Something just occurred to me about "The Interview"

You can call me a complete idiot...but I was just watching the headline that came across CNN. It's late so I took it in "objectively" rather than "subjectively". The headline reads: "North Korean statement: U.S. President "chief culprit," forced Sony to "indiscriminately" distribute "The Interview."

I've been watching this news for a week or two. Went back and forth with everyone about hackers controlling our media or movie industry. Watched the President say they shouldn't have caved. And then...I read this headline. And I stopped for a second. And I imagined the foot on the other shoe.

Imagine that North Korea, or Iran, or Russia released a movie yesterday in which a pair of guys assassinated our President. People have been getting arrested in this country for merely saying things like this aloud or on social media. For some reason it just hit me as so innapropriate. How would we respond to the other countries film? Would we view it as a threat? And if it were a comedy...we'd look like such paranoid poor sports. Hmmm. I'm not making a political statement...I'm just saying...if feels a little different when you imagine it as the receiver and not the giver.

a reply to: Losonczy

Ah, a world of multiple viewpoints. Who would have thought. Welcome to the monkey house!

If NK released a film of this magnitude, then yes most Americans would hypocritically be outraged, but it's also not a fair comparison since Hollywood is located in the US. We have to remember that this is an international corporation based out of Japan who is releasing this film. Yes, the assassination if being carried out by Americans in the film (i assume, i haven't actually seen it), but behind the script is still a billion dollar company and NOT the US itself. If NK had an equal sized Hollywood, then it would be easier to compare.

There's jokes on The Onion about attempted Obama assassinations.

At a wholesaler I visited in ND there was a (fairly weak) Back to the Future image with a caption about giving Obama's father a condom.

Actually every day or at least every few days, I hear people say things about Obama that would surely get you killed in NK.

I mean, the USA is all fascist and police state and #, right, but actually I dare you to say, out loud right now, "I'm going to hatch an elaborate plot to knock off Obama because I don't agree with his political practices!" And see what happens.

My guess? Nothing at all.

a reply to: TheBlackTiger

Well, it's a Class D felony: en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: cleverhans

Great point about international ownership. Adds an entirely new dimension to who funds and profits from a work and who authors it...and may be liable for it.

Published on Feb 5, 2013
North Korea dreaming of domination over America, whilst using American produced background music - Michael Jackson's, We are the World.
Produced by North Korea's official website, Uriminzokkiri the video doesn't actually show North Korea nuking America, it implies America nukes themselves.

I know it isn't exactly the same but I honestly don't remember an outrage over it. I think I laughed...still am.

There are a lot of propaganda videos from NK online some are pretty funny like this one.



Because they(we) eat snow

WOW!!!! Was that really on NK's official site? That is mind blowing! How dare Dennis Rodman go and hang out with him!

a reply to: Losonczy

The 'How Americans Live Today' vid isn't a real NK video, but a satire vid. Still about the funniest thing in the world, and I haven't watched it in a long time so I'll remedy that right now....

Just another Low Budget film. They probably paid unny boy a cool million or so to act out about it. WHO CARES, They think scary sells. he,he. What a joke , i bet the movie is a let down. I think they will loose money on this one.

Because when you think of N. Korea or Iran you just think "comedy gold".

It's like a few years back when Fox had an equivalent but opposite version of the Daily show...it just doesn't work.

And what was that about some conservative Fox enthusiasts not understanding that the Colbert Report was satire? My god, what we're dealing with here...

a reply to: Losonczy
The Brits released a film in '06 about the assassination of Bush, there was some outrage, there was Secret Service concern, the film was an award winner and life went on. Most have probably forgot about it.

a reply to: Grimpachi


Really, if i lived in North Korea i doubt i would think this was true. You know, some north koreans actually go to other countries including the u.s so, why would they buy into this line of OBVIOUS BS. I doubt the interpretation is correct or the north korean speaker is ligit. ONLY A COMPLETE MORON would believe in this video. I could easily do much better propagando movies than that stuff with my cell phone. Where did you get this stuff? Go filming bums all day. Lame.I doubt even the un uunn fans would use this material.

a reply to: Grimpachi

It`s just like watching Bill O'Reilly and Rick Santorum talking about The Netherlands.

I love how he immediately labels it as left talk.

originally posted by: cloaked4u
Just another Low Budget film. They probably paid unny boy a cool million or so to act out about it. WHO CARES, They think scary sells. he,he. What a joke , i bet the movie is a let down. I think they will loose money on this one.

I just finished watching the movie (one of my daughter's friends bought it on YouTube). I didn't expect to like it, but it was actually pretty damn funny. I am rarely pleasantly surprised by a movie, but I think it will do pretty well for Sony.

I doubt a lot of people would care. Most Americans are waiting for 2016 for the guy to be out of office. Me personally, I dont really care who is the president. Politicians are only looking out for themselves and not the best interests of the people.

There have been plenty of movies featuring assassination attempts on the American president, just recently the last X-Men movie (Days of Future Past), come to think of it the 1st X-Men movie too. Death of a President featured Bush getting assassinated. Then you get movies like Naked Gun which tried killing the Queen. Day of the Jackal (original) tried killing de Gaulle, and the remake tried killing the First Lady. They are movies, satire or drama, only the weak-minded and paranoid take them serious.

a reply to: Blackmarketeer

They are movies, satire or drama, only the weak-minded and paranoid take them serious.

I'm paranoid as all hell and I know not to take them seriously.

a reply to: Losonczy

What about their propaganda videos showing NK bombing New York and various other major cities. We didn't keep that from the people. The media showed it and you could probably find it on youtube. We have countless movies of our own where the US is invaded or the president is killed. We had two in one year about the white house being attacked. They are JUST movies. Kim Jong Un is upset because he was called out for his looniness. Obama gets called out on being all sorts of things and it's not in a movie it's on Fox News. Who cares about what KJU thinks. He's a horrible human being and I wish this movie was based on true events. Also if North Korea did make an actual movie showing the death of America I feel we Americans would not care that much. We get hate from a lot of countries and we Americans just say Merica and move on. Free Speech baby. Gotta love it. The movie was freaking hilarious too! Baby your a firework!

My first thought about this whole issue was---there are a helluva lot of people who will go see this film now, who probably wouldn't have before, just to see what all the fuss was about. Just sayin.