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Was "The Interview" a Mindful Movie?

12/20/2014

 
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We all know that hindsight is 20/20.  After the most costly cyber-attack in history and its unprecedented fallout, Sony may be wishing now that it hadn’t made its highly controversial film “The Interview,” staring Seth Rogen and James Franco.

For those arriving late to the scene . . . Sony Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment, Inc. a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation, produced The Interview, an action comedy in which Rogen and Franco (Tabloid TV show producer and host) secure an interview in Pyongyang with one of the shows biggest fans, North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un.  Seeing an opportunity for a political coup, the CIA asks the duo to assassinate the ruler, a request the pair agrees to undertake.

The Interview was scheduled to premiere this past week; however, Sony chose to cancel the openings after some credible physical threats; it then decided to pull the movie altogether.  President Obama criticized Sony Pictures for its response; however, Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton retorted that his company had no choice when movie theaters refused to show the film.   Although North Korea has denied responsibility, saying it’s been framed, it has reportedly called the computer hacking a “righteous deed.”

Many have decried Sony’s purported self-censorship, saying that no company or country should give-in to threats of terrorism.  Such arguments have merit: A society can’t afford to allow a few persons with violent motives to curb free expression or control others’ lives.

However, the issue of post-production censorship should not overshadow another very important question: Should Sony have made The Interview in the first place? 

Given the cyber-attacks, serious physical threats, and millions of dollars of lost revenue, it’s convenient to say “no.”  But what if these negative consequences hadn’t occurred?  Would the movie still have been ill-advised?  The answer is “yes.”

To make a movie about the assassination of another nation’s sitting head of state is in poor taste, not to mention diplomatically insensitive.  “But shouldn’t others understand that the movie was a comedy, meant to be funny?”  Perhaps; yet, we’ve all experienced others making light of things that we believed to be serious.  Furthermore, when the relationship between two people, or two countries, is already strained, it’s good to avoid actions that may intensify tensions, particularly noncritical actions.

“But what about other movies made about the assassinations of real political leaders, e.g., Lincoln and JFK?  The big difference was timing.  These films recounted historic events—actual occurrences that already happened.  They didn’t paint a picture, however ridiculous it might be, of how a specific, current leader might be killed.

“Do onto others as you would want them to do onto you”--it’s worth noting that every major world religion has its own version of the Golden Rule.  So, we should ask: Would we want a movie made about the assassination of our president or another current political leader?  Unfortunately some might respond “yes” to this question, but they shouldn’t.

Whether or not we like them or agree with their policies, our leaders deserve civil treatment and our respect—the same things we want and deserve from others.  More specifically, no living person should have a movie made about his/her murder.

Freedom of expression is an important, necessary right.  It’s also important to recognize that not everything that can be said or done needs to be said or done, or should be.  Likewise, we should remember that the exercise of our freedoms sometimes infringes on the freedom of others.  When such violations are thought to occur, however, violence or the threat of violence is not the answer.

Despite its social and political insensitivity, if The Interview had been released, it’s likely that the film would have been a box-office success.  As such, it’s fitting to label Sony’s production of The Interview “Single-Minded Marketing.”

Postscript: Since this blog was written, Sony has reversed its earlier decision and will have a limited release of The Interview in select theaters on Christmas Day.

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Jess
1/10/2015 09:36:08 am

I agree that this was very single minded. Sony should have realized that making a movie about the assassination of a current leader is not the best idea, of course it would cause unrest with many people.

David
1/11/2015 08:25:25 am

I think that the interview definitely increase shareholder value. However the interview's ability to uphold societal values is questionable although it is designed to be a comedic film. There are many comedic films that gently poke fun or gently threaten other world leaders. Its all in good taste

Tim Bolos
1/11/2015 04:26:58 pm

I recently watched the interview for the first time the other night. After watching the movie, and reading this blog, I would agree that the movie is single minded. This movie could have been very marketable if it was released in all theaters like it was originally planned. However the way that they went around doing so was not right. Although it was meant to be a comedic film, poking fun of a country that already dislikes America just caused an uproar. Sony should have been aware of the consequences.

