Christine, "The Interview"

I honestly don’t know what to make of The Interview. To make an informed review is to know the true intentions of actors Seth Rogen and James Franco, director Evan Goldberg, and especially of writer Dan Sterling. Is it merely a commercial tactic that also happens to exploit the political situation of North Korea? Or does it serve a higher purpose — as a manifestation of just how influential shallow and profit-oriented media meddle in the way of delivering factual/more valuable information, for example? Perhaps a commentary on how the media regards its audience as nothing but a composition of bored, impressionable, unthinking fools that can be easily manipulated? Why are the Americans, particularly the characters of Rogen and Franco, portrayed as just as idiotic as the North Korean dictator they despise so much? Is the film a channel for the collaborators’ own anti-America sentiments?

Yes, I have so many questions. But I don’t need to understand the film in order to say that it is distasteful. My primary reason being the conflicting ideologies in the film, which could be extremely damaging to its wide-reaching audience. Allow me to explain:

First and foremost, the questionable portrayal of women. While the film did try to poke fun at the tropes in women’s roles in films (ie. Agent Lacey “honey potting” Franco to get him aboard on the mission), misogynistic undertones prevail from the very beginning with the little girl singing a song that touched on the sensitive issue that is rape.

In my personal opinion, whatever or howsoever it may be expressed (meaning jokingly or not), rape should never be a subject of light-hearted jest. Less than a month later, comediennes Amy Poehler and Tina Fey created the same mistake at the Golden Globe, much to the dismay of feminists worldwide. Time Magazine published a revolting article about how they were able to “do it the right way.” There is never a right way. Rape is not funny.

In contrast, the film also had a very empowered female in the character of Sook-yin Park. This is a woman whose sexual pursuits did not undermine her strength and intelligence. She is the savior of Skylark (Franco) and Rappoport (Rogen), and later of North Korea. Unfortunately, however awesome she may be, the existence and embodiment of her character do not negate all the jabs made on women. Overall, the film is still highly misogynistic. 

Take note the fact that Sook is Asian because it brings me to my next point.

The only positive thing that came out of The Interview is a hopeful dream.

All throughout the film, both Skylark and Rappoport repeatedly make fun of Asian accents. This is the most prevalent and obvious form of racism that is usually targeted at the Asian race. Being Asian myself, I found this severely annoying as it was done repeatedly and unnecessarily. Other than that, there were also punch lines about the Chinese diet and anti-Semitism. On the topic of racism, The Interview was unapologetic.

While some people might argue that the film attempted to humanize Kim Jong-Un, I would argue that the means used to achieve this was not done responsibly. Instead of using this expected blockbuster - a powerful platform - to actually present North Korea and Kim Jong-Un realistically, what this film does was distort their already disgraced image even more. What’s worse is knowing that only ill-informed, insensitive people would truly enjoy such a vapid film aka the population that needs enlightenment the most. (I mean, who else would eat up this sh*t?)

Granted, the whole film is a farce. But this only brings us back to my first question: what were the motives behind it? Ultimately, the only thing The Interview succeeds at is encouraging American ignorance of the real conditions of North Korea and the blind hate of its leader. I’m not saying that Kim Jong-Un is not a despicable man, nor am I encouraging compassion towards him. All I’m saying is that the reasons people might have for hating him are probably either exaggerated, incorrect, or even non-existent - and The Interview makes all of that seem okay.