UNITED STATES—Last week the craziness surrounding Sony Pictures Entertainment and their movie “The Interview” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco hit the fan. Amidst threats from online hackers who labeled themselves ‘Guardians of Peace,” Sony decided to remove “The Interview” from its Christmas release. Yep, a movie studio caved into the demands of what some are calling a terrorist group.
I must say it’s quite scary. The hackers threatened to attack any movie theater choosing to showcase the film on Christmas Day, which forced quite a few theaters to decide to not to screen the picture. I did get the argument of protecting their workers from some of the owners, but I’m not certain if I fully bought that excuse. I thought America’s motto was, “We don’t negotiate with terrorist demands.” Why is that? Well if you do, more and more demands will be made of it.
This precisely happened to Sony as the hackers made additional demands asking for ANYTHING related to marketing of “The Interview” to be pulled from the internet. Like what the hell? This is crazy and for that ignorant comment they made about the United States and FBI being wrong about who was responsible for the hack, grow up. The US government has pegged North Korea as being responsible for the hack, and every celeb in America has had their own thoughts on how this fiasco should have unfolded. This screams North Korea as the picture was satirizing the assassination of the country’s notorious leader. I guess they weren’t happy to hear someone paint a picture of their fearless leader.
I just can’t believe we’ve reached a point in history where people are afraid of going to the multiplex. I remember the idea of midnight screenings used to be fun for a big movie, until that crazed gunman murdered more than a dozen people in Colorado during a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.”
I mean that literally instilled so much fear in people that weekend about going to the multiplex. Even I was hesitant. I mean the plan was to go on opening day, but because of that incident I decided to hold out a few days. Fear unfortunately took over me, as it’s taking over our country right at this moment. Isn’t that the point of Freedom of Speech, Expression? To have the ability to showcase your creative art to the rest of the world, those who like it like it, and those who don’t, don’t.
This raises a long list of possible backlash Sony could face in the coming years. Many big-time actors and actresses might choose to shy away from the studio when it comes to working on projects. The public could decide to boycott or not view any films released by the studio, some workers have even already filed lawsuits, because the breach has compromised their confidential information.
A few days after the news was released, word has come out that Sony plans to release “The Interview,” they are just not sure how they plan to do it. There appears to be a back and forth with the studio. Trying to find a way to please all fronts (their staff, the studio, the hackers, America, etc). You can’t please everyone, but you can do what is honorable and right. These hackers have made threats, but be warned America doesn’t take threats lightly. You will be found, you will be caught and their will be consequences for your actions. What is done in the dark eventually comes to light; it always does no matter how hard you try to keep it hidden.
