The Interview has been in a whirlwind of media as of late. Whether it be its satirical impersonation of Kim Jong-Un or its portrayal of American media, The Interview has caused objection from the people living in North Korea. Threats were made and Sony made the decision to stop the release of the movie. Whether it was taken offensively or not, the movie wasn’t made with the intentions to create more strain between the US and North Korea and from my perspective, I think what Sony did was wrong.

According to a New York Times article, the people of North Korea risked their lives to watch the movie, in fear of being thrown in prison for watching a movie of this sort, and ended up hating it for the fact that the movie “depicted them as idiots”. Not only was there outcry about the movie but, there were also threats made. Hackers threatened Sony about their movie release and long story short, ended up causing Sony to cancel all movie screenings, which were due December 25th.

Many important figures in the entertainment industry, like Jimmy Kimmel, declared Sony’s decision as “un-American”, generating a new interpretation of the whole situation. Did Sony actually need to pull the trigger on the movie premiere or should they have fought for their rights to be able to show an audience their movie?

Although the movie did poke fun at the very serious issues going on in North Korea, I think it was done in a more light-hearted manner without cruel intentions. I don’t think that this movie was made to be taken too seriously. If it was, the producers wouldn’t have taken on the very serious issue of a possible nuclear war with North Korea.
“Sony should have just showed The Interview when it was scheduled to be in theatres. America should not have given into threats made by a foreign country that has intentions to hurt others,” said Anna Sharp, senior. Many movie-goers, like myself, share this view on the situation. A country like North Korea, who has a past of violence and maltreatment, shouldn’t be able to dictate America’s choices and actions regarding entertainment that isn’t directly trying to cause any disturbance between the two countries. Choosing to not release the movie and falling prey to the hacker’s threats only creates more tension where there shouldn’t be.

Although I think the situation should have been handled differently, Sony’s role in the ordeal is understandable. Sony’s decision was mainly influenced by the safety of their audience and also their economic position. If the threats did end up to be true and Sony had continued with the release, if anything had happened, it would mainly be blamed on them. Many movie theatres had already made prior decisions to not screen The Interview, therefore, Sony already knew that they would be losing a tremendous amount of money releasing the movie with no audience to watch it. Overall, Sony did have its reasons to pull the movie, the pros of screening the movie greatly outweigh the cons.

A mindless movie like the The Interview shouldn’t stir up this amount of conflict between two countries that already have existing pressures. To begin with, the movie should not have been taken as seriously as it was, considering it was a comedy starring actors that are known for playing in frivolous movies. Sony should have taken a stand and released the movie when it was due purely for the entertainment purposes that the movie was made with.

Greta Kotova, Staff Reporter