Skip to content
1981
Disability and Popular Culture
  • ISSN: 2045-5852
  • E-ISSN: 2045-5860

Abstract

Netflix’s animated musical (2025) has achieved unprecedented global success, becoming the platform’s most-watched title of all time. While the film does not explicitly feature disabled characters, disabled fans have created extensive headcanons connecting the protagonists’ experiences to their own. This article applies critical disability studies methodology through a crip reading of , examining how the film’s narrative arc from shame to acceptance exemplifies the affirmation model of disability in mainstream popular culture. Through textual analysis of the three main characters, Rumi, Mira and Zoey, I demonstrate how their experiences of hiding, masking and suppressing their differences reflect common disability experiences. Crucially, the film subverts traditional cure narratives that dominate disability representation in popular culture. Rather than achieving normalcy through cure, conformity or overcoming difference, the characters find strength through authentic self-expression and community acceptance. This analysis reveals how mainstream popular culture can provide affirming disability representations when audiences apply crip reading strategies. The film’s emphasis on chosen family, authentic community and celebrating rather than curing difference offers a powerful counter-narrative to traditional ableist frameworks, demonstrating the potential for crip readings to uncover disability joy in unexpected places.

© 2025 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00119_1
2026-01-31
2026-04-16

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. 88tumble (2025), ‘Beyond entertainment: How “KPop Demon Hunters” signals a new era for AAPI representation in animation’, 88tumble, 15 July, https://www.88tumble.com/post/beyond-entertainment-how-kpop-demon-hunters-signals-a-new-era-for-aapi-representation-in-animatio. Accessed 12 September 2025.
  2. Abrahamson, Megan B. (2013), ‘J.R.R. Tolkien, fanfiction, and “the freedom of the reader”’, Mythlore, 32:1, pp. 53–72, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26815846. Accessed 30 October 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Alice, Jordan and Ellis, Katie (2021), ‘Subverting the monster: Reading Shrek as a disability fairy tale’, M/C Journal, 24:5, https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2828.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Clare, Eli (2017), Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Coley, Georgia (2025), ‘In “KPop Demon Hunters”, shame is no match for authenticity’, Sojourners, 5 September, https://sojo.net/articles/culture/kpop-demon-hunters-shame-no-match-authenticity. Accessed 12 September 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. DangerousExcitement3 (2025), ‘Anyone else hyperfixating on KPOP Demon Hunters?’, r/AutismInWomen, 29 June, https://www.reddit.com/r/AutismInWomen/comments/1lne8l2/anyone_else_hyperfixating_on_kpop_demon_hunters/. Accessed 14 September 2025.
  7. ElizaBeth (2025), ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters is a VERY trans story’, Medium, 26 June, https://medium.com/@LizBeth1400/k-pop-demon-hunters-is-a-very-trans-story-540b118e9bda. Accessed 12 September 2025.
  8. Ellcessor, Elizabeth and Kirkpatrick, Bill (2019), ‘Studying disability for a better cinema and media studies’, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 58:4, pp. 139–44, https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2019.0043.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Ellis, Katie (2019), Disability and Digital Television Cultures: Representation, Access, and Reception, New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie (2017), Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature, New York: Columbia University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Hatchett, Keisha (2025), ‘KPop Demon Hunters reaches a golden milestone: Most popular Netflix film ever’, Netflix Tudum, 15 July, https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/kpop-demon-hunters-most-popular-netflix-film. Accessed 11 September 2025.
  12. Henderson, Taylor (2025), ‘Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters is taking over the world with a powerful queer allegory’, Out, 9 July, https://www.out.com/film/k-pop-demon-hunters. Accessed 12 September 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Jenkins, Henry (2006), Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York: New York University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Kafai, Shayda (2021), Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice and Art Activism of Sins Invalid, Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Kang, Maggie and Appelhans, Chris (2025), KPop Demon Hunters, USA: Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Leishman, Rachel (2025), ‘KPop Demon Hunters is as good as everyone says it is’, The Mary Sue, 28 August, https://www.themarysue.com/kpop-demon-hunters-is-as-good-as-everyone-says-it-is/. Accessed 12 September 2025.
  17. Levin, Nina J., Kattari, Shanna K., Piellusch, Emily K. and Watson, Erica (2020), ‘“We just take care of each other”: Navigating “chosen family” in the context of health, illness, and the mutual provision of care amongst queer and transgender young adults’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17:19, pp. 1–20, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197346.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Linds, Emi (2025), ‘You’re too much, and not enough: Neurodivergence in K-Pop Demon Hunters’, Emi Linds, 6 July, https://emilinds.ca/notes-to-self/kpop-demon-hunters-neurodivergent-representation/. Accessed 14 September 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Lurking Lynx (2025), ‘The fact that it’s not just #Rumi representing mental health/body image issues (ex: Hiding patterns/scars->accepting them) #Mira represents the pipeline of an autistic girl accepting herself #Zoey is audhd who struggles like Mira but for diff reasons #huntrix i luv them’, X, 19 July, https://t.co/9YssXJKasj. Accessed 14 September 2025.
