The Violent, Repressive Future that the Cancellation of ‘The Interview’ Promises is Already Here

HOLLYWOOD POLITICS-After a group of hackers who call themselves the Guardians of Peace threatened terrorist attacks on screenings of “The Interview,” James Franco and Seth Rogen’s action comedy about a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Sony Pictures pulled the movie from distribution and said that it has no plans to release it through video on demand. 

The consensus is that we’ve lost something important here, although there’s some question about whether we should be angry at North Korea (if the country is, in fact, behind the Guardians of Peace) for weaponizing the hack or at Sony for exhibiting cowardice in the face of threats. 

But while I certainly worry that the scale of the incident will have a chilling effect on raunchy satire or even moviegoing itself, I wonder whether we’re just offloading responsibility for our increasingly violent and polarized conversations about media on to a convenient villain. 

We don’t actually have to imagine what threats to artists and consumers might look like. They’re already here, whether as manifestations of fanboy intensity, sexist rage or religious norms.

(Read the rest of Rosenberg’s analysis here.) 

-cw

 

 

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CityWatch

Vol 12 Issue 102

Pub: Dec 19, 2014