1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Laman. This is the Monster Fact, 3 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 2: focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. I'm 5 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 2: more than a month laid on this, but the twenty 6 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 2: twenty five Sony Pictures animated film K Pop Demon Hunters, 7 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 2: released on Netflix is already a huge hit, weaving a 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 2: stylish tale of Korean pop music, folklore, and mythology. I'll 9 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 2: admit that I might not be the target audience for 10 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 2: this film, but my kid and all their friends love it, 11 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 2: and hey, I love a good demon horde battle, so 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 2: I'm in. The film primarily concerns a trio of demon 13 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 2: hunters who protect the mortal realm from otherworldly demonic hordes 14 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 2: via expert sword play and the power of popular mute. 15 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 2: Complications arise when the demons try to beat them at 16 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 2: their own game, introducing their own K pop boy band Excellent. 17 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 2: Along the way, we meet a pair of magical animals, 18 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 2: inspired in part by traditional Korean Minhi folkart, a blue 19 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 2: tiger and a six eyed magpie. In the film, the 20 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,759 Speaker 2: Magical cat and his avian companion occupy important supporting roles 21 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 2: and of course provide some cute comic relief. The duo 22 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 2: has become quite the sensation, popping up on all sorts 23 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 2: of official and unofficial bits of merch and fashion. The 24 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 2: magpie appears wise, sneaky, give a little aloof while the 25 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 2: tiger is sweet but perhaps a bit foolish. Now stretching 26 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 2: beyond the folkloric roots here, the tiger is of course 27 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 2: based on the Siberian tiger that once ranged across the 28 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 2: Korean peninsula but when extinct in the wild during the 29 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 2: early twentieth century, and the magpie would be based on 30 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 2: the Oriental magpie, still found throughout Eurasia, but known as 31 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 2: the Korean magpie in Korea, the magpie and tiger are 32 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 2: a common pairing in Korean folk cart or, meanwhile, making 33 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 2: up an entire subgenre. The tiger is indeed sometimes depicted 34 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 2: as foolish, while broadly the tiger is a symbol of strength, power, 35 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 2: and other noble attributes in Korean traditions, here he seems 36 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 2: meant to mock aristocratic authority. Meanwhile, the magpie generally depicted 37 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,399 Speaker 2: off to the side in these works of art, looks 38 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 2: quite dignified. As Robert Minz points out in a twenty 39 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 2: twenty three article for Apollo Magazine titled The Tale of 40 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 2: the Magpie that Taunted a Tiger, the two first began 41 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 2: to appear together in folk paintings during the sixteenth century. 42 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 2: Mint stresses that the magpie is a protector of human 43 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 2: beings while the tiger is a destroyer. Thus they can 44 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 2: be seen as two opposing forces between which the human 45 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 2: experience is suspended. He also describes the expression of the 46 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 2: tiger here as more of a smirk, as if the 47 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 2: tiger knows that he may be cheated out of a 48 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 2: rightful meal by the protective interference of the magpie. Mince 49 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 2: also stresses the folkloric context of the two creatures, a 50 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 2: story that Dale Corrington of Korean Temple Guide dot Com 51 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 2: lays out rather succinctly. The story concerns a woodcutter and 52 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 2: a tiger, as do other tails. I'll get to one 53 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,799 Speaker 2: in a second, but in this particular tale, the woodcutter 54 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,519 Speaker 2: liberates a starving tiger who has been stuck in the 55 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,920 Speaker 2: mud for several days. The tiger then decides, to, of 56 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 2: course eat the woodcutter. The woodcutter pleads with both an 57 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 2: ox and a tree for judgment on this, and both 58 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 2: end up siding with the tiger. Yes, go ahead and 59 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 2: eat him. This is what tigers do. This is only right. 60 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 2: But then a magpie weighs in and tells them, well, 61 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 2: I really need you to re enact this encounter so 62 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 2: I can properly judge this situation. Thus, the tiger slips 63 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 2: back into the mud and the woodcutter season the opportunity 64 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 2: runs away to safety and there. Of course, as is 65 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 2: often case with tails like this, there are different variations 66 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 2: on exactly how all of this goes down, but essentially, 67 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,119 Speaker 2: the tiger is tricked and the magpie plays a role 68 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 2: in it. Now, there's another Korean folk tale concerning a 69 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 2: woodcutter and a tiger that I'll mention here because it 70 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 2: presents the tiger in a different light. In this one, 71 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 2: the woodcutter is approached by a hungry tiger, and thinking quickly, 72 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 2: he greets the tiger as a long lost sibling, one 73 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,280 Speaker 2: who has apparently been magically transformed. It informs him that 74 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 2: their mother has recently died, so he fools the tiger 75 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 2: in this escapes with his life, but the tiger, showcasing 76 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,280 Speaker 2: his lawful honor as well. Here brings a gift to 77 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 2: the woodcutter's mother's grave each year. But when it comes 78 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 2: to the foolish faced tiger, be it in folk art 79 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 2: or k pop demon Hunters, the root does seem to 80 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 2: be satire concerning power and authority, subverting the image of 81 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 2: the noble and powerful tiger. Naturally, the tiger is often 82 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 2: used as a signifier of might and ferocity wherever human 83 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 2: cultures have encountered it, admiring and fearing it in equal measure, 84 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 2: leading to traditions of tiger transformations, tiger demons, and tiger deities. 85 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 2: The magpie, likewise, is broadly associated with luck and happiness, 86 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 2: a bringer of good news, and so we see these 87 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 2: two again brought together as kind of these different forces 88 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 2: between which humans are suspended, on one hand, a protector 89 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:29,040 Speaker 2: wise and on the other hand a powerful adversary, but 90 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 2: one that may be subverted either through trickery or honor, 91 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 2: depending on the telling. Tune in for additional episodes of 92 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 2: the Monster Factor, the Artifact or Anomilius to pend him 93 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 2: each week. As always, you can email us at contact 94 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 2: at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 95 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,039 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 96 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 97 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,840 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.