The Interview’s Lost Joke

-By A Democratic Political Operative (@CaliOp215)

Last week, The Interview was bigger news than the guilty plea of Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm guilty plea. The Tokyo-based decision to not show the movie on American screens shocked corporate CE’s and pot-heads alike. “How could this happen in a capitalist society,” some questioned. “We must retaliate and bomb Pyongyang,” cried others.

The American media framed North Korea’s position as a powerful one. In a nut shell, they warned Americans that the North Korean Government was so taken aback by the film’s supposed premise of killing their sacred leader, Kim Jung Un, that they would do the unthinkable and terrorize American movie theaters.

I immediately questioned the reporting of this, because it seemed a bit far-fetched that the comedy duo of Seth Rogen and James Franco could create a film so accurate in its depiction of a potential assassination that it would scare an entire tyrannical dictatorship into believing that a real threat existed.

So, I had no other option than to investigate the movie first hand, and travel to an unheard of movie theater with my large friend (who moonlights as a bouncer (#protectionfromnorthkoreanterrorists) in order to really see if yet again, the American media got it wrong. At 11:00 PM on Christmas night.

The movie was funny. Stupid, yes, but funny.

However, the movie inherently was not about what the American media told millions it focused on. The assassination of Kim Jung Un was not the premise of the trip to North Korea. The concept of the duo’s imaginary trip was to shed light on the ridiculous, often hysterical, nature of the North Korean Government.

The film spent a large portion of its time focusing on Kim Jung Un’s ridiculous acts of making his citizens believe that he was almighty, and had the power to do things like speak to Dolphins and never have to use the bathroom (#1 or #2). Similarly, it spent much of its time pointing out that Kim listens to Katy Perry’s girl power music, is an awful athlete, and indeed does both produce both #1 and #2.

The assassination scheme was simply a minor part of the plot and the humor alike, so of course, the American media got it wrong.

Just imagine the opportunity we had. This film could have opened as a top-3 on Christmas day and its ridiculous humor could have had the opportunity to give tens of thousands of movie goers (probably not the smartest or best educated) the opportunity to literally make fun of Kim Jung Un! A public opinion masterpiece that not even the best political ad could accomplish!

But, just like they do during elections, the media screwed up.

And the by-product: millions of Americans are streaming the film, allowing anyone with relatively decent hacking skills (which clearly Pyongyang possesses) to have a full list of IP addresses of folks who watched this film. A perfect tool for cyberterrorism.

The joke is on the media…again.