“I love that we live in a world where there’s a movie called KPop Demon Hunters, and it’s one of the best movies of the year,” says therapist Jonathan Decker as he is breaking down the character arcs of shame and self-acceptance in the smash-hit movie. Now the most-watched Netflix movie of all time, KPop Demon Hunters tells a powerful story in this regard.

KPop Demon Hunters primarily revolves around Rumi (Arden Cho), a singer and hunter ashamed of her own demon heritage, which she has always hidden from her girl group mates Mira (May Hong) and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo). Rumi then forms a bond with demon Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), who is trying to escape the shame of his past choices.

In a new episode of Cinema Therapy, Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright extensively discuss Rumi and Jinu’s relationship. While it is healing for both of them, Decker points out a behavior he often sees with patients: Jinu tells most of his story, except for the part he is most ashamed of, to Rumi; Rumi does the same thing with her friends.

The pair validate the plot point of Rumi starting to lose her voice because of shame, starting to get it back with support from Jinu. Check out their comments on this below:

Jonathan Decker: Psychosomatically, she’s losing her voice because of the stress, because of the hiding, because of the fear, because she’s keeping secrets from her friends, and because she carries deep shame that she doesn’t need to carry; that’s the point of the story. But that can affect us physiologically.

Alan Seawright: And storytelling-wise, that’s genius. Her voice is the weapon she needs to perform the fight that she thinks she needs to fight. […] What she needs to do is something else.

Seawright also notes that Rumi’s arc “can speak to anything that you feel because of society or because of what your parents taught you […] I shouldn’t be this.” Cinema Therapy delves into how KPop Demon Hunters illustrates that telling the truth and facing your worst fears is absolutely necessary, even if it means losing friends. Check out Decker’s explanation below:

[…] the power of shame, the negative power of shame, to control when it comes to abusive relationships, codependent relationships, any sort of unhealthy relationship, of “You’re worthless, but I give you worth. I feed you, I sustain you, I see you, I accept you, nobody else will. I hold the key to your deliverance.” […]

We believe that if someone knows this about me, they will reject me, not want me in their life. And the really hard part is that sometimes that’s true. Sometimes people aren’t ready for whatever that is. […] It’s about am I dealing in truth? The only way we eviscerate shame, the only way that we liberate and free ourselves from that, is by exploring the darkest corners, shining light on them, and saying, “I’m going to choose to love this person, which is me,” recognize the harm done and choose to change.

Decker comments on how scary this may be with finality, because if someone rejects you, “they’re not your people,” while also saying that Rumi and Jinu are “[…] denying the people that they love the opportunity to truly love them.“ It is also recognized that by the time Rumi confronts Celine (Yunjin Kim), she is starting to accept and stand up for herself.

While rewatching the final musical number (“What It Sounds Like”), Decker also says: “[…] this isn’t her [Rumi] brokenness, this isn’t a flaw, this isn’t something that means she deserves to be thrown away unless it’s fixed. This is part of her beauty, this is part of who she is, and that’s what makes it beautiful.”

Check out the full episode of Cinema Therapy below:

What This Analysis Of Rumi & Jinu Means For KPop Demon Hunters

Cinema Therapy unpacks additional layers to KPop Demon Hunters’ themes and illustrates how the character arcs are absolutely valid representations of issues real people deal with, through the lens of a fantasy musical adventure. Reasons that KPop Demon Hunters was such a sensational success range from the soundtrack to the animation style, but the near-universal main arc was a huge factor.

It also challenges KPop Demon Hunters 2 to be just as rich thematically. Decker and Seawright spend most of the video talking about Rumi and Jinu, noting Mira and Zoey towards the end, and arguably illustrating how the sequel could do with more character work for the other members of Huntr/x, after Rumi’s stunning turn as the definitive lead in the first outing.

Our Take On Cinema Therapy’s Analysis Of KPop Demon Hunters

It’s also telling that throughout this video, Decker and Seawright make casual comments about how they admire KPop Demon Hunters’ catchy songs, as well as certain writing choices and filmmaking techniques — they enjoyed the Netflix phenomenon as much as anyone.

KPop Demon Hunters is such an incredible movie because it does so many different things right, particularly its weighty character work. The therapist and filmmaker duo of Cinema Therapy recognize how much is going on in the movie and how each element elevates another.