‘Demon Hunter’ Disappointment: Belfast’s Viral K-pop Drama
By Georgia Glennie
Everyone has heard about the K-pop tribute at the SSE Arena, Belfast mummies had their claws bared as what they thought was a tribute to the Golden Globe-winning film ‘K-pop Demon Hunters’ was instead a tribute to K-pop.
TikTok’s posted after the event’s first night from creators such as Niamh Donnelly (@Niamhodonnelly) started the ongoing conflict on social media. In her video, which now has nearly 2 million views, she claims people were leaving mid-way through the concert and that the show was a “f*cking joke”. Another creator, Debbie (@Debbieogallagher) claims in her video with 1.5 million views, “it was not K-pop, it was completely different from K-pop”. Cutie Crafts Derry (@cutiecraftsderry) in a video with 1.3 million views states that “kids were falling asleep with boredom and some were crying”.
These videos have faced some backlash and witty comebacks too, with stand-up comedian William Thompson making a skit inspired by the outraged videos and with commenters such as Eoin (@eoinyeo) saying, “I feel their pain, went to Limp Bizkit last year and didn’t even get any chocolate digestives.”
The ‘K-pop Forever! Tribute’, which had two sold-out shows in the SSE arena, claims to have “All-live performances of smash-hits” from popular bands such as “Blackpink, BTS, Twice” that the show was an “Ultimate non-stop party for all ages!” They also mentioned that they would feature popular songs from the movie Demon Hunters, such as Soda Pop and Golden. [1] So, while yes, the cartoon marketing is suggestive and the Demon Hunter songs are mentioned, there was no expectation other than false ones that the event was going to be based on or feature the characters from K-Pop Demon Hunters.
K-pop, short for Korean Popular music, is an entire genre of music and is responsible for some of the biggest bands in the world. After the many distraught TikTok videos and apparently upset children, the SSE arena, in combination with Taylor Entertainment, issued a statement saying that the tribute show was intended to “represent the full K-pop genre’, a return to the claims that the show “was not K-pop”. [2]
While all of this seems to stem from misunderstandings of a music genre, it does raise a much bigger issue that plagues parents: do they really know what content their children are consuming online? In a world of TikTok, ‘Skibidi toilet’, ‘Labubu’s’, Blippi and Roblox, children are consuming just as much content as adults nowadays. For example, YouTube Kids, established in 2015, launched as it was intended to be a safer platform for children to consume content and learn.
However, concerns are being raised about the algorithmic nature of the app. Children consuming over-stimulating, bright-coloured shows such as Cocomelon (a music-based channel with 200m subscribers) can be sent down further rabbit holes of similar content, which, in turn, can be damaging to them, as they are not receiving the appropriate amount of stimulation or education from this content. While yes, algorithms work both ways, popular channels tend to be promoted more in the algorithm, thus beginning a vicious cycle.
Notably, Free Hess, a Floridian paediatrician, states that she’s seeing more children coming in with concerning mental health problems (such as self-harm or suicide attempts) and that she ‘Doesn’t doubt that social media and things such as this are contributing’. [3] The issue of a lack of moderation from sites such as YouTube Kids is causing devastating harm towards children. While this is not solely a parent’s responsibility, it is important for parents to know what their children may be consuming online and how it can be hidden, as it can lead to serious consequences.
Luckily, it’s not all bad. Last year, Australia completely banned social media (Such as TikTok, YouTube, X and Snapchat) for all under 16 and require Government ID to be downloaded and used. France, Malaysia and Portugal are also among the list of countries that have banned social media for under-16s.[4] Further, the UK Government is now following suit with consultations underway for similar social media bans. [5]
Ultimately, while yes, the simple miscommunication of some suggestive marketing isn’t the end of the world, it does raise valid overarching concerns over parents having a lack of knowledge about what their children are consuming online and the harm it can cause.
References
[1] https://ssearenabelfast.com/events/k-pop-forever-tribute
[3] https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/25/tech/youtube-suicide-videos-trnd/index.html
[4] https://www.visualcapitalist.com/minimum-age-laws-social-media-world-map/
