Current Events 2: The Interview of Kim Jong Un

For the past six months, a Google search of Seth Rogan and Kim Jong Un will reveal some shocking results. Before May, 2014, no one would have ever expected a well-known comedian and actor to have any association with the dictator of North Korea, however a movie released through Sony titled “The Interview” has created a Korean stated “Act of War” between the two. Un has stated that if the movie is released, retaliation against it, and in line, the United States will be upheld. The controversy from this issue rises from what the movie depicts. In Rogan and James Franco’s movie, they are both spies sent to assassinate the current leader of the dictatorship, which is depicted as Kim Jong Un himself. North Korea is a heavily secretive society, and in that way, bans it citizens from any access to outside media sources, internet use, and even leaving the country in most instances. Refugees are known to flee into the neighboring south, while not much is known except from depictions given by these people, or from the trips to Pyongyang the heavily decorated capital. As of the release of the movie on Christmas Eve, North Korea has staged no attacks or acts of war, however over the months; they have fired test missiles into the sea. Only time will show the lasting repercussions of this film’s release. The idea that a film causing this much controversy, simply based on what it depicts is shocking, however it has happened in the past. Movies like The Da Vinci Code or The Passion of the Christ are in the same light, however from their religious aspect. If free press is restricted at the foundation of offending other cultures once, there will be nothing to stop it from happening again. Fortunately, the film was released even with the backing against it; however it was cut in some aspects. Certain scenes, undisclosed by Sony Entertainment, were removed to tone down the offending aspects. I believe this movie is a prime example of how media today is controlled for a different agenda. To stop negative “propaganda” against the North Korean government, they threatened a war, over just a movie. This is more than a cultural issue, and must be looked at as such. A satirical attempt to show the North Korean government in the light the rest of the world views it as was nearly stomped to the ground. The way North Korea restricts its people must be observed further to understand exactly why this happened. It’s no surprise in the end, from a country that blocks access to its people. As of today, it’s uncertain just how many people are in poverty within the state, or how many are currently in a prison camp for speaking out against their tyrannical government, but it is certain that the number exceeds what should be allowed under basic human rights.

For more information on the “Interview, click these:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-north-korea-tests-the-interview-20140626-story.html

http://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/local/2014/12/27/controversy-interview-drawing-people-cinema/20956537/