In a matter of weeks, the Sony-produced animated film Ok-Pop Demon Hunters turned the all-time most-viewed authentic title on Netflix. A limited-release theatrical run of the sing-along model of the movie, for 2 days on fewer than two thousand screens after it had been obtainable on streaming for 2 months, was the #1 film on the field workplace for that weekend. With 4 songs within the Billboard Sizzling 100 chart, together with “Golden” reaching #1, Ok-Pop Demon Hunters has attained soundtrack feats not seen since Purple Rain (1984) and Saturday Evening Fever (1978). And the social media fandom for the film reveals no indicators of slowing down.
On this episode of Hyperspace Theories, Tricia Barr and B.J. Priester talk about the multi-layered success of Ok-Pop Demon Hunters in its storytelling and in its attraction to followers. Constructing on longstanding themes of the weblog and podcast, we study the story construction of Ok-Pop Demon Hunters as a film that isn’t a heroic origin story for its protagonists, and the way the character-driven narrative modifies some traditional plot beats and character archetypes. Though it isn’t an origin story, Ok-Pop Demon Hunters shares options in frequent with modern Heroine’s Journey tales, in distinction to tales primarily based on the older monomyth of the Hero’s Journey, significantly its climax in a victory primarily based on democratic collective participation fairly than a triumph in fight by Rumi or Huntrix. In some ways, Ok-Pop Demon Hunters succeeds at growing the core narrative and world-building components that the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy ought to have used, however didn’t.
We additionally think about different profitable features of Ok-Pop Demon Hunters in resonating with so many individuals. The film attracts not solely from its creator’s Korean heritage and folklore to inform a narrative with common themes like disgrace and trauma, but additionally from her expertise as a lifelong Ok-Pop fan to weave in moments and concepts that ring true to twenty-first century pop-culture fandom. The soundtrack itself is superb, after all, however the development of lyrics and musicality mirrors the plot and character growth all through the arc of the movie. And naturally it has an lovable animal sidekick, whose function is definitely way more vital and impactful than first seems.
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