Austin
1/11/2015 05:42:26 pm

This blog post was definitely interesting for me to read because I have watched this movie twice already. I really liked the movie even though it had some very inappropriate humor and played on some very incorrect stereotypes. The Interview is definitely single-minded because it does not uphold social values and it does not create stakeholders. Even though the movie was released online through different websites for a fee it does not really create stakeholders. Also I totally agree with the point made about how freedom of speech is important but that people need to make sure they are filtering themselves and making sure that they are remaining humane. If someone made a movie about our president being assassinated we wouldn't like it. Some people might just because they are blinded by hatred but that is not the way we should live. The Interview as definitely stirred up some controversy and has made me think about different ethical issues, especially in the field of marketing.

Eli
1/12/2015 03:33:52 am

When I first saw the trailer for "The Interview," I immediately thought the making of this film was a mistake and in very poor taste. While, after having seen the movie, I don't think it was as bad as my initial perception caused me to believe, I still have a hard time advocating for or even condoning a movie with such an insensitive subject matter. The hypothetical reversal of roles here is key. What if North Korea was making this same movie about our President? Would we still be arguing for freedom of expression, or would we want action to be taken against such a film? We'd be clamoring for the latter. The creation of a movie about the assassination of another country's current ruler is incredibly insensitive and unethical, and represents single-minded marketing on Sony's behalf.

Nicholas
1/13/2015 03:57:42 am

I do not think it was globally ethical creating a movie about the assassination of a man who has one of the biggest egos on the planet along with one of the lowest I.Q.'s, just watch this video of Un trying to convince North Koreans that he can fly a plane(we all know the copilot is in control buddy) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11320335/Kim-Jong-un-flies-plane-in-North-Korea-New-Year-video.html Sony new this would stir up a whirlwind of press and drama if they made it and they created it but they still chose to do it. In reality they had no idea who Supreme Leader Un was going to react and that is why I believe it is unethical especially considering the fact that he has 10 nuclear weapons at his disposal and already hates the united states. With all of that being said I am disappointed in the quality of the movie I only wanted to watch it because I am a proud american and do not want anyone to censor what I can and can not watch. In wathching it I was not impressed in the slightest and wished I had waited until it was on HBO

Molly
1/27/2015 03:04:09 pm

I would definitely agree that this movie was single-minded. I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago, and I found it to be pretty cringe-worthy. It seems almost hypocritical that this is an American movie, as if it had been the reverse situation, we would have raised hell over anyone making a similar movie about our leader. Additionally, I would not put it past Sony to use this movie merely to get their own name in the news again. After all, there is no such thing as bad publicity, and Sony had the public eye on them for weeks. It's bad enough to think they thought it'd be funny to portray an assassination of a current leader; it'd be worse to think they did it for a mere headline.

Matt Casto
4/1/2015 10:08:55 pm

The first time that I saw the trailer for this movie, I was quite surprised that Sony was producing a comedy about killing a real life person. I thought it was a distasteful thing to do, even if Kim Jong-un is a complete thug, and thought it was going to be a completely absurd film. However, I did watch the movie twice since it was released online. Quite honestly, it was very much single-minded but I actually thought it was pretty funny and my perspective of the film definitely changed just like it did for Eli. The ever-present racial stereotypes in the film and colorful humor are what I believe contributed to the fact that this film was single-minded. It was definitely an offensive movie, so if anyone is offended by inappropriate language or making fun of race, I would highly advise you not to watch the movie.

Regarding the terrorist threats relating to the release of the movie in theaters, I do not put any blame on the CEO of Sony. History has revealed to us past violence in movie theaters (refer to the incident a few years ago in Aurora during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises). I believe that the owners of the theaters who pulled the movie did so in the interest of keeping their theaters and the people there safe.


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