds a lot like Jesus,
the Light of the world's, invitation,
"Whoever comes to Me
(no matter how marked by shame),
I will never cast out"
(John 6:37).
(whose name means "beauty")
sees through Mira
(whose name means "behold")
and Zoey
(whose name means "life eternal")
that she can come forward into the light
and not be cast aside,
which sounds a lot like Jesus,
the Light of the world's, invitation,
"Whoever comes to Me
(no matter how marked by shame),
I will never cast out"
(John 6:37).
John Bunyan expounds on this when he writes about how shame tries to turn us inward and away from the One we need to listen to the most:
"But I am a great sinner,"
say you.
"I will in no wise cast out,"
says Christ.
"But I am an old sinner,"
say you.
"I will in no wise cast out,"
says Christ.
"But I am a hard-hearted sinner,"
say you.
"I will in no wise cast out,"
says Christ.
"But I am a backsliding sinner,"
say you.
"I will in no wise cast out,"
says Christ.
"But I have served Satan all my days,"
say you.
"I will in no wise cast out,"
says Christ.
"But I have sinned against light,"
say you.
"I will in no wise cast out,"
says Christ.
"But I have sinned against mercy,"
say you.
"I will in no wise cast out,"
says Christ.
"But I have no good thing
to bring with me,"
say you.
to bring with me,"
say you.
"I will in no wise cast out,"
says Christ.
says Christ.
Rumi discovers this Christ-like voice in her friends, Mira and Zoey (and Jinu). And this heroine's journey of suffering, revelation, and sacrifice reminds me of 1 Peter 1:6-7: "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." and 2 Corinthians 5:17-18a: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God ... "
With these truths in mind,
we all can sing with Jesus
in light of the gift of the Gospel,
"No more hiding,
I'll be shining like I'm born to be. ...
We're goin' up, up, up,
it's our moment.
You know together we're glowing.
Gonna be golden."
"No more hiding,
I'll be shining like I'm born to be. ...
We're goin' up, up, up,
it's our moment.
You know together we're glowing.
Gonna be golden."
"I Am the Light of the world."
(John 8:12).
"You are the light of the world."
(Matthew 5:14)
With Jesus
we're golden.
Bonus Post:
Christ is all,
Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan
