Randall Park as Kim Jong-Un.
Back in June I wrote a blog about "The Interview," the new Seth Rogen/James Franco movie. By now you know that I follow North Korea (news) daily - and that The Interview is a comedy about assassinating Kim Jong-Un.
Chuckling...I'll admit that assassination-comedies aren't the most tasteful fodder, but the movie looks pretty funny - like wacky NAZIs in Hogan's Heroes, or Mel Brooks' dancing Hitler in The Producers. I justify it this way: North Korea is a humanitarian catastrophe, and any movie that draws attention to the plight of its people is a good thing. Even when the Freaks & Geeks are driving tanks through Pyongyang.
Last week news was broken that Sony Pictures got hacked. Servers were damaged, sensitive document/emails made public, and at least three major upcoming movies were downloaded to torrent sites - basically, made available for free - including the remake of Annie. The Sony cyber attack came from the same place as 2013's South Korean incident that damaged Seoul's banking system, down to malware written in Korean. As Sony owns The Interview, it became pretty obvious that North Korea launched the cyber attack as retaliation for mocking their Dearest Leader. Having watched all the trailers, I'm not sure why the DPRK is so pissed. I mean, Randall Park has far less back fat than the real Kim Jong-Un.
Chuckling...I'll admit that assassination-comedies aren't the most tasteful fodder, but the movie looks pretty funny - like wacky NAZIs in Hogan's Heroes, or Mel Brooks' dancing Hitler in The Producers. I justify it this way: North Korea is a humanitarian catastrophe, and any movie that draws attention to the plight of its people is a good thing. Even when the Freaks & Geeks are driving tanks through Pyongyang.
Last week news was broken that Sony Pictures got hacked. Servers were damaged, sensitive document/emails made public, and at least three major upcoming movies were downloaded to torrent sites - basically, made available for free - including the remake of Annie. The Sony cyber attack came from the same place as 2013's South Korean incident that damaged Seoul's banking system, down to malware written in Korean. As Sony owns The Interview, it became pretty obvious that North Korea launched the cyber attack as retaliation for mocking their Dearest Leader. Having watched all the trailers, I'm not sure why the DPRK is so pissed. I mean, Randall Park has far less back fat than the real Kim Jong-Un.
But what the Sony attack really revealed (aside from Janet Napolitano's inability to prevent it) is the vast "insecurity" that permeates North Korean society. Its people are humorless, unable to laugh at themselves - and the concept of self depreciating humor is as foreign a concept as freedom. Every person in its society seems to be trapped in routine like a Polygamist sister-wife. Everyone has minders, every person is being observed by an organized system of neighborhood watch on steroids. Like Orwell's 1984, the only way to survive such repression is to censor every thought that comes out of your mouth - every comment, every question, every pleasantry to passerby. The resulting social anxiety creates an entire country unable to take a joke. And gags about their Great Leader's bowel movements are taken with more offense than the latest round of South Korean war games. Whew - just imagine if Joan Rivers were still alive!
The U.S. On the other hand, revels in news that makes fun of itself. From the moment Sony Pictures was hacked, sites like Gawker made every leaked studio document into headline news. James Franco & Seth Rogen opened SNL with a hacker-mocking monologue, and rather than pulling The Interview, Sony is riding the publicity. Drudge kept Sony as the prominent headline for a good solid week, before moving the story to the columns below. And with each passing day, the leaked documents grow more vulgar...from Angelina Jolie being a bratty diva to Amy Pascal's true feelings about Obama...(gulp). After years of shameless Conservative-bashing, who knew that the LIBERALS were the racists all along? Sony had better send a big Paula Deen apology cake to the White House, before Louis Lerner's replacement releases the IRS hounds on the studio.
The U.S. On the other hand, revels in news that makes fun of itself. From the moment Sony Pictures was hacked, sites like Gawker made every leaked studio document into headline news. James Franco & Seth Rogen opened SNL with a hacker-mocking monologue, and rather than pulling The Interview, Sony is riding the publicity. Drudge kept Sony as the prominent headline for a good solid week, before moving the story to the columns below. And with each passing day, the leaked documents grow more vulgar...from Angelina Jolie being a bratty diva to Amy Pascal's true feelings about Obama...(gulp). After years of shameless Conservative-bashing, who knew that the LIBERALS were the racists all along? Sony had better send a big Paula Deen apology cake to the White House, before Louis Lerner's replacement releases the IRS hounds on the studio.
I have to admit that I'm a bit torn about the Sony hack. Part of me is furious that another country would attack us like this - and I'm livid that the Obama administration hasn't yet responded. In this modern age, cyber-attacks can be as devastating as artillery. If a tiny nation's tantrum can halt a major studio's operations with a few keystrokes 4,000 miles away, then think of the damage that a legitimate power might cause...say, a Russia or China with real military/economic threat? North Korea may have thrown a snowball, but imagine if Beijing disabled our power grid, then followed with an assault on Hawaii (while Russia overtook Alaska)? Sure, it sounds unlikely - but so did a terrorist attack before September 11th. China's rising, Russia's rebuilding, and the United States is on the verge of depression if creditors call in our national debt. I suppose that with the global economy, attacking the U.S. would result in mutually assured financial destruction for a large aggressor, but what about some little pissed-off ISIS militia or the next generation of Al Qaeda Online? If a hotel suite full of Kim Jong-Un'ions was savvy enough to give AJ the chicken-pox, just imagine the pain in our asses inserted by Iran, should Alla offers his own holy-hackers 70 virgins for disrupting the flow goods & services within the U.S. mainland. It could happen. And it could happen very easily.
