4 ms·
On a related note, http://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2014/12/17/pulling-the-interview-is-the-end-of-free-speech-in-hollywood http://www.laweekly.com/publ
by jaekwon 12y ago
On a related note,
http://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2014/12/17/pulling-the-interview-is-the-end-of-free-speech-in-hollywood http://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2014/12/17/pulling-t...
"The truth is, America's commitment to free speech is dwarfed by our commitment to capitalism. Seth Rogen can stand in his house and say anything he wants about Kim Jong-un – but Sony has the choice to fund him, and even if it agrees, AMC can still pull the plug. The corporation, not the individual, has always had the power to decide what movie is a thoughtcrime. We're just only now visibly seeing the suits flex their clout. Despite everything, Pascal at least had the courage to greenlight a comedy about a sitting dictator. Will she be the last studio boss who can make that claim?"
I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that the hacks or threats weren't conducted by NK, or by NK alone. This movie is in fact a threat to a particular regime in NK, but it's also a blanket threat against all totalitarian regimes (and corporations), and there are plenty that would be upset about that.
I've been scouring Hollywood for movies that appeal to mass social, political, or economic change that don't portray the instigators as crazed violent goonies. There are none in recent memory. The ones that do strike a chord become wild blockbuster hits and their motifs enter our collective consciousness as light-sabres or guy fawkes masks, but they are the rare ones. You don't find much of them in Hollywood because Hollywood does not instigate change.
- icantthinkofone 12y ago"This movie is in fact a threat to a particular regime in NK" It's a movie. It's a comedy. It has Seth Rogan. Have you ever seen any of the writings on the walls in NK or speeches by their politicals?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- jaekwon 12y ago2 years after Fight Club's (soap and Meatloaf) story of crazed terrorists destroying towers to reset the economic system, some crazed terrorists did exactly that. Imagine what would happen if a likable character who isn't a crazed terrorist assassinated a political figure on the big screen and became a hero. Good feels all around, nothing wrong with killing a totalitarian leader, right?
- bradyd 12y ago6 years before Fight Club the World Trade Center had a car bomb set off in it[1], so it's not like they got the idea from that movie. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombin...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- jaekwon 12y agoThanks, I didn't know about that bombing.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- stelonix 12y agoOn that subject, I've been pretty hopeful due to the success of The Hunger Games: it's a blockbuster about fighting the system. Whether the western viewers realize Panem is a great portrait of west superpowers is another question. A note: just because there aren't brutal violations of human rights in a country it does not mean people aren't fed misinformation and propaganda campaigns. This whole NK ordeal seems like something Goebbels couldn't ever dream of.
- scarmig 12y agoAt some point Americans will have to accept that they are fed piles of propaganda and they commit brutal violations of human rights. European countries, too, though to be fair most of their brutal violations of human rights tend to be through aiding the USA in setting up secret torture prisons and ferrying people to them.