Really, Sony? One Mom Weighs In On The Interview Movie Debate

Yesterday I was trapped in the house, trying to nurture a daughter who was down for the count with a nasty stomach bug. Between getting ice chips and emptying the puke bowl, I was spending a lot of time on the internet. I was following the story of The Interview pretty closely because a) I’m still kind of in love with the entire cast of Freaks and Geeks and b) um…what? Are you telling me a comedy movie might start a war? 

In case you have been living under the same rock as my mother (I just had to explain this to her on the phone), The Interview is a movie. It’s a comedy in which characters played by Seth Rogen and James Franco are recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jun Un, the dictator currently ruling North Korea. It was scheduled to be released on Christmas Day, but hackers gained access to Sony, which meant gaining personal information about their employees, and made terrorist threats via email to theaters that were planning to play the film. Apparently North Korea has called it “an act of war” in real life. Sony decided to pull the film and is not releasing it after all. Many Americans, including several of our own government officials, are not happy with this decision because we have always had a pretty strict policy that we do not negotiate with terrorists.  

I just kept having so many conflicting thoughts about the whole thing. I also have a few bones to pick with the people making these decisions. Such as…

Seriously, Sony? 

1. I don’t understand how this movie got to this point in the first place. I understand that it is comedy and it’s just a joke. I understand that we have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press in America. However, just because we live in a country that grants us the ability to make movies that have plot lines in which sitting world leaders get assassinated, does not mean that we should. That is insanely irresponsible. The freedom to act does not grant you a reprieve from the consequences of your actions. There is a reason that movies usually use fictional characters or depict historical leaders who are no longer in power. This is that reason. Wars have been started over less. 

This CNN article mentions that Dan Sterling, the screenwriter of The Interview, “is quoted as saying that the filmmakers thought invoking Kim [instead of a fictional or off-screen version] would make it ‘so much more exciting, provocative and funny.'”

I have so many questions about this: What exactly did you think you were provoking with your “provocative” film if it wasn’t this? How did you think North Korea would respond? Did you honestly not think about this beforehand? Or did you consider it, decide it was worth the risk, and then just chicken out at the last minute when you realized that actual lives were being threatened? How many people had to give the “go ahead” to get this film to release and really no one stepped up and said, “C’mon, you guys, this is a bad idea?” 

2. What’s done is done. Was it distasteful? Really, do you think? But you knew that, Sony, and you made the movie anyway. It’s too late to pull out now. The damage is done, the message is out there. Everyone has already seen the trailer and North Korea got your memo. Thanks for that, by the way. 

You don’t get to just say, “You know what? Nevermind.” My understanding is that you’re scared that the terrorists got your personal information off the internet, and you also don’t want to be held responsible for any potential attacks on theaters (who could blame you?), so you are hoping if you don’t release your movie they will leave us alone now? Is this based on the fact that terrorists have such a strong history of leaving people alone once those people realize they made a mistake and say they are sorry? Because, as everyone knows, terrorists are very rational like that. 

3. Holy cow, this is a dangerous precedent to set. Look, Sony, no one wants people to die because they went to see your movie (which, honestly, doesn’t even look very good). But Homeland Security has already said that there was no evidence of any planned attacks at the time that you made your decision to pul the movie. For all we knew, these threats could be coming from some 11-year-old kid who happens to be a computer wiz. There is no way that terrorists are going to be able to strike every single theater in America on your opening day.  

So is it worth the risk of even one attack? Quite frankly, maybe. The perceived risk of a threat is very different than an actual imminent attack. We can’t just go around canceling our plans every time someone makes a threat over the internet, especially if we have no evidence to back up the legitimacy of the threat. We’ll all be holed up in our houses for the rest of our lives. You already knowingly put us at risk when you decided to make the movie. It wasn’t like you didn’t know that North Korea was going to see it. Now you are also taking away our option to go see it if we choose to do so? Do you even remember what country this is anymore? 

Not only is it cowardly to pull the movie, it’s insulting to the people who gave their lives defending your right to make it in the first place. 

If any good has come of this, at least I can say that I’m no longer (as) embarrassed that I voted for this guy: 

Because that’s actually not a bad idea. Fair warning, Sony, if you do decide to go with an internet or straight to DVD release, you should probably think twice before you charge people. Something tells me that America isn’t going to take very kindly to the idea that you decided to capitulate to terrorist demands and then decided to charge us money and still make yourselves a decent profit for a movie you refused to give us the option to see in public. If there was such a thing as compounded treason, that’s probably about what it would look like.  

You have an opportunity to use this as an example on a global scale. Everyone is looking at you to gauge America’s reaction in the face of potential danger. At the moment you are painting us to be cowards we have never been before and never intended to be. I have not seen your movie (now in large part because you won’t let me), but I would be willing to bet that there is a strong case for irony here and that at some point your film your heroes had to have courage in the face of danger.  

That’s really all America is asking of you right now. If you are going to be irresponsible enough to make a film like this, then do not spit on our ideals as you run away from that decision with your tail between your legs. 

Thanks. 

Sincerely, 

A Disappointed American Mom