Skewering a despot: Is The Interview
beneath the 'gentleman'
of Hollywood? Is it a sign of American cultural
arrogance?
The Interview: The
Latest Reflection of American Cultural Arrogance (Huanqiu, China)
Does the film production of The Interview, which mercilessly skewers North Korean despot Kim Jong-un, simply show the innate irreverence of Americans, or is there something more sinister at play? Just the latest in a long line of criticism from China on the unwillingness of Americans to allow for 'differing cultural interpretations' of things like human rights and democracy, this editorial from the state-run Huanqiu hits out at Hollywood insensitivity the 'ungentle man-like' behavior of U.S. elites.
Sony Pictures on December 17 canceled The Interview,
a comedy that centers on the fictional assassination of Kim Jong-un,
after the studio's computer network was hacked and commercially-sensitive information
was disclosed on the Internet. U.S. theater chains had postponed screenings of
the comedy after the hackers threatened "9/11-style attacks" on moviegoers.
Sony and U.S. theaters have therefore been intimidated and with so many
theaters announcing they would not screen the film, Sony Pictures officially announced
that worldwide distribution of The
Interview would be halted.
Sony Pictures' "compromise" has sparked an uproar in
the United States, with U.S. media rebuking it as a betrayal of free speech and
many celebrities and mainstream news outlets joining together to issue
unrelenting criticism of Sony Pictures.
Any member of the civilized world would oppose hacker
attacks and terrorist threats, but at the same time we feel obliged to say that
Sony Pictures should not have made this film. To bait a small country by making
fun of its leader cannot be considered something to be proud of for Hollywood
or mainstream American society.
Americans always think that because they are permitted to ridicule
their own leaders, they are welcome to do the same to the leaders of others. That
argument is lame and its logic doesn’t hold.
Hollywood's central target used to be the Soviet Union and occasionally
China. After the Cold War, with the Soviet Union gone and with the Chinese
market booming, China became a gold mine for American films, so Hollywood began
to show us an increasingly friendly face in order to attract Chinese viewers.
Now that Hollywood is running low on objects to vilify, it has resorted to the
nationalities of Islamic extremists and a handful of other countries like North
Korea, Iran, and so on …
Some in Hollywood argue that states that are made fun of in
their films should "show a sense of humor" and that in fact,
Hollywood directors are only looking for "soft ways" to issue
criticism. If, however, Hollywood were to make a comedy in which the subject
was the assassination of the king of Saudi Arabia or Thailand or the heads of
state of Indonesia or Singapore, there would without exception be fierce protests
and U.S. entertainment companies would end up forcing the relevant movie
director to bow prostrate and apologize. Yet with the United States and North
Korea nearly cut off from one another, Hollywood is free to act with impunity.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
However American society views North Korea and Kim Jong-un, Kim is still the incumbent leader of his country.
Only impunity and cultural arrogance can explain Hollywood's unrestrained
mockery of Kim.
American society dominates the global cultural competition,
so it needs to show better manners and not always be so aggressive. Rather than
being obsessed with making cynical provocations, U.S. elites should behave and
not just speak like gentlemen. They need to maintain a gentleman's mind and philosophy
of life.
Sony Pictures' primary motivation for making a spoof about
Kim Jong-un, beyond a belief that "he is a safe
target," is that putting out a sensational film would be a big hit at the
box office. However, once large-scale screening of the film began, it would certainly
complicate already-troubled DPRK-U.S. relations. On
top of that, it would bring added disturbance to the entire Korean Peninsula.
Yes – the price to be paid for this film is unique.
If China's market were not so large, perhaps Hollywood would
still be making villains of Chinese. Some in Western media complain that China represses
"creative freedom" in Hollywood through its economic strength. In our
view, China should "stick to its principles" when dealing with
Hollywood movie producers.
For now, Hollywood is being discrete with China as it has its
eye on the bottom line. In order for that to continue on the future, we fear that
words of persuasion alone will not suffice. Apparently, it is more effective to
show economic consequences than try to reason with them.