  20. McGill, Owen and Robinson, Anna (2020), ‘“Recalling hidden harms”: Autistic experiences of childhood applied behavioural analysis (ABA)’, Advances in Autism, 7:4, pp. 269–82, https://doi.org/10.1108/aia-04-2020-0025.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Norden, MF (1994), The Cinema of Isolation: A History of Physical Disability in the Movies, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Ogburn, Lily (2025), ‘Songs by fictional K-Pop bands from “KPop Demon Hunters” claim no. 1 and no. 2 spots on U.S. daily Spotify chart’, Forbes, 8 July, https://www.forbes.com/sites/lilyogburn/2025/07/08/songs-by-fictional-k-pop-bands-from-kpop-demon-hunters-claim-no-1-and-no-2-spots-on-us-daily-spotify-chart/. Accessed 11 September 2025.
  23. Prastiwi, Putu M. A. and Adni, Nissa P. (2025), ‘Postmodern feminism in the movie K-Pop Demon Hunters (2025)’, Jurnal Riset Rumpun Ilmu Bahasa, 4:2, pp. 744–54, https://doi.org/10.55606/jurribah.v4i2.6415.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Ruiz, A. Stefanie, Handy, Femida and Park, Sunwoo (2025), ‘“KPop Demon Hunters” is attracting huge audiences worldwide – young Philadelphians told us K-pop culture inspires innocence, joy and belonging’, The Conversation, 30 July, http://theconversation.com/kpop-demon-hunters-is-attracting-huge-audiences-worldwide-young-philadelphians-told-us-k-pop-culture-inspires-innocence-joy-and-belonging-262179. Accessed 11 September 2025.
  25. Sandahl, Carrie (2003), ‘Queering the crip or cripping the queer?: Intersections of queer and crip identities in solo autobiographical performance’, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 9:1–2, pp. 25–56, https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-9-1-2-25.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Sandahl, Carrie (2019), ‘It’s all the same movie: Making code of the freaks’, JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 58:4, pp. 145–50, https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2019.0044.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Schalk, Sami (2017), ‘Critical disability studies as methodology’, Lateral, 6:1, https://doi.org/10.25158/l6.1.13.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Schweik, Susan M. (2009), The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public, New York: New York University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Seers, Kate and Hogg, Rachel C. (2021), ‘“You don’t look autistic”: A qualitative exploration of women’s experiences of being the “autistic other”’, Autism, 25:6, pp. 1553–64, https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361321993722.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Siebers, Tobin (2008), Disability Theory, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Swain, John and French, Sally (2000), ‘Towards an affirmation model of disability’, Disability & Society, 15:4, pp. 569–82, https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590050058189.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. threadnuker (2025), ‘Not everyone who relates to Zoey or Mira is autistic, but many autistic girls have only ever seen themselves in characters like these. this post is not diagnostic. formal diagnosis is important but it’s also inaccessible for many & biased against those who mask well not a doctor, just autistic and observant. if your impulse is to debate credentials, you might be missing the emotional architecture of the post entirely but go off. maybe read it again but slower’, Instagram, 7 July, https://www.instagram.com/threadnuker/p/DMxPQ35sefX/. Accessed 14 September 2025.
  33. Valentine, Rebekah and Wade, Jessie (2025), ‘KPop Demon Hunters is not only the most watched film on Netflix … it’s the most popular title ever’, IGN, 27 August, https://www.ign.com/articles/kpop-demon-hunters-is-the-most-popular-netflix-movie-ever. Accessed 11 September 2025.
  34. Varga, Emily (2025), ‘No one told me I’d be absolutely sobbing as a biracial girlie watching KPop Demon Hunters’, Threads, 25 June, https://www.threads.com/@emilyvargabooks/post/DLyVffmyjDk. Accessed 12 September 2025.
  35. Wendell, Susan (2006), The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability, New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Yergeau, Melanie (2018), Authoring Autism: On Rhetoric and Neurological Queerness, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Yoonnyung Lee, Julie (2025), ‘KPop Demon Hunters: How the Netflix film became a global sensation’, BBC Culture, 16 July, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250715-the-animated-k-pop-film-that-swept-the-world. Accessed 11 September 2025.
  38. Youngbin Kim, Paul (2025), ‘Of Blackpink, Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters”, and assimilation’, Psychology Today, 14 July, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-religion-and-psychology/202507/of-blackpink-netflixs-kpop-demon-hunters-and. Accessed 11 September 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00119_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): animation; disability; fandom; headcanon; neurodiversity; representation

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test