Originally published on the CGS blog on January 16, 2015.
The recent movie The Interview released by Sony Pictures on December 25, 2014 has caused a huge amount of controversy. Some say it’s an expression of freedom of speech. Others call it a blunder that threatens US Security and/or claim that we really shouldn’t be surprised by North Korea’s response to this film.
North Korea is known to the world as one of worst violators of human rights as it seeks to control every aspect of its citizens’ lives, and those who don’t abide by the regime can face life-threatening consequences in the form of extra-judicial executions or imprisonment in gulags. Some human rights and democracy advocacy organizations seeking a politically freer North Korea plan to drop bootleg copies of the movie so that citizens can view it in the privacy of their own homes like some have done with other foreign movies.
These foreign movies have helped many North Koreans see beyond the propaganda they are fed by the state despite the risks involved. For instance, the Hollywood Reporter quotes a North Korean refugee who said that watching Titanic made her realize that ultimate devotion doesn’t have to be solely directed toward the leadership of one’s country; instead, it could occur between a couple where one partner sacrifices him- or herself so that the other lives.
In some cases, authorities even turn a blind eye when they find out that the material people have been watching doesn’t harm the state’s security.
Part of the reason that human rights organizations like the Human Rights Foundation want to distribute The Interview is that it shows Kim Jung-Un as a mortal human being, unlike the narrative the State emphasizes; that is, that the Kims are deity-like in nature.
But The Interview is about assassinating the current, living leader of North Korea, Kim Jung-Un. Movies like Braveheart and Titanic do not even remotely resemble this. I also don’t believe that any movie similar to The Interview has been dropped inside the country. Slipping this movie into North Korea will undoubtedly make crackdowns on illegal movie-watching all the more common.
We really shouldn’t be surprised if we hear that the government cuts off power much more frequently to see who’s watching bootleg foreign films and searches people’s houses to see if they have contraband videotapes or DVDs.
I would certainly like to see a North Korea where its citizens have the same rights and opportunities that their southern neighbors have, but it’s hard to say how this film will help make that vision a reality.
Considering what the North Korean state does to control its citizenry, we have to ask ourselves, do the benefits of distributing The Interview inside North Korea outweigh the risks? I can see continuing to launch films other than this one as a method of letting North Koreans know about the world outside the Hermit Kingdom. But I wouldn’t want to distribute a movie like this, as the risks are much greater and it will undoubtedly lead to greater crackdowns on those who view it and other foreign films.
