The Interview
This past December our right to the First Amendment, freedom of speech, was questioned. The controversial movie, The Interview, depicting the assassination of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, was set to be released on Christmas Day. But a series of hackings that threatened huge terror attacks, were sent to the movie’s producers at Sony Pictures. The threats were linked to the North Korean Government. Sony was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to conform to this foreign dictator’s censorship demands.
According to a statement made by the FBI on December 19, “the North Korean government is responsible” for hacking Sony’s servers. At his year end-press conference, Obama supported the FBI’s claim. Officially, the hacking was done by a peacekeeping group known as the Guardians of Peace. North Korea is consistent in saying they had no part in the hacking.
Tensions with North Korea have been high since the Korean War. In 1950, Harry Truman sent troops to the already divided Korea to stop the communist North from invading South Korea. In recent years, North Korea’s testing of long range nuclear warheads has fueled the fire and deepened the rift between the United States and itself.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea first took its plunge into secrecy when Kim Jong Un’s grandfather Kim Il Sung came into power in 1948. A metaphorical dome was placed over North Korea and no one really knows what goes on inside. After his father, Kim Jong Il’s, death in 2011, Kim Jong Un took control of the DPRK as the Supreme Ruler.
Very little is known about North Korea but even less is known about its Supreme Leader. His people view him a god. They call him the "the genius among the geniuses", "a great person born of heaven". Kim has actually gotten his citizens to believe he literally does not defecate because he has no need for it. Propaganda blasts on loudspeakers throughout the day talking about how great the DPRK is and how awful foreign countries, especially the United States, are “capitalist pigs”. The government controls all cell signals, they tightly restrict any internet there is, and they don’t allow any unapproved foreign items, such as movies, books, and news, into the country. Famine is rampant throughout North Korea. There are daily rations that people must follow. These rations aren’t available to people living without a home. A large number of children are homeless, freezing, starving and living on the streets. There are also thousands of people living in concentration camps in North Korea.
There were many reactions to the hacking and demands. After Sony originally cancelled the December 25th release date, Obama said the company had made a mistake. He sympathized with the fact that Sony wanted to keep its employees safe but he stated, “We cannot have a society in which some dictator in some place can start imposing censorship in the United States. I wish they'd spoken to me first. I would have told them: do not get into the pattern in which you are intimidated.” The biggest controversy in the hacking was the fact that a foreign country wanted to censor American entertainment. If we would have given in to the demands we would have appeared weak and this could pave the way for future cyber attacks. The two stars, Seth Rogen and James Franco talked about how “messed up” it was that hackers would leak and share private information.
In The Interview, Dave Skylark (Franco) and best friend/producer Aaron Rapoport (Rogen) run the celebrity tabloid show "Skylark Tonight." Kim Jong Un, the reclusive Supreme Leader, surprisingly turns out to be Dave Skylark’s biggest fan. When Dave and Aaron are given the once in a lifetime opportunity to interview Kim, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.
The hackers identified themselves as a group called The Guardians of Peace. They said they were wanting “equality” and urged Sony to cancel the release of The Interview. The hackers leaked internal emails, employee records and several recent and unreleased Sony Pictures films, including Annie, Mr. Turner, Still Alice and To Write Love on Her Arms.They threatened 9/11 style attacks on any establishment that showed The Interview. They not only wanted the movie cancelled but they also said, “we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately.” Sony withdrew the movie but when small private theatre chains asked to screen it they let them show the movie. They also put the movie online and on pay per view.
Seniors Sarah Peters and Alex Dauber had a few opinions on the movie and the hacking. “The movie was definitely funny but I can see how it wasn’t the smartest idea to make a movie about killing Kim Jung Un” said Sarah. Alex added, “we shouldn’t give North Korea the satisfaction of them censoring our movies. Our First Amendment is too important.”
If you ignore all the toilet humor and satire, Franco and Rogen’s interpretation of North Korea was pretty close to accurate. Especially you take into consideration the famine, media manipulation, and secrecy. Who knows what will happen if situations like these repeat. What will America do? What will North Korea do? Let’s just hope the answer isn’t nuclear war.
