Abridge to Nowhere
After weeks of controversy, embarrassment, foolish decisions, public scoldings and countless Tweets, The Interview actually managed to come out on time... with a somewhat different release pattern than had been originally planned.
So the question is: Is the movie a triumph for free speech?
Only peripherally. It’s a classic example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, swept up in events that place the film at the center of a discussion it never intended – and is ill-equipped – to have. But regardless of intent, tone or ultimate quality it is a work of free expression and deserves the same speech protections granted every other film, from the most meaningful drama to the cheapest exploitation flick.
Is it a triumph for Sony, who ultimately decided to release the film despite being the target of a crippling (to their finances and status) attack by hackers?
Not even close. To begin, let’s mention the aspect of this the media has glossed over in favor of gossipy e-mails, bitchy memos and presidential finger-waggings: A large number of Sony employees have had their personal information stolen, including Social Security numbers and private medical records. (But since they weren’t movie stars or big-name execs they don’t really count, right?) This hack is about more than which obnoxious producer insulted which pampred star in a private e-mail. Real lives were affected beyond the fleeting embarrassment of a few famous a-holes. So that’s a loss, and a big one.
Sony’s reputation also took a major hit. Not just the studio heads (who I assume will be given generous severance packages and production deals and asked to go away when the spotlight cools a bit). Not just the executives that seemed to learn nothing after the 2011 PlayStation hack that cost the company an estimated $250 million. Not just the shitty filmmakers who were called out by studio employees for being shitty filmmakers (coughAdamSandlercough).
No, Sony’s reputation took a hit because they were stupid enough to greenlight the film in the first place. Speaking solely as a business executive, and removing artistic merit from the equation (something that happens a zillion times a day in Hollywood), financing a comedy about the assassination of a current world leader made by filmmakers not renowned for deft political satire is fuckin’ dumb. We’re not talking about Trey Parker & Matt Stone, or Mike Judge, or 1970’s-era Monty Python – writers and directors well-known for producing cutting satirical comedies with a distinctive point-of-view. We’re talking Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the guys who wrote Superbad, Pineapple Express, and wrote and directed This Is the End. Now, I like those movies just fine – but I can’t say I was bowled over by their depth of political commentary or insightful world view.
Seth Rogen told a story about the first table-read of the Interview script at which Jonah Hill apparently cornered studio chief Amy Pascal and asked her what the hell she was thinking. She wasn’t really gonna make this script, right? Didn’t she realize how much trouble could be stirred up? When Jonah Hill is acting as the voice-of-reason, I have to imagine Pascal had many others trying to warn her off the project as well. But – I’d assume because This Is the End was Sony’s most profitable film of 2013 – she gave the green light. A particularly tone-deaf business decision that eventually put everyone at Sony Pictures Entertainment at risk. A decision that doesn’t only look bad in retrospect.
Plus Sony is a Japanese-owned company. Check the history of Japan’s relationship with North Korea. Now look at a map and see how close the two countries are to one another. Yeah – there was no way this wasn’t going to cause problems, even if only internally. Dumb on top of dumb on top of dumb.
Okay, then - is the film’s release a triumph for moviegoers?
Only in the sense they have another option at the multiplex or VOD, and have the chance to judge the film for themselves. I’d say that’s less a ‘triumph’ than simply ‘the way it should always be.’
Is this a triumph over the hackers? Have they lost this battle to the forces of truth, justice and the American Way?
It depends.
If North Korea was behind the hack, then they just got their asses kicked. They learned what every nimrod who tries to ban free expression seems unable to learn – protesting a work of art only spurs public interest, garnering it a wider audience. If they were attempting to bury the film forever lest the supreme leader’s image be ridiculed, mission not accomplished. The Interview went from being a probable mid-level grosser that would be mostly forgotten in a few weeks to a cause celebre that garnered worldwide headlines and a previously indifferent audience suddenly interested in what all the fuss is about. So this hack was about as successful as the rest of Kim Jong-Un’s reign.
Now if North Korea wasn't behind the hack, that’s a different story altogether. In that case it was a wild success for the hackers. They breached Sony’s internal network (not all that difficult, from most reports), stole tons of valuable information, inspired embarrassing headlines, made the studio (initially) capitulate to demands they probably made as a goof to shift focus toward North Korea, and got the U.S. government to lay the blame on Kim Jong-Un! That is all upside, baby. If this was done by some unidentified collective, they just had a very Merry Christmas, indeed.
I guess the bottom line is, has all this been a triumph of free speech for the American people?
Of course. A little bit.
To begin, an attempt at censorship was defeated – that is always a victory. Whether you agree or disagree with what is being said, whether you think the work in question is lowbrow and unsophisticated, even if you find it offensive, free speech is free speech – and to have outside forces try and restrict your access to it is unacceptable. So put a check mark in the win column there.
The fact that people are now writing about the actual film – reviews, articles, blogs, Tweets, Facebook posts – is a triumph. They’ve been able to view it and judge its worth for themselves. Some love it. Some hate it. Like most things, the majority seem to fall somewhere in the middle. Some people are using it to push anti-imperialist viewpoints, some are convinced it’s racist, others think the whole thing has been a conspiracy by Sony to boost the profile of VOD (I assume those people also think Rogen and James Franco are aliens from Area 51).
While I personally think many of the more extreme viewpoints are simplistic, strident and/or opportunistic, the bottom line is people are making those points from a position of knowledge and experience – they’ve been able to see the thing they’re bitching about and make up their own minds. And no matter how cynical you may be about this whole escapade, the freedom to make up your own mind and voice your opinion should be cherished and must be protected at all costs – even if the thing in question is 65% ass jokes.
