"The Interview" gets pulled

As you may know they movie "The Interview" was scheduled to release next week. The movie is about a TV talk show host who gets recruited by the CIA to kill Kim Jong Un during an interview with him.

Recently some hackers made threats that if the movie was released they would blow up movie theaters that showed it. These cyber attacks have been traced back to North Korea. As a result many theater chains decided not to play the movie and that led to Sony ultimately cancelling the release all together.

Now for the discussion part. Was this the right call?

I can see how on one hand it is just a movie. It's a joke and many movies previous to this have had similar plots and were still allowed to show without question. Kim Jong Un needs to have a sense of humor about himself. As the leader of a country people are going to make jokes about him. Also, by pulling the movie we are giving in to terrorists demands which is not a great thing to do as they then would start making more demands.

On the other hand I can see how Kim Jong Un could be offended. Also, a major part of military strategy (and life strategy) is picking your battles. It's not just about if you can win, it's about if the fight is worth the effort. In this case we could see mass casualties because of a movie being released. A movie seems like a silly reason to risk lives if there's a credible threat so I can see how pulling the movie would be a good option. We can swallow a bit of pride to save lives. Another thing to consider, how mad would we be at Sony if they did release the movie and people died. If they knew ahead of time and still did it and it resulted in deaths many people would blame them.

Overall I'm still not sure how I feel. If this weren't all over a movie I'd probably be upset that we caved, but as it stands I also think it's a small price to pay to keep our country safe.

So was it the right call?

No, I don't think it was the right call, but I also suspect that this is all a hoax to get prospective fans riled up and more than eager to see the film. I also suspect that a hoax like this would bring all the libertarian, freedom-for-breakfast types out to the theaters even if they wouldn't have normally seen this kind of film.

Jamie Stick wrote: No, I don't think it was the right call, but I also suspect that this is all a hoax to get prospective fans riled up and more than eager to see the film. I also suspect that a hoax like this would bring all the libertarian, freedom-for-breakfast types out to the theaters even if they wouldn't have normally seen this kind of film.

I've suspected this as well. If so, it's brilliant.

If not, lets consider that KJU along with his father have so strictly limited influence from the outside world that many North Koreans have NO IDEA what happens outside of the country. Some are convinced that Kim Jong Il actually went to the moon and also shot a perfect round of golf with hole-in-ones on every hole. Add to this that the state run television is constantly bashing the U.S. and just about every other developed nation and threatening military action against them.

About 1 in 12 North Koreans owns a smart phone and internet access is extremely limited. The cost of a smartphone runs almost 1/5 of the average annual salary. They are also required to use a state run wireless provider.

So, who is really doing the hacking? A government that can barely get a rocket off of the ground? North Korean terrorists who haven't even bothered to attack a movie theater in their "hated" neighbor of South Korea? :huh:

Call me a bit skeptical.

Oh... and then there's this from George RR Martin - http://radio.com/2014/12/18/george-r-r-martin-offers-to-screen-the-interview-movie/

Kim Jong Un needs to have a sense of humor about himself

Why?

I mean obviously, I get it, lol... But our evaluation of what he needs to do, dont mean squat, lol...

If he truly believes he is the best, then he will do as he wants, and sees no room for improvement... He is just "being", he just "IS"... lol...

Truly kind of interesting, in a dangerous way...

It will happen some day, maybe, N. Korea will fall from the dictatorship.....

Why would someone make a movie about a crazy dictator that is living? WHy provoke a bear?

Even some little whiney little bear like this?

For laughs?

lol...

Honestly, who cares if this movie gets pulled, He still has prison camps operational and imprisons anyone who doesn't bow and do the happy dance everytime he walks past or his name is shouted out. A movie being pulled from theaters should be the least of our concerns with this guy...

Jestor wrote:
Why would someone make a movie about a crazy dictator that is living? WHy provoke a bear?

Because it's a great American film tradition?

Good media for it though, perhaps Sony should stream it online for free in short fragments over 2 months, and sell advertising space on the site to try and recoup some money - better then scrapping it entirely and give the authorities something to work with while the hackers try to keep the site/s down. I wonder if the actors are freaked out about it!!

I think the movie was disrespectful and provocative. There was no doubt NK/KG would be upset.

Not that I like the guy or anything but I wouldn't poke him in the eye on purpose even though it was attempt at humor (and I thought funny) If would be better if it was less specific about the person.

Wanting someone out of power is one thing making a joke about killing him is not a joke. Threating to kill people over a movie is even worse.

All of this is poor form and cheap sensationalism.

Goken, please stop me if you feel I'm hijacking your thread, but I wonder...

For those of you who feel like this was the wrong call, how does not premiering this film compare to the demands not to burn a Qur'an ( which were blatantly disregarded )?

My feeling is this: giving into the threats of violence to theater goers over a movie which makes light of CIA plots to kill the leader of North Korea is not an efficient way to deter terrorism. I think what we should have done is staged mass boycotts of such a tasteless film. It's not as though Kim Jung-Un is a saint, but the CIA killing dictators isn't really representing democracy and freedom very well.

And I would then go on to say that I feel like asking people not to burn a Qur'an is about human decency, because it wouldn't just be aggravating terrorists who claim that book as their own, but also millions of Americans who claim that book as their own too. Burning the Qur'an reveals something really awful about what hatred and bigotry do to people, about what people are capable of doing when they allow the irrational parts of themselves take control. Whereas a film about the CIA killing Kim Jung-Un is tasteless and we shouldn't make light of something the CIA does regularly, the burning of Qur'ans is showing a hatred for millions (if not billions) of people when the actual aggressors number in the hundreds of thousands and are only tangentially related to that book.

Also related: Frontline special, " Secret State of North Korea ".

I think its ontopic still?

I lean towards showing the movie and burning the book. IMO the movie can best be seen as not realistic and therefore acceptable satire (of the CIA), but if it were appealing to some real view or movement then it would be unsuitable as inflammatory.

Burning the Quran to me, while inflammatory again is not a breach of anyones property. The inflammation occurs because of an extension of one parties rights over and above another parties rights, which I think is unfair. I don't think you should be able to tell people what not to do if its otherwise legal, unless doing so is deliberately designed to inflame. The problem here is is the burning being done to represent ones rights to burn it, or to inflame those who don't want it burned. I then view the measure taken by each party and unless its done in a way that cannot be by realistic measure avoided, then its acceptable. So burning a Quran on private property and posting a video online to me is ok, but going infront of a Mosque and on public property burning a Quran is not. Splitting hairs, but I think that is the best way to view it.