Jinu's fatal flaw isn't selfishness. It is despair and pessimism.
When media targeted to children has a character they want the audience to see as selfish, they have a very specific type of characterisation.
Selfishness will be a defining feature of their personality. Their goals, actions, and dialogue will be selfish. They have specific story beats. They will have a mentor figure, they will have slowly evolving moments where they discover the joy that comes from caring about others and forming deeper bonds with them. (The first one usually occurs at the end of act 1, or about 1 third of the way though.)
They are often extremely comical characters.
They will also start their story arcs being incredibly isolated. They will collect people to care about over the course of the narrative. Having good people around them to give them love and support is key to them growing.
Nobody magically improves in a vacuum. Even kids media says:
I also don't want to denigrate kids media. There are some wonderful and powerful and nuanced messages wrapped up in cute metaphors in kids media. However, because it's kids media, these themes are painted in broad and obvious and age-apropriate strokes.
But the selfish character archetype doesn't just apply to kids media. Adult media with a ' selfish' character will also use this template.
So, with all that in mind, let's look at Jinu's characterisation and story arc.
We meet Jinu in a pretty hopeless hell dimension. The demons are ruled by a terrifying and tyrannical leader who can control their bodies, see through their eyes and force thoughts into their heads. He incinerated and tortures them at will.
So not a great situation. It's also interestingly one that Jinu has very little power in.
Normally selfish characters are introduced by being selfish and throwing their weight around, abusing their power over others or generally being rude. The don't mind being called selfish because they happily are. Kuzco is downright gleeful about being selfish. Eleanor puts down 'good people' as twerps and losers.
Jinu isn't presented like this. Jinu is clearly respected in the demon world. The other demons make way for him, listen to him attentively, and look to him for leadership. He is also introduced with a animal companions.
(very Disney princess coded. The direct opposite of the selfish!character).
This opening scene establishes several things:
Jinu is clever. He's the ideas guy.
Jinu is respected well enough in the demon world.
Jinu is very musically talented.
Jinu is brave enough to pitch a novel idea to a tyrannical king.
Jinu hates the tyrannical king but must be subservient to him.
The dialogue tells us his voice is important and that Gwi-ma likes to insult him by calling him selfish.
When Kuzco or Eleanor Shellstrop are called selfish in their early scenes, they don't deny it. They sometimes revel in it. Selfish characters think selfishness is a way of life. They aren't ashamed of being selfish because they consider it the only way to be.
Conversely - Jinu hates it.
He keeps a very cool facade Infront of Gwi-ma but his mask slips upon being called selfish. He's clearly deeply insulted and annoyed. He says his next line of dialogue with an angrier edge to his tone.
Jinu does not like being called selfish or revel in his selfishness. He considers selfishness to be an exceptionally shameful and undesirable trait.
Which is why Gwi-ma saying it.
Gwi-ma is a shame demon, not a truth demon. He uses things that people feel the worst about to demoralised and control them.
It is Not True that Mira is inherently unlovable and doesn't deserve a family.
But Mira feels it is and it's the worst thing for her.
So that's what Gwi-ma uses against her.
It's Not True that Bobby was incapable of taking care of the girls. But he clearly took his duty of care seriously and feels that he fails them.
It's Not True that Zoey will never fit in and will always be too much and not enough.
But once again, that fear and shame is something deeply engrained in her.
So Gwi-ma uses it to control her.
So we have an established pattern of Gwi-ma using whatever will make a person feel hopeless and ashamed against them, regardless of whether it is true.
What he uses tells us something about each character.
Mira values love and family. (Feeling unworthy of it is her worst thing.)
Zoey values community and belonging and being liked and accepted. (Feeling rejected is her worst thing. )
Bobby values care and competence and being useful. He loves his girls. (Feeling he failed them is his worst thing. )
So what does this tell us about Jinu?
Keep in mind that Gwi-ma does this exact same trick to him, and the movie shows us how it works with three different examples. All four of their eyes (Jinu, Bobby, Mira and Zoey), are animated the exact same when Gwi-ma talks to them, so I think it's reasonable to draw parallels.
In the first instance, Gwi-ma tells Jinu he's failing at taking care of his family. He's not good enough to look after them. The subtext is that Jinu personally, due to his own failings, is at fault for their situation.
This tells us that Jinu loved and valued his family the most, and like, Bobby, took his duty of care very seriously. Feeling like he was failing them was his worst thing.
The absolute tragedy is that, in this case, Gwi-ma is half right.
Jinu is failing at taking care of his family. Their situation is dire.
Gwi-ma is wrong about it being Jinu's fault. But Jinu doesn't see it that way. (This tells us that he also has a tendency to take responsibility and blame himself.)
Joseon period caste system was absolute. The Confucianistic model relied on everyone knowing their place and having zero options for social mobility. Jinu and his family are cheonmin class. They are on the lowest rung of society. They cannot aspire to more than poverty and drudgery.
Cheonmin had the lowest life expectancy, the highest infant mortality, and Starvation was a common cause of death in their caste. Hunger was weaponised by the aristocracy to force them into indentured servitude and slavery.
Many cheonmin signed themselves into slavery for the chance at regular meals for them and their family.
This is what Jinu does. The job he takes at the palace would have been a slave position.
So we know that Jinu loved his family and was desperate to provide for them and get them all out of the gutter and fed regularly. He sold his soul and himself into slavery to achieve this.
(and still failed - that is not the face of someone who expected their family to be turned away. That is someone who is shocked and horrified).
We know that being told he is selfish and that he failed them is still effective punishment even 400 years later.
This tells us that Jinu deeply feels that being selfish and failing the people he loves is the most shameful trait.
Selfish characters don't think their selfishness is wrong in the beginning.
So from his very first scene, he's failed all the selfish character beats.
I think it is more useful to think of Jinu as a Deuterantagonist to Rumi.
He is her narrative foil, mirror and parallel.
When they are introduced. Jinu wants to erase his humanity. Rumi wants to erase her demon side. They are on a parallel journey from self-hatred to self-acceptance.
Jinu is Rumi's dark mirror because he shows us what happens when shame is allowed the consume us and become our whole identity.
Jinu tells us the patterns (shame) consumed him. And he feels that he can never escape his shame.
Jinu's problem isnt selfishness. It is that his deep feelings of shame have blocked out any chance for hope or self improvement or growth for centuries. He feels despair. He believes his situation is hopeless and change isn't possible.
His journey in the film is about overcoming this despair and self hatred.
To be continued in Part 2
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