This past December our right to the First Amendment, freedom of speech, was questioned. The controversial movie, The Interview, depicting the assassination of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, was set to be released on Christmas Day. But a series of hackings that threatened huge terror attacks, were sent to the movie’s producers at Sony Pictures. The threats were linked to the North Korean Government. Sony was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to conform to this foreign dictator’s censorship demands.
According to a statement made by the FBI on December 19, “the North Korean government is responsible” for hacking Sony’s servers. At his year end-press conference, Obama supported the FBI’s claim. Officially, the hacking was done by a peacekeeping group known as the Guardians of Peace. North Korea is consistent in saying they had no part in the hacking.
Tensions with North Korea have been high since the Korean War. In 1950, Harry Truman sent troops to the already divided Korea to stop the communist North from invading South Korea. In recent years, North Korea’s testing of long range nuclear warheads has fueled the fire and deepened the rift between the United States and itself.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea first took its plunge into secrecy when Kim Jong Un’s grandfather Kim Il Sung came into power in 1948. A metaphorical dome was placed over North Korea and no one really knows what goes on inside. After his father, Kim Jong Il’s, death in 2011, Kim Jong Un took control of the DPRK as the Supreme Ruler.
Very little is known about North Korea but even less is known about its Supreme Leader. His people view him a god. They call him the "the genius among the geniuses", "a great person born of heaven". Kim has actually gotten his citizens to believe he literally does not defecate because he has no need for it. Propaganda blasts on loudspeakers throughout the day talking about how great the DPRK is and how awful foreign countries, especially the United States, are “capitalist pigs”. The government controls all cell signals, they tightly restrict any internet there is, and they don’t allow any unapproved foreign items, such as movies, books, and news, into the country. Famine is rampant throughout North Korea. There are daily rations that people must follow. These rations aren’t available to people living without a home. A large number of children are homeless, freezing, starving and living on the streets. There are also thousands of people living in concentration camps in North Korea.
There were many reactions to the hacking and demands. After Sony originally cancelled the December 25th release date, Obama said the company had made a mistake. He sympathized with the fact that Sony wanted to keep its employees safe but he stated, “We cannot have a society in which some dictator in some place can start imposing censorship in the United States. I wish they'd spoken to me first. I would have told them: do not get into the pattern in which you are intimidated.” The biggest controversy in the hacking was the fact that a foreign country wanted to censor American entertainment. If we would have given in to the demands we would have appeared weak and this could pave the way for future cyber attacks. The two stars, Seth Rogen and James Franco talked about how “messed up” it was that hackers would leak and share private information.
In The Interview, Dave Skylark (Franco) and best friend/producer Aaron Rapoport (Rogen) run the celebrity tabloid show "Skylark Tonight." Kim Jong Un, the reclusive Supreme Leader, surprisingly turns out to be Dave Skylark’s biggest fan. When Dave and Aaron are given the once in a lifetime opportunity to interview Kim, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.
The hackers identified themselves as a group called The Guardians of Peace. They said they were wanting “equality” and urged Sony to cancel the release of The Interview. The hackers leaked internal emails, employee records and several recent and unreleased Sony Pictures films, including Annie, Mr. Turner, Still Alice and To Write Love on Her Arms.They threatened 9/11 style attacks on any establishment that showed The Interview. They not only wanted the movie cancelled but they also said, “we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately.” Sony withdrew the movie but when small private theatre chains asked to screen it they let them show the movie. They also put the movie online and on pay per view.
Seniors Sarah Peters and Alex Dauber had a few opinions on the movie and the hacking. “The movie was definitely funny but I can see how it wasn’t the smartest idea to make a movie about killing Kim Jung Un” said Sarah. Alex added, “we shouldn’t give North Korea the satisfaction of them censoring our movies. Our First Amendment is too important.”
If you ignore all the toilet humor and satire, Franco and Rogen’s interpretation of North Korea was pretty close to accurate. Especially you take into consideration the famine, media manipulation, and secrecy. Who knows what will happen if situations like these repeat. What will America do? What will North Korea do? Let’s just hope the answer isn’t nuclear war.