So, Seth Rogen appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone this week - proudly proclaiming his status as a stoner. The cover was timely and I give the magazine credit for being the only periodical that featured (sort of) the Sony story on the stands. (BTW, I have no problem with pot smokers; I honestly believe that marijuana should be legalized. And many articles I've seen on North Korea claim that pot is abundant in the country - along with crystal meth). I read the Rogen article on my lunch break. It was the typical Rolling Stone puff piece, vapid & liberal, gushing over one of their own while downplaying the horrors of the DPRK. "At least it's not as offensive as their Mitch Romney articles," I thought, setting the magazine aside and reaching for my iPad. I pulled up the latest Sony stories, and learned that the cyber attack had continued. THE DRUDGE REPORT headline: "HOLLYWOOD HORROR: HACKERS PROMISE CHRISTMAS GIFT." One of the bylines called Amy Pascal's emails, "The Gift That Keeps on Giving." Just like Herpes. Or the doc who gives Nancy Pelosi botox.
"I wonder if Pyongyang can admit the irony to itself," I went on to think. "Considering how many threatening movies have been released by North Korea? That spaceship orbiting the Earth in particular, with 'We Are the World' in MUZAK in the background? The United States being depicted in flames - with footage stolen from our own action films?" Maybe that's the real reason Pyongyang is so pissed by The Interview. Even Sony's comedic films have better special effects. Once again, it's okay for Americans to voice "outrage" over events in the DPRK. But when we DARE not to take Kim Jong-Un as seriously as other world leaders, well... If our Red Star missiles not quite ready to reach Las Angeles yet, maybe we utilize Red Dragon Restaurant's WiFi, comrade. Greetings from North Korea via Beijing, American-Imperialists! Fortune cookie say Leonardo DiCaprio "despicable." It's his fault Titanic sink! It's his fault that only Dearest Leader can understand what "Inception" was all about!
Personally, when The Interview hits the theaters on December 25th, I hope that Sony also releases a Korean dub of the film - both on the internet, as well as in balloons near Paju & Gimpo.
"I wonder if Pyongyang can admit the irony to itself," I went on to think. "Considering how many threatening movies have been released by North Korea? That spaceship orbiting the Earth in particular, with 'We Are the World' in MUZAK in the background? The United States being depicted in flames - with footage stolen from our own action films?" Maybe that's the real reason Pyongyang is so pissed by The Interview. Even Sony's comedic films have better special effects. Once again, it's okay for Americans to voice "outrage" over events in the DPRK. But when we DARE not to take Kim Jong-Un as seriously as other world leaders, well... If our Red Star missiles not quite ready to reach Las Angeles yet, maybe we utilize Red Dragon Restaurant's WiFi, comrade. Greetings from North Korea via Beijing, American-Imperialists! Fortune cookie say Leonardo DiCaprio "despicable." It's his fault Titanic sink! It's his fault that only Dearest Leader can understand what "Inception" was all about!
Personally, when The Interview hits the theaters on December 25th, I hope that Sony also releases a Korean dub of the film - both on the internet, as well as in balloons near Paju & Gimpo.
BTW, here's my latest book recommendation on North Korea. It's called, "Without You, There is No US: My Time With the Sons of North Korea's Elite," by Suki Kim. Google the author's name. Her book has caused a stir in literary circles, and many of her interviews have been posted on YouTube. Her story is incredible - she taught for a year in a foreign-sponsored college in Pyongyang - and once that year was over, she was banned from North Korea for life.
It's a great book to curl up with on Christmas evening, after a matinee of The Interview!
It's a great book to curl up with on Christmas evening, after a matinee of The Interview!
UPDATE 12/18/2014:
I'm extremely disappointed that Sony pulled The Interview for Christmas; I was planning to see it, and I regret it isn't available. Sony's decision - despite it's cyber-hacks - sends a very, very bad message for everyone involved (especially movie viewers). I understand the concern about Aurora Colorado attacks during the film - fat Kim Jong-Un lookalikes, entering the theaters with guns. But leaked racist emails aside, North Korea hasn't the ability to physically threaten our homeland. And the film, The Interview, despite its tacky tone is just the latest step in informing the USA (and the world) of the horrific isolation that North Koreans endure - in addition to their repression, and the threat of three-generation labor camps. I applaud Sony for choosing to make this picture, but I'm genuinely disgusted for their lack of support. Sure, the leaked emails are embarrassing (and hypocritical), but as a gay Republican, is anyone surprised? Perhaps this is a lesson for liberal-Hollywood, but it ISN'T a time to retreat to political correctness.
Sony, please release this film on-demand, on Christmas day.
Don't be ashamed by your racism...because it comes as no surprise to us.
I'm extremely disappointed that Sony pulled The Interview for Christmas; I was planning to see it, and I regret it isn't available. Sony's decision - despite it's cyber-hacks - sends a very, very bad message for everyone involved (especially movie viewers). I understand the concern about Aurora Colorado attacks during the film - fat Kim Jong-Un lookalikes, entering the theaters with guns. But leaked racist emails aside, North Korea hasn't the ability to physically threaten our homeland. And the film, The Interview, despite its tacky tone is just the latest step in informing the USA (and the world) of the horrific isolation that North Koreans endure - in addition to their repression, and the threat of three-generation labor camps. I applaud Sony for choosing to make this picture, but I'm genuinely disgusted for their lack of support. Sure, the leaked emails are embarrassing (and hypocritical), but as a gay Republican, is anyone surprised? Perhaps this is a lesson for liberal-Hollywood, but it ISN'T a time to retreat to political correctness.
Sony, please release this film on-demand, on Christmas day.
Don't be ashamed by your racism...because it comes as no surprise to us.