Teddy bears and choo… actually, just a teddy bear.
Growing up, a teddy bear would sing me to sleep with this old prayer.
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
It’s probably a good thing I was a kid who didn’t fully comprehend these words at the time. I’m sure my prayer bear, or rather those who worked on its sound feature, meant well. But to soothe a child to sleep with the idea that they might not wake up is just wild. It also begs a few questions (now that we’re all older).
If I die, will my soul go to God? Is it mine to give? His to take? Can someone else take it?
You know what else begs these same questions? The most-watched movie in all of Netflix history with the highest-charting soundtrack of the year: “KPop Demon Hunters.”
You don’t have to be riding the K-Wave; you don’t even have to have watched the film. If you’ve caught others bopping their shoulders to “Soda Pop,” if you saw ads for the recent sing-along event in theaters or heard the announcement for a second film, if you’ve still got “Golden” reels sneaking their way into your feed simply because you searched “KPop Demon Hunters” literally one time — it’s enough to get you curious about the movie’s music and themes. As a Catholic, you might be even more curious.
*Mild spoilers ahead.*
*gasp* They’re demons! I mean humans… obviously humans.
The word soul comes up a bunch in the movie, and the word demon even more frequently. It’s because demons steal the souls of (human) fans of the protagonist trio, K-pop idols and demon hunters Rumi, Mira, and Zoey of HUNTR/X. The stolen souls sustain the accusatory and manipulative demon king, Gwi-Ma (a name that plays on the Korean word for “demon” and implies evil).
The fact that the demons who serve Gwi-Ma seem to have been human once, and that Rumi herself is part-demon, gets you thinking right off the bat. In a world — our world, the real world — that is preoccupied with superstitions, obsessed with demonic activity, and intrigued by evil masked as good (all things the Church seriously warns us against), it’s important to remember:
Humans are humans and cannot become demons.
Demons are demons and cannot become humans.
Humans have a body and a soul.
Demons do not have physical bodies.
“Demons are never nice.” They seek to destroy humans.
So what do we do with all these realities? For starters, we can remind ourselves when we “sit down for the show” not to read too much into its fictional storyline. “KPop Demon Hunters” is entertaining and has some impressive themes on identity and sin, but it’s always risky to pay more attention to what storytellers say about the spiritual life than what our faith says — since they don’t always match up.
So the next step is to turn to the Church’s teachings.
This is a battle for hearts and minds.
Catholics believe that every soul is created by God, is immortal, and although it is separated from the body in death, will be reunited with it one day. (CCC 366) In “KPop Demon Hunters,” have you noticed how the bodies of the people whose souls are stolen just kinda… disappear? It’s almost like the demons are saying, “Forget your body; I’m here for your soul.”
It’s true that real demons are out for your soul. Catholics call this spiritual warfare. Saint Angela Merici says, “Consider that the devil doesn’t sleep, but seeks [the ruin of our souls] in a thousand ways.” Always remember this, so that you can defend your soul with prayer and the grace of the sacraments. But did you know that demons are after your body, too?
The fact that “the human body shares in the dignity of the ‘image of God’” enrages demons. (CCC 364) The body and the soul are united as God’s single most beautiful creation that resembles him, so the enemy will always go after both body and soul together.
Saint Paul also observes, “When I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” (Romans 7:21) Satan and other demonic forces will attack you simply because God created you good, because he loves you and demons hate him. But if you’re actively loving God, too, then you’ll have an even larger target on your back.
That’s where the final step comes in: guarding your senses.
